NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. You set yourself a word count goal and attempt to write often (ideally daily).
I thought NaNoWriMo was only in November. November is full of birthdays and we often take a family vacation which means I get very little time to write that month. It turns out there are now more months throughout the year to take the challenge and July is one of those.
Sadly, I did not achieve my goal of 25k. It was rather ambitious considering I’ve had a lot on this month with:
Noah finishing at both his nurseries (2 x sports day, graduation and leaver parties)
Taster days at his new school including homework
Continuing to work up to 39 weeks pregnant was exhausting most evenings I just wanted to sleep
Hypnobirthing classes were so relaxing, afterwards I was too chilled to write
Increase in midwife appointments as my due date nears
Things I hadn’t anticipated affecting my goal:
Noah catching a sick bug
My husband getting Labyrinths (swelling inside the ear drums)
Myself catching a cold and I can’t take any meds (a week on and it is almost gone now)
Referral on my last CIPD assignment so I had to work on resubmitting that
The opportunity to write for Ginger Parrot!
As I’ve not done this challenge before I had no idea what was a realistic goal. I decided on 25k as I felt that would be achievable and yet also challenging. Perhaps, ordinarily that would have been true but I hadn’t anticipated the germs about to invade my home or how tired pregnancy and keeping up with work and a 4 year old would make me.
Putting that aside, I am super impressed with what I have achieved *pats myself on the back*. I’ve also identified from my daily word counts that certain days I am more productive and other days I don’t write at all. It could be that these are the days that I am working on my blog posts.
At points, I fell back in love with my story and was excited and proud about scenes I created. Other times, it was a struggle and I know I’ll need to return to fix some parts lacking in lustre. I also discovered I don’t have to write my novel in chapter order, I can skip ahead and return to parts later and this sometimes makes things more clearer.
I also managed to keep up with my blog posts (just about), however, I have drafted a new schedule to reduce posting as I think blogging will be more challenging with a newborn. I’ve also agreed to keep writing for Ginger Parrot and they’ve added me to their team page – this is a big achievement for me and I don’t want to let them down.
Novel writing is my first love and I’m hoping that in the coming months I will find a way to make more time for this. I don’t quite know how yet but perhaps setting myself monthly word count goals would be a good start. I think I’ll start low and try to beat it each month…
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Did you do the NaNoWriMo challenge? How do you manage to juggle life and your writing goals? I would love to hear how you got on.
I’m not going to post an update every day as I think that will be too much. I thought every 5 days would be better but I’ve struggled with that so it has turned into updates every 10 days!
The goal
My goal is to write 25k in 31 days to finish my novel titled Glide. I’ve called the project Diamond In The Sky as this is what I am considering renaming the novel as.
Pregnancy is really catching up with me. I am so tired by the time I finish work and it is so hot in the evenings, all I want to do is lie on my bed and dream of owning a fan.
I did received some good news. An article I wrote for a publication was accepted!
Day 17
So, today the good news got better as they sent me a link of how my article would look for my approval. Plus, they asked me what I’d like to write next!
At work, I went to lunch with a group of colleagues. It was sort of a leaving lunch because it is the last time we will all be in the office at the same time before I go on maternity leave, next week.
I did manage to do a little blog writing on my mobile whilst I melted in the heat. I went to bed early and didn’t do any NaNo writing.
Day 18
I have left the gifts to the last minute so Noah and I were up early doing crafts before nursery. I was pretty impressed with what we did.
I had the afternoon off work to take him to his graduation party at the other nursery. It was a lovely little party but I still don’t think he understands nursery is coming to an end.
I’m so busy with all the activities with his nursery coming to an end and everything I need to do before maternity that I haven’t the energy when I get home to do creative writing.
Day 19
Today, was my son’s last day of nursery – we were up early making crafts for this placement too. I had a busy day at work as my colleagues suddenly realised I only have two days of work left!
I did receive some very good. My CIPD tutor let me know that all my assignments are now marked (including re-submissions) and I have passed. So, I can relax and focus on my baby and writing.
On that note, I wrote 576 words. I know it isn’t a lot but it is much better than the other days.
Day 20
This morning, Noah had another sports day – there is double of everything because he has a dual placement. It was out in the sun with no shelter and no where to sit. Noah wanted to visit his nanny afterwards but my feet were so swollen they looked like elephant trotters, so we had to go home so I could put my feet up.
It’s very hard to write upside down and it took me the rest of the day to get my feet to go back to normal. I was also incredibly tired and fell asleep for 2 hours in the afternoon. I’m lucky my husband was off ill otherwise who knows what my son would have got up to. As a result, I didn’t do any NaNo.
On a plus note, my husband and his best friend worked on building the nursery furniture which is a huge relief to see the room finally coming together.
