On the last weekday of April, I needed 200 words to reach my Camp NaNo goal. My original plan was to just write a few paragraphs and get those 200, and leave the last 5,000 or so that I figured were left to the story to be finished at my leisure. So I sat down to write…and I couldn’t exactly stop at the end of the page because I was just getting into the thick of a scene…and so I kept going…and kept going…
In the end, I kept writing madly until I was almost literally dragged away from my notebooks to make meatballs for supper…and then went back and wrote some more while the meatballs cooked until I was once more dragged away to eat them. My total for the day ended up being around 3,500 words, and left me with only one chapter more to write in the whole story. I wrote that last chapter today, and so the first draft of The Mountain of the Wolf is done.
It was certainly a nice way to end this challenge, because I haven’t had a wholly-engrossed, can’t-stop-writing day like that in a long time. I dug my way slowly through this first draft at a few hundred words a day, and in a way I’m relieved to be done with it. Now I have a commitment-free month ahead of me in which to take deep breaths, do a bit of editing on minor projects, and find time for non-writing hobbies like baking or painting that kept getting pushed aside because Camp NaNo took the best hours of the day.
It’s also encouraging—and a little surprising—to realize that I’ve accomplished two of my writing goals for the year, and made a start on the other two open-ended ones. At less than halfway through the year, it’s a nice place to be.
Rachel Heffington says
CONGRATULATIONS, TIGER. That sounds wonderful: both your word count success and your month to do as you please. Enjoy what you've earned, girl.
Annie says
Congratulations on finishing the first draft! I get so excited at each step that brings any of your work a step closer to the publisher…! And I know just how good it feels to get something accomplished!
Sarah Holman says
I always enjoy your stories. In fact, Wonderlust Creek is on my reading list for this month.
Suzannah says
Well done! What a satisfying end to the month :). Can't wait to read the final story!