November is National Writing Month. This month is a personal challenge to write 50,000 words between the first and thirtieth of November. That’s an average of 1,666.66 words per day. According to the NaNoWriMo blog, 402,000 people participated in 2017. Well, this year, I decided to participate. This is a daunting challenge. Since I’m a slow writer, it means stepping up my word count. My routine is 500 words, 5 times a week. That’s only 2,500 words per week, 10,000 per month. To compare, the NaNoWriMo challenge means 10,000 every six days. On Wednesday, the first week ended. So, how did I do?

For six straight days, I met the daily goal of 1,667 word count. I did a month’s worth of work in six days. Wednesday night, I sat at the keyboard and started to write. I had just begun a new chapter, a new point of view. Before sitting down to write, I did some mental outlining. Here’s where the character is, and there’s where the character needs to be. I got two paragraphs in before I fell asleep at the keyboard. I needed a break. With work, cooking, taking care of the pets, I was exhausted. So, I learned that I need to plan a break into my schedule. Reflecting on the week, I saw a few other lessons that will help me.

Lessons

1. Planning what I want to write before sitting down has helped me get more words out. I have Rachel Aaron and her 2,000 to 10,000 for this idea. It’s helped me improve my word count drastically.
2. Plan downtime between the day job and writing. At the end of the day, writing a novel means a dramatic mental shift. Engineering and creating fiction have some similarities but not enough to create a continuum between the two. During a night class a few years ago, the professor led class in a small meditation before a writing exercise. Just five minutes before writing creates a break between the rest of the day and writing time.
3. I created a little grid in my journal, and when I hit my daily writing goal, a box in the grid is colored in. This visual reminder of my progress inspires me to keep going. Looking at it makes me proud of what I’ve accomplished so far. Even if I don’t hit the final goal, I’ve done the most work I’ve ever done.