Nanowrimo Day #2 Report
Let go
Day two, and I’m up to 2747 words total. I logged 1702 today.
And, ironically, I did it by letting go of the pressure to get that many words.
In case you haven’t done the math, 1700 words a day is about what Nanowrimo-ers figure will get you 50,000 words by the end of the month. That gives you 1,000 words of wiggle room in case you miss a day or fall behind.
Yesterday, I did 1045, and that felt good. At this point, getting any number of word on the page would feel good, I’ve been so mired in rewriting and other projects.
But today I started getting caught up in the I should write more mentality. I should be hitting those 1700 words a day, I told myself. And furthermore, I’m already behind by 700 because of yesterday. Around and around my brain went.
It was getting in the way of getting words on the page.
Until finally I hushed it. And told myself that any amount of words would be good. Then, and only then did I free myself to do the work. Today’s count? 1702 words.
As I have had to learn over and over again, letting go is always the way, in writing and in life.
I also found today that I needed to keep telling myself, over and over again, that the words don’t have to be perfect. It’s shocking how quickly the internal editor (mine is named Patrick) rears its head and starts telling you how to do things.
Don’t listen to him or her.
I’m starting to reach that lovely place where I think about the story all day long. It’s my warm, happy place to write it in the early morning while it’s still dark out, all alone in my office with the heater on, plugged into brain.fm.
And that’s why we do Nanowrimo.
You can read the day on report here.