I always doubt myself. I certainly had my doubts about this one. Could I really write 50,000 words in a month? Could I do it in amongst all the family and work commitments? I didn’t really think so. But I signed up for NaNoWriMo anyway. And I signed up with one clear goal in mind; to force myself into writing once again.
I’d put it off for over a year, and I was missing it. It had almost become like I was too afraid to start writing again. I felt I just didn’t have the time, that the novel wasn’t ready; that I hadn’t researched it enough yet. The excuses continued to pile up and all of them were true. But I wanted to just start writing again. I enjoy it too much to never put words to screen again. So after three days of not writing at all at the start of the month, I started writing. And I knew that as soon as I started, I was a winner. I was writing.
But I should have known better than to doubt myself. How many marathons had I run? And how many personal best times had I conquered? All because I had set myself a goal and refused to give in until I achieved it. As soon as I had that 50,000 word goal before me, I saw the colour red and started charging towards it.
I struggled to begin with. I was way down on my word count. The words weren’t flowing. The story didn’t feel like it was working. The characters remained strangers to me. But I persevered. My stubbornness kicked in. My determination flared. And I didn’t give up. I couldn’t give up. And I didn’t panic. I continued to plug away; hoping I would get faster, hoping that the story would get better and that the characters would begin revealing themselves. And they did. And as I got to know these characters, their story started to flow. I put in place some enforced times that I would write. I got up at 5am. I stayed up later. I wrote in my lunch break. And finally, in the last week, I caught up to my target, and kept going.
I became a NaNoWriMo Winner in the official sense of the word!
But most importantly, I have won because I now have the first half of my next novel drafted. And I have a strategy in place to help me cope with all the family and work commitments and still get words to screen. It might mean continued rises at 5am and late nights. But I have the determination to continue and finish what I have started. I have a feeling this book will turn into something. So join me in this adventure by signing up to my new mailing list for the next chapter…
The progress table… I made it hard for myself!
