Halfway through NaNoWriMo

It appears that I’ve written 28,000 words in 16 days, which is 103 pages double-spaced in Times New Roman Size 12 font. The religious need to pound out ~1700 words a day has been incredibly difficult, involving a lot of staring at the screen trying to think of what to write when you know that you can’t leave until you get something down.

On the other hand, it’s been very liberating. Personally I’ve had some difficulty not comparing myself to grander works that I greatly respect. I seem to have reached a point where I (think) can see many of the problems and holes inherent in what I write, and I want to fix them right away. This perfectionist mentality is crippling, to say the least, because it is far from possible to fix all of these issues at once, or even on the first try. Therefore when NaNoWriMo puts a metaphorical gun to my head and says, “Just write, dammit!” I forget a lot of that extraneous stuff. I accept that yes, this is a first draft and no, it’s not going to be gold the first time around. And the words start flowing.

It’s been great  to finally write some of the material I’ve wanted to get down for almost two years now, instead of making up excuses for why I can’t or shouldn’t. I suppose I’m in a good space to be doing NaNoWriMo right now, having just finished my degree and on a fairly slack work schedule. However, I did go on a trip and late visits with family equated to late-night writing sessions which left me pretty exhausted. In general, the lengthy time spent sitting was also not good. My hips and spine are not kind to me when I sit for these long periods (no, it’s not your everyday pain, and yes, I’m young) which makes me wonder sometimes if the things I love doing, like writing, reading, playing cello and video games are pleasures I might have to forsake as my illness progresses. I hope that I can find a balance between exercise and the sitting I need to do the things I love.

I’ll try to find that balance in the next half of the month, but it may be a challenge with this frantic word pace. Wish me luck! The Sun of Noumenon is going to form before the month is out.

3 Comments on “Halfway through NaNoWriMo

    • I’ve actually thought about doing just that several times! 😉 Actually, a good solution was presented to me in an unrelated coincidence by a friend. There’s some speech recognition software called Dragon (Dragon Naturally Speaking or Dragon Dictates for PC or Mac, respectively) that is apparently excellent at transcribing what you say and learning new words, etc. to make it possible to write without even using a keyboard! I knew that such things probably existed but hadn’t known anyone who had used one until recently. It’s a bit pricey but I’ll start saving my change in a piggy bank.

      • Oh goodness.I totally love that line: Each November, I think longingly of all the artsy, motivated writers adjusting their wire-rims and churning out page after page of latte-inspired prose. SO true!I feel the same way.Ahhh.(groan of frustration)Maybe someday. Oh well.

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