If I was writing consistently every day, I would have been writing 1,666 words per day and by today I would have written 25,000 words. Instead, I have written sporadic amounts each day (sometimes not actually writing at all) and my word count is at 22,453. I am aiming to do a big writing push this evening to try to get my word count up.

I use a web app called ‘Write or Die‘ to write, sometimes. I like it because it gets me a bit more motivated to write. If I stop writing, the screen starts blinking red. It reminds me to keep going. I like to set targets for myself. For example, I will set something to write about, like an event in my story, and set myself a word count goal and a time goal. I can type 1000 words in 20 minutes. I can often type when watching Dr Who at the same time because I can type without looking at the keyboard and often Dr Who is much more interesting than my story! I must rectify that.

I like doing NaNoWriMo because it gets me into writing. I like it because I like to set myself a challenge. I like it because there is a pretty large online community of NaNos out there, sharing ideas etc on Facebook, Twitter and the like. I like NaNoWriMo because it is something for me and only me, at a time when I am actually not really doing much that is just for me because I am a mum and a wife and a teacher. I like doing NaNoWriMo because I like having something creative to do and I think it is good for the muscles in my hands to be working out a bit more. Surely I am burning more kilojoules by writing in the evenings, so I can eat a mince pie without feeling guilty (can’t I?).

What I do not like about NaNoWriMo is the pressure it gets me to put myself under. I am a busy person, being a working mother and a bit of an OCD cleaning and cooking freak. Giving myself this challenge is a bit daunting. However, if I type solidly for an hour each day I should easily reach the word count target for the month.

Another thing I do not like about NaNoWriMo is that it is encouraging me to write a whole load of crap. It encourages me to write write write, and edit later. This evening I found myself typing furiously, racing against the clock. I was racing so much so that I did not use quotation marks to separate speech from the rest of my writing! The shame! I have not been bothering to punctuate much, and that is just terrible! I suppose, however, that it might help me to become a better editor later. Either that, or I will hate myself.

I think anybody could do this NaNoWriMo. Everybody has a story to tell. Jackie Collins likes to create characters and then tell their story. When I saw that quote on Twitter I felt inspired. Create a person and tell their story. Create a person who I love and admire and create for them a world and the stories in it. I imagine that I could go places deep in my imagination – and if that is not escapism at its very best, then what is?