NaNoWriMo Status Day 7
One week down and I’m more than 26,000 words into my second novel! Woohoo! If I could do a backflip, I would - but I’d probably break something and it wouldn’t be nearby furniture.
Backflips and celebrations aside, we must press on.
In that vein, part of my time today was spent reviewing and editing the heavy dialogue scene I wrote yesterday - several times. Then I wrote the final third of that chapter, and reread and edited that several times.
Then, I started to move on to the next chapter, got the opening done, and came upon a line and situation that made me say, “Houston, we have a problem,” a problem the size of a plot hole, and one that cascaded into several areas. I had to make edits from small to significant across four chapters. Fingers crossed I cleared up the problem and didn’t introduce others along the way.
I also reviewed my outline. I’m at #24 out of a 43 point outline (up from 41 points due to the addition of two scenes). I’m hitting all the elements I need to hit and I think it’s going well. I’m also considering adding in yet another scene, so my outline may grow a tad longer as time goes on. It’s a very flexible outline though, which is nice.
Because we’re in the second book, things are expanding and I’m weaving threads all over the place - more characters, more character relationships, more complexities - fun stuff. I swear, writing a book is like creating a really complex puzzle and then figuring out how to put it together.
I do hope it’s good though. I feel like what I’m writing is different from a lot of fantasy out there. It’s not heavy on action and, though the fantasy elements are there and part of the world, they’re there and part of the world. The series isn’t all about the magical elements. They’re just one aspect of the world.
My insecurities aside, it’s time for today’s stats.
| Daily Word Goal 2,251 - 2,418 | Total Word Goal 80,000 - 85,000 | # needed to be on track | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Words written | Current Word Count | to meet goal |
| Nov 1 | 2,684 | 15,162 | 14,813 |
| Nov 2 | 1,819 | 16,981 | 17,148 |
| Nov 3 | 1,093 | 18,074 | 19,943 |
| Nov 4 | 1,635 | 19,709 | 21,818 |
| Nov 5 | 1,777 | 21,486 | 24,153 |
| Nov 6 | 2,564 | 24,053 | 26,488 |
| Nov 7 | 2,324 | 26,357 | 28,823 |
As you can see, I hit goal today. Yay! I’m also still only a day behind, which is excellent. However, I’m hoping I can find a way to get ahead a bit because I know I’m going too lose writing time in the upcoming weeks. First, we have the new Sims pack that’s going to drop and I’m going to have to spend some serious time working videos for my YouTube channel for that. Then Thanksgiving hits, and we decorate for Christmas that week. And we don’t just put up one tree and call it done. We kinda go all out, interior and exterior, including three trees. It takes a while.
But, you know what? If I end up falling behind through those events, it’s really not the worst thing in the world. I mean, I’ve already written nearly 14,000 words this week and I’m already more than 26,000 words in. This is tremendous progress. I wanted to have the manuscript done and edited sufficiently enough to send to beta readers by the end of this year/beginning of next year, and I think that’s feasible.
