The NaNoWriMo Dare Squad — The Final Week

good morning, cyberspace!

I caught a cold.

Yep. We’re jumping right into the meat of the post today, folks. Perhaps some of you noticed that there was no post on Saturday. Or Sunday. Perhaps you spent your entire Saturday excessively refreshing your WordPress feed whilst tears of despair dripped down your sad little nose because you couldn’t find a new post written by Yours Truly. or, you know, perhaps you couldn’t care less that there was no post on Saturday because this month’s lineup of blog posts have been nothing short of abysmal and an incoherent mess. aha. oops?

As always, the lateness of this post is, of course, due to multiple reasons. One of which is that I spent the whole of Black Friday writing my book so furiously that I’m pretty sure I burned a hole in my laptop to make up for my Thanksgiving Slip-and-Slide. One of which is that I promised you all a pep talk, and the mere act of promising that has caused me to literally forget how to pep talk.

And the most important reason of all is, most obviously. . .I caught a cold.

And all of these things stock-piled together adds up to one very late, extremely incoherent blog post. Because when one’s throat feels like a giant lump set on fire by the volcanoes of Pompeii, one’s writing style is bound to become most gloriously cramped.

However, last week I promised you all a pep talk, and so a pep talk you shall have.

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Kenzie’s Pep Talk For The Last Week of NaNo

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There you go, guys. That’s the pep talk.

Aha.

YOU CAN’T BLAME ME FOR THIS, PEASANTS, I HAVE A COLD.

In all seriousness, though, no matter where you are in your writing journey right now, just please promise me you won’t give up on your story, okay? I know it’s hard to continue pushing forward when you feel like everything is crumbling down around you. Believe me, I know. Whether it’s your plot that just won’t work no matter how hard you twist it, or your characters that keep going off on random tangents about their most terrible backstory, or the fact that you currently have no voice and your throat is on fire (#me), I know exactly what you’re going through. And maybe you — like me — have absolutely no hope of completing your NaNoWriMo Dare Squad Goal.

Oh yeah, guys. I said it. I AM NOT FINISHING MY NANOWRIMO DARE SQAUD GOAL. I’m going to lose most spectacularly, in fact. And you know what? That is perfectly okay. It sounds supremely cheesy, but believe it or not, the whole point of NaNo has nothing to do with whether or not we lose, and everything to do with whether or not we had fun trying. Sure, your characters might have toddled off into a magical land you had absolutely no clue even existed in your storyworld, but as long as you had fun wrangling them back (or had fun waddling off after them, of course), then you won.

Sure, your plot might have crumbled like a perfectly aged Gorgonzola cheese, but as long as you had fun crumbling into the depths of despair right along with it — YOU WON.

Sure, you might have hit absolutely nowhere near that daily goal of 1,667 words, but even if you only wrote a hundred words every day, and you had the most magical, most fantastical, most amazing time writing those words. . .you guessed it. You’re a winner.

Writing is not about how many words you can spill onto a page in a specified amount of time. Writing is not about being the fastest writer on the planet, or even being the most talented writer on the planet. Writing is about the journey it takes to write a book. It’s about the adventure and the magic. It’s about creating something that no one else can create.

So if you, like me, find yourself staring at your Dare Squad goal or your NaNoWriMo wordcount with the realization that there’s absolutely no way you’re ever going to hit that goal. . .don’t worry. You’re still an amazing writer. The words you have written this month are still valid. The story you’re writing is going to be amazing, as long as you have the courage to never give up.

It’s going to take some time, to be sure. You’re going to have to put in the hours and the minutes to get this book done, but trust me, my friend. If you just keep plugging forward, someday you will finish that novel.

And it — like you — shall be glorious.

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Well would you look at that. A super incoherent and weird pep talk, as predicted. Well, at least you can’t say that I didn’t try.

But anyway, let’s get into my Week Whatever-This-Is Recap, shall we?

. . . In Other News . . .

i. I BROKE MY WORDIEST DAY EVER!!!

This is pretty much the only thing I have worth mentioning for this week, but I mean????? I BROKE MY WORDIEST DAY EVER!!!!! ASDFGHJKL!!! It’s a Christmas miracle!

Or rather, it’s a Black Friday miracle, because instead of going out and getting trampled over and killed by hangry Christmas shoppers, my mom and I stayed home in the happy comfort of our little house, and I got a load of writing done. 4,036 words of it, in fact. And this happens to be my ultimate high for a November NaNoWriMo, so I am just so insanely happy about this, you guys.

But then, of course, to put a damper on my sunshine parade. . .

ii. I CAUGHT A COLD THE VERY NEXT DAY.

And instead of getting a stuffy nose (which is something that I can handle relatively well), I GOT A SORE THROAT.

OF COURSE.

And now my voice is gone and my soul is gone and my hope in humanity is gone and I sound like a dying whale every time I try to talk. Hoorah.

iii. I broke 40k!

On the very same night that I broke my wordiest day and caught a cold. Very serendipitous, if you ask me.

iv. I’m totally failing my NaNoWriMo Dare Squad Goal!

And I feel like this is something worth mentioning again, because it just goes to show that no matter how well-meaning I am, I am absolutely rubbish at creating manageable goals for myself. However, I still have very lofty hopes of winning NaNoWriMo this year, even with this blasted cold, so stay tuned for more on that, folks. . .

and finally, last but never the least. . .

v. The final Dare Squad post MIGHT come out in very early December, rather than the final day of November?

Because I really want to spend these last final days kicking all my writing power into high gear in order to win NaNoWriMo, and in order to do that, I’m going to need to focus all my creative energy on writing my book, rather than writing a blog post. And I mean, I think you guys will understand this? Because you’re writers doing NaNoWriMo. Obviously. But if there happens to be an angry mob over the Dare Boards and whatnot being posted on the first or second of December, rather than the 30th of November, well. . .

. . .I’m still gonna post it late, ahahahahahahahahaha.

Seriously. I need to win this NaNo. My poor insulted ego can’t handle losing two November NaNo’s in a row, you guys.

However, if it turns out that I win NaNo a couple days early (highly unlikely, but still) then I shall hopefully have the post posted on the 30th. But I ain’t holding my breath for that one, or anything. . .

*inhales sharply*

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TALK TO ME, PEASANTS!

I think that’s everything I’ve got to say for today. This post is kind of an incoherent jumble — as are all of my NaNoWriMo posts, it would seem — but this is pretty much the best I can come up with in my current mental state.

Ahem. You’re welcome.

But anyway, what have you guys been up to for the past week? Have you gotten a lot of writing done, or are you hoping that the magical gnomes will write your words for you in the dead of night whilst you sleep? (pretty sure this has happened to me before. believe in the magical gnomes, my friends. BELIEVE.) Have you won NaNoWriMo yet, or are you (like me) just barely scraping by on the daily wordcount goal? What new and exciting things have been happening in your novels? What new and exciting things have been happening in your real life? and most importantly. . .

HAVE YOU CAUGHT A COLD YET THIS YEAR??? (and if so, did you lose your voice, too??? because i am feeling oddly like Ariel right now. i’ve even started a thing-a-ma-bob collection!! i’ve got twenty so far. . .)

Let’s talk about ALL OF THE THINGS! down in the comments below! And as always, until next time. . .

*flings cookies in the air and disappears*

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