NaNoWriMo Update: Week One

Ah, the promised update post.

Ready for this?

I am loving my NaNovel.  I haven't been writing nearly as fast as I have in the past, but regardless, I love it.  Sure, I won NaNoWriMo 2010 with PN in about 12 days.  Sure, my tracking chart usually looks amazing and steep.  Sure, I am usually loud in the forums and FB pages, rooting others on and being a NaNo champ.  This year is indeed different.  But I love it none-the-less.

So how am I doing?

I am behind on word count.  It's true.  The needed amount for today to be on track to win is 16,666 words.  I am currently sitting at about 13,228.  That means I need to write at least 3,438 words just to catch up.  My wordage goal for today?  6k.

I can do it. 

I just need to start.

Have I mentioned how much I love this story?  Do you want to know more about it?  Let me know, and I just may make more of a teaser post just because I love you.

Aside from mommyhood, volunteering in my son's classroom, a mini social life, hacking away at my photo backlog, and attempting sleep, there is one other thing that threw me behind this bad.

Laziness.

There, I said it.  I am so out of shape with writing.  This last I spent mostly editing (or avoiding editing) that I forgot how to turn off my inner editor, resist procrastination devices, and just create.  It is coming back to me.  Slowly, but surely.

Here is my biggest tip to you NaNites out there who may be bogged down, who have hit that slow point, who don't know how to move on and feel like all is lost:

MOVE ON.

Simple solutions tend to be the best, right?  I had hit a point in my story where it just got horribly slow.  My pantsing approach to writing is thrilling and fun, but sometimes I can write myself into a corner.  That had happened.  I had hit a spot where I was spinning my wheels, and was spending too much time and energy trying to finish it before I could move on.

JUST MOVE ON.

I finally stopped my insanity.  I made a few notes of where I would like to see this section lead someday in the editing future.  Then I skipped ahead to the nearest section I could think of and started writing again.  It works!  At some point toward the end of the month, if I need more words to win, I can go back to that noted section and plug away.  And if not, the editing phase will save the day.

So if you are falling behind... Move on.

I will see you on the other side of 50k.

Happy Writing!