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NaNo: Day the Seventeenth

Confession No. One: I'm really beginning to struggle.

I flew through the scenes that I had actually outlined and planned to write and now I've already reached the end of the story. The problem being, of course, that it's only 30k words and it has a ton of holes. So, basically, I've lost the momentum I had because I'm now bogged down with trying to come up with all the filler scenes it's missing. It's much more time-consuming, so the writing is slower-going. This is not good for someone with my sort of issues.

Confession No. Two: The weekends suck the writing life out of me.

I don't know what it is, but when the weekend rolls around I do awful at NaNo. Maybe it's because the Other is home or maybe some strange lethargy overtakes me from Saturday morning to Monday morning, but I just can't seem to get my butt in gear on the weekends. All I'm going to add is that my word count totally blew for the last three days and I'm glad I was far enough ahead to absorb the blow.

Confession No. Three: I REALLY want to start something new. *Whine, whine, whine*

It's been incredibly hard to keep working through my NaNo novel and it's becoming increasingly harder. I'm VERY tempted to make a hard line, page down, and start a completely new story in the same document that I've been working in. Technically it wouldn't be wrong, er, exactly, since it would still all be writing I have done in November, but I fear I'd just be cheating myself by not sticking with my current project. After all, part of the reason I wanted to do this was to push myself to complete something since it's been so long. I'm stuck in a rut. For now, I'm prevailing but it's certainly getting harder...

Well, in conclusion, I'm not sure how my word count will pan out for the Wednesday check-in, but I'm setting a new goal of being at 40k by Friday night. It feels like a realistic, enticing goal and I know once I'm there it will give me the drive I need to hit 50k.

Here's hoping at least! How goes the NaNo war for you other brave participants?

2 comments:

  1. Casey, do not start writing something new. Work through this pain. I'm with you and know exactly what you are feeling. I think you will regret it if you drop this and begin a new story. Someone once told me, starting anew story at this stage in the game is just a serious form of writer's block! So, just work through it. I know you'll do it and it'll be great!

    Things that sometimes work for me:
    1. Go for a walk
    2. do something else for an hour
    3. take a hot shower or a bath (preferably with a glass of wine - while in the bath, not shower)
    4. read comments like this on my blog! :0
    5. After I've given myself time and distance, re-read everything I've written taking copious notes on what to fix, add, delete, change. I know that is a NaNo no, no, but sometimes it is necessary to regroup that way - remind yourself where you've been and where you're heading.

    You can do it!

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  2. DO NOT START A NEW MS!!!!!!!

    Casey, I'm going to be so mad at you if you do. You need to start finishing them! You are a FANTASTIC writer! I want you to sell! You HAVE to finish!!!

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