So after a shaky start to Niko Finishes Her Novel Month [NiFiHeNoMo] I am proud to update that I am ahead of schedule on my 30,000 words in 30 days mission.
As proud as I am, I have to admit that I'm a little embarrassed to say that it has not been due to me diligently sitting at my laptop and banging out at least 1000 words a day. Nope. Since I made the decision to take on this endeavor my mind has been all over the place. Sitting at my laptop and actually focusing on my novel was proving to be agonizing. The words and scenes weren't coming to me. Anything I did write was so forced that it was borderline depressing. All I wanted to do was check my Instagram, read other blogs, or finish reading Allegiant.
Then I finally decided to try something that I had been avoiding: The Timer Method.
Any book or article you read about writing or being productive in general will, at some point, tout the benefits of setting a timer and concentrating solely on the task at hand until you hear the ding. It wasn't that I didn't believe these experts, it was just that I knew how my mind worked and I truly didn't believe it would work for me. Essentially my mind is a brat that doesn't like to be told what to do...obviously....
Full disclosure: I was scared. Scared that I wouldn't have the discipline that I needed to not search #TheWalkingDead on Twitter when I should be in the cocoon of the timer. I didn't want to fail because falling on such a small level could lend itself to me believing I could and would fail on the grander scale.
Yes, I know. I can be pretty dramatic.
Fortunately I sucked it up and told myself to grow a pair.
The first day using the timer method I did 3 one hour stints. By the end of that third hour I had written 4025 words. For someone who's been hitting 1000-2000 words a day lately I was beyond thrilled. The screen grab above was taken on November 10th, not only pushing me ahead of my total word count goals, but also surpassing my daily word count record.
I can't say exactly what it is about using a timer that pushed me beyond my limits to numbers that I never knew I could reach in a day. I can say that it almost became like a game. I started to enjoy challenging myself when I would look up and see how much time I had left. I would also try to have a larger word count with each hourly stint.
It also didn't hurt that I was hit with some serious inspiration and was excited by what I was writing. I suppose I have to attribute some of the inspiration from the extra push that the timer gave me, right?
You know what else I believe helped? Finding the most obnoxious timer online. It felt like it was me against the timer. I mean, what could be more annoying than a bomb with a lit fuse that actually explodes at the end of the countdown? No seriously, ifyou know of something please tell me.
Well, that's my update and if rambling on has helped you in any way, please let me know!
