NaNoWriMo ‘18 Week Two: Involving Being Betrayed by Coffee, Halfway Points, and Making My Characters’ Lives Miserable

WHY YES I AM POSTING TWO DAYS IN A ROW. During NaNo. WILD, I KNOW. Buuut yesterday’s post was already prewritten and didn’t really count sooo here’s my regularly scheduled (but actually a day late) NaNo weekly update!

(But if you missed it, yesterday I posted Part #2 of the Know the Novel Linkup! And would love for you to join in!)

IT IS WEEK TWO OF NANO. And as much as I enjoyed week one, I think this second week has been even better! I mean, I’m in a fog of no sleep and just see a jumble of words on a screen whenever I close my eyes buuuut hahahaha! Sanity? Psssh. Who needs it.

 

NANO ‘18 WEEK TWO

 

MONDAY: DAY #5

Mondays are already crazy during non-NaNo months (I mean it’s MONDAY, who has calm Mondays???), so during NaNo? Ehehehehe.

Most Mondays I dedicate to doing some much needed cleaning, laundry, emailing, putting up my blog post and doing a bunch of other social media, just stuff so the rest of the week will go way smoother. I try not to forgo these important things during NaNo, so usually I limit my wordcount to 2k (instead of my usual goal of 5k a day…).

I was kind of dreading this first Monday of NaNo, but, actually? It ended up being really nice. After days of nonstop writing, it was rather refreshing to get away from the computer and do some cleaning and things (I’m a weirdo and actually enjoy cleaning???). And the words ended up coming really smoothly that day.

Also, I was writing about one of Midas’ worst days of his life (so far bwahahaha) that day, so, like, he was having a very Mondayish day himself.

I mean, this is the first paragraph of the chapter I was working on to give you an idea:

“Every part of Midas seemed to be simultaneously screaming. Deep blisters had formed in his right hand and holes threatened to form in his left glove, his tunic clung to his blood- and sweat-soaked back, his arms shook with each swing of the pickaxe, and he was just sure his head would burst with one more minute of the clanks of pickaxes against stone. The single day had felt more like a hundred days rolled into one. A hundred days of pure, torturous agony.

Ah yes, pain. Good times, good times. (I’m writing such a nice book.)

Yep, I’d say the first Monday of NaNo ‘18 ended up being a success!

WORDS WRITTEN: 2,119

 

TUESDAY: DAY #6

I had nothing going on this day and was all set to do like a crazy 6k-word day. Since I was so busy Monday, and I was going to have to go to work the next day, I especially wanted to get extra in this free day. Buuuut for some reason the words were coming slOOOOooow. By the time I got 2k words in, it was already evening. I dragged out another 1k before bed, but I didn’t want to stay up terribly late because I had work the next day (I pretend to be a responsible adult sometimes).

STILL THOUGH. I had to remember just because I didn’t get 6k words in like I wanted, I still got a whole 3k! As a perfectionist, I waaay too often forget to celebrate my accomplishments, and instead badger myself for not constantly overachieving. (Hey, at least I serve as a great example of what not to do.) Learn from my mistakes, people, and don’t look at the words you didn’t write, but celebrate what you DID write. Because every. single. word. is progress!

And I did celebrate something that day…

I HIT 25K WORDS!!!

Halfway to 50k! Except only like…a 4th of the way through my novel but, again, let’s look at the accomplishments, not what I have ahead of me. Eheheheheh… I’msodoomed.

I also took time out that day to exercise which I had been slacking on but NEED to do, especially during NaNo since I’m sitting down even more than usual. Do take care of yourselves, my precious peeps! <3

WORDS WRITTEN: 3,580

 

WEDNESDAY: DAY #7

As mentioned, I had work this day, as is the usual for Wednesdays. But I didn’t mind. It was nice to get away from the computer a bit. AND it was my favorite weather for work—cold and rainy. Because I work at a cute little secondhand bookshop, and is there anything on this earth cozier than hanging out in a bookshop all day while it’s cold and rainy outside? Seriously now.

Normal people when it rains: Ugh, what a dreary day.
Me when it rains: What a beautiful day!

So yeah, it was nice. But then when I got home I was all ready to dive back into writing and my slump of the day before was gone. The words flowed quite well, and I almost got as many words in as I did the previous day, despite not getting started until the evening.

