I definitely intended to write this last night, but I didn’t actually finish my NaNo sprinting until midnight and felt like a middle of the night update was unnecessary. But here we are now!

So, the last few days in review. It should come as little surprise that I am still behind where I should be at this point, although I am definitely feeling a little less stressed about that fact. On Monday I was bad and didn’t write at all, thanks to a long day where I just wanted to do nothing when I got home. I regretted this decision come Tuesday, but was determined not to skip another day this week.

I knew going into Tuesday that my usual writing time was going to be unavailable thanks to dinner with friends and the fact that Disney+ went live. SO I took some time while at the office and managed to eek out 1111 words. This is less than my intended goal, BUT 11 is my lucky number so I counted this as a good omen and didn’t force myself to write anything more.

Wednesday was my best day with 2574 words, which I wrote during several late night, 20 minute, sprints. I actually got into a really good groove, started getting some feels going for the scene I was crafting, and overall felt great. I probably could have kept going, but it was getting late and my wrist was starting to ache (yay carpal tunnel), so I left it at that.

Last night I almost didn’t write. My husband had some friends over for gaming and we planned to go snag some food with them first, so I didn’t want to sit down to write only to have to stop for dinner, so I put it off. Then we got home from food later than we intended, and I made the mistake of pulling up Disney+, which meant I got sucked into watching Zenon (damn you cheesy DCOMs and your awesomeness). I ALMOST started the sequel but reminded myself of my promise not to skip another day, and ended up writing 2019 words from 1030pm to 1207am. It meant a late bedtime, but I was glad I did it.

It’s still early today, but I def plan on keeping my streak going tonight. Tomorrow my hubs leaves for a work trip for 10 days, so I plan to use this to my advantage and write write write! My goal for the weekend is to catch back up to where I should be by now AND to get myself ahead by the equivalent of one day’s writing. I’m currently behind by about 4500 words, and obviously need to stay on track for the weekend, so I am aiming for about 8500 words over the next 3 days. It will be a bit of a stretch, especially considering my current average is about 2k/day, but I am determined to get there.

If I accomplish this, my reward for myself will be that I can download and play the new Sims 4 University expansion that released today (HAVEN’T THESE COMPANIES HEARD OF NANO?! KILLING me with all these November releases), which I have been dying for. I think this incentive will get me to kick my butt into gear and getting that word count up considerably.

Before I wrap this up, I do want to share one little tidbit that I have found immensely helpful for me during this NaNo and that is sprints! Now, I don’t participate in the online sprints, because I feel like having to check in on those is distracting and pulls me away. Instead I just use the timer on the NaNo website and set 15-20 minute sprints, then type away until the little alarm goes off. Then I log my word count quickly, set it again, and have at it. I just do this 3-5 times until I feel the creative juices slow down. I’m finding that this keeps me motivated, since I am trying to see how many words I can get in each sprint, and keeps me from getting burnt out, because 20 minutes seems so easy compared to an hour, even though I’m actually spending an hour or more writing by the end of it. It’s definitely been a good system so far!

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How is NaNo going for you? What has (or hasn’t) been working for you? Tell me in the comments below!