the craziness of mid-november.

We eat what we find and slurp coffee from anything that is sturdier than coffee. ... This is because we are in the middle. And in the middle, things are rough. -- Maureen Johnson, Nanowrimo pep talk

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Here I am, middle of November, middle of Nanowrimo. Blinking at this screen with burning eyes. Somehow to page 67 of my Nano manuscript--hooray! 19,785 words. And I've slinked away from my Word document to check the Nanowrimo web site again and to read the latest pep talk. (A very encouraging one, by Maureen Johnson. I love pep talks. They make me happy. They also give me a Nano-approved break from working.)

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And soon I'll slink back, and add a few more thousand words before grabbing the latest scarf-in-progress. I've been either a word-generating or scarf-generating fiend this month...

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But I'm starting to get worried about Nanowrimo. I'm nearly at the word count that the site says I should have at this point (21,667), but there's something that I know that the site does not: I'm trying to finish this draft before next Friday. Because starting next Friday afternoon, my life becomes very pleasantly crazy for about a week.

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And there won't be much writing. In fact, I highly doubt there will be any.

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So, the question is: can I crank out the remaining 30,215 words in one week flat??

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Second question: does this still count as a break? (Not exactly, no.)

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Hmm. Well, I'm still going to try. I have a little arsenal of techniques that have seen me through my first 67 pages... maybe they'll carry me through the end? Even if that end has to be in a week?

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And just in case anyone reading this is also Nano-ing and word-desperate, I'll share.

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My Top Nanowrimo Strategies

1. Use the word instead. Use it a lot.

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2. Discuss every character's feet in detail. Great detail. (I don't know why I'm obsessed with feet this year. It never really came up before. But I'm just brimming with toenail detail that seems urgently necessary to the draft...)

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3. Use every adverb and adjective you can think of. Gratuitously. Cover every descriptive angle you can.

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4. Give characters four-word names, and use their complete names often.

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5. Reward yourself with chocolate and coffee as many times as you can.

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6. Doodle. (I always feel so profound when I'm doodling. No idea why.)

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7. Go back and reread what you've written. Everyone from Nanowrimo will tell you absolutely do not go back and reread, but I do it all the time, and find it a great help. Why? Because when I go back, I add more insteads, more feet detail, more adverbs, and more names.

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8. And then I get more chocolate.

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There. That's just what I needed to remember.

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I can so take those 30,000 words. Bring them on. I'm going to find myself a bit more chocolate, and then off I go.

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Cheers and good luck, fellow writers!!