Well I have survived almost a full week of the NaNoWriMo challenge. I have to say, so far it hasn’t been too bad. I know it’s still really early in the month and the novelty (pardon the pun) of this challenge has yet to wear off.
I am glad that this year I went into the challenge with a lot more planning and knowledge than I had the last time I tried (and subsequently failed) this challenge. I have already found that what works best for me is to set a timer for one hour and just write. No distractions allowed. I have also discovered that I don’t let myself weasel out of not only writing, but hitting my daily word count goal.
I think the pace of NaNo is attainable as long as you don’t let yourself have a day to slack off–no matter how hard that inner voice begs!
Again, I know this is big talk considering we’re just closing in on the first week, but I feel like this writing experience could alter the way I write in the future. I won’t lie, I’ve already had a couple days where I think, I could just skip writing today and catch up tomorrow. Or where I write about 900 words and I think I just can’t write anymore. Yet, I haven’t allowed myself the luxury of quitting that easily.
If I continue to write and meet these daily goals for thirty days, then I’ll show myself that I can write, whether I feel like it or not, when there’s something else vying for my attention, or when the words feel like they just won’t come. I’m learning that I can write every day. No excuses.