My NaNoWriMo 2023: Part 4 - Finishing
Thoughts on daily journaling, the worst week, and reaching the finish line.
In case you missed it, this is the fourth part in a series about my journey through NaNoWriMo 2023; you can find the other parts here:
In this post I’ll break down what the daily journaling process was like, what the most difficult week was, word count rewards, and reaching my goal.
Daily Journaling
As mentioned in my second NaNo post, I used the Heart Breathings NaNo 2023 Journal/Planner. Half the journal was dedicated to planning, while the other half was a combination of daily/weekly pages focused on tracking progress and reflecting. I found some aspects of the journal to be useful, while others became repetitive. What I was most excited to return to in the journal each day were the pages tracking word counts or visually representing progress, rather than pages intended to log the day’s work.
The most useful sections of the daily entries for me were the ‘Beginning Word Count’, ‘Words Left To Write’, and the ‘Wrap-Up’ (though, over time I began neglecting the Wrap-Up). The least useful for me was the ‘What I’m Loving About This Story’ section - I tried filling it out as much as possible, but as the month went on it was difficult to fill that out without repeating myself. I mean, if I really enjoyed an aspect of the story that day - like a specific character interaction or a story beat - what’s to say I didn’t love it the next day, or the day after that, or the week after that. I didn’t need something new every day, and eventually I just stopped filling it out.
The ‘Words Left To Write’ became my favorite part of the daily page because when you hit the halfway point, the numbers flip with the ‘Beginning Word Count’ and suddenly the countdown to the end feels far more real. It was a really big deal to see that flip. I knew I was halfway done, but seeing that number lower than the Beginning Word Count was an excellent thing.
Next up, let’s look at the Target Word Counts page. Sorry for the mess on this page, you’ll see what the blue bleed-through was from after this one.
Similar to the graphs in the previous post, the data in this table reflects that I never fell below plan totals (previously shown in Overall Progress), and had several days where I fell below daily goal (previously shown in Daily Word Count).
Not shown in this post: I filled out another page that was sprint-oriented that duplicated the amounts shown on the Target Word Counts page, but I ended up strongly disliking the sprint page because, well, I wasn’t doing writing sprints (just extra numerical journaling!). Plus, my sprint page eventually just became logging daily total, which is exactly what this page is for. The Target Word Counts is a page/table I would consider continuing to use going forward if I kept a consistent pace or targeted timeframe.
Both pages in the photo above are for tracking progress over time, intending to provide visualizations for two different metrics. The page on the left, covered in blue ink, contains 500 small boxes to be colored in for each hundred pages finished. This page was… fine… though I didn’t end up filling much of it out until I was already halfway done, and though the aqua ink at the top didn’t bleed through as much, it took far more time to fill out a box due to the small tip. I ended up just taking a whiteboard marker and slashing through the lines, knowing my beautiful Target Word Counts table behind it would be muddied.
On the right, the NaNoWriMo Gameboard page is simply another page tracking days of the month - albeit in a slightly more playful form. Though I crossed each day off as it ended, Sarra Cannon had suggestions for using a game piece to move along the board to track progress. I enjoyed the quick and simple daily habit of crossing the day off here. Speaking of crossing things off, let’s take a look at one more journal page…
The last page I want to show from my completed NaNo journal is a spread that tracks two metrics related to total word count. The edge of the page has numbers 1-50 to be crossed off for every 1,000 words (very similar to the blue boxes in the previous picture), and I enjoyed catching up on this track more than the blue box one - mainly because filling a box for every 100 words felt like too much to track.
Sure, maybe it gives a better visualization of the large amount of work I was getting done, but I think checking off every 1,000 words felt more like an achievement because the boxes were ‘worth’ more.
