The Agony of a Field Goal Kicker

I’m lining up on the thirty yard line, waiting for the snap before the ball is set before me and I kick it through the goal posts to win the game!

At least that’s my plan…

There are only six more days in November…six more days to complete my NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words in a month! That’s the most I’ll ever have written in a thirty day period.  As of right now I’m at 38,116.

I’ve learned a few more things along this journey so far. I’m learning that the first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t even have to be that good, as long as the story and characters are evolving. I don’t have to make it great before I move on, I can tell the story and polish it later.

Once again, my characters have surprised me by making me tell THEIR story, not mine. Whenever I try and force them somewhere they don’t want to go, those stubborn little figments of my imagination dig their heels in and throw a hissy fit. I spent two days scribbling in a notebook various possiblities for the plot until they finally yelled “That’s the way we want you to go!”

And I confirmed to myself that I’m a people pleaser. When my friends stopped asking me about my word count after I’d come home exhausted from a conference, I let myself slack off. But when I started posting my progress and people started prodding me on I forced my muse to come out of hiding and made my way back from a 4800 word deficit.

Now the end is in sight it’s time to steady my nerves, take a deep breath and kick that ball through the posts…um, pound those keys until I reach my goal!