Space Station Mir

This year, I hit not quite 29k. Better than last year, but no 50,000 word win. I'm not feeling as disappointed as last year, however. As opposed to last year, I didn't restrict myself only to the novel, and so I've written a number of shorter pieces that I could edit and publish. Plus, I've learned that I need more research, and have a better idea of the details I need to finish.  NaNoWriMo has been helpful in getting me to just write, and I realize that, even if 1, 667 words a day is unrealistic for my life right now, 500 or so daily words are achievable.  I'm looking forward to writing more for the rest of this month and in 2018. The adventure continues. 

It's Day 24 (secret Day 26), and I'm over 26k, already better than I did last year . However, I don't think I will hit the 50k goal. This writing process has been messier and less productive, but it's taught me that I can write in a "pants" as well as "plan" style, although my hypothesis that planning works better for me remains supported. After this month is over, I plan to see if my hypothesis that I needed more research for this project is accurate. I'm not sure how much I will need, but one month of research was clearly not enough. Three months? Perhaps. I've found that updating my word count is extremely motivating for me. Competing for my personal best compels me. When the word counter ends on Nov. 30, I'll try tracking number of research hours, since hour-tracking is a new option on the WriMo dashboard. As all the motivational messages sent to my inbox remind me, at the end of the month, I'll have more words written tha...

Day 6 of NaNoWriMo (really, Day 8, for me), and I'm up to 11, 112 words. I'm writing in bits and pieces, and I don't know what's coming each day, so it's a much more nerve-wracking process than the first time around, but it's working so far. Below is a picture of my research books, all nonfiction from my novel's time period, with the exception of The Book Thief , which I've meant to read for years, and now turned out to be the perfect moment. My favorite of the nonfiction so far is Victims and Neighbors, a study of the surviving Germans and Jews from one small town in Germany: the author's grandparents' hometown. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the subject.

Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts hosted by Bookishly Boisterous 1. I'm planning to start NaNoWriMo this weekend since Nov. 1 is a Wednesday. However, although I did a fair amount of research (I'll add a pic of my research stack later), I'm feeling anxious because I didn't finish 50,000 words last year. 2. I'm continuing the same historical novel from last year, but also have a couple of other writing projects in mind just to stimulate word count. However, although I finished my first NaNoWriMo with 50,000 words, finished the novel in under three months, and hardly even felt blocked, maybe this model doesn't work for this kind of book for me.  It was so cool for me to be like --OMG I can just WRITE a novel--but maybe I have to realize that I won't always be able to just bang out a novel! 3. I'm reading The Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa'Thiong'o right now, and I unfortunately forgot it for lunch today, and can't wait to get back to...

Yesterday was the last day of NaNoWriMo 2016. I hit over 25,000 words. That was not my original goal for the month: I was aiming for the traditional NaNo goal of 50,000 words in 30 days. However, a little bit more than halfway through, I evaluated my progress and decided to change my goal to 25k. I'm proud of reaching my secondary goal, and I think I did a good job, considering. However, I'm still a little bummed that I didn't hit 50k like I did last year, and I want to figure out why. First, I've had less time to devote to it this year since my work schedule is different. Second, I wrote historical instead of contemporary fiction, and did less research instead of more, due to the aforementioned different work schedule. Third, though, it wasn't my first rodeo. Last year, I was motivated to win my first NaNoWriMo. I followed my scheduled writing plan exactly, and I got a huge head start, finishing 4k in the first day alone. I've been reading Gretc...

My novel is finished. 77, 704 words. 190 pages. Just under three months. It's not good. It's not edited. It will likely never see the light of day. But it is finished. Thank you, Snowzilla, Snowpocalypse 2016, or Snowmageddon 2: Snow Mercy, whatever you are. Now if you could just please melt and let my car out. Thanks.

I won! I'm a winner! I wrote 50,364 words in 30 days...actually, in 28 days. It's been incredible to learn, to prove to myself, that I can do this. I can write 4,000 or 5,000 words in a single day even, if I have the time. This is not to say that what I wrote was good. It's an Anne Lamott-esque draft , as I mentioned before . But, as Elizabeth Gilbert says, better to be done than perfect. Not that I'm done. After I won NaNoWriMo, I read Gilbert's Big Magic and I'm now almost done with Cheryl Strayed's Tiny Beautiful Things . These books offer such different pictures of being a writer and yet they jibe in a way that makes sense. I am not done. The novel I began on November 1 is not finished. It's not a novel that is meant to see the light of day, but it is meant to be finished. I set a goal to finish 75,000 words by Dec. 14th. Right now, I don't know if I will meet it. My draft currently sits at around 60,000 words. but no matter what happens...6...