I’ve learned a lot of things this week in NaNo. First: Maintaining a daily update is not working out for me. There’s just not enough to write about every day. Well, not just about NaNo, anyways. Second: People aren’t kidding when they say to back up your work, and when you back it up, make sure at least one place is accessible without internet. More on that in a moment. Third: Sometimes you have to just have to cut things, no matter how much you love them.
So why the sudden realization on backing up? Well, I’m on vacation in a place that gets bad storms almost every day, and today, the power went out. Thankfully, I wasn’t writing when it happened, and even if I were, I work primarily on Google Docs (I know, maybe not the best, but it is sure is nice for multi-location accessibility), so it would’ve been recently saved anyways. I was actually more concerned that my iPad had 2% battery and I had just started I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson on iBooks and I was really enjoying it. See folks, this is why I like real books. Real books don’t lose power. Back to the point though, losing power was a much needed reminder of the importance of backing up, so if you haven’t backed up you writing recently, stop reading this and do it now!
As far as cutting beloved things goes, I had to go through my first draft, which was written in two points of view and put the second point of view into a separate document because I am cutting it out. There were so many funny things in the parts that I had to cut, and I might have contemplated keeping it, had I not realized that, of the 169 pages of my original draft, the second point of view accounted for barely over 50. When it comes to novel writing, sometimes you have to sacrifice things for the good of the novel. ‘Tis a sad, sad fact.
Overall, this week could’ve been more productive. I hardly wrote anything yesterday, and I’ll be doing good to get my goal today. I hit a bit of a wall, but for now, I’m skipping to the next point I know I can go from. Now week two begins and I’m praying that I don’t fall into the slump I always manage to get myself into. Goodness, I’ve got such a gloomy outlook on 35,000 words. 50,000 seems impossible Camp always makes me nervous for the real deal, though. I think I’ll pull through!
Read, Write, Dance 