The other boxes on this page are a combination of daily total word count over the target total word count filled in during Preptober. Interestingly, this is the only planning page where I calculated my ending word count had I continued the 2k daily goal through the final days of November (taking off two planned days, but not considering the 3 buffer days). I’m glad I didn’t do this on other pages, like the Target Word Counts table above, or I would have felt like I didn’t reach my goal (hitting just over 50k with pages claiming a target of 58k). Because this page had the aggressive planned total listed every day, this is one of the only pages where I would feel like I was falling behind, when the daily amount ended up lower than planned.
Rewards
The journal suggests rewarding yourself at numerous times - every 10,000 words, and even small rewards (like Hershey’s Kissed) daily - throughout NaNo to keep yourself motivated. Rewarding myself throughout was a tough task, though I stocked up on sweets and treats for myself before November, saving them for when I hit my 10,000 word goals.
A huge help in this regard were the donations by various supporters through my Ko-Fi, which not only incentivized me to pick up rewards for myself, but also really helped me feel like someone outside my immediate family was in my corner. If you’ve ever considered donating to someone online to support their creativity, I can’t stress how much even the smallest amount can positively affect their mindset. And it’s not about the amount - even if you can’t provide monetary support, just interacting with a creative about their work or ideas will usually make them feel great.
Tell a creative you love their stuff.
One treat that has stuck with me as a reward from my days participating in game jams is Swedish Fish. I love these little things, but I never buy them outside of events where I want something to reward myself with. So, after hitting my first 10k in NaNo, I broke out these little red gummies, and they assisted me in the next few writing sessions I had.
The Most Difficult Point
Without a doubt, the most difficult point during NaNoWriMo ‘23 was somewhere toward the end of Week 2 and the beginning of Week 3 - right around the halfway point. Even though I saw the Remaining Word Count fall below the Total Word Count and celebrated that success, something around that time felt a little like a marathon. As evidenced by all the graphs and numbers I’ve shown previously, this is where I started missing daily goals and writing felt like it dragged.
Interestingly, while a lot of writers attribute difficulty in the first draft to working through the ‘muddled middle’, I feel like I had a better time writing Act 2 than I did writing Act 1 - largely due to the fact I was starting to get into the meat of the relationships and characters. I was also beginning to see some of the ‘promise of the premise’ and occasionally finding myself writing small payoffs that contributed to a continued positive attitude, even though it was a push (occasionally, even a slog!).
That said, there was a point near the end of Week 3 where it felt like I was riding a bike downhill. I wasn’t writing any faster, but the Remaining Word Count was falling consistently and the numbers were below 10,000, then 5,000, then 2,000… It came on fast, I wasn’t expecting to see that number start dropping at a pace that felt that rapid. I started celebrating milestones not by reaching a certain number of words written, but by a certain number of words left.
Then, there it was - THE FINISH LINE!
Reaching the Summit
50,000 words. I wrote 50,000 words in 25 days. A document that held zero words only a short while ago now contains 2/3 of a novel.
Success!
But, you know what, hitting 50k felt pretty anticlimactic.
Maybe it was because I finished it mid-morning two days after Thanksgiving - a holiday that felt like a big reward. Maybe it was because I knew I had more story left to write. I felt good about it, almost bittersweet seeing the big 5-0 hit the screen.
But outside of checking out the winner links on NaNo’s website, and telling my family and friends of my personal achievement, it felt… I don’t know… hollow.
What I realize now, is that the feeling of success doesn’t lie at the point of the goal, but in looking back at the journey.
I feel better about the journey, than I do about the goal. Which is the best possible thing you could say about writing, I think. This journey into NaNoWriMo isn’t just producing a story in a month, it’s training me as a writer, teaching me what it takes. There’s always going to be another story to write, another goal, another journey. But now I’m conditioned, just a little more than I was the month before.
Now, I’m ready to tackle the next challenge…
Next up: the final NaNoWriMo ‘23 post - looking to the future, now that NaNo is over. If you haven’t already subscribed to Targeted Nightmares, I’d highly encourage it - you get fresh new content delivered right to your inbox. You can subscribe here. Continue on to the final NaNo post here: