NaNoWriMo – One Week In

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I wasn’t sure how this attempt at NaNoWriMo would go because this is the first year when I have spent all day every day at work in front of the computer screen. The job I was doing this time last year, while at the same company was slightly more active and included things to get me out of my seat like scanning applications and logging them into spreadsheets. I have noticed I tend to spend less time in front of my computer now that I have in the last few years. I tend to spend more of my computer screen time at home watching NetFlix than doing things like writing.
So, how have things gone for my this first week of NaNo?

I don’t think I really mentioned to anyone at work that I was doing NaNo last year, if I made any reference to it, it was most likely a reference to writing because it was November, and not having anyone inquire further. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share that part of my life or not, but THIS year I made a word count tracking sheet that I could slip into a sheet protector and affix via magnets to my workspace for all to see since I am in a fairly well traveled area of the office. I still hadn’t decided if I would actually use the sign, but wanted to be ready just in case. About a week after I made the sign, a friend came to work with us and on her first day introducing herself, she just put it out there that she was looking forward to NaNoWriMo. Wow! Since I was next with my intro, I threw caution to the wind and told the team, that I too would again be writing 50,000 words in the month of November as I had for the previous six years. So, decision made, and I must admit I am kind of happy about it. I will be sharing my progress during the work week for all to see and if they get close enough, the sign tells them what my goal word count SHOULD be so they can hold me accountable.

I have been doing well this last week keeping up with my word counts though almost never getting the actual goal of 1,667 words written. I started out the week with a few hundred words buffer and as of yesterday had used up most of those. I have been updating my word count tracker each day at work and a couple of people have actually commented that they noticed it had changed. It seems to be generally well received but nobody has decided to jump in feet first and actually join in the writing fun.

Before the month started, I was trying to brainstorm some ways I could squeeze in my word counts without losing too much sleep. Here are the three ideas I came up with:

• Get to work early to pound out some words?
• Take an hour and type during “lunch”?
• Outline what I am doing…

As it turns out I have yet to take my old Surface Pro 2 (which is smaller and much less cumbersome to carry back and forth on a daily basis) to work to write first thing in the morning until about eight when I am supposed to start working. I thought that might be a great idea, but it likely will not actually happen.

I actually work straight through the day at my desk and just eat bits of my “lunch” throughout the day without actually taking a lunch break, so this did not happen this year either, though I did use this trick a few times last year with decent success.

I did not exactly outline, but I did make a list of scene ideas to help me, should I get stuck with no idea what to write as the month progresses.

So, I guess one could say things are going well so far after only seven days. I’m not taking anything for granted yet, there is plenty of month left for things to go south, but I am still confident that I can do it again after six consecutive wins.

How is your NaNo going? Do you have any secrets to success that you can share with us? How are you enjoying the newly designed NaNoWriMo.org website?

If you would like a copy of the letter-sized, printable version of the sign I created to track my word count at work, like the little version shown above, just email me and ask (it would also be appreciated if you would sign up for my mailing list by subscribing for updates above).

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