Milwordy: June Wrap-Up

Stats

Average Daily Wordcount (Week 43 Only): 6,270

Week 43 Total Wordcount: 43,888

Average Daily Wordcount (June): 2,786

June Total Wordcount: 83,566

Year Total Wordcount: 862,810

Words to go:

Year: 137,190

Previous Milwordy Wrap Ups: September. October. November. December. January. February March. April. May.

This is the month I almost gave up.

It seems foolish, I know. I mean, I had come so far. Nine months of this challenge and only 3 left to go…why give up?

I was feeling burnt out for one. This challenge is hard. And it’s only gotten harder over time. When I started this thing back in September, things were going so well, I thought I might even be able to finish this challenge early. I wrote 100k words that month! No problem!

It seems like if you can do something for one month, then you should be able to do it again for the next eleven, right?

I’ve never hit that 100k in a month again. Even in my good months, I just can’t get there. Because the excitement of beginning was a more powerful fuel than I realized upon starting this challenge.

It’s not only burn out though. My attention can be a wandering thing. It’s not that writing has none of my attention anymore (obviously) but it is currently taking up way fewer neurons than it did back in September. I haven’t spoken about this on the blog yet, but I’ve thrown myself head first into relearning the piano, which I have been away from for years.

Was it wise to start a new hobby while I’m still trying to do this challenge? Um, no. But I have found over my 34 years on this planet that fighting my interests rarely leads to the best outcome. Sometimes it’s better for me to ride that wave of attention and let it take its course.

Does that mean I’m done with writing? No. Again, it’s not that I’ve abandoned writing, it’s just not central in my mind. This is the way my brain has always worked. And despite many varied interests over time, I’ve always come back to writing.

And who knows, maybe this is my brain’s way of taking a break from something that had been taking a lot of its energy. Maybe this is its way of renewing itself.

This is not, I promise, me telling you that I’m quitting Milwordy. I only have two months to go! I can’t quit now! And if I manage to hit my July goal of 83,334 words—which I plan to!—August should be an easier month. It will basically be a NaNoWriMo month instead of a Milwordy month because I will only need a little over 50k.

Because 50k is so little, right? *cue hysterical laughter.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo…you guys…Camp NaNo is in July.

If you’ve been following along with this blog, you may have noticed that the NaNoWriMos have not been particularly successful for me. You’d think it’d be easy right? I’m writing 83,334 words a month and NaNo is only 50k, I should win by default.

Except I keep setting this extra goal that I need 50k of my 83k to be dedicated to a single project. And I keep failing. And I told myself after my failed Camp NaNo attempt in April that I wasn’t going to do this again…

But like…third time’s a charm?

You can’t say I’m not persistent!

So same rules as last time: 50 of my 83k words have to be in a single project to win NaNo. You guys, I have to win one NaNo during Milwordy. I have to.

I considered making my goal for this Camp NaNo to write 138k (in multiple projects) so that I could finish Milwordy off with a bang. Then I decided that would be a spectacular way to fail my 3^rd NaNo of the year and chose a more sensible goal. It would have been pretty awesome though.

So, I have my assignment for July and I’m feeling pretty…okay…about it. Really, pretty okay. Hopefully, the next time we meet, I will have a good progress report for you all!

Who’s on the Camp NaNo bus with me? What are your goals for the month of July?

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