Day 21
I’m 38 weeks pregnant today and booked in for some pampering. I felt so relaxed and happy afterwards.
Sadly, I returned home to learn there is a problem with the wall stickers I ordered for the nursery as the seller is in America. I spent the rest of the day coming up with a new theme for the nursery and looking for UK sellers that do the same sort of thing… with no luck and no NaNo progress.
Her walls will be white like the blank page on my computer screen.
Day 22
Today, I got straight on the PC and wrote 2k before doing anything. I sent my husband off in the evening for a rock climbing experience day which left me alone with the PC once the little man was in bed and I got another 1k done.
I now have a fan! Yay! Thank you mother-in law.
Day 23
I started the day full of determination to get home and do some writing but at work they were having building work which resulted in the air con being turned off and on the roof their are seagulls and their chicks and they are aggressive – so we can’t open the windows. By the time I returned home I felt like I was dying and wasn’t good for anything! To make matters worse I felt like I was coming down with a cold – despite the heatwave… is that even possible.
Day 24
Yes, it is possible. Today was my last day at work before maternity leave and I was streaming from my nose with my cold and sweating along with everyone else suffering in the heat. Most of my colleagues were on holiday as they had to use it up before the end of July. The one colleague that was in treated me to lunch for my last day which broke the day up and made it feel a tad more special.
When I got home, I couldn’t even put my son to bed as I was so ill and exhausted. I opted to sleep on the sofa as I didn’t want to keep my husband up with all the nose blowing. I was right – I didn’t sleep a wink.
Day 25
This was supposed to be the day that clawed it back! I really thought I’d have all day to write but I’m ill, haven’t slept, feeling very pregnant and it’s too hot. I spent a lot of time between household chores (nothing too strenuous) just roasting in front of the fan. I am so glad that Noah had holiday club as there is noway I would have kept up with him.
I did manage to take some pics for my blog that had to be done as the deadline for a scheduled post is in two days. I have struggled today but managed to add a few words to the count.
Reflection
Days 16 to 20 were pretty poor – partly why I didn’t feel motivated to do a 5 day diary for that period.
I’m really pleased with my day 22 progress which shows what I can achieve if I have a fan and time and feeling healthy.
I’m also really pleased about my article getting published. If you’d like to read my post about this achievement, please click here.
Fingers crossed I can crackdown these last few days and somehow still do this! It’s not over yet! I refuse to give up! I just need days like day 22.
Are you doing the challenge? How are you getting on?
My goal is to write 25k to finish my novel titled Glide. I’ve called the project Diamond In The Sky as this is what I am considering renaming the novel. You can click here to see my post about setting the goal.
Day 1 to 5
If you want to read how the first 5 days went, please click here to view the post.
Day 6 to 15
We are now half way through the challenge and it is challenging… Here is how day 6 to 15 have gone:
Day 6
I wrote 0 words. I started the day trying to get some laundry done in the morning. The afternoon was my son’s graduation ceremony at nursery which was an amazing day. When I got home, I told my husband all about how proud I was and just didn’t do any writing.
Day 7
I wrote 1,289. I decided to skip a chapter that I was struggling to get motivated to write and instead wrote the next chapter. Now, I feel clearer about the chapter I skipped and ready to go back and write it.
Day 8
I wrote 1,493. I feel clearer about where my story is going now and was able to write the next chapter. It wasn’t the most exciting chapter but it was necessary and setting the path for what is to come.
Day 9
I got a refer on one of my CIPD assignments – I had hoped the course was finish so I could concentrate on other projects like NaPoWriMo. The time after work that I would have spent writing had to be put on hold as I needed respond to my lecturers feedback and resubmit ASAP. I want to finish before I have my baby and my due date feels like a ticking bomb!
Day 10
Today, was my Hypnobirthing class. I love Hyponbirthing. It is so relaxing. The only problem is that I am so chilled out afterwards that I can’t do anything. Word count was zero.
Day 11
I was determined when I got home from work to catch up with my word count but I got as far as about 426 words before my son started being sick. I then spent an uncomfortable night with him, comforting him as it came out of both ends. He was amazingly tough though.
Day 12
Hubby took the day off to look after my son as it would be very difficult for me to rearrange my appointments at work, especially with only 6 days of work left before maternity leave starts. On next to no sleep, I did a full days work (let’s call it newborn training). When I arrived home I was too tired to write.
Day 13
Yay, my son is better. Just as well as we had a busy day planned. I cancelled visiting a friend with a newborn as a precaution – my son could be contagious – instead, we did jobs in town (pay library fines, allergy test for my pampering next weekend, etc). Then we went home for lunch. In the afternoon, we visited the school he will be starting in September to take part in a preparing for school activity. Then my husband’s best friend came over and we chatted until I had to go to bed.