Which showed me something that my stubborn, overachieving brain forgets every year: BREAKS ARE GOOD. I think the words were flowing well because I had gotten out of the house and had a good long break from my story before diving back in. Some days we have to give ourselves grace. The words are not going to flow easily and swiftly every day. In fact, those days are rare. But when the words are coming slow and hard, if we need to step back and take things easier, THAT’S OKAY. Sometimes it’s good to push through, but if you’re completely burning out, do be kind to yourself and take a break. And, in the end, the words will probably come faster, which can actually save you time, not lose it. Something to think about. *wriggles eyebrows*

WORDS WRITTEN: 3,175

 

THURSDAY: DAY #8

Here we are on the official first day of the second week and THIS. DAY. This day reminded me of why I’ve chosen to be a writer. Like I said, more often than not writing is hard, and too often those words have to be dragged out kicking and screaming (okay, actually we’re the ones kicking and screaming). But then there’s days like this that make it all worth it.

This is the day I truly fell in love with Kings Bleed Gold.

“But, ummm…didn’t you say you already did that last week?” you’re probably saying. Yes, I immensely enjoyed the story last week, and it was fun getting into the feel of it and discovering my characters. But at this point I finally have the feel down, know Midas through-and-through, and am really into the meat of the story. (Fun Fact: I’m one of the rare few who actually loves story middles. They’re my favorite!)

It seems like the second week of NaNo is the hardest for most because the newness of the exciting event has died out a little, we’ve gone a whole week with no sleep, and there’s still so much of the month left. So I get it. Week two can absolutely be rough. But since I can’t be normal. Ever. >.> Week two is actually when I really start enjoying myself.

And yep, lo and behold, the first day of week two has been my favorite day of this NaNo thus far. I wrote 2 full chapters from start to finish (which may not sound like that huge of a feat but my chapters keep being so long ugh), and was basically grinning all day over how much fun I was having.

I think a lot had to do with the fact that Midas was really getting to grow a friendship with Syram and Korinna (and I just adore my precious babies), and he took a step toward character growth that day #proudmomma (I say as I destroy his life). ButalsoSyram.

It didn’t hurt that it was super foggy and mysterious looking outside. Very inspiring.

WORD WRITTEN: 6,142

 

FRIDAY: DAY #9

I was hoping my writing high of the previous day would continue on to this one, and I did very much enjoy writing, buuut it wasn’t quite as magical as Thursday. Oh well, gotta face reality. XD Things did go pretty well this day. Except…

The coffee pot broke.

After lunch I went to make coffee, got it all assembled, pushed the button, and…nothing happened. It wouldn’t turn on. It was having a few problems for the past few days, but I didn’t think it was just all-out dying. BUT IT DID. DURING NANO. The worst possible time everrrr. Thanks, coffee pot. I thought you loved me! D’:

Ahem, so yes, I may have spent a good 5 minutes draped over the kitchen cabinet groaning over this terrible fate…until I remembered I had a latte mix that just requires milk to be microwaved and is a great substitute for coffee. #crisisaverted

Other than that, the day went quite well. I wrote all of chapter ten that day, which I was happy about. Something about hitting the double digit chapters feels like I’m making real progress.

WORDS WRITTEN: 4,178

 

SATURDAY: DAY #10

So this day was…interesting. It was one of those terrible, awesome days, ya feel?

It started off freezing. Coldest day we’ve had of fall thus far. I loved it. *grins* It was also sunny which was kinda nice. I adooore the rain, but it had been dark and rainy all week and it was rather nice to see the sun out. (I basically love all weather in the cold. As long as its cold, I’m happy.) I had work this day, and it was a rather quiet, chill day. On Saturdays I only work until 2, so when I got off I popped over to McDonald’s to grab coffee for my family and me ‘cause, ya know, the coffee pot was broke. >.> Annnd we’re pathetic and can’t go a day with the stuff.

McDonald’s was super crowded, but I was just enjoying the nice weather and didn’t mind…at first. Then they made me pull up and wait for my coffee. I waited for a good while when someone came out…with the wrong order. So I waited more annnd they brought the wrong order again. I eventually turned off my car, not wanting to leave it running. And guess what, for THE THIRD TIME, they brought the wrong thing to my car??? This time they took my receipt, and I continued waiting. FORTY. FIVE. MINUTES. LATER. they brought out the right order. What even??? So, with coffee finally in hand, I cranked my car and…it wouldn’t start.

