Twenty-K

Right, well, I've hit the grand old 20K mark for my NaNoWriMo novel (still untitled), and I'm starting to ease back in to the story, after spending a difficult two days documenting everything that my main character did just to keep momentum going ("Thea boiled the kettle. Thea got two cups from the cupboard. The cups had flowers on them. Thea found the tea bags in the jar next to the microwave" etc). I've now taken my characters on a night out and have had one of those 'zing' moments where something has popped into my head that will take the story in a different direction (and hopefully provide an additional 5,000 or so!). So I think I'm doing ok. Still a bit foggy, in terms of writing block, etc, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hitting 20K is a bit of a landmark for me. Regular readers of this blog will know that the current novel I'm working on (Inter Vivos) currently stands at around 20,078 words, and that has taken me a year to write. I'm pleased with my progress this year, but also wish I had done better last year. Still, when November is over with, I'm hoping to take my new-found skills of discipline and dedication and apply them to IV.

I have to keep telling myself that all this hard work will pay off eventually, and hopefully I will have something to show for my efforts and can then go about trying to become the recognised writer I want to be. But I can't be a writer until I've actually written something (and completed it to the end), so it's back to the grindstone and the Word document for me!