Believe it or not we are three weeks into this crazy journey together. Some of you will be well ahead of your goal and ecstatic at how well things have been going for you, but I will hazard a guess that the rest of you are starting to lag a bit. That tends to happen around this time of the month.
In many ways, the act of writing is a journey all by itself. When you start a great adventure, something new, shiny, and exciting your energy is high, you’re feeling on top of the world and you can conquer it all. You are ready to face this brave new world, but as the reality and struggles of your world start weighing you down each step becomes harder.
If you were a character in a story this is the point where things are starting to look bleak. You may not even be sure that you’ll even make it all the way to the end. However, you may not realize something very important at this point. You are the hero. And one way or another you will realize that the journey will be over soon. You will have succeeded simply because you have probably written more this month than any other month this year.
This is a truth that I realize each year that I do NaNoWriMo.
Each year it gets easier for me to find the strength and will to carry on in my story because I have accepted that this is a part of every journey. I just need to take it one word at a time. I can look back to my word graphs of almost any year that I have participated and identify that week three slump.
This is the time where you need to fall back on those tips from a couple of weeks ago. However, the end is in sight. You are almost there. We are almost there.
Even if riches and accolades are not waiting for you at the end of this particular journey you will have something more important. You will have a novel.
Now get back to writing. Climb that word mountain. Before you know it the sun will be shining on the other side.
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