NaNoWriMo End and Why Struggling Through Works

I’m sorry this post is late. Anybody who follows my Twitter (@SWKiaraGolding) will know I’ve been ill recently, and apart from editing, I haven’t been doing much work.

NaNoWriMo has officially ended! How did everybody’s NaNo’s go? I have to admit, my NaNo turned into editing RW before my December deadline. I couldn’t focus on my project whilst my mind was still caught up in thoughts of other characters and a completely different world. The change from writing to editing was something that needed to happen, and I’m glad it did – this month has been very well spent.

Like writing, I've quickly found out that struggling through editing works. An example of this is yesterday morning. I was ill enough not to go into work, and I was exhausted. But I knew if I didn’t spend some of my miraculous free time editing I would kick myself for it later. Begrudgingly, despite my illness, I turned on the computer, got out my paper edits and brought up the redrafted version. For the first few pages, it was a struggle.

I kept going to different internet tabs, made several cups of tea, ate plenty of food, and slowly worked away for a while. Then something changed. I became eager for editing. I wanted to continue; I wanted to finish the chapter and move onto the next one. By the end of the day, I had edited two and a half chapters thoroughly and hit the half way point on my computer edits. For an effort that had begun unwillingly, I was incredibly pleased with the amount I managed to get done.

Occasionally, struggling through works. You can find the motivation – you just have to be willing to look for it. So even when the next word you write is a humungous effort, or every sentence you delete weighs you down: keep going. Don’t stop. Simply try, and see where you end up.

It might be somewhere you least expected to be.