Week one of NaNoWrimo, seven days, thirteen thousand, two hundred and fifty words added to Undead.
I’m not gonna lie; it feels really good.
It feels good to be writing every day; to be spending less time re-sharing content others have created; to be getting closer to that elusive first draft. It also feels good to be back with these characters; back in their heads. Best part has been watching my little bar graph climb pretty much along the “ideal” path that is set out to finish on time at an average of 1667 words per day (so far I’ve averaged over 1800 per day).
I started slow — only 850 words on the first day and I was a bit disappointed in myself, even though I had used most of the day to re-read what I had previously written so I could get my bearings. But then I did more the next day and kept at it. Five days, six, seven. Every evening around 8:00 I would sit down to write. By 9 I’d actually start at it. Around 10:30 I’d panic and really start writing. Most of my words spilled on to the page between 10:30 and midnight.
Honestly, I’m not surprised by the timing of it; I always wrote most of my papers late at night (and into the wee hours of the morning); it is my creative zone. I’ve also discovered that in order to focus, I need my headphones in place. I thought just having music on would help but, while I ran a great Spotify playlist through the TV for much of Saturday morning, I accomplished very little in the way of writing. The headphones are a physical cue for me. I can live with that.
One thing about writing against the clock — wanting to be sure I checked in before midnight with my word count — I have learned to not scroll back too much, and not to edit at all; both of these habits have been my downfall in the past. Now I keep a separate document for notes — I write down character names and key plot points. In this case, there is a section of notes about The Process that includes an outline of what it is and what it does; its official name for IP purposes; who created it and who maintains it. The Process, as you might guess, is what is used to transform the living to the undead. I also have a lot of notes about things I need to look up — fact checking for later, when it comes time to edit this beast of a manuscript.
I’ve never felt confident about finishing NaNoWriMo before — it always seemed like an unwinnable battle to me, so why now? For whatever reason, I’m ready now. I am ready to bring this book to the page by fighting my own demons of anxiety and procrastination. I am ready to go through the “oh my god, just tell me it’s crap and I will move on to something else” step that will come later. I’m ready to call myself an author. Bring it on.