NaNoWriMo 2021 Week 3

Day 15: 4,046 words. I pushed through to catch up to where I want to be and crossed the 30,000 word point, which means I am officially halfway through my word count goal for this manuscript. I did take some time to write out notes for these chapters, but then veered from the plan pretty immediately. I needed the direction and then the characters took over and showed me just where that direction lead. The choices that were made changed what’s going to happen, not a huge amount, but enough that it left me a little alarmed. I think I wanted to separate the big thing that’s going to happen to my main character from this relationship that’s important to her by making it come from some other pretty nameless source, but that’s not what’s going to happen. And that makes perfect sense. It just sucks that it is what it is, but isn’t that life sometimes?

Day 16: 6,090 words total. 2,054 words first session. Well, that was unexpected. That was the theme of today as a side character, one who had definitely made himself a person who could do a thing, went and laid the foundation to do the thing. Now, how much of the thing he will do remains to be seen, but the actions he took today totally point to that thing happening. The characters tell me where they’re going, and I can read the room to know that there are several possibilities of what could happen when they get there, but they don’t fill me in completely until they are there and doing the thing. Today, one of them really did a thing. 4,036 words second session. I don’t know if I’ve ever written so many words in one day. I pushed myself hard today for two reasons. First, because the story is flowing and I didn’t want to lose the momentum of these three chapters that really need to flow together to lay the groundwork for my main character’s darkest night of the soul. Second, because I really want to have a few days next week where I don’t have to write, and I can take that time not to write guilt-free. Hopefully one or two more days of really pushing myself like this and I can make that happen.

Day 17: 2,025 words. I love how character relationships evolve and take shape on the page. It is one of the most satisfying parts of the writing process. I knew who the characters were when the story began and I knew the relationships they’d have with each other, but I didn’t know just how deep and rich those relationships were going to be. It is just my favorite.

Day 18: 0 words. Freaking headaches. I felt one coming on and took the day to do things slowly around the house and then rest. I knew it was coming, I didn’t want to extend my time with it or have it move into a full-blown migraine, so I reacted accordingly. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Day 19: 0 words. I’m still feeling my body fight this headache and so I didn’t put any pressure on myself to write. That 6,000 word day carried me through these past two days and I know I can do that again once I get out of this battle. Rest and recover for now, writing and word count for later.

Day 20: 2,147 words. I’m glad I was able to get some words in today. I wrote the chapter that is my main character’s darkest night of the soul and it was a lot. It was harder to write than I expected and I found myself writing it almost as if I was trying to reach the keys of my keyboard from the other side of the room. I needed space to get those words on the page. They’re out and I am done for the day.

Day 21: 0 words. I needed today with my family and I took it. I’ll catch up with words tomorrow. I know that the next chapter and the chapter after are going to be better off if I write them together. I also know that those chapters are going to take a lot of emotional fortitude and energy to get through. I also really, REALLY know, based on all of my previous writing experiences, that going into that kind of writing at anything less than closest to my best writing self just doesn’t serve my story or my characters well. So, it’s not something that I’m going to attempt tonight. Instead I am going to enjoy my fireplace and the rest of my iced tea and watch something that brings me joy.

Total Word Count: 41,025