NaNoWriMo Week 3: Sick and on a Deadline

Summary

The author of the article is juggling multiple projects during NaNoWriMo, including a webinar, a Skillshare course, and one-on-one work, leading to a challenging third week where writing progress was sacrificed for other commitments and health.

Abstract

The third week of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) proved to be particularly challenging for the author, who had to balance creating new content for a webinar, developing a Skillshare course, and engaging in one-on-one work. Despite the goal of writing 50,000 words, the author's progress was hindered by illness and the necessity to prioritize other deadlines. Although the author has written more than 1,000 words in a day three times and passed the halfway mark, it seems unlikely that the NaNoWriMo target will be met. The author reflects on the importance of self-care and the decision to not push too hard, acknowledging that the novel will be completed beyond the November deadline and that writing should be a source of joy, not obligation.

Opinions

The author views the completion of the webinar, despite health issues, as a success, even though it impacted their NaNoWriMo progress.
There is a sense of pride in reaching the halfway mark of NaNoWriMo, but also a realistic acceptance that the 50,000-word goal may not be achievable this year.
The author prioritizes the development of the Skillshare course due to its impending deadline and the fact that it is their first time creating such content.
The author has a history of setting and meeting self-imposed deadlines but is now learning to let go of strict timelines and focus on the enjoyment of writing.
The author expresses a desire to complete the novel, regardless of the time it takes, emphasizing a commitment to not leaving books unfinished.
Writing is seen as a leisure activity that should not replace work or rest, and the author is determined to balance these aspects of life.
While the author would love to reach the 50,000-word count, they prioritize making decisions that ensure overall well-being over pushing for the NaNoWriMo goal.

Sometimes the real win is simply not giving up

The third week of NaNoWriMo, I knew in advance, was going to be really difficult for me. I gave a webinar on Friday, with new content I needed to create before I could, you know, actually present the information. I am building my first Skillshare course with a goal of releasing it on November 30th, and needed to create content for that as well. I have one-on-one work that needed to happen.

Also, if I did NaNo well, I’d hit the dreaded 30k wall.

The webinar ended up being what did me in when it came to writing progress, but not for the reasons I expected. Instead, I gave a practice webinar on Wednesday and spent the night feeling like someone took a spoon to my throat and scraped me out like a pumpkin. I could barely talk, and I had two one-on-one Zoom meetings on Thursday I still needed to survive before the webinar itself.

One of the questions I ask in my monthly reflection is what got done, and what sacrifices, if any, were required elsewhere in order to make it happen. In this case, my webinar got done, hoarse voice and all, and to relatively decent reviews.

NaNoWriMo was the sacrifice I needed to make in order to get it to happen.

I wrote more than 1,000 words in one day three times between the 15th and the 21st. Two other days, I wrote less than 500. I passed the halfway mark — which I am so, so excited about — but it’s looking unlikely I’ll be able to “win” like I hoped to.

Here’s the thing:

NaNoWriMo has a self-inflicted deadline of 50,000 words before November 30, and I know I am capable of doing that. I’ve done it before, more than once. My Skillshare course has an outside deadline of November 30, and it’s my first time making one. I don’t know if I am capable of doing both.

When something needs sacrificed, I’m okay with that being my writing right now. I’ve been writing with the intent of publication for a decade, and without a book published yet, traditional or self. This is my eighth novel, and I don’t leave books undone. My Shakespeare retelling will get finished, and it will be a lot longer than 50,000 words then, which means I wouldn’t finish in November anyway.

The first five years of my career — as an editor and as an aspiring author — I created arbitrary deadlines to spur myself on, to reach toward and hit and prove to myself I could do the thing. That I wasn’t lazy or unambitious.

The second five years, as all those deadlines came and went without any real, measurable progress toward my goals (no agent, no book deal), I’ve been working on letting go of timelines and accepting that I do love to write and my stories get finished.

So while my total word count for NaNo is now hovering far below where I want it to be — at 27,234 words — I’ve still written that many words in three weeks, on a brand new story, in a brand new genre, despite being sick and having other priorities.

I’m writing a rom-com. I want it to be a place I can go to enjoy myself when my workday gets hard and I need a break, not one more thing I feel morally obligated to do, and like a failure if I don’t. So I’m carving out time to write, but not letting it replace work, or resting and recovering from sickness, or any other leisure I’d rather be spending my time on.

I’d love if I still managed to hit 50,000 words in the next nine days. Stranger things have happened, for sure, and I’m capable of writing that fast. But if I don’t, I trust myself to have made the decisions I needed, that took care of me wholistically, rather than pushing myself even deeper into sickness in pursuit of a goal.