Well, it’s day 15 and I’m still plucking along at NaNoWriMo, shocking even myself. It’s my fourth year competing in this challenge. I’ve only ‘won’ the first year and never printed my Certificate of Achievement. I gave up pretty fast my second time, but my third time, I tried really hard. So hard that I ended up hurting my hands to the point of not being able to use them. I had to give up because I literally couldn’t type. My daughter and her big heart made me my own award that year, which I still have proudly hung on my wall.
I think there are two things that are helping me succeed at NaNoWriMo this year: My Power Hour and my Alphasmart Neo 2 (a wireless word processor that transfers my words to a word doc at the push of a button).
A few months ago, I started to wake up at four in the morning. Much too early for even this morning person. No matter how hard I tried, however, I couldn’t fall back to sleep. I was up. The brain was ready to take on the day. It’s probably genetic. My mother and sister both wake this early most days, too. Instead of fighting this internal alarm clock, I’ve decided to embrace it. For an hour each morning, before the kids
Instead of fighting this internal alarm clock, I’ve decided to embrace it. For an hour each morning, before the kids wake, before the sun comes up, I write. I write on my word processor away from internet distraction and I write. I’ve been managing about a 1000 words a day doing this method, so adding an additional 667 words each morning to achieve the needed 1,667 words a day shouldn’t be too hard, and yet, you’d be surprised how those last few words just don’t want to come some days.
It’s been an uphill battle to keep it up, to not quit, to not put off the words for another day. That’s where the downward spiral begins for me; the day I put off the words. I can never seem to recover the ground I’ve lost. So, for now, I’m going with the slow and steady approach and hoping for the best.
As a side note, if any of you are around tonight (Tuesday, Nov. 15) I’ll be going on FB and doing a LIVE broadcast with my writer pal, RJ Keller, to talk about out Books, the Business and Booze. Come join the fun!
Danielle Bannister, Author 