Scribbler

All those pundits doing NaNoWriMo who said that the second week was the hardest are right. The initial euphoria is over and the struggle sets in. It’s easy to fall behind on daily word counts and the weekends, which seem like the perfect time to catch up, are strewn with procrastination prone pitfalls for the easily seduced. Count me among that number. I wrote not a word this Saturday, and then had to scramble the make up for lost words on Sunday. I’m still ahead, but with a headache every day trying to make sure I maximize my word count.As the days go by, I realize that there will be other days where I write little or nothing, and the only thing I can say to others in similar situations is – write extra while you are writing. You will thank yourself for it later. On a more practical note, if you find you need some background for the scene you are current;y writing, write it as if the needed material already exits, then go back to a suitable point in the narrative and add it. I do it on the fly, while writing the scene. You’ll find that writing in that background information is easy because you know what you need. Make the incident as elaborate as you need. You can always edit it later, and your word count will go up by the number of words you added in the background incident. It may be just to bring in a small fact, or to introduce a specific item or idea. Works like a charm, and you can write in blissful abandon knowing you are grounding your work as you go. Cheers!