Okay, this is the Week 3 update for NaNoWriMo, but I cheated and waited until I had good news before posting this. To explain the title, I don't believe in Writer's Block -- it's just a mythical creation to excuse a day off. Still, I do believe in Writer's Boredom which is what struck this week. I reached a surprisingly muddy part of the story and found that I hated the story, the characters, the very concept. The beginning of the week I piddled around, and produced a lousy amount of material. Last Tuesday, I had set the goal of 3,000 words since I didn't have work -- I ended up with 276. Pathetic. Finally, I threw in a completely random and inappropriate flashback, just to write something out of context. By the end of the flashback I had figured out how to continue and suddenly, it was like the faucet had been turned back on.
I think the hardest thing to do is to remember to think ahead. I'm no good with outlines, so most of this is on the fly, but once I come to the end of the scene I want to know where to go next. I think that's what got me in trouble early last week and I needed the time outside the main story to decide how to continue. The benefit of this experience is it helps me learn what kind of writer I am and what I need to do for lengthy projects. Hopefully, at the end I can say that this particular project was a success.
Here are my stats from the end of today (as I said, not actually representative of the week):
Your Average Per Day: 1,673
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Words Written Today: 3,560
Target Word Count: 50,000
Total Words Written: 36,827
Words Remaining: 13,173 (looks pretty good, I'd say!)
Current Day: 22
Days Remaining: 9
At This Rate You Will Finish On: November 29, 2011 (how I hope this is true)
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