Well, here we are, a whole week into NaNoWriMo. And here’s how my week went.

I started out strong. I set a personal goal of 2,000 words per day, with a 1,700 minimum, so I would always be over the official count. The first two days, I made those goals, and was thus ahead of the game. (I also went to write-ins both those days, which probably helped. So note to self: that resolution was a good call. Go to more write-ins.) But then three things happened: 1) I got sick, 2) I hit a section I didn’t want to write, and 3) it was the weekend.

I stayed home sick from work on Friday, and managed a few measly words, but otherwise I queitly fell off the NaNoWriMo bus for that long weekend. I knew weekends would likely be slower days because that’s when my husband and I are both home and actually try to spend that time together—something I wasn’t sure I was willing to give up even for NaNoWriMo. But being sick meant that I wrapped myself up in PJs and a fuzzy blanket, and the two of us played through the entirety of Halo 4. Fun? Yes. Productive? Not exactly.

After the weekend, with only a little sniffle to show I had previously been sick, I pulled up my Scrivener doc, and stared at my project. I knew exactly what needed to go next: a nice little piece of verse, something in the vein of a ballad or an epic poem. Despite my college poetry classes, verse isn’t my favorite thing. Staring at my project document, I started to consider abandoning NaNoWriMo altogether.

Yeah, you read that right. All because of a few lines of verse, I was prepared to call it quits, even before the first week wrapped up.

Well, I didn’t. Instead, I formed a plan. Step one: write some shitty verse that I didn’t have to care about right now. Step two: wrap up that scene extra quick, because I hated everything about it. Step three (and this is the important one): MOVE ON. Yes, part of NaNoWriMo is about “forcing” out the words, but it’s important to remember that there are still appropriate times to bail out. Scenes that you actively hate and that make you even consider quitting? BAIL OUT NOW. I decided that I just did not have time during NaNoWriMo to write scenes that I hate.

So here’s my current advice: When you’re stuck, write the scenes you love, write the scenes that made you want to write this novel in the first place. Fall back in love with your novel.

This Week’s Word Counts
Day 1: 1,713 (1,713)
Day 2: 2,013 (3,726)
Day 3: 101 (3,827)
Day 4: 0 (3,827)
Day 5: 0 (3,827)
Day 6: 288 (4,115)
Day 7: 289 (4,404)