So I’ve just reached the end of day 2, and I’m at 5008 words- a whole day’s worth (1676) ahead of target. This is good because I’ve got a long day at work tomorrow, my mum popping over for ‘a quick chat’ on thursday, a late night finish on friday and a wedding to attend on Saturday, which are all things that could put my word count in jeopardy. It feels good to know that I have some extra words in the bank. And my Nano report card tells me if I continue at the same rate I’ll be finished on 22nd Nov, eight days earlier than intended. In reality I won’t finish that early, but it’s still very encouraging to know that I could.
It was harder today than yesturday because I was working until 5pm, and because the clocks have gone back it seems late when I get home now. Instead of plunging right into it I dithered around sending emails and making changes to the blog, which is not a good way to start. I only started writing at about eight o’clock, and I was trying to get tea at the same time. I went up to bed with the laptop and carried on till a few minutes ago, when I finally broke 5000 words. And now it’s eight minutes to midnight and I have to be up at 7am if I want a shower. Urgh. Why do I do this to myself? Still, my morale is suprisingly high so far, despite the lack of sleep and quality time with my partner. It really does give me a buzz knowing that I’m on target. I really want to keep it up.
Tomorrow I’ll probably do some planning in my workbook in my lunchbreak, and then hopefully get stuck in straight away when I get home. I’ll be able to stay up late tomorrow night as I have a day off on thursday (hoorah!).
Anyway, because I write tiny chapters, I’ve already reached the end of my third chapter. Up until now it has all been introduction, setting up what’s to come. Isla has just been telling the doctor about how she wound up in The Hole. I thought my first couple of chapters were quite good but chapter three is pretty pants- very lame and cheesy. I wanted the novel to be a psychological thriller but it seems that I cannot write anything completely serious. It’s turning out to be more like a tongue in cheek black comedy. I blame Monty Python and Robert Rankin for corrupting my mind and stopping me from writing serious fiction. It can’t go on like this otherwise readers will be pretty shocked when people start dying in numerous, hideous ways! Oh well. I suppose the important thing is that I have exceeded my word count goal. I’ll try not to worry about the quality of my writing right now- the important thing is to get words on paper and January will be the time to revise it all. But tomorrow the real thing kicks off- we meet the other contestants, we see what The Hole is like, they get their first challenge. It’s going to be fun and I can’t wait!
Leave a Reply