NaNoWriMo ‘17 Week Three: In Which I Hit 50k and Squee About Christmas

 

ARE WE ACTUALLY NEARING TH 4TH AND FINAL WEEK OF NANOWRIMO????? How. Did. This. Happen.

This NaNo is zooming by faster than any NaNo I remember. I cannot believe we’ve already passed the halfway point and are now careening full speed toward the finish line. Who’s driving this month anyway??? They are going way past the speed limit!

ANYWAYS.

I am back with another weekly update like I did with the first week, highlighting my days from last Monday to now.

Week Three had a bit of a bump in the road, but the highlights far outweighed the bumpy bits. Overall, I’d say last week, Week Two, has been my best week thus far. I was on a writing high all last week. I feel like Week Two tends to always be my favorite week, even though most people hate it, thus the term “Week Two Blues” started rolling around the NaNo community? But because I can’t be normal, Week Two is when I’m my happiest. I’m settled into my story and have gotten in the habit of writing every day, and it’s still early enough in November that I’m still somewhat bright eyed and bushy tailed and haven’t quiiite crossed over into zombie land yet. But then there’s Week Three. That is when I start getting that slump and the exhaustion of writing and writing and writing sets in.

That happened to me a little this week. But I think I’m getting out of it now that the excitement of the final week is in the horizon. Although, like I said, there were some great highlights of this week, too.

SO. What went down???

 

WEEK THREE OF NANO ‘17

 

MONDAY, DAY #13

I started the week off with a bang when this happened:

I HIT 50K WORDS!!!!

I. Was. So. Excited.

I wish I could say this means I’m nearing the end of my book but HAHAHAHAHAHA…no. I’m just laughing at the days when I guestimated this book would be around the 80k-90k range. Now I’m pretty positive it’ll  be closer to 125k????? Someonehelpme.

But regardless. I WAS STILL HAPPY ABOUT HITTING 50K.

And get this. My sister made it to 50k that very same day! We did not plan that, it was purely happenstance. But it was amazing! We were so exciting. She made it to 50k just two hours before I did, so she won. XD BUT I’M JUST SO PROUD OF HER. She rocked her first NaNo like a superstar! That day she finished up her project at 54k words, and thus was completely done. Which meant she’s leaving the rest of NaNo for me to do ALL ON MY LONESOME.

OKAY. I actually have some super amazing writing friends (basically ALL OF YOU), so I never feel alone during NaNo! It was awesome to have someone in person to do it with for at least the first couple of weeks though. The good news is, she’s already talking about what she wants to write next NaNo. I have officially created another Crazed NaNo Obsessed Person. *CACKLES* My work here is done.

ANYWAYS. Monday was absolutely amazing, but also craaaaazy. Mondays are always my get-chores-and-stuff-done days, so add that on top of NaNo and Mondays during November basically = Frantic Christine trying to get ALL THE THINGS DONNNNE. So yeah. That day I made it to 50k, celebrated with my sis (a.k.a took celebratory selfies with her #Duh), and then rushed around trying to do alllll the cleaning and laundry and other stuff. Which meant I did not get as high a wordcount that day as I’ve been doing.

Words Written: 2,694 (Which was my lowest to write in a day this NaNo up to this point.)

 

TUESDAY, DAY #14

Tuesday was a good day! I had absolutely nothing going on that day, was super pumped about making it to 50k the previous day, and was so productive the day before I felt like I had permission to solely work on my story this day. SO I DID. I did a lot of writing outside because it was super nice and was loooving where I was in the story.

For a bit there my main character Karis was, erm, not having a happy fun time. Eheheheheh. *COUGH* There was some seeeriously creepy stuff going on. Not that I was having totally fun writing it. Nooooo. *cooooough*

Okay, but seriously. I was actually feeling kind of bad for my bby girl Karis. But this day of writing was a place where Karis bounced back and got her drive to fight again and I was just squealing and rooting on my girl.

“Karis dug her fingers into the journal and gritted her teeth. Enough of this. Enough running, being pulled underground, tossed to and fro and nearly killed. Enough secrets.

If the Isle was going to be rude, well, then she was going to be rude right back.

It was just a really, really good day of writing. The words were coming so easily and I had a blast.

Words Written: 6,064 (The most I’ve written in a day thus far this NaNo!!! And it didn’t even feel like that much work, miraculously. The words just flowed. Ah, how I wish writing could always be like that day.)

 

WEDNESDAY, DAY #15

THE HALFWAY POINT OF NANO!!!

Normally I have work on Wednesdays, but my bosses asked if I could work Friday instead of Wednesday this week, so I had another rather free day to write. Although I did have a couple of things to do early in the day (which included going to get McDonald’s coffee with my sister so, like, I’m not complaining). But then early in the afternoon I was able to dive into writing.

This was another really fun writing day. It mostly consisted of a scene where Karis was discovering something verrrryyyy interesting and just *griiiins* IT WAS FUN.

