Confessions of a NaNoNite: Failure?

How are you feeling so far?

• Despite the circumstances (which you'll read more about below, should you decide to continue), I'm feeling pretty darn good about myself!

What has stood in your way from getting your word count goal for the day? How did you overcome that thing?

• School, really. Not that I dislike school, but when you need to write a novel and your teachers want to give you tests on Force and Pressure, French, and Precalculus as well as make you write a three page paper on Heart of Darkness with quotes, there's just no time for anything else. Also, when Harry Potter movies release and you would much rather go to those than be anti-social and sit in your room at your computer and write a novel. Stuff happens :)

There are six days left in NaNoWriMo. Will you make it?

• Absolutely not. As much as I would like to have that epic burst of energy and inspiration that will allow me to write all of those words that need to be written in order to win, I don't think that it is realistic to believe that it will happen.

Would you do this all over again?

• I most definitely would! You will see me again-- soon actually! Like, in the summer! I'm going to practice! I'll make it 50,000 words then, because I like the wonderful challenge and I'll most likely have more time over the summer (depending on which month). You will also see me next November when the real event starts. I am determined to conquer this whole shindig!

What is something that you would do differently?

• I would prepare more. What I mean by this is go through and outline my story scene by scene. Then I just have to worry about getting my words on paper rather than thinking about where I'm supposed to go next in the story.

What worked for you?

• I think the word quota for the day basically worked for me. If life hadn't gotten in the way, I would certainly have been on schedule for my word count goal. But, life goes on and it has no intention of stopping any time soon.

What have you learned from this experience?

• I have learned that I can exercise my inner editor. I basically gave him a sleeping pill and he's been out for a month (except when school's in session and I need him). I have learned that this is possible. I have learned that I am really distracted and I need to rein myself in a little bit.

Just for fun, do you have a word count update for us?

• Sure, why not? As of today, I have 11,426 words which comes out to 38.09%!

So, do you really feel like you failed this month, like your picture suggests?

• If you're looking at what I'm supposed to do for NaNoWriMo, then technically, yes, I did fail. However, I'm not feeling failure in my system, so my picture is a bit of a hyperbole of a picture (that's for you Mrs. Hayes! But I don't think you're reading this and I'm not sure if I used 'hyperbole' correctly in a sentence).

Thanks for reading!

--Jude