Sometimes Reaching 50K Takes A Month...Sometimes Eight Years

 When I updated my Mac a few updates ago, my Microsoft Word software no longer worked. Changes over at Microsoft mean if I want to continue using their product, I need to purchase an annual license (at least, I think it's annual...I never paid for the license so I'm not sure).

Without Word I needed new writing software. I chose Scrivener. I'm liking it so far, liking it a lot. I don't utilize all the bells and whistles of Scrivener (I didn't with Word, either...). But, it does what I need it to do. 

Because I took the novel I was working on in Word and cut it up into chapters in Scrivener, I had no idea how many words I'd written, since I had added several chapters using the new software. I did a search--turns out I've surpassed 50k.

That's a milestone.

Every November, writers all over the world try and write a complete novel during the month, and if not a novel, at least write fifty-thousand words. It's called NaNoWriMo and the only time I took the challenge seriously, I was able to do it. I wrote my first published novel before November ended. That took less than four weeks. This latest story I stopped working on in 2013 before I started up again. That's eight years for me to reach 50k.

Quite a difference.

After I completed my first NaNoWriMo challenge, the story flowed so easily. I was sure I could duplicate it. And maybe I can with another story, but every time I've tried, it's been tough. That's why I haven't done it again.

Now that I've hit that mark, I can begin to wrap it up. I finally figured out my ending a few weeks ago so now it's just a matter of putting in the work and getting the first draft finished. Of course, many writers say once the first draft is done, that's when the writing process really gets going. It's true...once the first draft is done, so many of the things that turns a good story into a great story begin. I do like that part of the process. I'm glad I can see the end of at least this part of the journey.