My NaNoWriMo: Round 5, Week 3

Are we already halfway through National Novel Writing Month? I haven’t felt this fatigued and mentally drained since, well, last November!

But let’s get right to it. Did I reach this week’s NaNoWriMo goals? Or did I fail miserably?

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Words words words—my week has been full of words! I’ve typed a lot of words, brainstormed a lot of words and hated a lot of words I wrote—but wrote them anyway.

That’s just the brief overview of the week. And now here are the details! Here’s the progress I made this week during NaNoWriMo.

My Progress

My daily writing goal is to write a bare minimum of 1,667 words. Fortunately on my NaNoWriMo profile, there’s a reminder that I need to write at least 1,667 words a day in order to reach 50,000 words by November 30. And with Thanksgiving next week, I couldn’t lose steam now on my daily writing pace.

Since last week, I exceeded my word count goal of 25K words! I was averaging at least 1,800 words a day, helping me exceed my goal sooner in the week than planned.

I made further progress on two longer short stories this week as well as write one complete short story.

My Obstacles

I hit a wall this week. Actually, every day this week.

Between early morning workouts and long hours at the office, I come home every night mentally fuzzy and physically fatigued. What I want to do is check out by binge watching a TV show until I fall asleep.

That’s not an option when you sign up for NaNoWriMo and you have big life commitments you can’t shake.

I’ve been trying to use my mental fatigue as a strength. When I’m tired, I tend to not pre-think or overthink my writing. I just write. And I don’t dwell on a wrong word or awkward phrase. I let the story flow from my mind and onto my paper.

And that’s more rewarding than relaxing in front of a glowing television screen!

My Successes

I used my weekend to its fullest. I blocked off both Saturday and Sunday to focus on cooking my meals for the week and writing.

Shouldn’t every weekend be filled with words and great smells?

I stayed in my pajamas, set the creative mood by playing smooth jazz on my speakers, poured a hot cup of fresh-brewed coffee, sat in my favorite (and only) recliner chair and typed away on my laptop.

And I reached my daily word count goal before 10AM!

That left time for me to write blog posts about NaNoWriMo so that National Novel Writing Month participants (and blog readers) like you had content to read that related to your writing situation right now.

My Goals

I plan to continue hitting a daily minimum of 1,667 words with a goal of reaching at least 35K total words by next Friday, November 24.

What are your NaNoWriMo goals this week? Share it with us below.

5 Comments

  1. I’m a little behind because of my birthday and helping a friend prepare for an international trip, but my goal is to hit at least 20K, if not more over the next couple of days. I just need to carve out some time between birthday plans to sit down and get it done. Congrats on hitting 25K!

  2. I hear you about hitting walls! Good for you that you keep pushing through! I’ve learned that is the best part about NaNoWriMo–how it pushes you to keep going even when you’re not feeling inspired. …’Course I joined Camp Giving Up, but it’s great to see less confused writers still rocking it!

    1. That’s so true about NaNoWriMo! If it were any other month, I’d be easier on myself for taking on more activities in my schedule. But there’s just something about November that gets me (reluctantly) to hold myself to an even higher standard.

      Even though you’ve pitched your tent at Camp Giving Up, I hope you’re still writing this month! On the surface, the focus of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50K novel, but I’d argue that the true intention behind the movement is to inspire writers to keep on writing ⛺️

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