In pursuit of 50,000: NaNoWriMo 2021, Week Three
I did it.
Photo by @brett_jordan from Unsplash.
“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”
Well, mostly. I did it mostly.
I won NaNoWriMo last week, in a sprint to the finish that felt like a little death of sorts, but not in the French way. More as if I’ve lost a piece of me I’ve been holding in my body for over a year now, and even though I hit the 50,000-word mark, I still have more to lose.
Let’s do a rundown of last week’s stats:
Total Word Count: 51,076
Page Count: 158
As you can see, I slowed down pretty substantially, considering I wrote something like 25,000 words in the first week. This past week, I’ve only written about 7,000 words, which is fine, obviously, since I won NaNoWriMo about two weeks ahead of schedule. But I still have an entire third part of the novel to plan and write.
So I suppose that’s the question, right? What comes next? Well, typically in the novel-writing journey, once I finish, I’ll set the book aside for about two weeks, maybe a month. I won’t look at it, I’ll try to abstain from thinking about it even, and then, once that period is up, I’ll begin the editing process.
I’ll go through several rounds of editing, all for different purposes, which I’ll talk about more in-depth once I actually get to that process, and then I’ll either send it off to beta readers or a real editor, depending on my finances, and eventually, I’ll begin the querying and submitting process.
While my head isn’t necessarily in this spot at the moment, since I’m more concerned about actually finishing the novel, it feels good knowing that I’m further along in the process than I was only two weeks before.
So what are some lessons I’ve learned?
Don’t force the story. Force the words, for sure, but don’t force the story. If there are holes in the story or places where more information could be added, that’s for a separate reading and another draft.
It’s okay to feel down on yourself and your writing. There are going to be ups and downs in the writing journey, as there will be any aspect of life. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. It just means it’s the first draft. Don’t let the downs discourage you.
Goals for next week:
Finish planning the third part of the novel. Maybe write a few thousand more words.
Take a break. For goodness sake, I’m exhausted.
How are you guys doing if you’re participating in NaNoWriMo? If you’re interested in reading a small excerpt from my WIP, I’ll be sharing it on my Patreon later this month, exclusive for the $12/month subscribers. For all subscription tiers, I’ve also released my monthly short story. If you subscribe now at the $7/month subscription tier, you’ll receive a letter next month with a handwritten poem. Be sure to sign up or let me know if you’re interested in another tier or item offer.
Happy Thanksgiving if you’re in the States, and until next week!
