Camp Nano Update Week 2

Day 18 of Nano and time for another update! This week has been a tough one (as week 2 often is) but I think I've learned a lot about me and my writing techniques, as well as the value of having good writer friends around you. So without further ado, here's my quick writing NaNo update (fortified with GIFs!):


  • I started well. I hit nearly 20K somewhere early in the week and was ahead of my daily word count plan. Which was awesome!

  • I didn't write on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Not writing at all on those days was necessary (for reasons I shall get to) but it didn't help with my word count.
  • I hit a major wobble with my story. Apparently this is common around this time in NaNo; you start to think you should just give up on the whole thing. But truth be told I've been feeling that since I started with this story (see my last post about struggling with the narrative). I just wanted to delete it and start again.
  • I decided to just take a couple days off. After a meltdown with both Steph from the #RoyalWriters and my mum, I took a break. Nothing was happening, and I was just getting so frustrated.
  • Taking time off can really help! I had a great few days, went shopping, saw a couple movies. I helped chill me out because I feel like NaNo has the tendency to put a lot of pressure on you. 
  • I concluded once and for all the narrative was not right. It was a difficult decision to come to but I finally decided the way I'd been trying to tell the story so far was a little off track and I needed think it over. 

  • I realised I had no clue who my main character was supposed to be. No seriously. It was a real 'duh' moment when I realised that I had no clue what motivated him or what made him tick. And that was why he felt like an ornament in every chapter, just there for show rather than for any real reason. And he's the hero. 

  • I went back to my research. Because I figured that in a story based so heavily in mythology, there had to be an answer.
  • There was! Cue happy dancing.
  • Once again, the writer community pulled through for me. I love the #RoyalWriters. I really do. And my family who are always there when I need to rant or cry.
  • When I did start writing again, I started on a different project. I'm counting anything I write this month, not just one project. So I spent some time working on a couple of different genres to shake things up a bit and I am excited about them ALL.
  • I read. A lot. I started the hotly anticipated Go Set A Watchman to review it for the university magazine, raced through Emmy and Oliver for review and started a bunch of other titles.
  • But most importantly, I didn't give up. I wanted to. I wanted to say, screw it. I'll work on this some other time. Maybe I won't meet my target, but I'm still at it and still writing something. And that's important too.



    Anyone else struggled this week? Or are you doing great? Let me know either way in the comments section!

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