NaNoWriMo is like the Stair Master

I’m doing National Novel Writing Month this year.  I’ve been working on the third Players of the Game novel for about a year and a half.  I’ll admit that I’ve meandered a bit in writing it.  There is no realistic way that I’m writing 50,000 words in 30 days.  I wouldn’t say that I write slowly, I write carefully.  Today I wrote 1276 words or about 5 pages.  This was outstanding output for me, but it’s short of the 1670 words needed for 50K.  And that’s ok.  

A quick side story that will segue back to NaNoWriMo (that name is either horribly stupid or inspired, I oscillate between the two).  Anywho, ten years ago this month, I started working out at the gym again for all the usual reasons, wanting to shed fat and get in better shape.  I asked the trainer, Rick, what was the best aerobic machine on which to exercise in terms of time vs. results.  He didn’t hesitate.  The stair master.  “If you can handle it,” he said.  “It’s the best one.”  Or words to that effect.  It’s been ten years people and I’m not Ted Mosby.  So, I jumped on the machine.  And it kicked my ass.  I struggled at level 6 for twenty minutes.  But I didn’t yield.  I even started chanting it to myself toward the 15th minute.  WILL. NOT. YIELD.  Eventually, my endurance improved, and I actually grew to like it.  My wife says I smile on it now, while I’m oscillating between level 7 and level 15.  I think it’s my entertaining podcasts. (Yay Bugle, Freakonomics, This American Life, Radiolab, Loikamania, Planet Money, the Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show, and Word Balloon!)  She says it’s because I’m crazy.

You’ve probably already figured out where I’m going.  Writing 50K words in 30 days is very much like going on the stair master.  It’s exhausting. (Social Network quote.  Woot!)  I shall go on level 6 and see how much I get.  The main goal is to help me in all those other months.  For the record, my goal is to get as many pages written as I can.  After today, I’m on page 218.  I’d love to get to page 300.  That’s 82 pages in 29 days.  2.8 pages or 706 words a day.  That’s doable.  That’s level 6.  Not level 15.  That’s me feeling tired at the end of the inevitable long workday and being lucky to get a few paragraphs in before my eyes get heavy.  I’ll try to tweet / facebook my progress daily.  No I’m not registering at NaNo’s website.  I don’t feel like having yet another opted in organization spamming me.  I’m looking at you Writer’s Digest.

PS- I wrote this at 2 am when it became 1 am on daylight savings fall back day.  This entry has successfully transcended the space-time continuum.