I didn’t get nearly as big of a wordcount that day as the previous day, but I had things going on during the first bit of the day, like I said, plus I was just pretty tired. I hadn’t gone to bed at a decent hour since…October 31st? *COOOUGH* I think it was catching up with me. I needed at least a little chill time, because when I’m not doing Life, I’m writing. I haven’t even READ anything since NaNo started! *GASP* *CHOKE* *ACK* So even though I could have continued writing that day and gotten in more words, I decided to take that night off and chill and paint my nails, and just RELAX a bit. Although…I didn’t go to bed early and catch up on sleep like I should have but…IT’S NANO! *throws responsible decisions out the window*

It was good to take a smidgeon of a break (even if was just a few hours before bed), and overall I was still pretty pleased with my words from that day.

Words Written: 4,005

 

THURSDAY, DAY #16

Officially diving right into week three and the second half of NaNo. Like WUT EVEN???

I was home all this day but ended up cooking supper with my sis and also had to get to bed at an actual decent time since I had work the next day, so I didn’t get the chance to go as crazy on the wordcount like Tuesday. It was still a nice day though. I even brought my laptop in the kitchen and managed to get in quite a few words whilst tending to supper. The things we do to get those words in, amIright?

I wrote some prettyyyy emotional scenes in the story this day. Which means…IT WAS GREAT. Because the emotional scenes are my fave. Make all the characters cry! Bwahahahaha!

Ahem.

Words Written: 4,005 (No, this is not a typo. I wrote the exact same amount of words two days in a row, completely unintentionally. I DON’T KNOW HOW.)

 

FRIDAY, DAY #17

And this is the day my Week Three slump reared its ugly head. >.>

Even though I was exhausted going to bed, I hardly slept at all, and had to get up early for work, so then I was beyond exhausted. Then work was pretty busy, making me more exhausted. By the time I got home, the idea of writing made me want to fly to a deserted island where my laptop could never find me.

So I chilled a bit and had supper. Buuut then my stubbornness won out. I was not going to let the day go without writing at least 2k words, though more would be better.

I…probably should have just taken the day off and let my brain refuel. But that’s not my style. #ForeverIrresponsible

I did write. In fact, I wrote 3k words. But…wow. Those were probably the most bland, awful 3k words in the history of ever. I had to painfully drag out every. single. word. I was just too tired, and had been writing a ton for days on end and not allowing myself to refuel much. Everything was dry and hard to write and bleh. Definitely my most difficult writing day so far.

 

Literally me that night.

I had work again the next day, so I gladly stopped at 3k and crashed. But I went to bed feeling discouraged and drained and fearful I didn’t love my story anymore.

Words Written: 3,046

 

SATURDAY, DAY #18

Whereas the night before I barely slept any, that night I slept like the dead. After such a good night’s sleep, I woke up and realized the world hadn’t ended and everything was going to be okay. WHO KNEW, RIGHT???

I went to work and had a pleasantly quiet day. I get off at 2 on Saturdays, so I planned on going straight home to write, hoping writing this day would go better. But instead my mom and I ended up running some errands and doing a bit of shopping and things. Thus I didn’t even start writing until after supper that evening.

And you know what? Writing went SO much better and quicker.

Because over the course of that day I learned 3 things:

1.) I HAVE TO TAKE BREAKS. I had been going for over two weeks so focused on writing and staying up late and just in Obsessive NaNo Mode, I had barely given myself a chance to rest and refuel. But after getting some good sleep and taking most of Saturday to just get out of the house and away from my laptop and live a little, I snapped out of my slump and found writing enjoyable again. I so needed this reminder, because even throughout the course of the day I was very hesitant to go shopping. My obsessive side kept screaming, “YOU HAVE TO WRIIIIITE.” I was kind of freaking out that I was going the whole day without writing. But that evening, once I did write, I could feel the affects taking a break and getting out of the house had made. The words came so much easier. So I’m trying my best to remember that. Breaks are so, so, so important. I’M JUST SO STUBBORN AND OBSESSIVE HALP.

2.) ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYER DO WONDERS. God was with me that day. While I was at work, since it was a quiet day, I was reading people’s blog posts on my phone, trying to catch up. Well. There was not one, but THREE encouraging writing posts my amazing friends had made.

First there was a post by my dear Savannah about taking a break when writing gets obsessive. YEAH. TALK ABOUT TIMING. Then the precious Jenelle had a post up that was an encouragement to overwhelmed writers. It was so uplifting I actually almost teared up! It was exactly what I needed to hear that day. Right after I read that, I found my one and only Tracey had just posted about writing from a healthy place, which was a post with 8 absolutely golden tips on balancing your writing life and not pushing yourself over the limit. I NEEDED THAT SO BAD THAT DAY. The timing of these posts was impeccable.

One of Tracey’s points was to pray over your writing life, to take a moment to say a prayer before each writing session and include God in your process. This is a habit I started doing myself last year, and something I even talked about in a recent post of mine. But do you know what? I hadn’t once prayed before any of my writing sessions since November started. Somehow I had completely forgotten! I’ve been so frantic and obsessive to get those words in, I haven’t included God in my process any. I am so ashamed. I felt like God used Tracey’s post to give me a good, heavy nudge to include Him in my writing process again and PRAY. And so I have, and I’m already seeing the good affects it is having.

