There's about 30 minutes left of Day Three for me. By the end of the night, I will surpass 10,000 words. That makes me feel so good, I'm taking the final 30 minutes off of Day Three.
Now before you send comments my way like, "You suck! I'm at 500 words and my main character has a stutter!" Listen to this:
Last year was the first year I finished NaNoWriMo after trying three times before and failing miserably. This is my fifth time doing the competition. I am using all my past failures to show me how to succeed for the second straight year.
There are many things I'm doing this year that are different from the first three years. I've written a few blog entries already highlighting some of the strategies I'm using to increase my chances of success. Here's another:
Write even when I don't feel like it or when the words won't come out.
Sometimes the words do not want to come out easily. Let me rephrase: Sometimes the "right" words don't want to come out easily. I get frustrated because what I'm typing is bad. This is NaNoWriMo. It's all about quantity, not quality. Stop thinking so much. Let go. Just write. If the "right" words don't want to come out, then just "write" words - right ones or wrong ones. If writing "any" words, whatever comes to mind in your stream of consciousness is too loose, then write someone else's words for a bit.
I have two works with me as I write. When I'm stuck, I open up one of those works and simply type a few lines until these "borrowed" words prime my pump and "my" words take over. For the record, my borrowed words this time around are coming from Milton's "Paradise Lost," and C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters."
If you're stuck, give it a shot. At least you will be typing out words for your count. Let me know how it goes.
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