In 2020 and 2021, when I wrote the first drafts of the first two books in the After Z-Day series, I had written at least 20,000 words by the end of October, used NaNoWriMo to add another 20,000 words, and wrapped up the first drafts by the last day of December. That was my plan this year as well.
Except that I've written less than 10,000 words of book 3 so far. I still have a few days left in October to make progress, but realistically, I'll be starting November with a little over 10,000 words written in my first draft. Even if I add another 20,000 words during NaNoWriMo, I'd only be about halfway done with book 3. As I see it, my options are to (1) increase my output in November, (2) write even more words in December than in November, or (3) give up on my goal to finish the first draft by the end of the year.
The second option seems extremely unlikely. Throughout my writing career, November has been my most productive month, thanks to NaNoWriMo. Although nothing prevents me from writing even more during another month, the psychological kick in the pants of NaNoWriMo has been undeniable for my productivity. I also don't want to give up on my plan to finish the first draft by the end of this year, even if I'm behind right now. Which leaves me with option 1. It's not out of the question that I can write more than the 20,000 words I wrote the past two years. After all, I've "won" NaNoWriMo before by writing 50,000 words.
So this year, I'm going to shoot for more than 20,000 words in November. How much more? 25,000 words? 30,000 words? I don't know. This will be an interesting NaNoWriMo for me because I'm planning to ramp up from writing less than 3,000 words a month the past three months to over 20,000 in November. Will I be able? Stay tuned and find out!
