When I was getting ready for NaNoWriMo this year, I enjoyed coming up with ideas for things to ‘write fast’ about. I know that I like to bounce from idea to idea when the words are flowing, so I wanted a wide variety of topics. My plan was to write 5,000 words on 8-10 days during November, not all at the beginning.
I used to wake up at four in the morning on November first to begin writing. I didn’t do that this year, but I did feel like I wanted to get started in the morning, rather than going through my normal routines of naming four things I was grateful for, a page in my journal, Duo Lingo, morning stretches before showering. I did the gratitude writing, then got my laptop. Even though I wasn’t trying to write 5,000 words on the first day, I felt the urge to get some words down before starting my regular day. Not that the day was regular. We went to the beach. One of the many things I love about moving to eastern Pennsylvania a year and a half ago is that we’re close to the ocean. Ocean City is two and a half hours from our house. We heading there on November 1st, after we each had a morning video meeting. We arrived in time for an afternoon zoom meeting. And time for a walk on the beach.
I was proud of myself for only writing 1000 words on November 1 since it wasn’t a 5K day. I often get caught up in trying to write a lot at the beginning, but I knew I wanted to write 5000 words on Wednesday, so once I had a reasonable amount and had worked on a good scene for my series, I did other stuff on the first. I’m also pleased that I decided to go for 5000 words Wednesday and Thursday and then on Friday to only write a little.
I had planned to write 5K words while in Cleveland on two days. Since book 6 in my series will open in Cleveland, my plan was to gather description and locale information. I placed a character’s extended family in Cleveland partly because we had been there many years ago, and I wanted them to be near Chicago but not too close. Cleveland fit the bill. And, I do like writing characters that are from the Midwest.
I never experienced before the pleasure of only pushing yourself occasionally during November. I used to write a much as I could every day until I finished the first draft of my novel. (Or on a couple of occasions, until I finished the first draft of two novels.) Then I had a couple of years of being a rebel but that never felt as satisfying as writing to achieve a high word count.
I finished my first draft of French Fix—on Wednesday the second week of November. Since it took 1500 words to finish it, I was glad I didn’t try to finish it the previous night. I’m not crazy about the ending, but then I’m often not. Sometimes I start a novel knowing the last line. I thought that was the case this time, but decided against ending where I thought I was going to. Once I finished book five, I was free to tackle my list of writing projects. I managed to write 50,000 words even though our plans changed and we didn’t go to Cleveland.
I discovered that I can write 5,000 words while in the car. It’s been a long time since I wrote more than just a few hundred while in the car.