I was so uplifted after those posts, and so in awe. I truly think God was reminding me He cared about my writing and to keep on, even when it gets hard, because He gave me this passion for words for a reason. (But maybe to also rest and take care of myself a bit. *cough*)

If you’re feeling discouraged, CHECK OUT THOSE POSTS. (And give those girls a follow, because they’re the actual best. <3)

3.) LOOKING BACK AT SOMETHING YOU’VE WRITTEN THAT YOU ACTUALLY LIKE IS A HUGE BOOST. This NaNo novel has been turning out so, so, so messy. Yes, I’m totally loving the storyline. But the words have just been horribly bland. I’ve had these occasional moments of panic where I think, “Do I even know how to write anymore???? Have I ever been able to write? Do I have as much writing talent as a boiled peanut?” So I decided to go back and read my short story I wrote back in February (shameful plug) because it was polished and one of my (hopefully) better works. And you know what? It was SO encouraging. I’m no bestseller, but it did show me that yes, I can string words together that don’t look like rotten marmalade. Seeing something I’ve written that I do actually like was just the boost I needed to continue this story.

Saturday was a day of learning and growing. Although, knowing me, I’ll forget everything I learned and slip back into Frantic Obsessive Christine Writing Mode.

 

I don’t know if you guys are aware, but Alice is actually me.

Regardless, Saturday turned out to be a good, refreshing day after the blehness of Friday. And that night it was super windy and rainy and cold, and since I had let myself refuel that day, writing was very nice and cozy and just fun.

Words Written: 3,100

 

SUNDAY, DAY #19

THIS WAS A HAPPY DAY. I was feeling good about my writing again, and since I had such busy days Friday and Saturday, I was going to dive in and write all day, maybe even do another 6k word day.

Welllll, that didn’t happen. Because…

WE STARTED DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS. The day we decorate is like my favoritest day of the year! Because CHRISTMAS! I was so excitedddd. We still have a lot we’re going to do, I think. But we got a good start and just lksdjflkjsdjlf. CHRISTMASSS. I LOVE DECORATING. AND CHRISTMAS. AND JUST THIS WHOLE SEASON. It’s cold and happy and exciting and I can listen to Christmas music (literally doing that right now whilst writing this post) and just CHRISTMAS, GUYS.

So yeah. I was okay with not being able to write all day. And on top of Christmas decorating, I also had to find time to WRITE THIS POST. Since Monday happens to come after Sunday. CRAZY, RIGHT??? Thus lots of writing time got pushed aside yesterday. Buuuut I had just learned the day before that taking a break IS GOOD AND NECESSARY so I was (mostly) chill. Sorta kinda. Maybe?

BUT CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS, GUYS!!!

Words Written: 2,025 (Annnd now this is my lowest wordcount day for this NaNo so far.)

 

CONCLUSION

My week was…something! I think it was mostly a good something? But something for sure.

Remember how I said I was trying to take this NaNo a smidgeon more easy this year than my past NaNos? Yeah. No. That plan breaks down more and more each day. I had made that plan back when I thought this would be a DECENTLY SIZED BOOK AND NOT A MONSTROSITY. But now I’m realizing if I don’t keep at a rapid pace, there’s no way it’s getting done by the end of the month. So…Crazy Christine NaNo Mode seems to be trying to take over again.

Case in point, I was pretty sad at my “low” wordcounts this week. Because, in my head, I want to hit 5k, or at the least 4k, every single day because I apparently hate myself??? So when I just get 2k-3k a day, I feel like a failure??? WHERE ARE MY PRIORITIES? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY SANITY? SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME A CHILL PILL. SHEESH.

I honestly think I can get this novel finished or very close to finished by the end of the month. And I’m reminding myself that if I have to continue writing throughout the first few days of December to finish it up, THE WORLD WILL NOT END. (But… *points back at Alice gif* I never listen to my good advice. Never.)

This coming week is looking to be a pretty full one, panicking me a smiiidge since I probably, again, won’t be able to do my ridiculous 5k a day goal. BUT IT’S OKAY. I’m still writing, I’m still having fun, and this book will end eventually. I’m currently on chapter 17 of 25, SO WE’RE GETTING THERE.

Also, I’m still utterly in love with my Karis and Jonah bbys even though this week I put them through so much horribleness. Ooooops.

BUT YES. EVERYTHING IS GOOD.

AND WE’RE ALMOST TO THE LAST WEEK, GUYS!!!!!! I hope this coming week will be absolutely fantastic.

AND I HOPE ALL MY FELLOW AMERICAN PEEPS HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

I’m pretty sure my wordcount would be double if I counted my blog posts as NaNo words. GOOD GRIEF. Enough of my babbles. I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU GUYS! How has your week been? How did the first half of NaNo go? What’s the second half looking like for you? Are your stories treating you well? CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW CLOSE WE ARE TO THE END???? Tell me everything!