As a writer, everyone talks about NaNoWriMo. Basically, writing fifty thousands words within a month. The nation undertakes this endeavor in November. Every November, I've tried to do this, and it just hasn't happened. Through high school and college, I've never been able to accomplish this. Partly because of the way I was approaching writing, the stories that I was writing, and just trying to get through school.
This last month has been rough, as I've shared on other media platforms. Knowing that this was going to be hard, I decided I wanted to make myself a goal to shoot for. I was waiting to get some feedback on a different story but my fingers were itching to write something. It was the middle of September, and I've been looking forward to NaNoWriMo. So I decided that, hey, no one said it has to officially be in November, so I was going to do this.
In order to get through this, I figured out what my daily word count had to be. I took out Sunday's because that's the day of rest, and I felt like I would be blessed for setting that day aside. In order to make it to my goal of 50,000 words in that many days, I would need to write approximately 1,900 words a day. I rounded that up to 2,000 words a day and I set off.
When I actually had time, it was relatively easy to sit down in one session and crank out 2,000 words. This story is contemporary and a crime novel, so I don't have any world building to do or creating rules. Plus, this is only one point of view and this character Ellie was practically screaming at me the whole time, saying, "Yo! This is how I do things and this is why I do them!"
The problem was, that working full time I don't always have the energy or time to just sit down in one sitting and pound out the keys. So I had to find other ways around that.
I spend a lot of time at work just sitting at the desk. Other's go on Buzzfeed and read articles. I used that as writing time. On a good day I could get 1,000 words out from all those ten minute writing sessions. Then I'd go home and do the rest of my words.
Some days I wouldn't make my counts. On Friday's I work in a PC center and just sit there by myself all day. So I would have to catch up on those days. Usually on Friday's I would write 5,000 words to catch up.
I wrote on Saturday's at Sammy's parents while they watched football. I wrote instead of hanging out with friends.
I had a cold and stayed home from work for two days. On those days I didn't want to go back. I just wanted to write at home and not deal with crazy people. I was also behind on my word count. So I sat there next to my humidifier and got my writing done. I listened to Hamilton and Halloween music and got it done.
In one of the songs in Hamilton they ask those questions above. Alexander Hamilton wrote all the time, and produced volumes and volumes of writing. So did Lin Manuel Miranda who is seriously my hero right now. I can't stop listening to the Hamilton soundtrack. I can't believe what he created. It's astonishing. I watched the PBS documentary on him, and Lin Manuel Miranda is always writing too. On the train, on the floor, in random rooms.
I write because I have to. It brings me so much joy. It also brings me so much frustration, only to be replaced with joy and satisfaction when I work myself out of a problem. There are so many stories swirling around in my head and I have to get them out. It gives me purpose.
And I did it! I didn't think I was going to, but I did it. That last week was rough. I wanted to just give up, but I did it and finished the challenge. I'm so happy to have completed my first NaNoWriMo.
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