Yesterday I finished my Nanowrimo goal. 50,000 words in 30 days.
Now, just because the words are on the page, does NOT mean they are all good words. In fact, I’d wager at least half of it will change before the final version comes out, but sometimes the hardest part of writing is just getting an idea out of your head in the first place. Nanowrimo helps you achieve that because you don’t have time to wonder if this storyline will work or if that character is interesting because you only have time to type. The inner editor is forced to wait her damn turn.
About a month before doing this insane challenge, I had been writing new words every morning (partly for training for Nanowrimo and partly just to train my muse.) It’s a short stint, about an hour before the kids wake up but just after the caffeine has touched the brain, but this simple practice has gotten me two first drafts ahead of the game. This from the girl who used to only be able to work on one book at a time, start to finish. As of right now, I have one book in final revisions, two first drafts basically done, and one book that’s been finished several times over, and yet, still needs some tweaking and then a handful of stories that lie in wait on the back burner.
But here it is, December 1st and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do now that I met the first draft challenge. Do I write 1000 more NEW words even though I have 4 books that could use my attention in editing phases? I bet Stephen King would say yes. Write new words. I am not Stephen King, however. I am a single mom with a day job. The amount of time left in the day to devote to writing isn’t as lengthy as his may be, so it comes down to prioritizing what time I have left.
At least two of these books need daily attention from this point on, so perhaps I can still have my Power Hour each morning, but instead of using it to write NEW words, I use it to edit the old ones? Hmmm, that seems like a good plan, for now. One thing I know for sure is that I need to keep the Power Hour going. For one hour, every day, my butt needs to be in the chair. More is great, but on the days that life takes over, at least that one hour was focused on my writing and that’s a habit I want to hang onto.
In the coming weeks, I’ll start talking more about the book that’s almost finished. It’s gone through one round of edits with my editor, the cover is set, the book is 80% formatted, beta readers have read it and given me feedback, and yet I haven’t said much about it. This is a first for me and I’m not sure why….So stay tuned friends and readers. More books are on the way. 🙂
Danielle Bannister, Author, and butt in the chair writer.
Danielle Bannister, Author 