NaNoWriMo Update: Days 9 and 10 -- Gutting it out

Day 9

I just wasn't feelin' it as Monday rolled around. No sir, no way.

I could not get myself to sit down at the computer and hammer out some words -- any words -- yesterday morning. I'm not exactly certain why that was, but after some thought, I was able to produce some likely suspects.

First, Monday signified the end of my vacation, literally and figuratively. Fun time was over, and I was supposed to be getting back to business. I dreaded going to work for my evening shift at the Pork Palace; I think I dreaded even more the thought of having to work on something that wasn't even making me any money on that day.

For another thing, my Inner Editor decided that Monday would be a good time to make an appearance. My Inner Editor is a crotchety, cigar-chomping bastard who likes to run every writing effort of mine through the wringer -- often multiple times. He was in fine form on Monday, seething over every sentence I read. Every time I finally got myself to sit down and start writing, I would go back and re-write again and again until I could get my Inner Editor to begrudgingly acknowledge that what I had done was almost passable.

My rational self recognized that the situation was unacceptable. I was already more than a thousand words behind my quota; blowing off a full day would be tantamount to NaNoWriMo suicide. It was important for me to write that day. So I struggled on, and by the time I had to leave for work, I had knocked out an altogether unimpressive 600 words.

By the time my shift was over, my attitude had shifted. There is nothing like a crappy shift in a customer service role to reinvigorate your dream and make you realize why you are doing this in the first place. So I came home, and if I was not eager to sit down and write, at least I was more encouraged to do so.

I sat down at the keyboard and started reviewing my phase outline. I got about 500 words into the evening when the story started moving in an unexpected direction, moved by an almost-unknown character. I paused for a few minutes, went outside to have a smoke, then decided that my Inner Editor should very well go and take a hike for the evening. I let myself run with this change in direction for a while, and before the night was through I had written 2,540 words for the day. Quota was achieved. I was happy. And I may have even gotten some passable prose out of the night. I'm glad I gutted it out.

Day 10

Tuesdays are scheduled as non-quota days for me as my computer access is quite limited (Jean works from home those days, and money-making jobs get preferred computer time). I did knock out a new phase outline, with this section focusing on the proverbial fireworks and losing an eye situation. And yes, someone does actually lose an eye.