I had an almost out-of-body experience today. I sprinted 10,102 words in 6 and a half hours. Normally, I get about 600 max every 20 minutes but I was consistently getting 700+. 900+ even toward the end.
As some of you know, I had sprinted a novella last week. It was a project I had been wanting to do, so I decided to do it even though I knew that to get my NaNo badge the conventional way, I would have to start over from zero.
So I did, today, after frittering away the morning looking up stuff on social media. I am wondering how much more I could have accomplished had I started earlier. In the same token, I am glad I didn’t overtax my brain. Sprinting, especially at those high numbers, is intense brain work. I might not be exhausted physically, but I sure feel drained after a long sustained period of writing.
Though right now, I am on a writer’s high. This is a Christmas story that I wanted to add to my cowboy romance series lineup, and if I can sustain this pace this week, I will be on track to actually getting it out before Christmas.
As usual, I like to reflect on what worked for me and what doesn’t, so here are some of my observations:
1.Although I didn’t start out with an outline, I had a pretty clear idea of what the story will be about. Also, I knew the character from earlier books in the series. I mentally divided the story by 10K sections. As in, “So here I am a fifth of the way, and I need to hit this mark.” Tomorrow, I will attempt another 10K day, and most likely will have another plot goal or beat by the 20K mark.
2.NaNoWriMo is sure brilliant. Having to come up with lots of words in a short period of time really encourages me to turn that internal editor off. Lately, I had been writing 30K word novellas for a while, which means I tend to reign in my wordcount some, in my zest to finish the thing. But now that I know I have to come up with 50,000 by the week’s end, I am allowing scenes to develop more fully. It’s satisfying; I feel like my characters have a lot more depth.
3.Of course I need to re-read my stuff at the end of the week, but I feel like these are good words. Words that will stay with my story.
4.I switched up where I was writing today. My puppy is being a bit of a naughty pill nowadays, where she paws at me if she wants attention. I moved so that I am on a bar stool in the kitchen and faced away from my usual place. I think that little change also signaled to my writer’s brain that I am somewhere new and exciting. I definitely stayed awake, sitting upright on a stool with no back. 😀
5.Tonight, I might look up some research about dog training. But otherwise, I will take the night off and rev up again for tomorrow.
How did you guys do today, the first day of a new week?
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