Stats
Week 12 Average Daily Wordcount: 2,539
Week 12 Total Wordcount: 17,776
November Total Wordcount: 64,070
Year Total Wordcount: 255,634
Words to go:
November: 19,264
Year: 744,366
If you have no idea what Milwordy means, you can check out my first post on this blog for more info: My Milwordy Declaration. In short, it is a writing challenge. I am trying to write one million words in a single year.
You guys, I’m still struggling.
I feel weird saying that because I’m still doing okay on my word count, especially if you look at my year total. It’s just gotten so difficult. I’m spending so much more time on this challenge lately because my writing has slowed down quite a bit. And I’m just not finding as much joy in it as I did at first. It’s been rough.
I’m still trying to figure out whether this is because I’m feeling uninspired with my current NaNo project or if this is the natural settling after the boost in creative energy I got from the start of such an ambitious challenge. I mean, I knew that it was possible, likely even, that I would not be able to maintain the same level of enthusiasm for the whole year, but if I’m being honest, I did expect it to last through November and NaNoWrIMo.
I suppose I won’t really know if it’s this particular novel or Milwordy itself that’s weighing me down until after I can start something new. And, I still probably have a week before I can do that. So, um, stay tuned, I guess?
The main thing I’ve learned this week is that discipline may be the single most important skill I need as a writer. When enthusiasm doesn’t keep my fingers on those keys, I need to find a way to force myself to sit down and do it anyway. While I have managed to hit my word count targets, I know I’ve wasted a lot of time on sitting in front of my computer screen, waiting for my brain to be ready to write. Sometimes you just need to sit down and do it.
How is your road to achieving your writing goals going? Is it as bumpy as mine?
