Week One of Hell...I mean NaNoWriMo

Well I've survived the first week. There were a couple of days there when the other life activities took over and I wasn't able to get fingers on keys, but majority of the time I've been able to type a little something out.

It's been a roller coaster week in terms of the story. My characters have changed the direction of my series plot (I'm still bitter about this), and even surprised me with WTF moments. It seems to be those times when I place my fingers on the keys with a blank, uninspired mind that the most random stories come out, and in my opinion some of the best.

For the most part I've been maintaining a commitment to writing in the mornings on the commute to the day job, and on the return trip. Lunch times and evenings aren't always optimal, but I get some words in where I can.

As of this morning, I was at 9000 words. While technically that makes me about 3k behind, I'm still pleased with this count. It's been a while since I've stuck my head down and written such a high concentration of words in a short period.

At this point I'm trying not to obsess over word count. Rather, I'm making sure to write daily, and keep adding words instead of taking them away. Every word typed will get me closer to the NaNoWriMo goal, and to my own goal for this month, a rough first draft of book two of the Dead Man's Dance series.

While the constant reminder of having to meet a particular word count is a little annoying, the creative process of free writing is liberating. NaNo is all about creating that first draft where you're allowed to write utter garbage as long as you get the idea out.

So that's what I'm doing. No editing, no reading back over my work, nothing. Just one word in front of the other until the characters take over and the scene pours out of me in its imperfect beauty. Garbage is what I'm writing, and I'm loving every moment of it.