NaNo No Alco

A short update on my NaNoWriMo experience.

I am excited to say I have just hit 42,000 out of the target for 50,000 words of my writing for the month of November. I have 4 days left to reach the 50,000 word goal.

It’s a great challenge and I’m always up for doing crazy things, personal goals, etc. so this was just up my street. I did a little bit of thinking (not too much because I only had 3

hours before the challenge began) about how best I would achieve the goal. The plan was 30 days of more or less dedicated writing in order to create a first draft of a story I have had in my head for years, but just never got round to writing.

My first thought, in terms of preparation, was to get in a few bottles of wine to help me get through the long nights I was envisaging in front of the computer screen.

And then an awful thought struck me. Was this really going to be the most efficient way to do this challenge properly? Would I really be able to keep focused and write beautifully with this little ‘friend’ beside me? Would I be doing justice to my writing, writing the best way I possibly could?

I suppose we all know the real answer to that.

So reluctantly I added on an even more challenging challenge to my challenge (!) and decided to cut alcohol out for the month of November.

I found it difficult for the first two weeks, but now I’m so glad I made that decision.  I have only 6,000 words left to write in order to ‘win’ the  NaNoWriMo. Soon I will have a first draft of a story that I have wanted to write for some time, but was far too lazy to do it.

I admit there has been a significant overload of chocolate as you can see from the photo of my work station, but then I’m no saint!

I have  proven to myself that I don’t depend on that little glass of red wine to get me through.

I’m better than that.