This year I’ve decided to take the notorious National Novel Writing Month Challenge. However, I’m going to be a rebel because I’m not starting with a new project and my goal isn’t even 50,000 words. Now that we’re a few weeks in, I figured I could catch you up on what my goal is and how I’ve been progressing toward that goal. That is, to provide you with my official NaNoWriMo 2023 update.

For those of you that don’t know, National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo is a month long writing competition to reach a word count of 50,000 words. You log your word count and if you reach 50,000 words you “win”. You win in the sense that you’ve completed the minimum length of a novel.

It’s a great motivator with thousands of writers participating each year. NaNoWriMo is how I started my author journey. This year will mark my 10th year participating! 

My goal for NaNoWriMo November 2023

I’ve already said I’m being a rebel this year and here is why. I’m working on completing book 2 in the Speaking the Truth series. I started at 8,300 words and my goal is to reach 16,000 on this project. Once I reach that I want to work on the companion novella for the book. My goal for that project is to reach 8,000 words. So in total I plan on writing around 16,000 words in the month of November. 

Goal 1: Reach 16,000 words in Speaking the Truth Book 2

Goal 2: Write 8,000 words in Speaking the Truth Novella 2.5

So how has it been going and where do I stand as of today? Let me recap the last few weeks for you.

Weekly Recap

Week 1:

Total Weekly Word Count: 1582 words

I have had a few days where it has been hard to find time to write. I also decided to add a new character in so I had to go back and add them in earlier in the story. To be honest this new character feels like she’s been here all along. Now to continue moving forward with the story.

Week 2:

Total Weekly Word Count: 788 words

This week did not go to plan. I wrote every day but barely could get time to write 10 words on some days. I’m hoping to pick up writing this coming week.

Week 3:

Total Weekly Word Count: 1155 words

I wrote significantly more this week, but not nearly as much as I would have hoped. I officially hit 12,500 words in this project. I have hopes that I will get close to hitting one of my goals during this month.

Week 4:

Total Weekly Word Goal: 1200 words

With one week remaining, I’m hopeful that I will be able to write a good amount of my story. I know I most likely won’t be reaching any of my goals this month but I’ve made such good progress. I plan on continuing writing every day in November with hopes of finishing this project by the end of the year. 

It’s been so much fun getting to write during NaNo again. I hope you enjoyed this update and I look forward to sharing more of these projects with you in the new year after the release of Speaking the Truth of Christmas this December.

 

How are your writing goals coming along? Are you interested in these full-length writing updates? Let’s chat in the comments below!

 

 

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