Only four days into National Novel Writing Month and I’m already addicted to my writing stats on nanowrimo.org. I add in new words with the glee of a junkie. (Do junkies have any glee in their lives? I don’t really know. This might be a terrible metaphor, and a perfect example of why research is a good idea for fiction writers, not just journalists.) As I get off on watching my Total Words Written go up, my Words Remaining go down, it’s tempting to drum my fingers together and let loose some Dr. Evil MWA-HA-HAs. But there’s to time for drumming my fingers together! Must write more!
That’s what I did last night. I didn’t get started on my daily word count until after 9 p.m., so I had to get busy, people. I hammered out the words while food dried to dishes in the kitchen — I never do that — and my husband distracted the cat, who is a wild man at that time of night. I kept hammering as my husband went to bed, and the cat settled into his favorite chair for a nap. I wrapped up, logged my words for the day and watched in satisfaction as it translated my entry into respectable numbers on my novel’s stats page.
Then, this morning, when I went to the site, I saw this:
Goose egg. Goose egg that’s bringing my Average Per Day (and writing spirit) down, man.
So don’t look in the morning, when it’s a brand new day for WriMos. Just don’t. Don’t even go to the site to look at a frenemy’s failing stats so you can get a little pre-coffee schadenfreude. Write first, log in and look later. Because that goose egg is a rough way to start your day. (And don’t do schadenfreude, either. You have too much writing to do to waste energy on that.)
Your great post reminds me of the lyrics to an old song, “But in the morrrning–NO!” Naughtier than the subject of NaNoWriMo, but still relevant. ;-D