1,995 words today. 151,301 total for the manuscript.
Just for a point of reference on how long this damn book is getting:
Soldier of Dorsa is already longer than Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban, getting closer to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and trundling along towards a destination of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Please pray with me that we will never arrive at Order of the Phoenix length, okay??
Thanksgiving break reinvigorated my writing — and my determination to finish
I added about 12,000 words in just under a week to Soldier thanks to my Thanksgiving break. Having no children and no real family to speak of in town certainly has its benefits during the holiday season. Don’t feel sorry for me for spending Thanksgiving Day alone — I got to hang out with LT and some friends at lunchtime, help prep the big Thanksgiving dinner, and spent the rest of the day watching zombie movies and writing — I wrote almost 3,000 words on Thanksgiving.
(And before we move on from the topic of zombie movies, can I please just say: High School Musical meets The Walking Dead meets every Hugh Grant rom-com ever in Anna and the Apocalypse???)
It had been so long since I’d met a writing goal that I’d set. I was beginning to think I’d lost the ability to keep promises to myself.
But I actually hit my NaNoWriMo goal of adding 20,000 words to my manuscript in November.
This makes me think: Can I do it again? Can I turn on the gas and sprint the homestretch, and get those last 50,000 words in by January 12?
(If you’re wondering, “Ummm, why January 12? That’s very specific!” the answer is that I have a winter break from grad school and student teaching from December 20 – January 13.)
According to the Scrivener, the word processing program I use to write with and all around Swiss Army Knife of novelists, I need to write about 1,200 words per day for the next six weeks to hit that goal.
Is it realistic to write 1,200 words per day while also going through finals in my master’s program and student teaching for the next three weeks? (Oh — AND doing my teacher certification work??)
I’m thinking “No.”
But I’m also thinking… If I can write about 4,000 words on the weekends and about 600 words per day during the week, I might be able to get close enough that once I go on winter break, I’ll be able to go all-out like I did over Thanksgiving and finish up. After all, did you read the part where I said I have no family in town? No Christmas obligations here. Poor graduate student, so no money to travel, either.
Okay… it’s a stretch. It’s a really big stretch. I’m not good at math, but I’m pretty sure that 50,000 is 2.5x as big as 20,000. So that means I’m going to aim to write 2.5x more than I did in November but with only 1.5x more time.
Here we go. Stay focused. Buckle your seatbelt. Remember not to give up.
Unrealistic goal engaging in 3… 2… 1…
(Do it for Norma, Rachel. Do it for Norma.)
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