Before I officially started working on NaNoWriMo, I had about 8000 words to book 4 of my Khloe series. I discovered that in order to get where I need to be at the end of November (at least 100k or more) I needed to start writing 4000 words a day.
4000 words daily seems like a lot to most people, but keep in mind, on good days I've done as much as 15,000. 4000 feels like chump change in comparison. However when we take into consideration that I have a 2 month old baby with me, 4000 seems insurmountable. I was doing about 500 to 1000 before I got serious with my daily writing goal.
But, when there's a will, there's a way.
Most people think writing a novel is impossible with a full time job or whatever other obligations are going on. But here's the truth - those are excuses for poor time management. Seriously.
Yesterday I had the baby all day and guess what? I got to 13000 words. I felt balla (that's a technical term). I felt like a boss. I was going big. I earned my glass of red wine last night. For reals.
How did I do it? Well, I'll be honest and confess that I did have a little help. I had my husband around for part of the time and the baby did sleep (as well as cooperate and sit calmly in a carrier while I wrote). I even had my parents there to hold him for a little while as I finished the last 500 words of my goal. So yes, I had help addressing my other concerns, but that was only part of what made reaching my goal possible. I also took advantage of every scrap of time I had.
So every five minute segment when baby was occupied, I was at my computer finishing a paragraph. Every moment he was sleeping, I made sure I was polishing off a chapter. It didn't matter if I got stuck with a plot point, I soldiered on. I pushed myself past the block and continued writing.
This is my strategy. Steelers fans will be familiar with this strategy - it's the Jerome Bettis Bus Strategy. Whatever defensive line is before me, it doesn't matter. I just run the ball right on through because, I'm a bus (in attitude, not form!). I can do that, and I'm going to keep doing that. 100k or more this month - for sure.
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