My NaNoWriMo Goal

My Word Count

I've upped my word count goal from 1667 per day to 3200. So far I'm very motivated, possibly because it's my goal. I reasoned that as a retired person I could, in theory, write 3-4 hours per day. I'm not sure I could do that every day. However, I can write two hours a day which averages out (so far) to 2898 words per day. Since I'm writing more words per day, I really crunch on past  a lot of story details. I have to stop, go back, and add in scene and character descriptions. There's a lot more "he said/she said" than with a lower daily word count goal. More urgency. Although, I find I write much later in the day because looming midnight is a motivator. I don't want to go to bed with my goal not met.

When I set the goal I wondered what this would do to the process. In National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) there's the famous 2nd Week Slump. It still exists for me except I'm now calling it the 10,000 word slump. As I approach that mark, the slump sets in.

I find I'm less willing to have a low count or no count word day. 3200 is harder to make up that 1667.

My process has stayed the same. I still blog, research, post things to Facebook, and use house work when I'm blocked or procrastinating (which might be the same thing).

I like being ahead of the curve (so far) and I like knowing that if I keep up the pace I will finish by, at least, the third week. Then I can use the rest of November to finish the story. And I will get a free and clear Thanksgiving for the first time in 7 years. I'm not sure what the pace will be (or the daily word count goal) when I get to 50,000. Ideally, I'd like to get to 70,000 by the end of the first week in December.

I'll let you know.