NaNoWriMo 2012 || Weeks 3 & 4

Yesterday, as I was typing away on my NaNo project, I realized that writing a book is, as many have already said, totally like giving birth to a child. When I realized that I was in the home stretch (about 1K words to go), I told my friend Rachel that it felt like I was going into labor.

My exact words were something along the lines of:

I feel like I'm having a baby (while I'm writing).

It's like PUSH PUSH PUSH,

YOU'RE ALMOST THERE

JUST A LITTLE MORE...

Miracle of all miracles, just before I left my office for the day, I did something I have never managed to do before - I hit that glorious, amazing 50,000 word mark.

The moment I finished typing the scene and I saw that I had passed that marker, I wanted to burst into tears. The sense of accomplishment was really unlike I had ever felt before, and accompanying that was the urge to just keep on going.

While I am certainly nowhere near done with my WIP (in fact, were I to judge, I'd say I was about halfway through it), I am proud of myself for finally, truly writing that novel that I always said I would. What I'm saying is no longer just words - it's really happening!

The last two weeks were probably the toughest for me. I was really afraid I would not be able to do my villains justice, and I was also worrying about how to string certain elements together. (Obviously, if you can't tell, I was pantsing this entire affair!)

Week Three

I kept up a steady pace with my writing, though I avoided writing anything at all to do with my villain. I wrote a lot of fluffy, cute, romantic scenes during this time, though they were all written at random. Once Thanksgiving hit though, I did not write a single word all weekend. Chalk it up to a spontaneous vacation mindset.

Week Four

The moment this week started for me (which is always on a Sunday), I just knew that it was crunch time. It felt like do or die, and I was determined to do. So I wrote furiously all week, inspired by figuring out a particular plot point and planning to encounter my villain. I was expecting to hit that 50K mark on Friday, but well, as I said at the beginning of this post - miracles do happen.

Where I Am Now

I'm excited about what I've written, and I'm looking forward to working some more on it through December and January. There's still a lot of loose ends, missing scenes and story arcs to flesh out - but doing this NaNoWriMo thing has really proven to me that this - writing - is what I love. Even when things got complicated, even when I was not completely satisfied with what I was writing, I found that I was enjoying the creative process and the act of actually sitting down to type out a story. I can't wait to (hopefully) finish this before the New Year!

With Thanks

There are seriously so many fantastic people I need to thank for being so supportive during NaNo. I don't think I could have done this without them!

Lena, for coming up with the idea to do this story in the first place,

Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard, for hosting #NaNoWriMoBattle + all the encouragement,

Faye, Candice, Amber, Jen, Kristilyn and Anne, for being my Twitter cheerleaders,

Macky, for always being my number one fan and my favorite plotting partner,

and all the authors who have inspired me.

I really hope I haven't forgetten anyone, but if I have, please know that it was not intentional and that I'm so grateful! I am so thankful too, for everyone that has left an encouraging comment or tweeted me! I love you all.