NaNoWriMo: Write 50,000 words from November 1-30.
Story: Deathlock

I gave up on hitting the 50,000 word mark early last week because I hit a snag in the story and I got all my birthday presents and wanted to play with them. I managed to get 18,211 words (36 pages, single-spaced), which is still pretty good. I’m sad I didn’t make the deadline, but I have discovered that I’m a sprinter, not a marathon runner. I can do lots of writing all at once and then have a dry spell for several weeks, just mulling the story over in my head. I need to learn to take full advantage of these sprinting periods, though. I don’t always.

Something I did notice is that people who write a lot don’t necessarily write well. I read an excerpt by a girl I don’t know at all, who stayed ahead of me in word count the entire month, and realized that even though she was “winning,” her excerpt was badly written because it was too wordy — it suffocated me with description.

My story has shorter paragraphs and quick dialogue. I’ve even pared down a paragraph or two because it needed it, forget word count.

So I guess, in the general sense, I’m a winner too. Not of the contest — no, I won a brand new 18,211 words that didn’t exist last month. 18,211 well written words.

Well, most of them. ^_^

NaNoWriMo happens every November. The idea is to try and write 50,000 words over November’s 30 days. That would be about 3.5 pages a day for me.

So I signed up. I’ve been lazy with my writing, and I’m worn out on Warcraft for a few weeks, so I’m going to push hard during November to finish another book.

I picked Deathlock, because this is the third draft of the story and I actually feel like I’m finally getting somewhere with it.

I know what needs to happen. I’ve just had trouble getting it all down on paper.