Day 21: A Day Ahead

Yep, that's right. I'm actually (technically over) a day ahead. Should be at 36,674, but am currently at 37,364. Got 5,213 words today. It helped to have the day off.

Story wise, feeling a little muddled. The last couple scenes need a lot of work. There are a lot of holes. On rewrite, I'm going to have to backtrack and fix some things. But not doing it now. Just going forward. Not looking back till I get this draft done.

One big issue, and again, this is one that I've been dealing with for months now, is whether or not my main character's "boyfriend" is married or not. In other words, is my main character his mistress. While working on some scenes during a writing class this summer, the character I had developed wasn't married. But then towards the end of the class, and after work-shopping a couple different stories based on the same premise, I was asked whether or not he was married. There was some confusion with another, totally unrelated, story that I had written earlier in the class in which that male main character was married. So, it was suggested that it might be more interesting if this character was married. For the last couple months while I was planning for NaNo, I played around with the idea and charted out the possibilities and complications that him being married brought to the story, and I liked the idea. So, when it came time to start NaNo and to start from scratch and finally bring all these bits and pieces of the story together, and to put these characters in action, I opted to have him married.

But now I'm wondering if it really works. I don't know. Is there enough to the story without my main character also being involved in an affair with a married man? The answer is yes. The bigger question is whether or not it adds to it in a good way or distracts. That's what I haven't figured out. The last couple of scenes would work better if he wasn't married; but at the same time, I think I could still go back during the rewrite and fill in the holes and tie up some loose ends in the earlier chapters that could still make these middle chapters work with him being married.

I don't know. I think the other problem is that I'm getting a little nervous. The scene I just finished for today is essentially as far as I ever got in planning this story out. From this point forward, it's a freefall. I have a vague idea of what needs to happen in the next chapter, but then after that, not so sure.

So, I'm probably just over thinking this because I'm getting nervous about where to go from here. I know I just need to ignore myself and get on with it. So, note to self: Shut the fuck up and just write the damn thing!

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving. Luckily, the family has opted to go out for dinner. Makes things so much better--less mess and I can get out of there sooner. Love the family, but just prefer not to have to spend too much time with certain people. It's days like tomorrow that make me miss living on the East Coast and having an excuse for why I couldn't make it to dinner with my family. Thanksgiving with friends is just so much more fun--even if it does involved Chinese take out.

The goal for NaNo is to be at 45K by Sunday. Totally doable. Thinking that I could actually hit 50K by Sunday. If so, it would be the first time ever that I haven't been scrambling to hit 50K on the last day. So, we'll see. I guess I also need to stop thinking in terms of hitting 50K and more in terms of hitting the end of the story, which is still a long way off.

Oh well. Going to bed in my warm, comfy new pajamas. Want to try and get some writing in tomorrow morning before I have to be anywhere. Night.