Writing a novel or pulling teeth?

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Writer’s note: If this post seems familiar, it was originally written and published on the morning of 11/2/22 on Substack. I wrote in real time during NaNoWriMo 2022. I have since changed platforms for me email newsletter. (If that still interests you, you can sign-up for “Postcards” here.) However, in making future plans for my online writing spaces, I have decided to house my NaNoWriMo 2022 story here on Mrs. Writer. Very little changes, if any, have been made. Enjoy!

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Spoiler alert! You get to see that I made (and overachieved by 151 words) Day 1’s daily word goal =D

NaNoWriMo Day 1 ended for me at like 10:30pm. On the couch. In my pajamas.

I’ve spent a lot of time planning this novel that I’ve forgotten what it would be like to write the actual scenes. It was a lot harder than I remember.

This is how we started:

Morning Session

Writing a novel is a muscle that I haven’t used in a looooooonnnnggg time.

I learned that TAYLOR SWIFT IS GOING BACK ON TOUR NEXT YEAR as I was sitting down to write. How am I supposed to sit down and write after that instead of figuring out how and where to go see here. I’ve been a fan since she relesed her first ever song “Tim McGraw”. I love her entire debut album and am looking forward to when she releases her version of it.

So besides the Taylor Swift excitement, I managed to squeeze out 885 words before getting ready to walk over to work.

I will happily provide statistics/math here because the NaNoWriMo website does it for me: 885 words in about two hours is 6 words per minute. [insert cringey emoji face here]

The Interim

Came home, got dinner ready (homemade tacos for Taco Tuesday), watched the next episode of Malcom In The Middle with Ant while eating dinner, caught up on Antia phone game shenanigans, closed out October’s budget and set-up November’s, made a grocery list for this morning’s WinCo run, and then finally started writing at 8:30 at night.

Evening Session

Some days a change of scenery is necessary. So tonight I moved from my desk in the corner of The Hobbit Hole to my end of the couch. Much better. Ish.

During this time I learned that Enola Holmes 2 premiers this Friday on Netflix. I loved the first one, and I’m equally excited about this one. Taylor Swift tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, November 18th.

Nothing super new happened on Facebook or Instagram.

And that quite a few high school spring musicals take place in February. Am I the only one who feels February isn’t during the spring season?

This last one is actually relevant. And also it just increased my fuel to go see a show of any kind.

I managed to write 993 words during this evening session, bumping my words per minute up to 7 =D

Slow and steady really does win the race you guys.

Day 2 Plan

• WinCo Run—check!
• Write this update. It’s appearing much later than I wanted it to, but you know how these things go
• Write up until noon
• Walk over to work at 12:25-ish
• Home around 5 (at the lastest), dinner, Bible Study, and return Maleficent to the library
• Write and publish Day 2 Update

Current stats: 1,818/50,000 words

See you tonight! [fingers crossed emoji here]

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Writing Process Notes:

11/2/22 // written from 9:50am-ish to 10:45am at my writing desk while listening to Taylor Swift’s Lover album and part of folklore. Word count: 511

1/15/23 // 7:40pm-. Copying/pasting from original posting.