Nanowrimo Update

We're now 11 days into Nanowrimo, so it seems like the perfect time to share an update about how it's going. First the bad news: I am about 10,000 words behind what my word count should be as of today. But the good news is I've had several great writing days lately, and I am still so in love with my story. The real reason I'm so behind is that I started 9 days late, so it's been quite a challenge to catch up! But when I consider that if I write 2100 words every day from now on, I'll make it, then it doesn't seem quite as scary.

Here's what I'm learning throughout this writing process so far:

Overlooking my "bad" writing is harder than I thought it would be.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I knew this part would be hard when I first decided to do Nanowrimo. Even though I know I'm not supposed to, I still go back and change words or sentences sometimes because I just can't help it! I hate leaving a scene if it doesn't sound the way I want it to. Having writing that doesn't flow well in my story is for some reason very discouraging to me. It makes me feel like I must be a terrible writer, though I know that isn't true. I'm learning though. My latest strategy is to simply italicize sentences I really don't like so I'll know what to come back to once Nano is over. Hopefully that'll give me a little peace of mind.

The best way to have a good writing day is to write even when I feel like it sucks.

I've noticed that when I write after I've posted blogs or even posts on other social media sites, my Nano writing tends to flow a lot better. I think this is because I've already gotten my mind into a "writing mode." So my new strategy for not-so-great writing days is going to be to blog, or write about something else for awhile to get my words flowing again.

Exposition is hard, especially for fantasy stories.

I think most writers have a strength and a weakness, and my strength is usually dialogue. I love writing scenes where characters interact because they tend to flow pretty smoothly for me. But the scenes where I'm establishing setting or a background story are always so much trickier for me. I've grown up with the idea that less is more when it comes to exposition, but I know it's still necessary to include details to really make scenes come to life. It's definitely something I'm still working on, but I'm trying not to stress about it too much and keep focusing on my word count goal.

If you're participating in Nanowrimo, let me know how it's going for you. What have been your greatest challenges so far, and how are you working to overcome them?

No matter what, I know you can do it! We've got twenty more days of this madness, but I know it's going to be so worth it. :)

#writing #2015