NaNoWriMo Update #1

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."--Ernest Hemingway

"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."--W. Somerset Maugham

"Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been in a different place with totally different people."--Roald Dahl
 
Day 5
Just short of bleeding, I have survived days 1 through 4 fairly unscathed. I found out early just how hard to overcome my compulsion to edit immediately would be. I sat at the computer for hours, just to complete my daily goal of 1,667 words. On day 3, this past Sunday, I had a hectic schedule, which limited my word count for the day to around 700 words (about 967 words short), which left a busy day 4 to make up the deficit. I did it though! My goal now is to work ahead, so I can have a cushion for days like day 3.

Now that we are on day 5, my mind focuses more on the larger story than on the minute details. Over the last five days, I have told myself: Let it go! I'll fix it later! It has not hindered my editing abilities, thank goodness, but it has enabled me to write longer pieces in a short amount of time, to get more words on the page faster. However, even at the end of 30 days, my story will desperately need rearranging, elaborating in some spots, cutting some parts altogether, and some serious spring cleaning. My typical writing style still serves me well, but I am expanding my repertoire of styles to include long fiction.

Now that I am getting past growing pains, I am starting to enjoy this!

Tracy and I counted the number of words from a random page in a mass market paperback and came to around 250 words per page. My total word count currently is 8,419. That's 17 pages in Word and 33 mass market paperback pages. By the end of the month, I will have at least 200, a modest novel, but still a novel.

Only 25 more days to go!