This is my second report on my progress toward my goal of completing a 50,000 word novel by November 30 as part of National Novel Writing Month. Read more of my thoughts on NaNoWriMo.

I’m getting behind. My goal was to write 20,000 words by Saturday the 10th. It’s now Monday, and I’m sitting at 17,519. The minimum I should have achieved by the end of yesterday is 18,337. That’s not very far behind, but I’m starting to lose hope that I’ll catch up any time soon.

My problem is not a lack of motivation. The actual writing has been easier than I thought it would be. I’m a little nervous saying that, as though I’m going to jinx my creativity by admitting it’s flowing well. When I get stuck, it’s usually not for long. Until a few days ago, I didn’t have a clear idea how the story would end, but I think I have that figured out now. I’m just reaching the exciting part of my story where I’m done with a lot of the build-up and get to plunge into the action.

But the tiredness I felt in my wrists at the end of last weekend’s big writing push has turned into pain. Part of me wants to just write through the discomfort, because I don’t want this motivation to disappear. Committing to NaNoWriMo has been the best thing I’ve done for my writing since starting this blog. The rest of me, the smarter me, I’m afraid, knows that I should rest my wrists as much as possible so this doesn’t turn into chronic pain.

Because it’s impossible for me to not type and mouse at all (both work and school depend on it), I feel I should either give up on NaNo or stop blogging temporarily, maybe both. But I’m too stubborn to do either. Instead, I’ve taken a few days off writing and done some research on what I can do to ease my pain and begin writing again.

So to keep up my interest in writing on the days I take off to rest my wrists, I surf the NaNo forums and the blogs of other writers participating in NaNoWriMo. I’ve been spending far too much time reading in the NaNo subforum, NaNoWriMo Ate My Soul. One of the threads there is about other writers with hand injuries and how they’re coping. The upside of reading so much is that at least I’m staying motivated. The NaNo Monkeys podcast has also been good for a few minutes diversion every day.

If you’re interested in seeing what others have to say about NaNo, try some of these bloggers. Some of them are blogging about their experiences, as I am. Others are actually blogging their daily writing.

• Author JA Konrath is using NaNo to write his next novel.
• NaNo founder Chris Baty writes about his progress on the Breaking News NaNoWriMo blog.
• The Official NaNoWriMo blog.
• Write Anyway offers daily encouragement to keep writing.
• The Struggling Writer is blogging about NaNo and posting excerpts.
• The Mess in Progress offers daily NaNo inspiration.
• Bright Purple Polka Dots writes about NaNoWriMo.
• Brittany is writing about NaNo and posting excerpts in her blog.
• Tess is blogging about her NaNo experience.
• Pavlov’s Kitty is blogging about NaNo and posting excerpts.
• Dana is a former NaNo winner who also earns merit badges for procrastinating and word padding.
• Hed blogs about NaNo experiences.

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