Hello, hello! I don’t know about all of you, but I always get a burst of energy near the end of the semester. I’ve found my motivation again and have been working hard on keeping up with my reading assignments and busy work (which I would typically leave until last minute or do a lousy job on). So, what about you? Do you get a ton of energy in the final stretch toward the end of the year, or do you run out of steam and barely make it over that finish line? Either way, we only have three weeks of class left. Before we know it finals will be over and summer will have begun. Keep your head up! You can do this!

Along with school work and my work here on the farm, I’ve been working hard editing my novel. My goal for this camp is 30,000 words, and I’m currently sitting at 17,227. I haven’t written yet today, but plan on reaching 18,500 by the end of tonight. That will leave me only 500 words behind schedule, which will be super easy to make up.

It has been an interesting process so far. This is my first time editing during NaNo, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. I’ve spent the majority of my time rewriting draft one scenes and writing new draft two scenes. I’ve been reordering a lot of the scenes, so the entire beginning of the novel takes place over many fewer days than in the original draft. This of course throws off a ton of what I’ve already written, so most of the beginning chapters are getting trashed.

 It’s not easy to cut all the hard work I’ve put in. I spent countless hours on the first draft, and now I’m spending a ton more rewriting it. Sometimes it feels like I’ll never be done. I look at the work that still lies ahead and feel completely overwhelmed. But in moments like these, I need to take a step back and refocus myself. It’s one scene at a time. Those scenes will build chapters, and those chapters will become my novel. I feel good about this one, and I plan to see it through to completion.

One day at a time. We’ll make it to the end of this year, and I’ll snag myself a win for Camp Nano.

 

Natalie can be reached at blogs@collegian.com and on twitter @n_juteau