Word count: 465

That's all I have to share.

Word count: 2245

I've got lots of things to write about in regards to work, but I'm going to save them for later this week.

Word Count: 2308

I wrote. It was a tough day.

Word Count: 1818

Yesterday I got a lot of stuff done at home and I'm all prepped for a solid day of being in the writing cave today.

Word Count: 785

I have big goals for this week. Big goals.

1) To beat my all time word-count record for a day.
2) To average 7500 words over the next five days.

This will probably break my brain, but I actually want to do this. It's strange. There's definitely something wrong with me. :P

Two sleeps until nano!

Yesterday's Word Count: 2124

A lot of yesterday was spent doing things more than I thought it would be. The first part of the morning I worked my heart out which is where the bulk of my word count came from. Then there was family time in the afternoon, followed by a deep clean of the house before guests came over for a NaNoWriMo planning party! It should be fun this year, because I'm doing it with my son, who is also doing it with his friend, and her mom is joining in too! I have another local friend participating as well, and that makes it even more fun. Perhaps all five of us will end up getting together to work. We'll see!

For NaNoWriMo, I don't prep too hard core. Most of it was us talking about our ideas, and all that. I gave a few tips because they are first timers, and my tips are rather simple. I'll share them here.

1) Do not freak out if you miss your word count for the day. A lot of people play this game. "I'm supposed to be at 5001 words today. I'm 4897 words behind!" And have a total meltdown.

Here's what you do: Adjust the math. You're not doing 50,000 words in 30 days anymore. You're doing 49897 words in 27 days. This changes your daily goal from 1667 to 1800ish. And that is a lot less intimidating than trying to write almost 5000 words in one day. Don't break your brain. If you want to catch back up? Do a little extra. Do about 2000 words, or something along those lines. But do not freak out!

2) I find games to play. I'm a big fan of word crawls. There's a whole list of them here at: https://www.wikiwrimo.org/wiki/Word_crawl

My favorites are the Harry Potter word crawls, and the 8d20 challenge. Pokemon is also fun, as is the: Oh God I'm so Far Behind and Nano Ends Soon crawl.

There is another called the Over Achievers word crawl that I might attempt as well this year. Just because I have A LOT to do. A. Lot.

3) As a pantser, I usually just kind of wing things. But it helps to have a set of scenes I know need to be included in the story before I start. A goal of where I want the action to go. I highly recommend a scene list or outline direction.

4) Don't OVER plan your book, though. Some people get too caught up in the planning process and they get so fixated on that and needing everything perfect before the start. Having wiggle room in an outline helps with allowing for plot twists and other organic changes in the story that might unfold as you're working.

5) Don't overthink things period. A lot of people angst over the writing being perfect. The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to dump the story out and fix it later. Your story will not be perfect on the first writing. It will need editing and improving. That's just how it is. That's the whole point of editing. Save editing for 2-6 months after NaNoWriMo ends.

6) Meal planning isn't a necessity, but think about how you're going to spend your time cooking. Actually, think about how you're going to spend your time doing all of those nonwriting essentials of life in general. When will you write? When will you work-out? When will you do the cleaning? Is anyone going to be able to help you?

7) Think about small rewards to offer yourself for when you make your goals.

I could probably come up with more, but I'll start with those!

Yesterday I forgot to keep track of how much I wrote. I want to say it was close to 500 words. Yesterday was also a hard day for me to get things done. Today was even harder, but I've gotten things done and it's going well.

Today is also readathon, and I wanted to participate in that, but because I have so much I need to do I don't know if I'm going to be able to read at all.

Time to plow through the work and see if I can salvage some of those reading hours! Reading is very important to writing.

Word count: 867

I didn't do as much work as I wanted to. In fact, every bit of work I did was right at the end of the day. I was almost positive I was going to shut down and do NOTHING. Then I said: You know what? I'm going to edit for a bit. So I did. Then I looked at one of my projects and said: I'll write for ten minutes on this. So I did. Then I looked at my other project and said: I'm going to write for ten minutes on this one too! So I did.

The moral of the story is: Make it so. It really is that simple.

Word Count: 1202

I'm currently listening to this awesome podcast: https://podcast.jordanraynor.com

I'm about to start working. Yesterday, I did more than I thought I would, and I did less than I planned. By the time all of the chores were finished, I thought for sure I would completely fail for the day - again. I mean, I took a nap at 6 PM I was so tired. I could have kept sleeping all night if the kids didn't need me to help them get in bed.

When I got up, I knew I had to do something. So I started writing. I gave myself a small goal. The small goal turned into a bigger goal. And then a bigger one.

Today, I'm going to start in a similar way. I'm going to start, and I'm going to snowball into a bigger and bigger accomplishment list.

Happy Monday!

I'm feeling good about stuff. Now it's all about making the time to write. I've been doing it in small 5 minute chunks and that's worked pretty well. It doesn't feel like much, but as I slowly add it all together, it ends up being a big number.