It’s the final stretch—hooray! This Nanowrimo update is my last post for National Novel Writing Month for the year.

It’s the last week of November and we’re just days away from the Thanksgiving holiday meals and family gatherings (well, not for me this year, since my family celebrated last weekend). We are too close now to give up on reaching 50,000 words and win the National Novel Writing Month writing challenge this year.

But let’s focus on this past week. How did I do? Read the details below.

Happy last week of NaNoWriMo! And here’s to an early Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Black Friday, Happy Cyber Monday!

Now that the seasonal pleasantries are out of the way, let’s get down to business. I promise you that this will be my last NaNoWriMo update for 2019.

Now that National Novel Writing Month is quickly coming to a close, I am glad that I started this journey, even without a plan or confidence that my schedule could handle the commitment

Here’s how this week went for my NaNoWriMo goals.

My Progress

Like last week (and the week before), my daily goal is at least maintain a minimum of 1,667 words so that I can reach 50K words by November 30. Am I keeping up?

Here’s my NaNoWriMo update: I have been consistent with my daily word count so well this month that I kept up with writing over 1,667 words a day, usually 1,700+!

Since last week, I am over my goal of 42K. According to my NaNoWriMo profile writing meter, I am still on track to reaching my goal by November 29.

My Obstacles

This past week was the week before Thanksgiving. That means the week before everyone travels for Thanksgiving. That means the week before everyone is out of the office for Thanksgiving.

In short, that means two weeks’ worth of meetings were booked on my work calendar during one solid week. Meetings as early as 8AM. Meetings as late as 6PM. And meetings that are back to back, one after another.

Yikes!

Please note that I don’t Write for National Novel Writing Month during the work day. I usually reach my word count before the work day begins, sometimes reaching my word count at home hours after the sun has set. With meetings starting even earlier and lasting even later on my schedule, that cuts into my OOO time to make my daily word count goals happen.

The solution? I had to be even more efficient with my writing time. If I was up at 4:30AM, I didn’t wait for the alarm to sound at 5AM before starting my day. The sooner I could complete my 5 mile run, the sooner I could get to writing! I pushed myself with writing sprints to write more and write faster.

My Successes

For me, Act II is the hardest part to write in a story. It’s the part of the tale that doesn’t have the start of the adventure in Act I or the climax of Act III. While so many interesting developments and scenes occur in Act II, it’s the doubt of when to unfold what. Should this event happen before this one? Should I reveal this now or later?

Luckily, I reached an epiphany this week. I was just going to write it all down now and figure it out later. Yes, my future is filled with long hours of editing, plotting and rewriting. But I can’t start that process until I get the whole story down on paper (or digital file) first.

Letting go of this worry took the pressure off my shoulders for every writing session. I stayed in the present and wrote the scene that was most natural for me to write every morning, even if it didn’t quite make sense for it to happen at this particular moment in the story. I can rework the sequence later. I can rework the cadence later. I can rework the development later.

My Goals

I plan to continue hitting a minimum daily word count of 1,667 words with a goal of reaching over 50,000 words by November 29, not November 30.

Can I reach my goals? You bet I will! While I won’t update you on my win next week, that’s exactly what I plan to do

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