I’m very proud of the progress I’ve made this month in my story. April was not very productive for me. I finished the month with only 15,344 words. But I’m happy to say I ended May with 44,104 words.
I think my mindset was a lot different this month. Instead of deciding to give up when I’m not flowing very well that day, I just keep writing until I find my flow or write a different scene. I’m also drinking a lot more caffeine than I did in April so of course that helps.
Other things I’ve been doing that have helped me write this past month is writing in a notebook. I’ve mentioned this technique before as one of my favorites. I tend to go back and delete a lot of what I wrote, or get caught up in how bad my transitions are or I’ll continuously look at my word count in the corner of my screen hoping I’m making progress, but It just slows me down.
Working in a notebook allows me to just write without doing those things. The blank page in a notebook just seems a lot less daunting to me than a Word doc sometimes. After I’m finished with the chapter in my notebook, I type it out on my computer and add new sentences or takeaway repetitive words. So I can say that a majority of my first draft has been written in a notebook.
I realized this month that I’m still learning how I write the best. I asked you guys on Instagram how you write the best because sometimes I can barely write anything and then some days I can knock out 2,000 words in the middle the night. I’ve learned that if I actually pick a time to write and commit to it, I’m more likely to write. I’m also just still learning how to write a story. I’m sure I will be learning that my whole life and that it will be different with each story, but I’m more aware now that it’s a learning process.
I had my word count goal set for 50,000, but It’s looking like my story will be more around 70,000 words. I intend to finish by June 13th. I’ve planned it out in this cool tracker that resembles the Nanowrimo tracker. Which means I have to write about 2,000 words a day, which is definitely possible for me.
How are your projects going right now? Are you writing or revising? Let me know what writing techniques work best for you!
