NaNoWriMo Day 22
Current Word Count: 44,177/50,000
We're three weeks in and only have one week left! It's hard to believe we've made it this far and the finish line is in sight. I'm actually very surprised that I've remained above the my word goal everyday and I hope to finish before I go visit my family this weekend.
I've tried a couple of new things this year that have helped me so much. The first one is a write-in. Typically, when I've gotten together with friends to write, we just drank a lot of wine and got absolutely no writing done, but, as usual the WriMos are a different breed. I've had two group write-ins at a local bookstore and at both meetings I went well beyond my word goal. At the first write-in I doubled it and achieved 3,700 words. AT this second one, I stayed the full time of four hours and got in over 7000 words. My best writing day ever, word count wise at least.
I also started doing personal word sprints. I've done group sprints before which have been helpful, but I hadn't imagined how great they would be to do on my own. It's been especially helpful on busy days or days I've been too tired so sit down and try to write well. I set my timer for ten minutes, tell my husband to leave me alone, and write furiously. The best I've done is 610 words in ten minutes, but it's usually around 500. It doesn't sound like much, but if you keep at it, you get in 2000 words in less than an hour. Not too bad!
I know a lot of people will hit some roadblocks this week as the holidays and family monopolize our time. Just remember that NaNoWriMo is good fun and it's a great way to challenge yourself, but it's not worth making yourself miserable, especially during what should be a vacation for you. Make time for you this week, go to bed early, sleep in, spend an hour just sitting around the table with friends or family, eat a big meal, watch TV. Your words will be there when you get back to your routine on Monday.