Milwordy: Week 27 Thoughts

Stats

Week 27 Average Daily Wordcount: 2,193

Week 27 Total Wordcount: 15,352

March Total Wordcount: 25,616

Year Total Wordcount: 553,782

Words to go:

March: 57,718

Year: 446,218

I feel ready to move on to a new project.

I’ve been working on my changeling novel for a little over two months now—that’s nothing. Writing novels takes a long time. But here I am, feeling like I can’t wait to be done with it so I can start something new.

This is partly just who I am (impatient) and partly a result of Milwordy. Having such a high daily word count means that I tear through projects pretty quickly. It has only fed into my natural propensity to move on to the new and shiny project quickly. In short, it has made me less patient.

On the other hand, it has also gifted me with the discipline to work against that impatience and stick to a project, even when I’m losing steam on it.

I think that’s what I’ve learned most this week, and perhaps over this whole challenge: Milwordy is a double-edged sword. Yes, it can make me more impatient, but it can make me more prepared to deal with impatience. It can make me a faster writer while also teaching me that fast is not always better. It can make me a better writer in some ways, but perhaps a worse writer in others.

I’m leaning on dictation of a character’s backstory again. Don’t get me wrong, working on character backstory is important, but sometimes it can be a way for me to get my daily word count in without having to work too hard for it. After all, I don’t really need to worry about those words being good because they aren’t meant to be part of an actual novel. I can be lazy with them if I want, and when I’m dictating, I usually want. That’s not teaching me to be a better writer. It is getting me my word count however, which is all the Milwordy challenge ultimately requires.

That’s not why I started this challenge though. I didn’t do it just to see if I could.

Okay…it was a little bit to see if I could.

Mostly though, I wanted to become a better writer. While I think that I am improving, I can also see clearly the moments where I’m just spinning my wheels and wasting time. Those moments feel like failures even when I net a high word count. But I don’t know how I would ever get this challenge done without those moments. Sometimes my brain needs a little bit of a break.

It may sound like I’m being a bit of a downer on Milwordy this week. I suppose I am, really. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from this challenge it’s that this feeling of doubt comes and goes. It’s another double-edged sword. Milwordy has given me doubts about my writing, but it has also given me the perspective to realize that those doubts are temporary. If I just keep chugging along, they will pass.

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-Robin