Yeppp. I sat there for forty-five minutes only to have my car die on me. Because I guess getting into a car crash last weekend wasn’t enough. Gotta have another car problem this week. :)))

Thankfully, our house is just a few minutes away and my mom and brother came to get me. But then there was the problem that my car was in a bad place to just leave. God provided though, because there were some men who were able to help us push it out of the way and into a parking place until we could get it towed and fixed. But yeah, that was…fun.

The coffee was tasty though.

I came home, drank my coffee, and wrote a few words, but then we wanted to go do some shopping and get a new coffee pot because #priorities But also it was a nice day to just be out and about. Then, a good friend texted and asked if I wanted to have supper and catch up because we haven’t had a chance to see each other in AAAGES. Obviously I jumped on that…except I didn’t have a car. But she was precious and picked me up. We ended up sitting at the restaurant chatting for hours. By the time I got home, I was exhausted but utterly filled up.

I only wrote for a total of 30 minutes that day. But you know what? I didn’t care. ‘Cause some days life happens, and we have to roll with it. And sometimes we have to seize the moment and soak it up. It’s a wonderful thing to carve out time for your writing. A necessary thing. But it’s also good to get out and enjoy the crazy moments of life.

So yeah. Saturday was, erm, stressful. But it also ended really well. ‘Cause, ya know, life.

WORDS WRITTEN: 566
(Lowest daily wordcount thus far, but like I said, every word is progress!)

 

SUNDAY: DAY #11

After Saturday, I was prettyyyy exhausted. Once I sat down to write Sunday, I was worried it was going to be a hard day because all I really wanted to do was read or watch TV or take a nap or basically anything that didn’t involve brain activity. Buuut me being my stubborn self who tells everyone to take care of themselves and then doesn’t actually take care of herself, felt a great need to write since I barely got any words in the day before. And…writing went fantastic. I was in shock.

A huge factor that helped this day was using a timer. The ever-fabulous Deborah (pst, go follow her, she’s the best) always suggests setting a timer to do word sprints with yourself. I took up this wonderful idea a couple of years ago and it helps SO. MUCH. There’s nothing like a timer counting down to make you chain that inner editor up in the closet and just WRITE. Then, just the other day, Abbiee (whom you should all also go follow because her posts are inspiration and motivation wrapped in gold) did a post on how she stays motivated during NaNo and said she sets the timer for 25 minutes and writes nonstop, then takes a 5 minutes break (away from the computer), then repeats. I loved this idea so much, I tried it and…it worked. Despite wanting to just take a nap all day Sunday, I ended up getting a ton of words in, and they came quick because I set that timer and just WROTE WROTE WROTE. I’m absolutely going to be doing this epic method more!

Also, Sunday’s writing was particularly fun because things took an interesting turn and Midas discovered all sorts of intriguing backstory things that changes everything. Bwahaha! (Writing can be so fun, guys, seriously.)

Oh, and we did get a new coffee pot Saturday so I do in fact have access to the liquid life force once more.

WORDS WRITTEN: 5,195

 

Total Words Written: 24,955
(Should have written 45 more words lol.)

 

CONCLUSION

Well, the coffee pot broke and so did my car. BUT writing went extremely well this week, even better than last week. I’m finally fully inside Midas’ head, have a good feel of the story, and all sorts of (painful, terrible) thiiings are happening. *grins* I also feel like the writing is at least a smidge smoother than the earlier chapters. One can hope…

At this rate, I am kind of worried I won’t quite be able to get it done by the end of the month which I was really hoping to do. I’ve only got 11 chapters written of 35 so it’s not looking good. But hey, it’s NaNo. Who knows what’ll happen!

Also, I apologize if these updates are way too detailed (because they totally are) and boring. I, erm, sort of write them for myself because NaNo is an extremely special time to me and I love having a log or something to remember each one by. (But also my tired NaNo brain can’t come up with normal posts for the the month so this is what ya get…)  I so appreciate all the support you precious people give me during this time of long, incoherent posts and my entire social media only being NaNo updates. You’re the best!

 

TALK WITH ME!

Now for the best part, getting to hear about YOUR week! How’s this second week treating you all, fellow NaNo-ers??? I hope it’s going well, but don’t forget, every word counts! And how’s November been for everyone? (Mine’s been extremely rainy and I’m loving it.)