I’ve made it through NaNoWriMo Week 3 for POISON PEN FRIENDS. In some ways this felt like a slower, more forced week. The excitement of Week 1 is long gone, and the energy of Week 2 has waned. However, Week 3 is now behind me, and the final week lies ahead.

Week 3 Statistics

I’ve completed 21 consecutive days of writing. My NaNoWriMo word count is 36,804 towards a goal of 50,000 words for November. That’s 74% toward the NaNoWriMo goal.

Daily word count has been trending down. I blame that on having written the “fun” scenes, and now I’m working on some more challenging scenes. It also reflects that I’m more comfortable writing in the 1,000-1,500 words @ day range, rather than 2,000 words @ day.

This graph is an example of the tools available on the NaNoWriMo site.

Against the larger goal of writing a book (beyond NaNoWriMo), my total word count is 47,514 against a goal of 85,000 words. That puts me at 56% of the ultimate goal.

Are We Still Having Fun?

Writing should be fun. With the pressure of meeting specific daily word counts, is the fun of writing still there? The answer is a definite YES.

I am enjoying the process of writing POISON PEN FRIENDS. The three Point of View (POV) characters are unique. They have each thrown me a few surprises along the way. It makes me pause and say, “That’s a new twist!”

NaNoWriMo Week 3 Conclusion

The Save the Cat format has been extremely helpful in creating a framework for the plot. I’ve worked on all the beats (elements) that Save the Cat identifies. I’m now going back and adding scenes that will help fill out the story.

We’re heading into the final week of NaNoWriMo. I feel confident that next week I will be able to report: the November goal has been met.