Um. So this will be my last post for the month of November. NaNoWriMo will be over by next Monday. We’re less than a week away from the end. WHAT EVEN WHAT????
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like my novel will be even sort of over by the end of the month. I thiiink I can finish it within the first week or two of December, buuut unless some magical writing fairy takes over my body for the rest of the week (I mean, if you know of one I’m hiring) I’m like 99.9% sure it ain’t gettin’ done by the end of this month. I bring this upon myself…
I am hoping to wrack in some serious words this coming week, but this last week was the least wordy one of the month. Between Thanksgiving, work, and just general life-ness, my crazed writing self had to take a serious chill-pill and just scrape out words when I could. Ah well, I probably needed a week where I wasn’t forcing out 5k a day. Eheheh. And I also seriously failed to keep up with aaanything. So if you’ve sent me an email or commented on a post or sent a direct message somewhere on social media or know me in person and wonder if I’m still even alive, I’M SORRY. I am in fact alive…maybe. I could be a ghost typing this. Wild things happen during NaNo. *shifty eyes* Ahem, aaanyways.
It was actually a good week! Just…full.
NANO ‘18 WEEK FOUR
MONDAY: DAY #19
As I mentioned in a previous post, Mondays are usually dedicating to doing much needed cleaning and social media-ing, not leaving much room for writing, though I was determined to get in 2k this day. Which I managed! And writing ended up going really fast and fun this day, so that was a blessing.
Because, well, Mondays are…Mondays. We gotta take what little victories we can, amiright?
WORDS WRITTEN: 2,020
TUESDAY: DAY #20
This was a good day! Not so much for my wordcount, buuut my sister and I went to see a ballet production of The Snow Queen, which just happens to be one of my favorite fairytales (and one I realize I don’t talk about nearly enough). And I LOVE ballet so yeah, I WAS PSYCHED. Most of the day was spent getting ready for it and then going that evening.
It was such a fun production! We very much enjoyed ourselves. And I needed that. I fear I’ve been so busy writing, I’ve sort of been starving myself of entertainment. Going to a fun ballet based on a fairytale I love was just the inspiration I needed. It filled up my poor, nearly empty creative tank and made me anxious to get back to writing. Except I had work the next day and we got home late so I didn’t get to write until Wednesday evening buuut still. It was good to go out and soak up some entertainment.
WORDS WRITTEN: 2,006
WEDNESDAY: DAY #21
Like I said, I had work this day, but it was a quiet day, which allowed me time to devour my review copy of Falling Snow by Skye Hoffert. This is the first novella in Rooglewood’s Five Poisoned Apples Snow White retelling anthology (well that was a mouthful). I got the utter DELIGHT of being an influencer reader of Falling Snow and aaaahhhhhh, GUYS. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. You can read my flaily review on GoodReads (and add the book to your TBR while you’re there *wink, wink* *nudge, nudge*). The book releases DECEMBER 1ST. SO CLOOOSE!!!! I am a bit excited, if you can’t tell.
ANYWAYS. I have a confession to make… I, erm, have not read anything since NaNo started. Yeah. I went 20 days without reading. o.o Remember how I said I’ve been starving myself of entertainment? Yepppp. And I should probably read more during NaNo than I do any other month, because I always write better and am more inspired to write the more I’m reading. Yet, every NaNo, without fail, I end up hardly picking up a single book. Nine NaNos and I still haven’t learned my lesson. Someonehelpme.
All that to say, getting to just sit down and read for a while was gloooorious. And I LOVED THAT NOVELLA SO VERY MUCH. I was in a good mood all the rest of the day after reading it, and between it and the ballet the night before, I was so ready to write. I didn’t get a whole lot written because I was pretty tired, but I was happy with what I got.
WORDS WRITTEN: 2,004
THURSDAY: DAY #22
THANKSGIVING! Except…we kind of had to postpone our official Thanksgiving dinner to Sunday so we could all have it together because plans got complicated, as they do. So this was actually a pretty quiet day, and I, at last, got to spend a good amount of time focused on writing instead of throwing words down in between activities like all the rest of the week. And I really enjoyed my writing session this day!
Despite having a way too ridiculously long, detailed outline, I’m still very much discovering things about my story as I write. That old pantser in me is still there, I think, because I just can’t always see the full picture and every detail until I’m sitting down writing it.
Well, this day I made a very exciting discovery that made so many things suddenly click into place and make way more sense. Which is the BEST. You gotta love when your story just magically solves some holes itself, and that happened this day.
‘Twas a good writing day and I was pleased!
I mean, this new discovery made Midas even more miserable than he already was buuut, ya know, that’s basically the nature of this entire book. If I haven’t ended the day without making Midas’ life even worse than I left it, it doesn’t feel like a proper writing day.
