How has Week Two treated you? Was this a week in which you sprinted ahead? Was this a week that kind of kicked your butt? Either way, remember that whatever your word count is right now, it's higher than it was on October 31st and even November 1st.
Something that tends to happen to me around this time is that I realize how, exactly, I'm writing. I think about the words as I'm putting them on the page. I realize the words, phrases, and sentences aren't...great. Well, aren't even good, if we're being honest. It's then that my word count slows. I forget about the just-get-words-on-the-page-to-get-in-the-habit-of-writing part of NaNo and slip back into the every-phrase-must-be-bestselling-list-worthy hang-up many writers experience.
It's the Inner Editor. Mine looks something like a snooty college professor. She reads what I wrote over my shoulder, peeking over her librarian-esque glasses, shaking her head silently, jabbing her ink-stained finger at something that sticks out. As hard as I've tried to banish her to the local library, she finds her way back to my desk eventually. And if she's been away, she's all the more critical of my writing.
She's trying to keep me from hitting 25,000 words. That's the current magical number we all need, isn't it? 25,000 are "due" by the 15th, a mere two days away.
Speaking from experience, let me tell you that once you hit 25,000 words, it gets easier. By that point, you know your characters, you know your story, and you can just roll with a world you've established in the first half of the story.
So keep writing, little by little, as you seek to cross that halfway point.
And if you don't hit 25,000 words by the 15th, it's okay. Just keep writing. Remember: you're not behind. You're just pacing yourself.
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