30,000 words & the “Get this novel out of my face” stage: A NaNoWriMo Pep Talk

I have a special relationship with 30,000 words. Before that point, it’s a long slog, plodding uphill with a story that feels like dead weight hanging over my shoulders. But once I hit 30 large, I reach what I call the “Get this novel out of my freaking face” stage where all I want is to be done. Then the mine cart tips downhill and no matter how many loops I hit or times I jump the track, my writing velocity just keep increasing.  Even if I’ve lost a wheel, got to jump a few spots where the track was out and have no idea how we’re going to make it, I still come sparking to the final crash. 

I race through the last 20,000 words at twice the speed of the first 20,000 until I’ve hit 50,000 words in such a rush, I’m not entirely sure what’s happened and I lay sprawled upon the ground, clutching the broken handbrake but still alive, darn it, and right where I wanted to be, even if the getting there wasn’t pretty. And no matter how crazy or messy the ride is, there’s no rush to knowing you did what so many couldn’t: you conquered the mountain.

To be on track, you should hit 30,000 words sometime today. It’s not so much that it gets easier after 30,000 words as everything starts finally clicking. How to tell your story. How to make time to write. Heck, how to write at all. Once you hit that magic number, you’re going to find it much less harder to quit and it’ll feel that much more natural to power through to the end of the challenge.

You may not hit this magic moment exactly at 30k. Depending on where you are in your story, it may take a little bit or less more to get out of the sagging middle and into the fun of the climax. Which is why, no matter what your count right now, I urge you to keep writing because once you hit that part, you’re going to be so very glad you did.

Your novel is flawed. Honey, trust me, so’s mine. Big time. But flaws can be fixed in editing and you’ve got to have words down to be able to edit them. Stop worrying about word count and focus on your story. Just focus on writing until you get to that good part and then let the magic take you the rest of the way.

Wrimos, if you made it this far, you’ve already accomplished something truly amazing no matter what your word count. Now you’ve just got to see it through!

There’s nothing to it but to do it!