NaNoWriMo 2019 | Week 2 (Days 8-14)

Week two is in the books! I was a little worried about this week because I thought I was losing steam, but I think the fact that I’m keeping myself accountable through these weekly posts, and my daily posts to Instagram Stories about my progress, is helping immensely. And because I really want to finish my novel this year! Next week is going to be a bit difficult since I have plans more nights than not, which means lots of early mornings and lunchtime writing! But I’ll get it done. (Hopefully. And if not, I’m way ahead of where I need to be so I can take a day or two off without falling completely behind.)

Here’s my week two report!

Day 8

• Goal: 2,000 words
• Actual: 2,555 words
• Things researched: most iconic BSC books

Y’all. Today was one of the first days when I was just bored by my story. I’ve had really good days and really hard days and today was neither of those. I was just… bored by writing. I’m not sure why, although the majority of the scenes I wrote today involved my character doing a lot of mundane tasks, so that’s probably why. It wasn’t about moving the romance along or the story arc – just a scene where my character was doing normal, daily life things. Who knows if I’ll even keep these scenes but they seem important to write for now. Hopefully, tomorrow’s writing will be a lot more fun!

Day 9

• Goal: 2,000 words
• Actual: 2,021 words
• Things researched: developmental delays, breakdown of generations, best high fantasy series

Today went much better than yesterday, although the scene I wrote is going to need a lot of work. I’m worried I made one of the characters a little too much of a caricature of a condescending white man, but maybe not! 😉 I’m also loving the scenes between my main character and her friends. They’re so fun to write! They require a lot of dialogue, but I love watching their personalities come to life!

I’m almost at 20k words written for the month, which is CRAZY! It’s amazing how much writing I can do when I’m focused. I was writing maybe 4-5k a MONTH previously. (And sometimes, not even close to that.)

Day 10

• Goal: 2,000 words
• Actual: 2,021 words (<– howwww did I write the same exact number as the day before?!)
• Things researched: bar stool bottom (I was drawing a blank on the word “footrest,” sigh), dumb trivia names, british literature trivia questions, british names

Oh boy, Sundays are going to be a tough writing day for me! I finished up my word count a little after 10:30 p.m. and am planning to wake up early tomorrow to do my writing… which is in less than seven hours. Eeks.

I spent part of the morning outlining the next few chapters of my novel and ooh, we’re getting to some good parts! I’m really excited about the next few scenes and everything my characters are going to get to experience. After coming home from spending the day at my mom’s watching football, I worked on my novel. It felt like it took FOREVER to get to my 2k word count goal, but I finally did it and now I am sooo ready for bed. No reading in bed for me tonight – it’s lights out in 3… 2… 1…

Day 11

• Goal: 2,000 words
• Actual: 2,044 words

Another early-morning writing session for me! And another day when writing just felt like a struggle. It felt like it took forever for me to get to 2,000 words. (At one point, I was certain I had to have hit my word count goal… and I was 500 words away. NOOOO.) This week, I stopped using a timer for getting my writing done. Instead, I’ve been trying to write to the end of the page and then give myself a tiny break. I think, though, it’s making the writing take much longer and be way more of a struggle. I’m definitely going back to the timer tomorrow!

Day 12

• Goal: 2,000 words
• Actual: 2,017 words

You guys, I was so tired today while I was writing. I woke up at 4:45AM so I could go to the gym for an early-morning BodyPump class and then had a full day at work. I got home around 6:30PM and it was pitch black outside and all I wanted to do was take a bubble bath and go to bed. Alas, I did not. Instead, I gave my kitties some love and then opened my laptop, set a timer for 30 minutes, and wrote. It was one of those writing sessions where I just kept thinking, “What are you even trying to write a novel? This is such a stupid goal. There are so many better ways to spend your time.” THANKS, BRAIN. Just what I need!

After the 30 minutes were up, I made dinner, ate, and then sat down to write. My plan was to write to the end of the page and then take a break, but when I got to the end of the page, I needed less than 250 words to hit my goal so I decided to keep writing. Finished right before 9 – woop! Done and done.

(Also, the second part of my writing time went MUCH better than the first part. Brain was surprisingly quiet! Maybe it just needed to eat? Heh.)

Day 13

• Goal: 2,000 words
• Actual: 2,040 words

I wrote the first 1k words before work, and it went fairly well. It wasn’t too much of a struggle to write, which was nice! I planned to finish the rest of it at night. I had a hair appointment after work so I got home around 7:30 and was so tired that I contemplated calling it ‘good’ for the day. I just wanted to eat dinner and go to bed. (I’m not sure if it’s all this creative output, the earlier mornings, or the time change, but I have been exhausted this week!) Alas, after eating, I had a burst of energy so I decided to write! I felt good about getting it done, much better than I would have felt if I hadn’t.

Day 14

• Goal: 2,000 words
• Actual: 2,080 words

I wrote all of these words before I started my workday (worked from home today). It went okay, but not as great as I hoped. Writing in the mornings has been a real struggle for me lately. There’s too much happening in my brain at that time – I’m concerned about my day and to-do list. At night, my brain is quieter and I’m in my wind-down phase so it’s easier to focus. At least, that’s how it seems to me.

I got distracted a lot this morning as I was trying to write, thinking about the arc of my novel and some of the dark moments that need to happen to get to the final conclusion. It made me feel like ripping my entire novel apart as I recognized some very big plot details I’ll need to include during revisions! Argh. Writing is such a goddamn struggle of the mind.

I reached the end of my plot timeline with this morning’s writing session, so I spent some time today writing a few more scenes for the novel. It’s all taking shape! I still have a long way to go, but I finally feel like I’ve hit the midpoint of my novel, and now’s the time to bring everything together. Exciting!

Total word count for week 2: 29,390 (59%)