NanoWrimo

I’m working on the sequel to Fish Out of Water, tentatively titled Red Fish, Dead Fish, and it’s about 75K in. The first one was 95K, I think this one will be about the same, so, yeah–almost done– yay!

Uh, of course, the point of Nano is to write 50K words in a month–and yes, I do this most months. This year, for some reason, I’m a little behind–I’ll be at about 550K by the end of the year. Most years I make 600-750. Either A. Old age is catching up with me, B. I made two more trips this year than I’d been planning, C. I had a LOT of editing this year that I didn’t have last year, or D. I’ve been making a concerted effort to clean the house and make that a priority because I’m going to be stuck here for a while.

I’m thinking it’s E. All of the above.

Anyway– 50K a month is a solid, productive working schedule for me–I’m happy with that.

But here’s the thing–

When you’re always writing–and always have a project underway–starting a novel on Nov. 1st and finishing on Nov. 30 isn’t always possible even if you make the word count–even if you make more!  (For instance, I’m going to be at about 55K tonight–so, more!)

Some people are finishing one project and starting another in the middle of the month.

Some people have already started a long project and are working on the middle.

Now I’ve done both–this is the seventh time I think I’ve entered and won, so I’ve got my ways of keeping track of what I’m entering.

In this case, the words “emotional coma” were only used once in the entire manuscript. I’d go back to where those words were used–that was where I started writing on Nov. 1st–and select from that part of the manuscript on.

So, I’d like scroll down.

50,000 words of just… scrolling.

Took over a minute.

I’d lose track of how many micronaps I took in between.

I’d start applying moisturizer, doing my hair,  cleaning my desk with my other hand, all while I scrolled down the remainder of my work so I could enter it.

The night I won… I entered what I’d written three times.

The first time, I was five-hundred words short.

The second time I was seventy-two words short.


The third time, I made it.

But I began thinking while I was scrolling that last time (because it’s a MINUTE of just SCROLLING, and I got BORED) that this was a curious hoop to use to test a person’s stamina.

It sort of made me wish I could just BAM start one book on November 1st and work until the end.

For no other reason than to push Windows + A/ Windows + C/ Windows +V and have the whole thing done.

Maybe next year.

For now?  I’m just glad I’m done.