Week Two

Here's the update at the conclusion of my second week on the NoWriMo wagon:

The second week was more challenging than the first. The book predicted that this would be because I'd be tired of writing or out of ideas. I didn't have those problems specifically. I found myself in the middle of a busy period at work, without much warning. Working hard to stay afloat there took time away that I might otherwise have spent writing. While I did get a few words in on Monday night, by Tuesday evening I was completely burned out. I left work only about 30 minutes behind schedule (pretty good for a busy week!), but then got home and spent the evening eating leftover pizza, watching Gordon Ramsey's TV programs and literally reading a Babysitters Club book. A friend in my book club loaned me the BSC prequel a few weeks ago. I wanted to get it read by our next meeting, so I did need to work on it. But, it's still a reflection of how burned out I was!

Things got a little bit better on Wednesday, when work started to slow down. I had a chance to do some catching up, though by Thursday evening, I had some social obligations I'd committed to before starting the challenge. Including a Twins game! 

 

 Oh Minnie and St. Paul... we love you even though the Twins got whomped by the Phillies! 

Wheee! It didn't rain even though the forecast called for an 85% chance of severe storms!

I had a lot of fun spending time with friends on Thursday and Friday nights, but it wasn't conducive to making up my word deficit. I will say that one nice thing about being busy is that when I sit down to write my words, I pound them out. No dilly-dallying, facebook checking, or really much wondering what I am going to write about. I sit down and write and that's it. By the time Saturday rolled around, I was even further behind. I spent most of the day on Saturday focusing on writing. I wrote during 4 different blocks of time of varying lengths and was ahead by the time I went to bed on Saturday. Sunday, Father's Day, was another story entirely and I fell behind again. The day was crazed with family obligations and other things, so I didn't start writing until about 10:30 pm, knowing that alarm would be ringing in 6 am no matter what. I did about 750 words (ie, less than half the goal) and then stopped. The story will be continued during next week's summary of week three! 

 

As I became busier at work and at home, I found that I did have some trouble meeting my word counts. There were some moments when it was a real struggle, and I'm sure these will be obvious when I go back and edit the work later on. I should point out that, for me, writing isn't tremendously difficult. I have the kind of job where I write long, non-fiction pieces all the time. I do research and talk on the phone and other things, but the main output that I focus on is writing. So pounding out 1,667 words in a day isn't a huge deal, especially when I get to make them all up. For people who are not accustomed to writing this much, I'm sure this whole exercise, and the second week especially, is more challenging.

 

For me, one other piece of the puzzle that I didn't anticipate was the impact it would have on my blogging. I did expect that it would be more difficult to do my preferred 5 blog entries per week because I figured I wouldn't have the time or inclination to write the blog. I've actually found the opposite to be true: I really enjoy the chance to write something for fun other than my novel. I know my characters are good people, but I'm a little tired of them! The challenge with blogging has actually been that I haven't been keeping up with my regular schedule of projects, which are what I write about. I'm reading less and making less of an effort to get out and do things. So, you may see a bit of a reduction in the caliber of this blog as I try to wrap up the novel at the end of the month. Please bear with me and know that I'll get back up to full speed on the crafts just as soon as I can.