(Except the days I stab them.)
WORDS WRITTEN: 3,550
FRIDAY: DAY #23
I took it a little easier this day to hang out with my family (something I haven’t made much time for since, ya know, #NaNoWriMo), do a little online Black Friday shopping, and I put together my review of Falling Snow. Plus I was pretty tired and not feeling as motivated as I’d like. All that together ended in not a huge wordcount. But I kept reminding myself I need a break sometimes and to get things done that aren’t writing (I know, craziness!).
But, in the end, once I started writing I got so into it, it ended up being one of the most immersive, enjoyable, emotional writing sessions I’ve had all month. Maybe taking it easy during the first part of the day paid off???? (Once again, I know I should take more breaks and feed my creativity often during NaNo, but do I ever actually listen to reason? Psssshhh. Of course not.)
But GUYS. My Midas bby is growing up. *wipes away tear* This was the day he truly started seeing the light and realizing allll the mistakes he had made. It was painful, because, again, his life just seems to get worse by the day, but I’m proud of my broken, emotionally unstable child whom I’ve totally destroyed. :’)
WORDS WRITTEN: 1,686
SATURDAY: DAY #24
I had work again this day, but got off at 2, so went home, grabbed some coffee, and pounded out 1k words. Then I helped my mom and sister prep some food for our late-Thanksgiving dinner we were going to have the next day. I didn’t really get to go back to writing until after supper but oohoooo. I just thought the previous day’s writing was emotional.
This time I cried. Like, genuine tears in my eyes CRYING. See? I’m not completely heartless all the time. But it was such a painful and yet at the same time sweet scene and alkdjfljaldf. I love my bbys. <3 And I may feel a teeny tiiiiny bit bad about what I’ve been putting them through lately. *cough, cough, cough*
This was a good writing day despite not having much time to write (and I also ended up putting together most of this here blog post this night lol).
WORDS WRITTEN: 2,684
SUNDAY: DAY #25
The week ended with stretchy pants and stringed lights. Because this day not only did we do our official Thanksgiving meal (turkeeeeyyyy), but we also put up the CHRISTMAS TREE! So most of the day was spent cooking and decorating the tree, and it was a happy affair all around. Decorating for Christmas is my faaave. I turn into Buddy from Elf every single time.
I didn’t think I’d get much writing (if any) done this day, but after supper I tackled my novel with full-force and ended up having so. much. fun. that I had a full chapter finished before I knew it. I actually ended up writing a rather happy scene for the first time since, like, chapter 1… *cough* And it was a nice break after all the depression and doom. Squealing may have been involved. (I get a little over enthused while writing sometimes. Eheh.) But yes, yesterday was just a good day.
WORDS WRITTEN: 3,210
Total Words Written: 17,160
(The least I’ve written in a week so far, but I went in this week knowing I wouldn’t have much time to write. I should be happy I got anything written!)
I finished chapter 24 last night and ended the week with 88,210 words. Annnd I’ve got 11 more chapters to go and probably about…40k more words left. Eheheh. Yeeeah. But I’m getting there!
And with the end of chapter 24 I also reached the third section of my novel where things shift and change and begin to lead up to the climax and I AM PUMPED. I’m basically looking forward to all the next scenes, so that’s gonna help keep me going in this homestretch.
CONCLUSION
It’s funny, every day was quite nice of this week, but my dumb, overachieving, workaholic self kept feeling disappointed in what I didn’t accomplish. How I couldn’t keep up with things and couldn’t ever seem to get more than 2k words in a day almost all week when, uh, that’s over the daily wordcount NaNo suggests doing. I HAVE A PROBLEM, and I know it. I also have the worst tendency in competing with myself, and last week I wrote 10k more words than this one and that bothered me.
By the end of the week I had to take a deep breath and look at everything I did do, and remember the fact that I wasn’t slacking off this week or being lazy, I just genuinely was busy, and I did write when I could. And that’s the key there, to all of NaNo. It’s not really about that wordcount. It’s about forming a habit of making time for your writing even when there’s no time to be found. If this week was not a NaNo week, I probably wouldn’t have put aside a single part of any of the days to work on my writing. But NaNo pushed me to find time.
And as far as having to continue writing in December. That’s not exactly a death sentence. I’m loving this story and characters, I should be celebrating that I get to spend a little extra time with them than I thought!
So if you’re looking at that calendar and thinking, “How in the name of Cheez-Its am I going to make the word goal by the end of the month???” It’s OKAY. If you’ve written something, anything, this month and have set aside time in your crazy life for your novel, YOU HAVE WON. You have made progress on your novel and on your dream. Don’t let some word goal take away that victory and joy. And just because that calendar will soon switch to a new month, it doesn’t mean your story is suddenly gone. It’ll still be waiting and ready whenever you’re ready to keep writing it.
