Let the Tantrums Commence: A Camp NaNo Update

After spending all month behind, with the utter conviction that it isn’t really NaNoWriMo if I don’t make a dramatic comeback at some point, I raced ahead on Thursday.

I promptly celebrated by not doing any writing on Friday.

Well, not not any writing. I tried. Specifically, I tried to return to Chapter 5, which I abandoned earlier this month, when I moved it up in the story and then couldn’t figure out how to make it make sense.

I gave up on that chapter for the night and went back to where I’d left off before, which was, I don’t know, Chapter 12 or 13 or something. Except I was also planning to incorporate a bit of the original Chapter 18 because moving things up can help the pacing.

Except, actually, moving things up can also drive you utterly mad as you realize that conversations characters had originally no longer make sense because the things they were talking about haven’t happened yet. And the things they did originally no longer make sense because they don’t have reasons for doing those things yet. And nothing makes sense and the writing sucks and why did you ever write this stupid story in the first place???

I finally moved forward again yesterday and promptly celebrated by not doing any writing today.

Well, not not any writing. I spent an hour working on two new poems after work. Which was honestly kind of exciting, but that was an hour I’d intended to dedicate to noveling.

And then it was totally beautiful out today, after weeks of mid-to-upper nineties and high humidity, so naturally I had to drive around with the windows down for an hour and then go to the nearest outdoor mall for a good walk.

Anyway, I’ve still got those two chapters to struggle with, plus major rewrites coming up in the next section, so I’m sure I’ll spend most of the rest of the month flipping out.

But I’m so much further into Camp NaNo than I’ve ever gotten, and I really, really, really want to finish this year. I just need to get over myself and write.

But, like, write my novel. Not a bunch more poetry.