Monday 23 November 2009

NaNo Slump - Misplaced Attention

No, I am not having a writer's block, or a problem with writing itself. I am simply having distraction issues. Usually I work on more than one project, because I can't focus on one thing at a time. I find myself wanting to do other things. So for first two weeks, focusing on my novel and that alone was fine. I didn't focus on most of my other hobbies. Just total concentration on the novel. It worked, and I did a high word count. But last week, I found myself getting more and more distracted. I still wrote, but it wasn't as much, and it was more of forcing myself to sit down and make the effort. So in the end I did over 10K less in last week than in previous two weeks. And even more shameful - in the entire weekend, between Friday, Saturday and Sunday I had a grand total word count of 1478. Yup, you read that right. 1478. Initially I had planned to finish my first draft by last weekend, but obviously that didn't happen. And then on Saturday, I couldn't resist the Sims 3 expansion pack, so there went the weekend, and not to mention that I am so totally obsessed as I usually am for a week or so until I have done everything. :P So writing is even harder. However, having come so far, I am determined not to fail in my goal of finishing the first draft, so I am planning to have this done by end of this week. It is possible if I stick to reasonable word counts every day. But it's certainly not as easy as it was in the first two weeks. How are you guys doing with NaNo? What is your experience as the month goes?

6 comments:

  1. I had my Nano slump last week where I wrote only one of three days, twice. Then I got back in the groove. But for me ... I'm still under 50k, so I got some catchin' up to do! ;)

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  2. Go girl! You can do it :) Yeah, mine's going okay. It's slowing down a bit- I've reached a bit of a burn out, but I only have 12,000 or so words left, so I'm determined to get to 50,000 and I will not stop until I do!!

    You've done great. You should be proud of yourself. I am :o)

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  3. Aimee,

    Good luck and carry on. I am sure you can do it. I don't know how things work for you, but I find that writing every day helps. Even if it is just a lousy 100 words a day. At least it helps me, because if I don't write for one day, it's very easy not to write on the second day.
    **

    Erica,
    Thank you. :-) 12000 left, so you can definitely do it. Word at a time that's what I am thinking. So good luck, and carry on.

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  4. I hear you! I keep flying back and forth b/w L.A. and N.Y. and losing a day on the flight (I don't usually bring my laptop on the plane). Gals you're all fine - I'm 20,000 away still!

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  5. 52,

    Better take that laptop on the plane. You can do it, I am sure. :-)

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  6. I actually wrote quite a bit on a plane for NaNo a couple years back...great place to write, for me anyway.

    I normally work on several projects at a time too, but am faltering with that and NaNo.

    I'm still 20,000 words away from 50k. Work issues and other things have pulled me away, but I'm still plugging along. Should have some extra time to write in the next few days.

    Keep at it, everyone!

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