NaNoWriMo Update

50,000 words by the end of March! The first two weeks were great. I loved that the quantity goal finally gave me the justification I needed to just spit it out and get some things down on paper. A lot of it reads like a crazy person's diary, but it's there, it's on paper, and later (maybe this will be April's project) I can go back and see if there's anything good in these (so far 33!) pages. I think that actually there is, and anyway the point of this was just to write.

I've slowed down in the past few days though. I've begun to feel like I've said it all. I learned from this experience that I tend to think in terms of themes, letting one or two big subjects--mostly problems or issues of some kind--remain my primary focus for weeks and seeing everything else as somehow related to those themes. So I've spent a lot of time, and a lot of words, on hashing it all out. I think that was a good thing to do. I understand now why people always suggest that you write things down when you're upset. It really does help to organize your thoughts and clarify your feelings. But when you have the same major thoughts and feelings for weeks, and you still have nearly 25,000 words to go, it starts to feel like there's nothing left to worry about, let alone write about.

Fortunately, I feel like I've turned a corner. Maybe I don't need to worry in order to be a thoughtful person. Spring is here and with it came a new mood and spirit of happiness and hopefulness, and it's about time! So now, I've been up and down the same old problems. I've been around and around the same old rutted circles. I've made it through the winter, and I'm moving forward. There's something to write about: I'm writing about the new me, the new Natalie Harrington, and the hopes I have for her.