Coffee-Stained Pep Talk: Week One

We are at the end of the first week of NaNoWriMo, and word counts should be at around 11,669 for those adhering to the 1,667 words per day model.  If you're not there, don't worry.  It's only the end of week one, and there was a considerable distraction on Tuesday.

Many who participate in NaNo refer to this first week as the "honeymoon."  Being the first week of writing, many are excited, and are sure that if they keep pushing through (which they surely will), they'll exceed the 50,000-word goal in no time.  And why wouldn't they keep writing more than 2,000 words a day?  After all, it's NaNo, and their ideas are so brilliant, writing will be a breeze!

Well, tomorrow (Saturday) marks the first day of week two.  And I hate to bring you down, but things are going to change during week two.  Maybe you'll have a busy day so you'll only get 1,500 or 1,000 or 500 words.  Maybe you'll look at what you've already written and decide it's not really working as the beginning of a novel.  Maybe you'll think you can just take a few minutes to edit what you've written before you move on to new writing.  No matter how it happens, you'll probably find that you'll slow a little.  You'll find yourself dragging to get to 15,000 words.  And you may look at the task ahead and regret ever clicking on that blue logo on the right side of my blog.

I'm here to tell you not to give up.

You may think 50,000 words in 30 days is impossible, but it's not.  All it takes is the willpower to sit down in front of your computer (or notebook) and keep writing.  All it takes is the desire to finish.

Chris Baty and the group of friends who decided ten years ago to challenge themselves to write a full-length novel in 30 days did it because they were tired of waiting for the right time to write a novel.  Well, guess what.  Now is the time.  If you've gotten to 11,669 words, you're right on target.  If you've gotten to 10,000 words, you're well on your way.  If you've even written 5,000 words in the first week, you're writing a novel!  So why do you think now, after this first glorious week of writing, that you can't do it?

Part of this experience is to teach writers to quash their Inner Editor for a bit.  There will be time for editing, but this month is for writing.  And hard as it may be to write, unhindered by the superfluous apostrophes, glaring plotholes, or lack of contractions to help you make word count, it's important to remember that this month is not about writing the next great American novel, it's about simply writing a novel.

So keep writing.  Keep writing.  Keep writing.

You'll get there.  I believe in you.  Take a little time each day to work on your NaNo novel.  And little by little your word count will climb.  Before you know it, you'll be within sight of 20,000 words.  After that, you'll hit 25,000, and you'll realize you're halfway there.  Keep writing after that because you'll eventually hit 50,000 words.

And when you do, I'll be here, and we'll both head over to the Cantina for a drink.

Happy scribbling!

NP (13,000 words and counting)