November 2, 2001
NaNoWriMo Day 2
"November
is a charcoal sketch..."
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It was tough going yesterday.
I totally underestimated the amount of time required to write the 1,167 words
that I have to average on a daily basis, and have them make some kind of sense.
I was seized by despair on several occasions, but persevered and succeeded in
typing 1,948 words by 23:00.
I got bogged down by research,
fact finding and making sure the pieces fit in the correct order. I also
spent a lot of time getting up to speed with the tools.
This morning, I went for my
regular two mile early morning walk and talked to myself. What I'm
referring to, of course, is an internal dialogue. I'm not one of those scary people
who walk around talking out loud to no one in particular. I finally
remembered the good advice that NaNoWriMo founder, Chris Baty, shared with us.
His advice is today's quote. You can read it at the bottom of this page.
The result? In a couple of
hours this morning, my word total quickly jumped to 3,372 words. It
doesn't seem so hopeless now. With a little luck, I'm hoping to exceed the
average so I can slack off down the road during inspirational droughts.
19:41 - I'm wrapping up today's
writing. I made it to 4,008 words. Let's all sing, "I'm back in the
saddle again."
I updated my word count on the official NaNoWriMo web site:
http://www.nanowrimo.com
(note: clicking on the
link will open a new instance of your browser.)
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The question is whether or not
you'll stop beating yourself up long enough to let one of those novels
transcribe itself on your computer. The question is whether you'll stop
trying to be perfect, and start letting yourself be messy. November is not
an oil painting. November is a charcoal sketch, a breathless, dashed-off
line drawing. It's imperfect, but that's the point. We need
something to come back to later.
Chris Baty,
NaNoWriMo founder.
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