Nanowrimo - Day 5

Technically today is day 5 of the annual writing challenge Nanowrimo also known as NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth. If you participate from the beginning to the end and only do the minimum for each day to reach the 50,000 word goal you would produce 1667 words per day and today you would cross off the first 8835 words. I am not there.

I am not even close to there. I am working on my first thousand words because I was unable to write the first 4 days. I have been brainstorming and am doing my best to at least reach somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 before I head off to my day job and will do my best to add at least as much before I go to bed tonight. I have never been one to follow the amount for the day and with the exception of last year when battling two jobs and some major health issues, I have also never been one to quit.

My first year I worked on a story I had kept inside for nearly a decade. It was great to have the push of the words count updater and doing the online groups to keep me motivated. The second year I didn't have any ideas of what to write. I didn't make the decision to participate until November 8th officially and by then I searched through a folder of writing snippets I jot down to use from time to time and found a short story I wanted to extend into a full length novel. I managed to finish with a few days to spare although it has present ed trouble for me in the editing and rewrite process and is still collecting dust on my shelf.

The next year I was working on the first book in a series. I had been driving back from a camping trip and was so connected with the main character she took control of me and told me the entire outline of the first book. It was so intense I had to pull over for lunch and write it all out on napkins. That was in the middle of the summer and I was chomping at the bit all autumn until November 1st to get to work on that story. The last two years I participated I ave worked on books 1 and 2 in my voices series. Last year I attempted to do book 3 but as I mentioned there were reasons I couldn't. This year I am doing tok 3 instead. With any luck I will complete book 4 when Nanowrimo is done and the series will be complete.

I know people who as sticklers for doing the word count for the day, starting on time, and not venturing outside the parameters much at all but there are a number of ways to be successful and even if you don't hit 50,000 words by the end of the month and instead only get to 30,000 or so that is still so much further than you started out. it is about being passionate and dedicated and celebrating any successes you accomplish.