It was my 60th birthday this week, and whilst I am not exactly retired, I did spend most of my working life expecting that I would be. (Whole other story) Less of my time is spent doing paid work now which does give me a little bit of room to experiment, at least with things that offer the possibility of remuneration.
My excellent writing course is now finished and I am into the serious business of writing my first novel. Joining Nanowrimo is an incentive to get on with it. It entails committing yourself to write 50000 words in a month. Whilst, not a complete novel it is most definitely the bulk of one.
11 days in and I am woefully behind, possibly irredeemably behind, however and this is a big however, I have done the first draft of the first 3 chapters in less than a fortnight, so I feel as though I am winning even if, in fact, I am not.
For me, there have been some disadvantages:
I use ongoing projects to help me not to get stuck, For example, If one story is struggling I move on to something else and come back to the first a few days later, mind cleared and enthusiasm restored. I am finding it hard to concentrate on one thing, hence my writing this blog today rather than trying to catch up.
My days are always full, I knew that finding this much time would be a struggle and it has been.
I am best when I am alone in the house, for some reason even Steve being around makes it harder for me.
Steve works so hard in the week that when he is here I want to be with him not at my desk.
There are some definite advantages:
The pressure to do a certain number of words a day does make you write more than normal.
I am writing with a writing Buddy, Jacqueline Vincent this has been a revelation as well just how much difference it makes having someone to encourage and be encouraged by.
Having a defined project with a plan and a to-do list each day is great for productivity.
The NaNoWriMo team produce some great stuff to help motivate you, I almost wish I lived in The states so that I could join in one of the write-ins.
Oh well back to boosting my word count, next time I'll tell you a bit about my story.
