Hey Folks,
The end of Week one is drawing to a close and a lot has happened in my NaNo Journey. I'm still ahead of the official NaNo pace, with 14,665 words. I am pushing to get to 20k by the end of the day. It's not the writing itself that takes time but the knowing what to write that is hard. This year I've been scene jumping, which basically means that if I don't know exactly what is supposed to happen in a certain scene and I don't want to waste writing time trying to figure it out I move on. I'm using Scrivener so it is easy hop around and lets face it, by the time I finish this first draft there is a good chance I am going to move these scenes around anyway, so why stress about writing in chronological order?
I think it has actually made me more productive. I mean sure if I skip scene two and then later when I actually get around to writing it discover that my main character only has one leg, well yes I am going to have a lot of editing on my hands. But I know my characters pretty well and I know the story. So major revisions as a result of left field surprises aren't as likely. In my opinion, it's too much time and energy when what I need to be doing is polishing it up and sending it out. But jumping scenes allows me to write what I'm most passionate and excited about. There are certain character who when brought together on stage are just hilarious. Those scenes are fun to write and because they come so naturally. I can move a lot faster in a short amount of time. And once I work out the logistics of a scene and better understand the character's motivations, those scenes will become fun too and I get really excited about cranking them out.
So here is the plan for today. I'm going to take a few hours to plot and outline so that I can keep cranking out pages this week. With all of the craziness at work this is the only time I have to do that stuff. I'll through in a couple of writing blocks in between so I can move further ahead in my word total. It is kind of a catch-22. I can either write fast now, get to my goal and then get stuck tomorrow and fall behind or pause and strategize so that I can keep writing this week without spacing out. I think I will go with the later, in an attempt to save my sanity. But well see how that goes.
Thanks for all your encouragement. Click on the chip-in widget to donate to Wicked Jungle and the OLL foundation. We are still far from our goal and even a dollar helps!
