It’s here. It’s happening. NaNoWriMo 2017! Around the world, writers are setting their sights on that 50.000 word count goal and preparing to sell their sanity to reach it. Others are hoping to regain some sanity through this month-long intense focus on our stories. Personally, I’m about 50/50.
I have been excitedly awaiting NaNoWriMo since the July Camp, super thrilled to take a break from my main WIP to delve into the next one – the first book in what I’m calling the Perrinne Legacy trilogy. I love this story, and I love NaNoWriMo. I was so excited and have been looking forward to it for months.
Then this week happened. Work was an absolute nightmare, with three days of overtime falling exactly on the start of NaNoWriMo. I was also moving into a new apartment (a thanks to my amazing parents who out of nowhere decided to fly down and help me move so I wouldn’t have to do it alone; they are amazing and I would never be done by now without them!) which has been amazing but also added to some of the stress.
All in all, since November hit I have been a bundle of nerves and anxiety and getting back into the excitement has been a challenge. Somehow, miraculously, I reached the word-count goal every day despite being so tired I could hardly think, but just reaching the daily goal isn’t enough for me. Now that the weekend is finally here, it’s time to get pumped again – because I deserve to be happy about NaNoWriMo no matter what kind of shit is going on at work. Here are some things I’m doing this weekend to calm back down and gear back up.
Indulging
I’m going to do something special, something fun, just for me. Something completely not writing-related simply to lift my spirits and get me into the right mindset of being excited and happy about NaNoWriMo. I am, of course, talking about going to see Thor: Ragnarok. I’m seeing it alone because that’s my favorite way of going to the cinema, especially with superhero movies because other people tend to ruin it for me – I get unhealthily into superhero movies and take the whole thing a bit too seriously, so I prefer not to have sane people around who are less obsessed.
This indulgence is particularly perfect for me because I have never walked out of a superhero movie and not felt like conquering the world. And right now, I need to be in a conquering-the-world-mood.
Write
Yes, I know this one is obvious, but I’m still writing it down.. This is my blog, I can do what I want. As I mentioned, I love the Perrinne Legacy story so much. It might be my absolute favorite of all the stories I have planned, mainly because it’s quite dark and violent. Which is exactly what I need right now, because instead of bringing me down, writing that kind of thing is so cathartic. I get some of my aggression out without actually hurting anyone. Except for my characters. I hurt them a lot.
The point is, this particular story is very therapeutic, and no matter how hard it is for me to actually sit down and write, once I start writing on this particular story it’s impossible not to enjoy myself. So once I’ve spent the day doing all the things I need to get done and getting psyched up with Thor: Ragnarok, I will do at least three twenty/twenty sessions when I get home.
Sunday = Magic
I love Sundays. It’s the only day where I have nothing planned and anything can happen. This Sunday that anything is a pact I’ve made with myself to write for the first ten minutes of every hour I’m awake. I get up early, so that time piles up. The time in between can be spent on absolutely anything, but the second a new hour strikes it’s straight for the keyboard!
I won’t get to write more than ten minutes at a time, though, because that way I’ll inevitably stop sooner than I want and be super excited to get back to it in fifty minutes. When I’m in that mode of wanting to write but not being able to, ideas and inspiration tends to strike. I sincerely hope this will do me some good.
Those are the things I have planned this weekend in order to get myself excited about NaNoWriMo again, to shake off a week of stress and be ready to conquer a new week with the right attitude.
How’s everyone else doing? Anyone struggling to get started, or still riding that high that usually kicks in the first week of NaNoWriMo? Whatever your feelings are, I hope you know that everything you do is important even if it’s just a handful of words every day. The point is that you are doing your best to get shit done.
I am confident that together we can survive NaNoWriMo. I believe in us! We are an army of writers and together we will march towards that final 50.000 word count goal and show it that we cannot be conquered!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a novel to write.
Rain S.
Writing Up My Serotonin 