NaNoWriMo 2019

If you've been around the writing community for any amount of time, you will have heard of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It is a challenge where you start and finish a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I have never done an official NaNoWriMo. One year, I set the goal to write every day. I succeeded, but one day I only wrote two words! Another year, I set the goal of writing 500 words a day (which was quite a bit more than my usual daily output). I never thought I'd be able to write the 1667 words a day that is needed to make the goal of 50,000 in a month. But then I participated in the Author Olympics and wrote that range of words per day several times. My oldest daughter is in the writing club at her high school and they were talking about doing NaNoWriMo. I saw that they have a Young Writers Program where kids under the age of 18 can set their own goals. Thing One is going to aim for 15,000 words and Thing Two said she thought she could do 1,000 words a day. I decided to take the plunge and signed up for the official NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 30

I have arrived at the end of the month and I met my goal of writing 500 words a day!  It has been a great time and I'm hoping to keep up the momentum and continue writing at least 500 words a day until I'm finished.

I got 620 words today.

Some stats:
Week 1:  3897
Week 2:  3139
Week 3:  3588
Week 4:  3647
Extra 2 days:  1149

Total for the month:  15420

My first line for today: Kelly took a gulping breath and turned to unlock the front door with shaking hands. 
 

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 29

Kelly watched the back of Jeff's head as he sat ramrod straight in front of her. 

529 words for today. 

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 28

“May I help you?” Kelly gripped the door in her hand, her knuckles turning white.

I got 552 words today.

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 27

Jenna and Josh never did show up, and Kelly sighed. 

Today is Thanksgiving!  I got 524 words for today.  

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 26

Jeff and Kelly were one of the first cars to arrive at the church for choir practice, so when they walked into the church hand in hand, no one saw them.   

Today was hard to get my word goal as I was sick and the littlest things would have me tired out.  I did finally manage to get 507 words, though. 

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 25

Kelly leaned forward to look around Jeff, “I went to a few meetings, yes.”

Total words for today=518

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 24

“I got the tree on clearance a couple of years ago, but I don’t think it has ever been this beautiful, though.”  Jeff wrapped his arm around Kelly’s waist and squeezed her to his side.

Word count for today is 513.

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 23

"Well, you’ll have to do the top of the tree, you’re taller.  Do you have a star for the top, or an angel, or -?”

I got 520 words today.

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 22

I've been feeling sort of blah today.  It may have to do with the foggy dreary weather we have today.  I had to keep coming back to my writing before I finally had met my goal for the day.  I ended up with 513 words.

My first line for today was: “I’ll take these three boxes and you do those other two over there.” 

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 21

My first line for today was: Kelly tipped her face up to meet his kiss, “Thank you.” 

Today was not a usual day for me as my youngest had thrown up first thing this morning and I kept him home from school.  He has been acting totally normal, but I couldn't send him to school. 

My word count for today was 508.  My word count for Week 3 was 3588  and my total word count for the whole month so far is 10624.   

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 20

Another author that I follow on Facebook recently started posting the first line she wrote for that day on her current WIP.  I thought it was a great idea so I thought I'd start doing that, too.  I'm not promising that my first line will be profound or even that well written every day, but at least you'll get a glimpse into my story!

Today's first line is: "Kelly rolled over onto her stomach and lifted the jewelry box off its perch on the end table."

I got 533 words today.

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 19

Today's word count was 510.  My hero and heroine are now a couple ☺

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 18

I decided I needed to get my writing in earlier today again.  Our desktop's monitor is on the fritz and so I might have to share the laptop and I didn't want to miss my opportunity to get my words in for the day.  I wrote only 506 words, but it met my goal, so I guess that's okay!

Musing on my Novel

For this month's challenge, I've been writing my story straight onto the computer since it's easier to count the words that way, but I normally write in a spiral bound "1 Subject" notebook. (I have written bits and pieces of "Perfect Love" right into my Word document, but mostly used the notebook.) There is something about actually writing the words to paper that I like.  Plus when I type it up, I use that time to semi-edit, also.  I decided to type up more of the part I'd written before and realized I was typing what I'd written last year during my 'write at least something' challenge for NaNoWriMo!  I only wrote 960 words last year in "Perfect Love" for the whole month!  I did write in another story, "Secondhand Heart" also, so it isn't my total word count for the whole month, but I was happy to see how much better I've been doing this year!  I've typed up 35½ pages (35 front and back, plus one front) and have 22½ left to type up.  Up to the point where I'm needing to enter the handwritten part of the story, I have 16,232 words.  If I average the same number of words per page, then the handwritten part that I haven't typed would come to about 10,287 words.  The rest of the story that I typed straight into Word comes to 9,408.  That means my story is approximately 35,927 words long at this point. When I select all and do 'word count', it counts the **** I have for scene breaks as a word, so it isn't super accurate, but a nice ballpark figure!

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 17

I got my writing in much earlier in the day today than I have been lately.  It is nice to have the birthday party behind me. My word count for today was 518.

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 16

Today was my son's birthday, so I had a lot going on.  I still wanted to do my writing for the day, though, and got 501 words in.

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 15

I have reached the half way mark in my combo NaNoWriMo/500 Words Challenge.  I'm happy that I've kept to my goal of 500 words a day so far!  Today I got 512 words.

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 14

Today's word count total = 542.  This makes the 2nd week total word count = 3139.  My total for the whole challenge is 7036

NaNoWriMo 500 Words Challenge: Day 13

I was busy all day and almost forgot to do my writing for the day.  I didn't have a hard time coming up with my goal, it just got later than I wanted!  I got 521 words today.