Week Two....and most of Three

Week two is when the new shiny wears off.  It's also when a writer is most likely to abandon their work to try something else.  By now the initial excitement has dulled somewhat and the writer begins to realize how much actual work lies ahead.  Second guessing their decisions, they think that if they can write about something more exciting, they'll be able to quickly recapture lost word count and continue on.  Never a good idea.

Writers already have enough trouble dealing with the "am I crazy's" when they realize they are sacrificing an awful lot of time creating something that, at best, two or three friends and/or family members will ever read or appreciate, and then they're probably only being polite when they say they like it.  This is ten times worse during NaNoWriMo because of the shear volume of time that must be sacrificed, including important family time during the holidays.  Only a healthy dose of narcissism, combined with an anarchic disregard for social (and literary) conventions and shear bloody mindedness, can carry one through at this point.  A writer has to write entirely for themselves and anyone who doesn't appreciate their greatness can go critique themselves.

Week two, for me, was a constant dance on the edge of mental burnout.  I suspect one danger of lots of pre nano preparation is increasing the risk of such.  About half the time I thought I wasn't going to make goal for the day.  Most of the time I pulled it out, but at least one day (when I was about half a day ahead) I only got halfway to the daily goal of 1667.  That may not sound so bad, but I am not a sprinter.  I know some writers can easily knock out thousands of words a day (A surprising number are actually published writers, so it just might not be all crap) I, however, cannot do that.  My strategy is simple.  Just hit goal every day and try to do a little more.  Thanksgiving is a bad time to be writing so a little cushion, if possible, helps.

Week Three was much the same.  I did get a little game time in (after making goal of course) last weekend which may have helped reset my brain.  I was hoping to do the same this weekend, but I've got packing to do.  Strangely enough last Wednesday was both my worst and best day.  I was facing total burnout.  I'd just got to the part where I knew what I needed to write next, but I didn't care anymore.  Instead I went back and wrote scenes that weren't on my outline, scenes that I had thought about, but had skipped over.  It turned out to be some of the best writing I've done this nano.  And despite the enormous weight of apathy I still manage to beat goal.

Today, though I got a late start, was a pretty good day.  I did over 3k (which is about my peak performance right now) and it wasn't too much of a struggle.  I'm hoping I've gotten to the point in the story where things just sort of take off.  That tends to happen as you near the climax.  I'm also hoping I don't run out of outline before I run out of 50k words.  And I'm also a little concerned about both pacing and uneven voice.

Ok...I've got to go think about something else for awhile and calm down.