Sunday Post #36: Halfway

Sunday PostI have written 25,188 words of my NaNoWriMo novel. I am having a lot of fun with it, mainly because there’s no pressure. I know I don’t really have to write for an audience. It’s been freeing. For example, I wrote a paragraph today that made me think, “I wonder if that’s too much detail and interrupts the forward motion of the plot.” And then I thought, “Who cares? I can’t publish it, so if I want to include a whole paragraph about my character’s weekly class schedule, then I can. What I need to do is translate that idea to my other first drafts. I know the most important thing about writing a first draft is to get it out. The real work happens in revision. All that said, I really can’t believe how quickly it’s coming. I have never written over 25,000 words in eight days. That’s kind of nuts. I did read some of it to my husband. He didn’t tell me he said this, but I saw it later:

I finished James Shapiro’s Year of Lear this week. I tried really hard to finish it on November 5, since that date looms so large in the book, but I had about 20-30 more pages to go, and my eyes were drooping. I hated to have to set it aside and finish it on November 6 instead. I didn’t do a Sunday Post last weekend because it was the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I was writing all day (I actually wrote something like 10,000 words on that day alone), so I didn’t mention last week that I had also finished Fiercombe Manor. I am four books away from meeting my goal of reading 52 books this year, which I think is more books than I’ve ever read in a year. It’s a strange feeling, but the older I get, the more desperate I am to read because I know I can’t read all the books I want to read or that are worth reading. I know I shouldn’t stress myself out over it, and mostly I don’t, but sometimes I have these moments when I think about it and freak out.

And having said that, I think I’ll turn in with my book now. Good night.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week on your blog, and showcase books and things we have received. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme. Image adapted from Patrick on Flickr.

 

NaNoWriMo 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015

After a couple of years of not participating, I think I’m going to give NaNoWriMo a go again. You know what I think I’d really like to write? Just a Harry Potter fanfic for me. I’m intensely curious as to what happens with the next generation of witches and wizards. What does a post-Voldemort world look like anyway? So, I think that’s what I’m going to do. Just have a little bit of fun and not worry about it. I’m a little bit rusty writing-wise anyway. My username is “danahuff” if you want to friend me on NaNoWriMo’s site. I don’t know how active I’ll be in the forums.

NaNoWriMo is fun for me because everyone else is also trying to write, so I feel like I’ve got this invisible support network. Plus I feel like it’s a fun way to start a book. I have a couple of books partially written that need to be finished (and need quite a lot of editing), but NaNoWriMo gives me the push to get started writing—even if I need to find something else that gives me the push to finish and edit.

So what do you say? With me? It could be fun.

NaNoWriMo 2009

NaNoWriMoI must be crazy.

I’m a full-time wife, mother, and English teacher and half-time grad school student, and I really don’t have time to write. On the other hand, I do feel like I have a story that needs to come out. Well, a couple actually, and I haven’t decided yet which one I will write.

In other news, I discovered that NaNoWriMo purges your account if you haven’t logged in for over a year, and my old account is now gone, though my previous username was available.