I use a nerdy nifty little Excel spreadsheet for tracking my progress with NaNoWriMo. (Disclaimer: I did not create the spreadsheet. But, to whoever did, thanks!)
I like charts and graphs. Maybe collecting the data appeals to the former-engineer part of me, but seeing the stark reality of my progress with NaNoWriMo is a mixed blessing.
3 steps forward, 3.02 steps back
As of Day 10, I’m at 16,199 words — only 471 words short of my target. The funny thing is, I average more than 1,600 words per hour, so it isn’t as if NaNoWriMo is that big of a time commitment. Yet, I still have to overcome a reluctance to sit down and do it!
The challenge isn’t in typing the words. No, the challenge is all the crap that goes on in my head:
- Resisting the almost overwhelming urge to go back and edit that terrible, run-on, borderline-nonsensical sentence I just wrote.
- Writing all the words that pop into my head because they add to my word count, even though 90% of them are unnecessary.
- Finding ideas for the next step in the story.
- Worrying that I’ll run out of ideas for the next step in the story.
- Knowing that there is a document on my computer that contains writing so embarrassingly bad. (Well, at least one document.)
- Fearing that the awfulness of what I’m writing is because my ability to write just plain sucks.
- Wondering what the heck I’m doing this for.
The good news is that, once I actually start writing, it isn’t that hard to keep writing for an hour. And, since my “story” is a sort of horror/fantasy/mystery/love story with serial killers, witches and supernatural creatures, it’s actually been kind of fun.
What are your challenges for NaNoWriMo? What are your successes?