Hey everybody! Back with my final NaNoWriMo 2018 weekly recap! (So sad, I know) So as of right now, it is the 28th. Two and a piece days away from success, whatever that means for you. It's scary to think that by the time you read this, I will have either reached my goal or missed it. I currently have 40,048 words, which…is not great. I've been slowly getting worse and worse, throughout the month. I would write here once a week, with tips that I ended up ignoring, because of my writer's block, and un-inspiration. Right up until two days ago, when Determination came in and pushed me to the keyboard.
On the 25th, I had 28,042 words. Again, not great. I kinda started to feel like I just wasn't going to make it, I was super uninspired, and I just did not want to write. I was watching some videos on Youtube when a video suggested by BuzzFeed came up. One of their content creators did a video on NaNoWriMo, posting once every day or so. She was dragging her feet like me in the middle until it was the 27th, and she had a boatload of words left to write. I definitely felt her pain but continued to watch the video. She went on through the last four days, writing like mad, and attending write-ins. She ended up reaching the 50k.
I wasn't shocked, because the title of the video was, "I wrote a novel in a month," but it made me think. If she could do it so close to the end, so could I. I took my less-than-thirty-thousand words and sat down. I wasn't inspired to write, but I realized I had to. If I wanted to achieve my goal, I had to get out of the "meh" mindset. I had actually to want it. Until then, I was kind of sitting back, writing passively, with a "Que sera sera" thought. Whatever happens, happens. Whatever. But watching the video, and watching her celebrate, made me realize that I wanted that to happen. I didn't passively want whatever happened to happen; I wanted to make something happen.
So, the past few days, I've been writing like crazy, into two in the morning, shunning Youtube and TV for all except music. Even when I reach my daily goal, I'm going to keep writing. I still have school and a concert I have to play in, in the next two days, so I can't quit when it's okay. I have to get more than my goal. I'm doing okay right now, and I think I'll be able to make it if I can stick with my goals.
Now into the happy part. I, for the first time this month, feel like I can actually win. I was really encouraged by watching videos of other people winning. It made me realize how close it is, and how much I can do. NaNoWriMo isn't just about passively writing "whatever," it's about pushing yourself to the brink, and developing a habit. Habits like this aren't easy to stick with, but you have to do it while it's hard, because if you make the hard parts easy, everything becomes easier. The more you write, the better you'll get, and the better you get, the more you can focus on other aspects of the writing, like more advanced and complicated plots. If you won, or if you didn't, check out nanowrimo.org, and join a region (It's group of like-minded people from your area, that are going attend writing events, typically in small businesses or libraries). Check the 'events' calendar, and see if there's a "Thank Goodness It's Over" Party in your area! It's a time to commiserate and look back on the month. How'd you do, what went wrong/right? What would you change if you could go back?
In two days, I'm gonna come back and write up either a "Success" article or a "how I'll do better next time" article. The link will be posted here: when it goes live. Go ahead and read it if you want to know how I did! (I myself am pretty curious right now…) Also, that article will include my thoughts for the future on writing tips and help articles. If you want to see how I did throughout the month, here are some links to my other recaps: First Week; Second Week; and Week 3, tips.
Bye for now! And remember, NaNo may be over, but you can still Go! Write! Conquer!