So onward! Let’s give this final week the best we have and celebrate whatever that is by the end of it. See you all at the finish line!
TALK WITH ME!
CAN YOU BELIEVE NANO IS ALMOST OVER????? I’m pretty sure October was yesterday so yeah. How was your Thanksgiving for my fellow Americans? How’s this week of writing gone for the NaNo-ers? And how has everyone’s week been? I want to hear ALL. BEST WISHES TO YOU NANO-ERS. WE’RE GONNA ROCK THIS FINAL WEEK!
Wow, this post was exactly what I needed today! For one thing, it's been a joy to follow your progress and hear about all the wonderful, crazy, writing adventures and successes you've had with this story! (Even though I haven't had time to comment lately.) But for another, I've been bogged down in, quite frankly, discouragement in several areas, and one of them is the lack of time for writing. And that I can never stop hoping that I'll have more time than I thought, or make more progress than I thought…and it's dispiriting when that doesn't work out. But reading your last few paragraphs reminded me why I keep working on this story and on my writing as a whole despite the disappointments and setbacks! So thank you for the encouragement and cheerfulness and reminders of the ultimate goal–you've put these in many of your NaNo posts, and you have no idea how uplifting it is!
Also, keep up the good work on you own novel!…and might we get some more snippets at some point? (Hint, hint, but seriously, no pressure! 🙂 ) I'm still praying for your work and progress!
EEP. I'm sooo happy I haven't been boring you to death with these updates! Haha. But it has been fun to log my journey. ^_^
Awww! I am SO sorry lack of writing time has been a discouragement to you. I totally get it! I try my best to make time for writing in November, but all the rest of the year just…it's up in the air. I have so MUCH I want to do with my writing, but I can never accomplish it all because there just isn't tiiime. But then I have to remind myself, it just takes a little here and there. Every word we write is one step closer to finishing. AND every word written should be celebrated. It's way too easy to badger ourselves over NOT making our goals, when we should be celebrating the things we DID accomplish. We might not be able to make big leaps, but, even if it takes a little more time, a dozen little baby steps will get us to the same destination. <3
Thank you so much for YOUR encouraging words. And your prayers! Oh my goodness, seriously. Nothing makes me feel more loved than to hear someone is praying for me. It's the sweetest thing anyone can do. <333 And I'm so honored you want more snippets! I'll see what I can do… 😉
Thank you for everything, girl! I hope these last few days of November treat you wonderfully! <3
Your post are always so inspiring! You did amazing, even if you didn't write as much as planned. Plus you had a pretty busy week, from what I can tell. The ballet sounds amazing! Thanks for taking the time to read my story! I feel honored to be the one story you've read so far!!!
Best of luck with the rest of Nano!
D'awww! I'm glad to hear that! ^_^ And thank you! It was a full week, but so far this week has been much quieter so that's good at least. Haha. And I LOVED YOUR STORY SO MUCH! I already want to reread it. I just can't get enough of those characters. <333
Thanks so much, Skye. CONGRATS AGAIN ON YOUR WIN!!! 😀 😀 😀
Happy (VERY LATE) Thanksgiving!!!! <3 <3
Aww, you CRIED?! You have a sweet, motherly heart. Hehe, I can be cruel with my characters, but I feel bad for them.
Happy (even later) Thanksgiving!!! I hope your day was lovely!
LOLZ. I doubt my poor, tortured characters would agree I have a sweet, motherly heart. XD But I DO feel for them…even as a ruin their lives. *cough*
I love it. I, too, get excited to decorate for Christmas–we do it on the day after Thanksgiving every year and *squeals* it just puts me in such a festive, happy mood! 🙂
So, yeah, I've not been good about keeping up these last couple weeks because of being busy. But I have been reading all your updates at some point or other. And I enjoyed every one. (They're never boring and always inspiring!)
YESSSS!!!! Christmas decorating is the BEST! 😀
Oh goodness, I understand! I'm so behind on things right now, it's getting ridiculous. Haha. But such is the nature of this time of year! And that's the sweetest you've been reading my updates. I'm so happy to hear you find them enjoyable and not boring! That makes me feel better. ^_^
HOW IS NANO ALMOST OVER??? *scrambles to write thousands of words*
And Happy (late) Thanksgiving!
I DON'T KNOOOOWWW. IT'S ALMOST OVER AND JUST WUT.
Happy (even later) Thanksgiving to you tooo! I hope yours was great! ^_^
I CANNOT BELIEVE NOVEMBER IS ALMOST OVER. o.O I'm over here cheering because it's that much closer to finishing the semester, but I don't know if I'd be cheering or wailing if I was doing NaNo… Either way, the end is in sight!
