Yesterday’s word count total was 15,000+ in order to achieve success in winning NaNoWriMo and writing 50,000 words in 30 days. If you are participating, you’re probably already aware of this.
To gain perspective I visited the NaNoWriMo website to take a look at my progress over the years. I won the first two years that I participated, writing over 50,000 words both years. From there on out, it was a pretty bumpy ride- 21,000, 9000, 12,000, 5000, 17,000, and 6000. When I look back over those years, I could see that I definitely allowed outside factors to disrupt my writing. To be successful, I truly believe you need to find a healthy balance, understanding that depending on the story, at some point, this will bleed into the far corners of your life and beyond. During the years that I did not finish, there were many emotional roller coasters factoring into my life. I would tell myself it was understandable that I couldn’t finish, considering the circumstances, and the next year I would begin more determined to finish than the year before.
A comfortable chair, open surface with enough room for my notes (and snacks!) along with a not- too distracting view are the things that work best for keeping me on task. I did find out just minutes ago that popping in a Phantom of the Opera CD that I’m not familiar with is not a great idea as I kept noticing how different it is than the CD that’s currently stuck in my car CD player.
Writing 50,000 words in 30 days does require some skill. I’ve written using both the planning and the pantsing methods, mostly plantsing, a morphed combination of the two. Mind you, I am 100% planner in my everyday life, so much so that I tend to drive some people in my life bonkers at times. I’m relieved that my planning obsession does not sneak into my writing. If I was tied to a prepared storyline, I’m sure it would hinder my progress. My characters sometimes take on lives of their own and when they decide to head in a different direction than I had planned, it wouldn’t be fun trying to force them into my preconceived ideas of who they were.
Of course, today is a new day and I have a new goal to reach so I better get typing. Only three weeks to go!
This post is working overtime for the following challenges-
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Tools
Fandango’s One Word Challenge- Disrupt
Pull Up a Seat Photo Challenge
Happy Weekend!
-Kat
Dandelion Fuzz 
Great pictures. Best wishes for success in your writing. I know I could never get that many words together in a month.
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Thanks! It’s an interesting experience. If nothing else, it has jump started my desire to write. 🙂
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Good work Kat, glad you seem to be enjoying it this time around.
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Me too, Claudette! The ironic part is this story is based on something that happened years ago that I’ve always wanted to write about but it never worked until now. It’s not a light hearted story but it is so much easier to write than it ever was to talk about! And I am enjoying NaNo this time around! 🙂
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Yay
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I so adore both of your photos. 😀 😀
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Aww, thanks so much, Cee! 🙂
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