It’s been a bit since I had the time/space/energy to do NaNoWriMo (I think my last one was 2019), and so imagine my disappointment when, a week ago, I found out that they went under earlier this year. And while I understand why it happened, I still find myself missing the structure that the contest provided.
However! With a little internet research, I found something that scratches that organizational itch that lives deep in my brain. Enter Pacemaker, a word count/writing tracker. It lets you create projects and set word count goals for yourself; it also allows you to determine whether you’ll write every day or not, and whether you’ll write the same amount of words each day. Because I’m solely focused on writing at the moment, I chose to set a static word count goal for myself that occurs every day of the week (weekends included).
Finding this right now was a bit of luck, since I recently started sending my completed manuscript to agents, and had an idea for a new novel come to me just recently, too. And while I thought I might use Pacemaker in place of NaNoWriMo this November, I actually dove into writing my new novel on Tuesday. I’d had a migraine earlier in the day, so things were a bit slow going, but I still wrote nearly 1,500 words (and did a bunch of outlining, too!).
With the goal I set for myself, I will definitely finish the first draft of this novel before the first day of November. And while I could technically begin an entirely new novel then, I don’t think I want to; I’ll likely use November for revising, and revising, and revising some more, so that I might have another nearly-complete draft before the end of the year.
So, this is NaNoWriMo, Catherine-style. I’m starting mid-September, and I’ve set a goal of 60,000 words for my first draft. While that might seem a little low, I’m definitely an under writer when it comes to first drafts; with the novel I’m sending to agents right now, I added close to 20,000 words during revisions.
My first draft deadline, then, is October 16th. If all goes well, I’ll have all revisions complete by the end of November, too.
I can’t express enough how glad I am that I’m finally doing this—focusing solely on writing. After talking about it for almost a decade, it was long overdue that I actually did the dang thing.
Anyway, I need to get my words in for today.
Talk to you soon,
—Catherine
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