My novel word count for November ended up being 23,768. That averages to 792 words/day, but the reality was some days I wrote some days I wrote more and others less.

Out of curiosity, I also did a rough count of all the other words I wrote over the month (my AB article, blog posts, posts at TC, etc.) and that all added up to 12,505 miscellanous words. Not to mention whatever I added to my dissertation (ongoing, so I don’t have a monthly word count).

So, not 50k, but still a lot of words. Onto my next goal.

In September, I did the 167-word a day mini-nano challenge, writing fiction (a short story), and that was a piece of cake. In fact, most days I wrote more than the goal amount and ended up with 7,653 words (average 255 words/day). So in October, I took on the 250 words a day challenge, this time working on non-fiction (personal essay/cnf). Final word count: 8,597 (277 words/day average). Again, the word count wasn’t a problem. At the beginning, I found using this method of writing in chunks less satisfying for non-fiction than fiction, but I think I found my footing by the end of the month. Use it as a time to get ideas on the page rather than trying to create a coherent narrative from the start.

Then NaNoWriMo.  I had some story breakthroughs, which was awesome. But I was also trying to work on my dissertation and write an AB article (it’s one thing to fit nanoing in around other things, it’s another thing when those other things are also writing) and the word count just wasn’t happening. Because I knew I wasn’t going to hit the daily word count, my motivation to write every day was less than it had been in September and October. In short, though I wrote more (way more!) in November than I did in September & October, I was less disciplined about it, and maybe I’m weird, but this felt less satisfying.

For December, I’m taking on the 500 Words a Day Challenge. Since I managed 250+ daily over 2 months without difficulty, I figure I’m ready to take on a bit more, but at the same time, I want it to be a definitely-achievable goal. So, 2 pages. I can do that. Look, I’m already at 381. 😉