In pursuit of 50,000: NaNoWriMo 2021, Week Two
They really weren’t kidding about the week two blues, huh?
Photo by @steve_j from Unsplash.
“Who will be lost in the story we tell ourselves? A story, after all, is a kind of swallowing.”
After a strong showing in week one of the infamous NaNoWriMo, I’m starting to get worn down by the week two blues. I’m still writing every day, but there’s definitely been a huge decline in quality — not to mention inspiration.
I’m still on track to finish — way on track — but it’s getting more frustrating to write. Even writing right now, I feel uninspired. I’m tempted to put down the metaphorical pen and just…ya know…avoid writing. See?? The words, they just aren’t coming.
But, luckily, I’m definitely not alone in this NaNoWriMo phenomenon. If writers quit NaNo, it’s usually during this week, where we’re facing the fast-paced burnout of writing 2,000 words a day with no end in sight, with the holidays quickly turning the corner, but not quickly enough to give us hope.
For me, it’s less that I don’t feel like I won’t finish. It’s not that my story is stale. It’s that my writing isn’t flowing. I’ve been feeling like this for a while, and it’s frustrating for me. For as long as I can remember, even my first drafts have been chock full of poetic language, of winding sentences that leave even me, the author, breathless.
Me to myself. From The Good Place.
In short, I feel like I’ve lost my spark. The thing that makes me unique as a writer, that contributes to my voice, that is, in a way, my signature.
Yes, as Eleanor Shellstrop would say, “Ya basic.” But me to me. Yep. Sigh.
But, surprisingly and for whatever reason, I’m not discouraged by this. My voice and my signature, they’re a work in progress. They’ll change as I grow as a writer. Hell, if my signature had stayed the same since eighth grade, I’d still be signing my last name with a treble clef, smdh.
So, don’t let the week two blues get you down, however they might be getting you down. We’re working through this together, and, remember, the whole point of NaNoWriMo is simply to start. Because if you don’t start, you won’t have something to sign in the first place.
Here are my total stats, as of 9 AM EST Sunday, November 14:
Word Count: 43,419
Page Count: 136
Remaining Words Needed: 6,581
Words Per Day Needed: 479
Average Words Per Day: 3,339
Days Remaining: 17
As you can see, I’m SO close to hitting that 50,000-word goal. I went into November, though, with only the first two parts of my book planned, and with the hope that they’d each be 25,000 words so I wouldn’t have to go blind into part three. Alas, I finished part two on Friday, and now I’m scrambling to add in more details to both part one and two so they’re each 25,000 words. It’s a much more laborious process, though, and more time consuming, to add in words than it is to free write them.
We’ll see how it goes, though. Here are some things I learned from this hellishly long week:
Give yourself grace when you need to. Writing for two or three hours per day is harder than it sounds and drains you quicker than you think it will.
Follow inspiration. If it deviates from your plan, oh well. Do it anyway.
Write shitty sentences. Write choppy sentences. Write sentences that make no sense and you’ll have to delete later on because you have no idea what you were trying to say. Write them. Because at least you’ll have gotten them down. You can’t fix a blank page.
Goals for next week:
Hit 50,000!!!
Plan part three, if only for my sanity. Begin writing part three.
Don’t dread the writing sprints. They’re on the calendar for a reason; they don’t exist to torture you.
Drink more water, again, please, for the love of god, drink more water.
Phew. How did week two go for you? Any tips or tricks for week three? Let us know in the comments!
I also just published my monthly short story on Patreon. My monthly short stories are available at all tiers, but soon I’ll be offering a very special deal for my patrons at the $7/month and $12/month tiers…stay tuned. ;)
