NaNoWriMo: Last two days...

Day 29 of NaNoWriMo: Can I?

I have crossed 34000 words. I still have another 16000 words to go. I will need to write around 8000 words each day for these last two days. I have been writing around 5000 to 6000 words everyday.

With a pen and paper, I can easily do double of this but to win NaNoWriMo, it needs to be typed and that is proving to be a huge problem. Doubts are pouring into my mind at times. However, I am telling myself I can do it and the light at the end of the tunnel is not too far. This is the final lap and I am giving it all I can. I am going to write like crazy these last two days. The final sprint - Wish me luck, friends!

Day 30 of NaNoWriMo: Lots more…

All said and done… I couldn’t do more than 4000 words yesterday. So, I have 12000 words waiting for me today. I have never written 12000 words in a single day and it is going to be a very tough call for me. However, I am taking solace under a few facts:

• There was one person who completed 80000 words on the first day of NaNoWriMo itself.

• Enid Blyton used to write around 10000 words every day of her writing life.

• Stephen King speaks of this author who used to write the first draft of a novel in just 3 days. So, that person must have written around 20000 -30000 words each day.

So, it is not a huge impossibility. The one big obstacle that has stood in my way this last whole month was the fact that I didn’t know typing. As my one finger goes around searching and pressing the keys on the keyboard, I find it frustrating. And the disuse and odd position, while typing, of my teeny little last finger of the same hand has given it cramps. Every hour during my writing break, I am icing the typing finger and the little finger of my right hand.

I have always written my first draft in long-hand. And when I type it out, I keep editing it and it turns out to be a second draft. The slowness of my typing didn’t disturb me then. However, it is absolutely frustrating now. These last 30 days, this has been a mantra that I am constantly chatting, “I need to learn typing…. I need to learn typing… I need to learn typing…”

So, tomorrow, you all can be rest assured that you are going to find me at the doors of some typing institute or downloading typing tutor softwares on my computer.

The last day… the last run… wish me luck!