Due to a mixture of good and not-so-good things, I have had a pretty underwhelming week two of Camp NaNoWriMo. On the positive side, socializing with great friends and some very exciting progress with The Cogsmith’s Daughter kept me from writing on this draft. On the negative side, entirely inexcusable procrastination and one family emergency stalled my writing progress as well.
The good news is that things are looking up for Week Three. I intend to be anti-social, the emergency is under control so far, and this post and my Camp NaNoWriMo graph have thoroughly shamed me into catching up. While I am not sure if it is chronologically possible for me to reach my goal after this week, I am determined to at least put in a good effort. And Baby Groot says, “I am Groot,” which is always comforting.
For a happier Kate, see my Week One Update.
Here is my not-so-productive week in review:
My Personal Goal: 75,000 — or the finished first draft Desert Child, whichever comes first.
Total Words Written: 17,056
Words Written This Week: 3,901
Day 8: 1,283
Day 9: 1,062
Day 10: 0
Day 11: 0
Day 12: 0
Day 13: 0
Day 14: 1,556
Estimated Writing Time: 2.75 hours
The experience so far: Obviously, this has been a rough week. I’m trying very hard not to beat myself up too much. I am always my worst critic.
Motivation: Does potentially insane optimism count? For some reason, I still feel like I can pull this off. Yes, it is going to be brutal, and yes, I will probably have to put in at least one 10k day over a weekend. But I still think I can pull this together and get this draft written (at least by early May) so I can go back to the safe (ha!), comfortable (ha ha!) world of Desertera.
Biggest Triumph: Getting back to writing after four days off. I know that seems simple, but once I get in a rut, it is really hard to get back on the horse, so-to-speak. My secondary goal for this Camp NaNoWriMo is to figure out a more sustainable writing routine. No more insane word counts and one-month, one-book quick fixes for me. I need to get in the routine of writing at least five days a week or I will never sustain this as a business.
Biggest Setback: There is a rather ginormous reveal at the end of this book, which necessitates a lot of foreshadowing throughout the draft. Silly me, I revealed way too much too early, and I had to go back and rewrite a scene. In total, it took me about 20 minutes of typing, but it also took me about three days of procrastinating and avoiding fixing it.
Helpful Insights: If something is bugging you about your draft, go in and fix it. Now. Seriously, right now. I don’t care what they say about not revising during a NaNoWriMo event. If whatever has happened is preventing you from moving forward, just go back and put at least a passable bandaid on it — whatever it takes to get you over it and writing forward again. You can stitch it up properly when you edit next month.
How are your Camp NaNoWriMo adventures going? Anything fun to share? Any advice for your fellow campers?
Kate M. Colby 
I wish I could commiserate or provide expert advice but, I wouldn’t even try to fake it. All I can offer is support and encouragement from half way across the world so I hope it is of some good! Does Camp NaNoWriMo require writing another book, or is it only for those who are working on a series? That baby Groot is so cute! Is he organic? Does he at least come with Vin Diesel’s voice?
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Support and encouragement are always welcome! With Camp NaNoWriMo, you can set your own goal — any word count, editing, revising, writing blog posts, etc. I simply set mine quite high, and I would feel disingenuous to change it (of course, we’ll see how week three goes…).
Yes, Baby Groot is adorable! He is just a little plastic figurine with a bobble head. They do have ones that dance to “I Want You Back” by the Jackson Five, but mine is just for adorableness.
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Aww, it must look great on your desk!
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That goal of figuring out a sustainable writing routine, that’s exactly mine, too. That’s why I set my word count goal as low as I did, because I know I can’t keep up the NaNo speed. The writing habit of “bang out a 50k novel, quality be damned, it’s only word count that counts, who cares if my house and yard completely go to pot, dinner? what dinner? feed yourselves, offspring!” is not sustainable for more than one month out of the year. So I’m trying to find a writing/working habit that, well, works. Only partially successful so far – if nothing else, I’ve learned how much of a difference the NaNo pressure makes for me…
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I’ve found that I can sustain 1,000-1,500 words a day about 5 days a week pretty easily (depending on how well the story is coming to me). Obviously, though, that does not always happen for me. I think we just need to be patient with ourselves and forgiving when necessary. At least, I know I do!
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DO hang on to your insane optimism, but try not to be too disappointed if you don’t make your incredibly ambitious goal this month. Good idea to try for a secondary goal of achieving a sustainable writing routine. That will serve you better long-term.
As a NaNo lover….you have my ongoing encouragement to keep going. Whoop-whoop! Well done for what you have achieved so far.
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Thank you so much! I really appreciate your mix of encouragement and realism. 🙂
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So sorry it is going a bit slow, but I am sure you will soon pick up the pace and finish it the way you want to finish it 🙂
Send your way lots of hugs and I am sure little groot will try to help as much as he cane in motivating you 🙂
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