As of now, Changeling’s Fealty stands at 50,141 words. I’ve met my NaNoWriMo goal. What comes next?
Well, accounting exams. But first, some retrospective.
When I started NaNoWriMo, I hadn’t written anything significant in about nine months. Despite having story ideas I wanted to work on, I never quite around to sitting down, firing up the word processor, and writing. My one attempt faded at literally about 400 words.
I don’t think it was so much the goal, but the encouragement helped. More than anything, I think it was the fact that every day or two, I was reporting back to an outside world that I was writing. Outside motivation has always been a big factor in my working on long writing projects – my best work was done with a group of people reading every chapter as it finished and agitating for more (while also providing grammar, spelling, and continuity corrections)
For various reasons, I no longer have that collection of eager first readers. I have my loving, ever-suffering, other half who has put up with me asking ‘have you read it yet? have you read it yet?’ all month for NaNoWriMo, and that’s about it for the moment. (I’m taking volunteers, note!)
But reporting back on my writing to Facebook and Twitter and here helped motivate me to get 50,000 words into this book.
Make no mistake: Fealty is NOT finished. We wrap up 50,000 words somewhere around the middle of act two – everything is still going to hell in a handbasket, and our Changeling is only starting to figure out where the handles are, let alone how to steer. Deceptions still need to uncovered, treachery unveiled, epic battles to sustain the political status quo have to fought.
I’m thinking of setting a goal for December – probably only 25,000 words, given how busy December always is – and continuing to report in here and elsewhere.
Motivation: its the key to everything.
Namaste
Glynn Stewart
Congratulations!