More words

Word count after 8 days: 14,533

I kept up the 2,000-words-per-day pace with relative ease for the first six days. Then I hit a wall. Decided everything I had written so far was absolutely awful, disjointed, pathetic, and could never possibly be formed into anything even resembling a novel. And couldn't think of anything else to add.

So, I took Saturday off. Did not write a single word, although I did stare at my computer screen for at least an hour.

Fortunately I had prepared for this sort of setback, and still remained on track for the 50,000-word goal. (So I guess this "planning ahead" stuff can really work--maybe I should consider trying it in other areas of my life. Hmm.)

Today I remembered that the point of this exercise is to type 50,000 words by the end of the month, and that it isn't supposed to be good. That to have written 12,500 words of an awful, disjointed, pathetic story in less than a week is much, much more than I have ever accomplished before, and that I still have three weeks left to add many more words and develop the story.

And I reminded myself that even if I never do anything else with this particular story, it doesn't even matter. I'm learning how to be a more effective writer and push through those hard times.

So even though I am achy and sick, and even though I had to write the second half of today's 2,000 words hunched over with my laptop in front of me on the bed, my little girl curled up beside me, periodically waking up coughing, I did it.

They were not very good words, but there were 2.000 of them. And after all, that was the goal.