National Novel Writing Month 2012 is almost over. This has been my first time doing it and in just a few more days of wild-eyed typing, I’ll hit the 50,000-word goal which will make me a winner. What do I win? It’s kind of like a marathon: if you complete the challenge of producing a 50,000-word manuscript in thirty days, you win the feeling of having accomplished a task that few ever start. With NaNoWriMo there will be thousands of winners, basking in the exhausted glory of having Kicked It Out.
I’ve been averaging 2,000 words a day since 2 November, writing for a couple of hours every night. I even put in 1,000 words on Thanksgiving Day (22 Nov), but then I hit a wall. I wrote nothing at all on Friday the 23rd. While other Americans cussed their way from strip mall to strip mall, I spent the day like this:
- Surfed the Internet on my iPad while lying in bed until 11:00 a.m. (dog accompanied)
- Made and ate breakfast.
- Watched first two episodes of American Horror Story: Asylum.
- Went to a hair appointment and discovered it was damn cold outside.
- Came straight home and watched the next two episodes of American Horror Story: Asylum.
- Nap.
- Dinner.
- Watched the fifth and sixth episodes of American Horror Story: Asylum.
- Began watching all six episodes of American Horror Story: Asylum all over again.
Oh, sure it occurred to me several times that I should take advantage of such a long, empty day to knock out a few thousand words on the manuscript. Couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t. But as you can see I’m in a good place on my word count. As of a few minutes ago, my total is 44,191 words. I’m planning to write another 2,000 tomorrow and then 1,300 a day until Wednesday. I feel no need to produce beyond my goal. I’m running out of things to write as it is. After all, mine isn’t a novel but a memoir about owning a dog, for chrissake. How much is there to say?
On Thursday I will enjoy the feeling of being DONE with this masochistic experiment. I’ll take a moment to listen for the desperate typing and scribbling of my still-sweating colleagues across the world and start watching/repeat-watching the seventh episode of American Horror Story: Asylum. And I’ll probably swear to never do NaNoWriMo again.