Aw, how fun that you got to see a ballet with your sister! It sounds like just the thing you needed, too.
Your review of Falling Snow was so good! I just picked it up last night and can't wait to devour the rest of it. <3 (Isn't it so surreal that OUR Skye is being published??)
Those moments when something just clicks in a story are the best! 😀
If/when I eventually get to meet Midas, I just know you're going to break my heart like you did in Burning Thorns. Yep. Not even going to be surprised. <3 And you've been doing an astoundingly wonderful job this month. Look at all those words! They're not the only point of it all, but still! And look at all the people you've spent time with and creativity-fuelling things you've done and work shifts you've completed and allll the things! In the midst of it all, you've been up to your eyeballs in the first-draft-adventure, finding joy in this messy process. YOU'VE GOT THIS. <333
ME EITHER. THIS IS INSANE JUST HOW??? But that is soooo exciting you're almost done with the semester. Aaaahhhh! You're so close!
Honestly, I don't know if I'm cheering or wailing about NaNo nearly being done. XD If I was actually nearly done with my story, I'd be cheering. Buuut since I've still got a ways to go, it just feels like NaNo is being prolonged. Lol. Still though, I'm loving my story so I guess I can't complain too much. ^_^
It was! We had a lovely evening!
OH YAAAY!!!!!! I'm so thrilled you're getting to read it! 😀 (And YESSS. I've been screaming about it since the day they announced she was one of the winners tbh. Surreal is the perfect word. I'm so beyond ecstatic!)
Definitely! I apparently didn't plot as much as I thought because this story keeps surprising me. XD But I like that! Keeps me on my toes. Lol.
Eheheheh. I'd honestly say Burning Thorns is a fluffy, lighthearted read compared to this one. o.o Idon'tknowwhatI'mdoing. But aaahhh, GIRL. I'm just over here grinning. "Finding joy in the messy process." I LOVE how you put that. It definitely hasn't been that way all the time. I've done a lot of moaning and complaining and wishing my story which just END (just ask my sister XD), but it HAS been an amazing time all around. I really wouldn't trade this time I've had with my characters for anything. Thank you for reminding me of that! I need to keep that mindset as I push to the end. You're such a blessing! <333
I so happy for you! I, too, had an Aha! moment this week. But mine was on Sunday (I guess that makes it not the same week) and I've made it rule not to write at all on Sundays. So, I quickly jotted it down so I wouldn't forget. But of course, it's so hard not to think about it once you have an idea. I was reading The Gospel Driven Life and one detail stuck out to me. That made everything in the whole trilogy click together and while it didn't effect the next scene I wrote or the one after that it is just plain awesome and I can't wait to incorporate it into the whole series! Congratulations on your epiphany! And with everything else, I'd say that's a pretty awesome week!
That is the BEST!!! Isn't it crazy how one little thing can just bring a whole story together? Writing really is a magical thing. I'm so happy you had a moment like that! 😀 And that's a reminder to me that I NEED to make time for reading during NaNo, because that's seriously where all the best inspiration comes from!
Thank you so much! And congrats to you too! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!
Ugh, I've been so bad at commenting on posts lately 😛 But YAY FOR YOU! This post is so encouraging–I love that you've gotten so much done! 😀
Oh, girl, you are fiiiine. I mean, it's NANO. You should see my poor inbox. It's a bloated, abandoned thing. XD So yeah, I get it!
BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! We are almost there, Faith. :O We've got thisss! *sends all the motivational cookies*
Congrats on all those words! And good luck with finishing your book <3 I know you'll get it done, and it'll be just as fabulous as always!
The Snow Queen looks like it was so much fun! I'm seeing the Aladdin musical in two nights, and I'm pumped. And I know exactly what you mean about recharging your creative batteries. I have a handful of authors I can always go to when I need the same thing, like Eoin Colfer and Richard Siken.
OKAY I HAVE A SMALL CONFESSION I haven't ever read any of the Rooglewood books?? Ahhhhhh. But I recently read some writing from one of the authors contributing to Five Poisoned Apples, and it was so good! So I'm thinking I might have to give it a try now…or at least Five Magic Spindles, which, upon further inspection, looks super intriguing as well.
Eleanor | On the Other Side of Reality
Awwww! Thank you, Eleanor! You're always so encouraging. <333
You're going to see the Aladdin musical??? :O AAAAAHHHHH!!!! THAT IS AWESOME. Have an amazing tiiime! 😀 And YES. It's so important to recharge. I love those authors that always do it for us. Although I don't think I've ever heard of Richard Siken. I need to look him up!
That's okay! I've actually yet to read Five Magic Spindles despite it sitting on my shelf! #fail But I DO recommend ALL the collections. They're so, SO good. If you like fairytale retellings, you're gonna love 'em!