NaNoWriMo mid-month reflections

NaNoWriMo has been going quite well for me this month, especially considering I went into the month with almost no preparation or planning.

Most of the personal writing projects I've worked on this month have been blog posts, and the vast majority have been for one blog I've been trying to get started.  It's been good for that blog because I needed to build up a bunch of content to get it off the ground, but I need to spread it out a little better between my various writing projects -- I have plenty else that needs my attention.

One of the things that I think has helped my word count immensely is including pictures in my word count.  I used the "a picture is worth a thousand words" saying to determine my word count, but I think it's appropriate because of the time it takes to set up and take pictures, normally taking several of them before settling on the best.  And the particular blog I've been working on is a subject and format that does well with lots of pictures, so assigning word count has been beneficial and a good way to level the playing field (it's much easier to rack up word count writing fiction than it is writing blog posts or other nonfiction).

Even so, I've been super busy this month, so the vast majority of my word count has been on weekends and at write-ins.  I've been attending several write-ins a week: the two I organize on Fridays and Sundays, and one organized by one of my co-MLs on Tuesday evenings.  There's also an unofficial writing group with a friend Wednesday nights.  I try to get a little done during the week, but it's usually only a token word count, with the sole purpose of updating every day.  There was one day where I literally wrote a single word before getting distracted and busy.  But I wrote that word, darn it, so I updated with it!

But anyway, unless something drastic were to happen, I don't see myself failing to finish NaNoWriMo this year.  I'm hoping I can continue the habit of writing every day -- even if it's only one word! -- after the month ends!