Today, I am compelled to speak briefly about the presidential election here in the United States of America. I know many people are disappointed with this year’s choices (some of us are still salty over Bernie losing), but if you are eligible and able to do so, then please get out there and vote! I won’t tell you who to vote for; I just ask that you look at the facts and vote your conscience.

PLEASE VOTE

Alright, I promised an update on my progress with NaNoWriMo. Due to the beginning of the month starting on a weekday, I had already known that I was in for a rough start. I only wrote 1,200 of my 2,000 words goal on the first day. On the second day, I managed to write a measly 200 words, then nothing more for the following three days. I wasn’t so concerned at this point because I knew that I would have five whole days dedicated entirely for purpose of working on my story. However, sometimes plans get interrupted. Late last week I was gifted with a cold, so my head has been cloudy in these past few days. I am already a chronic daydreamer and get easily distracted from my writing, so my natural shortcomings and the challenge of managing a cold left me with the inability to focus on any task for more than a few minutes. By the end of Saturday, I had only written about 2,000 words.

Coming into Sunday morning, I was starting to lose my drive. I mean, I had spent my ENTIRE Saturday sitting in bed, staring at my laptop screen, with only 600 words to show for it. I was desperate to pump out more words, but I didn’t want to spit out a bunch of meaningless drivel. So, I went to the NaNoWriMo website and tried a couple of word sprints. I hadn’t tried them before, as I was afraid that they would take me too far away from the path that I thought I was on. I was completely wrong about word sprints. I am now a firm believer in them, as I had managed to write over 6,000 words that day AND improved my plot.

After so much productivity on Sunday, I gave myself a little bit of a break yesterday. I still wrote 1,400 words, but I took a lot of breaks. I also took a lot of time to listen to what my characters have been trying to tell me, rather than force them into a particular direction. Part of my problem was that a couple of my characters have been terribly weak, so my story has been stagnant. Now that I’m finally figuring this out, I’m starting to find my rhythm and what works for me.

I’m currently sitting at 9,466 words. I still have a long way to go, and I may not meet the overall goal of 50,000 words by the end of November, but I am more confident that I have a better story than when I started this journey.

How about any of you? How has your NaNoventure been so far?

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