Day 3 and what?

So I hit the ground running with NaNo 2011. Two days proved more than the minimum words needed to finish the challenge in time. I was so ahead that according to the convenient stat counter, I would be done with my novella in time to throw the turkey in the oven on Thanksgiving day (this would be greatly appreciated by my family) if I kept producing my two day average. And then day 3 arrived but the words didn't, well that is not entirely true 272 words were added to my NaNo count. I type this as day 4 breaks and I am obsessing over that fact that my writing buddies will peek at my stats (hey I peek at theirs) and smile as their numbers surpass mine. That's fine. That's what NaNo is all about. You have an off day and your buddies send words of encouragement to keep you going. You return the favor when their word count if off.

The problem with my story is the two whiny women my characters have become. I don't like whiny so I have to make something happen to them to toughen them up.

Hmm, I think the word count of this post has surpassed my 3rd day NaNo production. Oh, well priorities.

As Time Ticks By...

For us writers, November brings us National Novel Writing Month, or as it is better known as NaNoWriMo to save a few keystrokes, or NaNo to save even more. I sit at my keyboard playing around with my blog theme, not the content theme but how unusual I can make the home page or land on a design that I like. This my friends is typical procrastination. I am beginning to believe that writer's block does not exist, an excuse I have used for years, but it is truly procrastination that keeps one from getting words on the screen. Sure I have ideas, plenty of them, maybe too many and that is the problem. So what does NaNo have to do with my blog and procrastination?

This year I am approaching NaNo in the manner it was intended for. Sit down November first and start typing away and do not stop until I have produced 50,000 words. They may not be logical or even consist of a single story but there will be words to review.

I have attempted NaNo before and never made the 50K but this year I have a master plan and that's it. I actually have a plan, a thin outline if there ever was one but one none the less. I think this is what had been lacking. Taking too long a break in between manuscripts makes it very hard to get back on track. So NaNo, I will give you the month of November to jump start this writing slump. See you at the finish line.

Is anyone else participating in Nano?