I’m a total rebel this year for NaNoWriMo, so am counting time spent, not words. I’m mainly reading, with a little writing, but deliberately don’t want to count my usual writing because my normal writing is going well and I don’t want NaNo to affect that. But, based on the discussion at the Naperville Region kick-off, I’m at 2,000 (2 hours) on day one because of NaNo. And, it’s going very well.
So much for my idea that I wouldn’t win this year. I can do 50 hours of reading to write, although it does take effort. I had intended to read for 20-30 minutes, and come up with one or two lines that were worth recording and writing based off of it. Now, I’m reading about 4 literature books at the same time, looking for stuff of note. I even skim-read a Steven King novel. (I dislike horror.)
NaNo stuff makes the time pass. My daughter said that she missed how NaNo made the month go by quickly. That’s a factor in my doing it. And in looking for a bit of community as winter starts.
Here’s an example. From John Hersey’s A Bell for Adano: “the small fellow in the gang who always stood behind the boss and who always took the rap.” From that, I wrote: He shifted uneasily like the two-bit criminal who was always left facing the police after a botched job.
I had a brilliant idea while walking in the forest preserve on how to make things worse for Estelle in French Fix, so it was a good time to let the idea percolate. (Her baby could be Raoul’s, not the sperm donor’s.) It certainly would make things worse for her—and she was married to Raoul at the time she got pregnant, and he was willing to believe the baby was his until his obnoxious son stepped in. So, it’s almost like I was thinking this all along. 🙂