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Thursday, November 21, 2013

Passing the 2/3rds mark


I can’t believe this month is almost over.  It seems like November just began and already NaNoWriMo is 2/3rds over.  I've had ideas for a couple of posts, mostly about the process of writing, but I've been so busy writing I haven’t had time to write about the writing.  What little I've done of that, I've tended to do either on the Nano forums or on the local nano group’s facebook age.  I think next year—assuming I’m still able to do this--I’ll have to make copies and post them on the blog just to make sure content occasionally gets updated.

Every year seems to go a little better than the last and I think, in some ways this year has gone smoother as well.  I was perhaps not quite as prepared as in previous years, but I haven’t really panicked.  I've always kept my running average above where it needs to be though I've missed a couple of days, and even then I got at least half my required quota in. 

In the last couple of years, I haven’t really attended any events.  This year I managed to make a couple, though most of the events are all on the other side of town.  I have enjoyed kibitzing with the facebook group, though and have felt more a part of things.

I've learned a couple of things this year:

  1.            Weekends aren't really the lifesaver you think they are.  I even took Friday Nov 1 off and though I made decent progress on Friday, my overall weekend total wasn't any better than my weekly total.  I’m guessing it’s either because there are more distractions or because I’m getting burned out.  I have been spending way too many nights plugging away till midnight so I can bump up my word count. (Which makes those early morning schedules quite painful.)
  2.              I’m writing a lot more of my story by hand.  Who would have thought it?  I've been a computer geek since I was a teenager.  Even so, I find that writing in my little fat notebook helps me slow down my thoughts and focus them, make steady progress and gives me a since of accomplishment as I fill up it’s little 3x5 pages.



I’m sure I’ll have more insights later, probably after this is over.  Thanksgiving looms ahead and we have a long car trip waiting for us next week.  It would be nice to finish before Thanksgiving day, but I’m sure I’ll be very busy until then.