Day 14
Our house is a mess! We spent most the morning doing chores at home and popped out to buy paint for the nursery. I then played with my son in the garden in this glorious sunshine. It’s so good to see him happy and well.
Then once he was in bed, I got ready for a night on the sea front with one of my best friends – something we want to enjoy before life gets complicated with a new born. Word count was zero though.
Day 15
Today, my hubby has been great keeping my son busy so I could get in front of the PC during the day because I’m often too tired in the evening. I manged to achieve 2.5k! That is my personal best this month and it is only midday so there is chance I could add to that later on.
I also really like what I have written. There was a bit of adding to earlier chapters as well as adding a new chapter. I got to write about her casting and developing her powers and confronting Mariah and I loved it. The boys are back now but I will be looking for any chance to sneak off and write some more.
Reflection
I’m so pleased with my achievement today. If only I could have more days like that. I have seen what I can achieve if I can get the time to be able to write. I still love that feeling of creating my story, the world, characters and the magic. It is what I love and even when I felt like quitting, I couldn’t. This is me.
I am still behind target though, however, I have had some unexpected challenges that halted my progress. I thought I had finished my CIPD course and I had not anticipated my son being ill.
I have still managed to keep my blog posts regular and sent an article to a publication (fingers crossed they like it). I’d like to get ahead of my blog schedule as I’m sure I’ll be distracted once the baby is here and I don’t want to fall silent.
When I think about all I am juggling, I am achieving an awful lot – even if I do say so myself.
Let me know if you are doing the challenge and how you are getting on?
I’m not going to post an update every day as I think that will be too much, but I thought every 5 days would be a nice spacing. Here is how it is going…
I only discovered that NaNoWriMo can be done in July (not just November) the night before it was due to start. I quickly created my account and set my goal. You can click here to see my post about this.
My goal is to write 25k to finish my novel titled Glide. I’ve called the project Diamond In The Sky as this is what I am considering renaming the novel as. Here’s how I am getting on towards the challenge.
Day 1
To achieve 25k, Camp NaNo suggested my daily goal be 807 words. I was very pleased when I kicked off with 806 words.
It was a fun chapter to start with involving the battle where Kiara loses her soul and becomes a crow.
Day 2
I achieved 442 words which wasn’t as great as I hoped but it was the first day back at work and I was shattered when I got home.
It’s not so much the word count I was disappointed with but with what I wrote. This chapter was the first time Kiara got to fly. For something so exciting I think the chapter needs more to it. When I come to edit, I think I’ll spend a bit of time improving this part.
Day 3
Today, I went to my first hypnobirth class and returned home so chilled out, I could barely move. I couldn’t write, I couldn’t do anything but be relaxed. I think everyone should do the course (pregnant or not). We live in a busy world and learning to find your zen is crucial.
Sadly, the result was a terrible word count of zero. On a plus note, I wrote some notes on what needs to happen in the story to give myself some focus.
Day 4
I wanted to make up for skipping yesterday so despite a hard day at work I got in front of the keyboard and added a further 1,973 (the best word count so far!). My focus notes really helped me get started which saved time and got me writing. Perhaps, day 3 was more productive than I realised.
Day 5
There is no denying that I’m tired now. I went to work wearing odd shoes (one navy, one black). In my defence, my bump is so big now, I can’t see my feet when I am slipping on my shoes. At least they were the same style. I would show you a pic but my feet look awful, so swollen, like trolls feet.
When I got home, I tried to put my feet up but my little boy wasn’t himself. He had this foul eggy burps and I thought he was going to be up all night being sick. I decided it best to conserve my energy and go to bed early. In the end, he was only up twice to use the loo but no sickness – phew.
Reflection
The first 5 days has gone okay. I would like to have done better but I am fighting against my body and juggling my responsibilities. Now is the weekend, I’m hoping to get in front of the keyboard, get ahead and set a new best. I’ll let you know how I get on by day 10.
Personally, I would like to achieve the challenge early incase my baby comes early.
Are you doing the challenge? How are you getting on?
When I attempted NaNoWriMo back in November 2017 I blogged 5 tips to help you achieve. The only thing I’m doing different this time is my goal is 25k words and I’m going to use Google Docs so I can write anywhere! If you’d like to read my tips, please click here.
What I learnt from failing
Well November 2017 was a very challenging month for me and I didn’t achieve NaNoWriMo despite my top tips. November is always busy month for me but last year’s November was awful!
I don’t think you should see failure as a reason to give up. It’s a chance to learn and grow and become even better. If you’d like to learn from my mistakes, please click here.
