So I’m starting to think it might have been easier to grow a moustache than write a novel for the month of November!  Still, my word count is just over 24,000 words after two weeks of frantic typing, so that is certainly something to celebrate.  In fact my second novel is really starting to take shape at lightening speed, which is really rather strange for me.  My style of writing up to this point has been to edit as I go along.  It’s such a challenge to shift your focus to the word count and in the beginning, I really didn’t hold out much hope for this technique.  However, it’s actually been quite liberating, because you are free to just get the bones of the story down without worrying too much about the finished product. 

Of course the only real drawback is that you have to say goodbye to your life for the month!  Morning, noon and night, you become obsessed with word counts and updating your total everyday.  Watching other members posting higher word counts is definitely an incentive to keep typing – I’m even in a word war (go Connaught!) to win the overall word count total in Ireland.  Anything to keep the motivation going.

So I’m not sure how this story is going to end – whether I’ll have the 50,000 word total at the end that means I’m a NaNo winner, or if I’ll have the makings of a first draft, but either way, NaNo is a truly unique and challenging way to get writing now.  But if you can grow a moustache for Movember, you might have a better chance of hanging on to your social life.

To be continued…