Day 1

Yes, I know I just said I was going to take a break from writing here during Nanowrimo. But just this evening I decided it might be interesting to keep a record of the process as it happens, day by day, almost like some first-person journalistic perspective, if only for my own benefit. The whole thing moves so fast that it's all a blur by the end of the month, and I think I might like the chance to look back and remind myself of how it all happened. I don't know if this will happen daily, but we'll see how things go. I won't be putting any Facebook links here since I'm all but abstaining from that Time Hole while this is going on. Which will certainly slow down the hit count (not that it's impressive to begin with), but I don't care. If I do keep up with this, I'm doing it for me.

Day 1 - 2,024 Words
If I want to hit 60,000 words, I need to average 2,000 a day. Not impossible. I started early this morning, finding myself awake at 3:30 and just getting up and diving in instead of rolling over and turning on a WTF podcast to try and fall back asleep. I did eventually get in a couple more hours of sleep, and by the time I left for school I was already over 1,000 words.

I didn't really feel like I hit a wall until I started up again at night. One of the biggest challenges about writing is knowing where you want the story to go, but having to do all of the grunt work involved with planning out every footstep of the way it takes to get there. I've already spent a good amount of time sitting and staring, trying to get started. I have to remember at this stage it's all about word count. I can't be too picky. I have to leave the phone alone, no matter how many Words With Friends notifications I get. I don't need another drink. I don't have to delete this song from the playlist right this moment. I don't have to line up the desktop Sticky Notes so they're easier to follow. Just keep writing. This is just the beginning. There's a little voice in what I've got, but that has to be okay. I've got the outlines, and the character sketches, and the notes. I can always fix things later. I have to start strong and cover some real estate.

Hit 2,000 words and call it a night. Take some time to plan where you're going to start tomorrow so you don't have to face the blank page cold. Be ready to hit the ground running and build some momentum.