NaNoWriMo 2014 – Day 15: 788

Yesterday was my region’s (or rather the region to which I associate) all day write-in, or Coffee Crawl as it is usually called. The last couple of years, I’ve been able to make great success of these days, hitting 10k in both 2013 and 2012. This year, however, I had other plans and simply didn’t make it (being farther away this year was a contributor as well, but ultimately, there are just too many things to do, and not enough time to do them).

Over the course of the day yesterday, I saw Guenevere, Gabriel, and Grayson all writing. Not sure if Abigail got a chance, but she was already doing well by her progress as well. By the time I found the time to write though, I was pretty tired and so I only put in a quick 5-minute session and then a 15-minute session. Pretty good word rate for that amount of time, but I can’t expect to make 50k by only putting in 20 minutes per day.

I haven’t been really worrying about my word count most of the first half of the month; I am well versed in the ebb and flow of November. That said, I’ve always had the cushion of the all day write-in to boost my word count. Now that it has passed, I am slightly concerned. Not very concerned – just slightly. At the end of day 15, where I should have been at 25,000, I sat squarely at 21,591. That’s just slightly over two days behind pace. I can probably pick that up, but I’ll need to make more opportunities to write without killing myself in terms of sleep.

The story itself is going very well and I’m happy to say that I’ve avoided most elements of the fantastic in here to keep the story in the realistic fiction category. Which is to say – I’m doing something I’ve never really done before and I like it. With that in mind, I’m going to aim to get through the rest without delving into fantasy or science fiction and see how it goes. With a good amount of factual research, I do think I could clean this up and make it into something and as a result, it is one of my favorite pieces so far. We’ll see how the next 29,000 words go though 🙂

So, second half – here I come! Time to rock it! Pick up the figurative pens and keep the target in mind.

(To those few I know who have already crossed the 50k mark – I am in awe of you. I strive to be at a point where I am writing that much, but it will take no small amount of discipline and likely retirement to get there 🙂 Nicely done though 🙂 )