Writing is fucking hard. Life is hard also.

So, things are not going according to plan. I am NOT giving up, but so far Camp NaNoWriMo is not going well. Here are the stats:

Total words in the novel so far: 59,596

Chapters: 29

Version 3, Rough Draft

From my intended pace, I am behind by 10,500 words. That is some serious ground to try and make up. Yesterday was my best day writing, at somewhere around 1,500 words. To complete Camp NaNoWriMo on time, I have to write 1,843 words PER DAY! This is higher than my best.

BUT, I AM NOT GIVING UP!

I have a couple things working in my favor that I think can help.

1. Using a writing schedule did not work. The one thing that did work though was writing in the morning. I think the trick here is to write under certain triggers and not specific times because those can change. What I want to try this week is to write 1 hour before work, 1 hour after work, and 1 hour before bed. I think if I did that every day it would become a habit. And that is 21 hours a week.
2. I need to have a specific game plan before I go to write. If I know specifically what I am going to write, and not a general idea, I tend to write much faster and more cohesively. What will help with this is to come up with a plan during work. I have a lot of downtimes while driving when I have time to think. If I use it to come up with what I am going to write when I get home I feel think I will be much more productive when I write.
3. My life is getting back to normal. My poor wife has been in an extreme amount of pain since the beginning of this month. I have been taking care of her and helping out around the house. It has also been very stressful at work. Both of these have gotten much better over the last week. I feel like I will be in a much better headspace the rest of the month, PLEASE GOD LET THIS BE TRUE! One can only hope.

So here is my update. Not the one that I was hoping for but I remain optimistic. I have written 5k words in a sitting a couple times and 8k words in a day once. I think that I can do that again. Tune in next week to see if it is feast or famine.

Have you ever seen a grown writer cry?

Thanks for reading,

~ Chris Joy