Each week that goes by this month it gets just a little bit harder to keep up with the pace I’ve set for myself. By the end of this week I’ll have written over 40,000 words but I’ve been so busy writing that I haven’t really cashed in on my rewards. Better get on ordering some DVDs and another T-shirt. Oh, and I still need to take myself out to a nice lunch. On the bright side, I’m getting close to that 50,000 words mark!
Oh, but am I paying for it. The aches and pains in my hands and wrists continue. Mentally I am getting very fatigued. Good thing I wrote ideas down prior to November 1st because it really has saved me a lot of time.
One of the biggest highlights of this week was killing people. I enjoy killing people. On paper, that is. Well, at least when that person is a jerk and it’s during a battle. I didn’t enjoy it when the father of one of the main characters was discovered dead and I doubt I’m going to enjoy killing off the other main character’s brother.
Another highlight was writing a battle scene. I haven’t written one before so what I have at the moment is poorly written and contains more than a few errors. However, this is just a rough draft and I’m focusing more on getting the initial flow of the scene going. When I am revising I’ll be spending a lot of time reviewing the history and making sure I’ve got it as accurate as I can.
Despite the fatigue, I’m really, really enjoying myself. While I’ve struggled some days to get anything coherent down, I’ve been quite pleased with the overall quality. I’m truly excited to be writing this story once and for all. I’m even looking forward to revising it where I’ll get the opportunity to make it better.
As I’ve been writing, unexpected things turn up in my prose. For example, my male lead apparently found a box floating in the river when he was a kid. He kept it and stores very personal things in there. I hadn’t planned on having anything like that but as he ran off to his secret spot, this box just showed up.
Several days this month I’ve had more than one writing session a day. Compare this to last year when I would write in one 2 to 3 hour block of time and call it good; it was all my brain could handle. This year I’m finding I’ll write for a few hours in the afternoon, take a few hours off to make dinner, make an appearance in my husband’s life, watch some TV, and then go back to write more for another hour or two before calling it a night.
That juicy 50,000 words goal is staring me down this upcoming week. If I can keep up my pace, fueled by an overabundance of coffee, sugar, and caffeine, I should be able to meet it sometime around Friday. As I get closer that magical mark, I’ve been torn between which makes me the most excited: winning NaNoWriMo or the massage I plan to treat myself to. Probably the massage if I’m being truly honest. I don’t think I’ll really be able to relax entirely until the full rough draft is done.
DH Hanni 