NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 4

Some paths are better when taken slow. Photo by TL Jeffcoat

Only one more week to go in the National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! I’m excited it’s almost over and sad at the same time. The month has been a roller coaster of events at my paying job, and very productive in my writing. Well, productive compared to the last few months of my “writing once in a while” routine. Okay, there was no routine, I was just not writing much.

I’m excited that November is almost over for two reasons. First reason is because the end of November is one of my favorite times of the year. In the USA, we celebrate eating. Not just eating tasty food, but gorging ourselves till we explode. This year I am going to try holding back since I’ve spent a lot of time lifting weights and pedaling an elliptical machine the last three months. Okay, so we aren’t really celebrating food, but you wouldn’t know the difference if nobody told you it was about unity. Food is everywhere.

After a decade of lethargic office work and sitting at home playing video games or writing, I let myself go a little. I would hate to destroy all the work I’ve done the last few months while attempting to get myself back to where I was when I was a fitnessaholic. If that’s not a word, then it should be. There’s no better feeling than when you feel fit and energetic after a tough workout… once you get through all the painful stages in the beginning. Anyway, that’s something for someone else’s blog. I never liked hearing other people tell me about their workout routine so I won’t bore the masses with mine.

Cover done by TL Jeffcoat

The sad part of November ending is once again I have a bad taste in my mouth from my writing results for NaNoWriMo. I won’t even come close to the 50,000 word goal I need to “win,” but I won’t give up. I’ll just keep plugging away. I am much more pleased with the actual writing this time than a couple years ago. Two years ago I made the 50,000 word count, but what I had was so awful and messy that I just deleted it. It was unsalvageable. Seriously, it was really awful. This time around I have a much better story. Part of that is all the studying and research I’ve done the last two years on writing more professionally and meeting editors on other works I’ve been involved in. I guess not word vomiting all over the page, like I did a couple years ago, helped in keeping the story clear too.

I don’t edit much as I write, but I pause a lot to think about scenes and where it’s leading and where I need to lead the scene to. All that thinking, and then editing in foreshadowing, and adding details remembered two pages later apparently make me a slow writer. I guess it’s good I can type nearly 100 words a minute or I’d never get anything done.

This is the last update I’ll do for NaNoWriMo till the first Friday of December. Next week I’m doing a special Weapons & Warriors for Thanksgiving. I won’t say what it is yet, but I’ll toss you a hint. It involves the Native Americans. Have a great weekend and week, see you next Friday!