A late nanowrimo update

Technically, there’s still about 9 days left (as I write this). That said, I have 600 words left to write to reach 50k, and probably about 10k to be done with the actual story.

I think my other writing attempts this year helped train me for this Nanowrimo. It was certainly much easier to hit my number this year. Part of that is no doubt because this year is special – no commute. For so many years before, I was driving for at least two hours a day. After we move to San Francisco next year, I’ll probably be back in the commuting game, which means less time for Nanowrimo. This year definitely had some temporal advantages in its favor.

It’s been more than that, though. The extra time helps, but so does the repeated practice at novel writing this year. Looking back over this year’s statistics, I follow a distinct pattern. Early on, I was hit or miss on word counts, but then I would hit a stride. My numbers weren’t always high, but they were pretty consistent. This Nanowrimo, that came in handy. I had a good idea of what I was writing, and I hit my stride pretty early on.

The sad thing is I don’t even know if I like the novel anymore. I realize that could just be writer’s apathy talking, but the more I practice writing novels this year, the less enamored I am with my writing, especially in the genres I love. There’s something stilted in my writing, a stiffness that I hadn’t expected to find there.

So what’s next? Well, first I want to finish this story. Nanowrimo or not, there’s more than 50k worth of story here, and I’d like to see that completed. I also have a few ideas floating around for something, well, not science-fiction, not epic fantasy.

Obligatory graphic: