I have written so far 15,287 words (little counter to the right should verify this too :D). Those words seriously need editing mind. But that is 14,179 words short of where I should be today. (Becky Black will love that I have a spreadsheet to calculate this. Spread sheets are her thing. They can be my thing too. It's maybe why we get on so well.) But this is the reason why I will not win. NaNoWriMo calculates I need to write 2629 words a day for the rest of the month. It's not going to happen. Not unless I want my RSI to come and hit me in the face! (Well, the wrist actually).
So I'm a winner in that I'm writing again, with everything that real life is throwing at me I think this is a damn good achievement. After November I will need to get back to editing The Wedding Favour and being tough with myself about it. You will not make it as a writer if you do not put the work in, Teresa!
However, as I said to my writing friends in my little writing group, I think I'm too tough on myself. I'm impatient basically, and want it to happen as soon as possible, and stress myself that it is not, because it's a vicious circle. I won't see writing achievements if I'm not writing and working at it. However, I think I need to take a step back, just keep at it, write when I can write (and not beat myself up when I can't) and eventually it will come. My desperation is because I am miserable in my job. If writing could pay the bills, I would be happier. So, I need to find something else don't I?
It doesn't mean I'm giving up my dream of writing, it just means finding something more enjoyable to do to bring in the bread and butter, and work around my children (which is priority) and my writing. I'm tired of getting up at 5.30am every Saturday morning. I want my weekends back!
I thought about becoming a teaching assistant, and I'm not striking that off, but maybe for a quicker solution, and less training required, maybe I need to find a job in a school (or college) doing admin.
It's great that you're writing again, like you say, even if you're not going to get to 50k, you;ve still got more words done than you would have otherwise.
ReplyDeleteYou're going to get there in the end, if you keep working on it. Remember the saying, a pro is an amateur who didn't give up.
Yeah, I won't give up. Sometimes reality just gets in the way. 2012 wasn't my year. Maybe 2013 will be. It is good to be writing again. Although it's not always happening every day. Eeek!
DeleteAfter reading your Facebook statuses recently, I think a change of job would do you the world of good. And might even spur on an even more creative period. Glad you're managing to write though - that's great!
ReplyDeleteI've started looking and even applied for an admin job in a school. Fingers crossed :D Might eat into Writing and Running a bit, but I will reorganise around it. Onwards and upwards... she hopes!
DeleteIf it's any consolation Teresa a) I'm even further behind than you (12553 words unless I get more done today)and b) I too have a spreadsheet that tells me how many words I should be on. I can put in my daily word count (and it's divided into words on the novel and words on other projects). Geeky, eh? Don't even get me started on the one where I feed in the due date, how important the project is to me, how many hours it will take and how difficult I expect it to be, and it gives each project an Anti Procrastination Score lol!
ReplyDeleteI think you're probably procrastinating just filling in the sheets lol! Mine isn't as snazzy as that ;-) But I have been writing, so I'm happy. Though now I feel that I'm not going to win, I don't motivate myself to sit down and write. Naughty!
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