NaNoWriMo Week 3: Glass Floors, More Death, and Steampunk

Good morning, Cyberspace blah blah blah and all that nonsense–

I HAVE NEWS!!!!

On Sunday, November 13th, 2016, I MET MY FAVORITE AUTHOR IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!!

AAAAAAHHHHHH!

Can you guess who it is???

I’ll give you a hint.

MARISSA MEYER!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

#besthintever

I was a total squealing fangirl. I know, I know. Totally unlike me, right?

I also rambled like an idiot and made a giant fool of myself.

It was great.

And I even got a signed copy of Heartless, which I am so totally excited to read!

But anyway! Enough of me squealing about me being a total stalker fangirl. How’s NaNoWriMo going? Are you not participating in NaNo? How is your life? Are you bored? You should try NaNoWriMo.

Seriously. Join us. We’re not a cult, you know. I mean, it’s not like we walk around like zombies as we moan on and on about word counts and candy and warm, chocolatey drinks.

Give us a break.

As for my NaNo experience, by the title of this Smudge, I’m sure you’re probably thinking the exact same thing that I am.

What in the world is going on.

But never fear! I have an answer! Sort of…

So basically, my novel has taken a surprising turn. Not only is it a science fiction/sort of fantasy/something I’m not yet revealing, it also happens to have some steampunk thrown in there.

#mindblown

And a glass floor, which, if I’m being totally honest (aren’t I always?), was not planned at all. It just sort of happened.

Oh yeah. And there was more death this week. If you call melting into oozing piles of wax death. Is the character actually dead, or are they just a melted goo ball?

Debate in the comments below.

Week Two went better than I had expected, actually. I managed to stay on top of my word count, so that’s a plus. I’ve also managed to scrape along with my poorly outlined plot. At this rate, I should be done at least three days before the 30th.

And my book will be nowhere near done.

Because writing a chapter a day for me is apparently completely impossible.

Ugh! Does anyone else have this issue? Your word count just keeps rising, but chapter count remains strangely unmoving. Tell me I am not alone.

Anyway, without further adieux (adieux or ado? Debate in the comments below), here is the

WORD UP! (week 2)

Official Goal: 25,000 words

Official Words Written: 28,790

So I’m sitting pretty with about 3,790 words extra, which isn’t all that bad. I’m pretty happy with how I’m doing this month, although next week is Thanksgiving, which means that failure is just around the corner.

However, let us focus on the positive today. Today, on this glorious turquoise Tuesday, marks the official start of Week 3. By this point, you’re probably limping along as you realize either one of two things:

1. Ugh. I’m never going to reach 50k.

Well, you most certainly won’t with that mindset! Instead, think thoughts like–

Even if I don’t hit the 50,000 word goal, I’ve still written (insert amount you’ve written) and that is pretty neat!

#HughNeutron

2. Wow. This story stinks.

And it probably does. It’s a first draft. All first drafts stink. Never ever ever compare your first draft to a finished book that is sitting on your shelf, because that will only make you a sad bean, when, in all actuality, that book’s first draft was just as awful as you think yours is.

that was a confusing sentence…

Moving on…

Basically, right now you’re in the stage where you begin to look at what you’ve written (or haven’t written), and are thinking, “I am the worst writer on the planet, and my book stinks, and I stink, and the pear rotting in my garbage can could write a better story than me.”

And this, dear friend, is a lie. What you are writing is a first draft. It’s where dragons appear in your sci-fi novel, and then destroy every single rule that you had placed in effect. It’s where your characters are throwing onions at each other while screaming the lyrics to Mr. Roger’s theme song. It is messy. It is awful. And it is just plain weird.

And that is okay.

Because you know what? The writing process, as any writer can tell you, is a hectic jumble of confusion and chaos, and a first draft is the messiest stage of all. But if there is one thing that I have learned this week, it is that there is something beautiful in this jumble of chaos that we are creating. There is something peaceful in the hurricane, a rainbow that strikes the sky during the storm.

This week, instead of looking at your work and thinking about how messy and crazy and awful it is, I encourage you to look for the beauty that is swirling all around you. Discover the wonders of creating something that has never before existed. Because that is what we are doing–creating. We are unveiling an entire world through ink-stained pages. We are telling a story that only we can tell. We are writers.

So don’t look at your story and see a mess. Look at it and see beauty.

It is there. All you have to do is look for it.

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How is your NaNo process going? Do you think a rotting pear is more talented than you? Do you look at your story and see a jumbled mess? Do your characters throw onions at each other? Have you ever met your favoritest author ever? Did you make a fool of yourself, too? (Please tell me I’m not alone…) Come tell me all your NaNoWriMo discoveries–and also your tales of meeting authors–down in the comment section below!

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