Meganovel

When I first participated in the U of A edition of NaNoWriMo three years ago, I passed the 50,000 word mark early on May 31. My story, though, was not done, so after taking a break to sing Queen while preening in front of a mirror (seriously: those of you who haven't won before need to know that the rush of hitting 50,000 words is better than sex. At least the way I do it), I slapped together a final chapter to reach a total of 51,166 terrible, terrible words. This, to the best of my knowledge, remains the longest novel yet written for our mini NaNoWriMo.

There's no reason why this should remain the case, though. In other editions of NaNoWriMo, like that big one in the fall, some people go well past the 50,000 word mark. I've even heard of a couple people finishing with over 150,000.

Now, I'm not completely-batshit-insane enough to be able to manage anything like that. But still, despite hitting a couple of writer's blocks the last few days, I'm having a pretty good month so far: as of the end of yesterday's writing, I was on pace to write nearly 70,000 words (69,870, to be precise). I don't know if my story has the legs to make it that far, but I'm pretty sure it has the legs to make it to 60,000 words. And if it does, I see no reason to cut it short just because I set myself a different goal.

So here's the point. My goal remains to write a 50,000 word novel in June , and I will still be elated if/when I reach that point. But I think I can reach that goal much sooner than the 30th, and if I do and still have stuff to write about, I think I can get as far as 60,000 words. Accordingly, I intend to give myself that opportunity. I will not say, "Hey, I'm 4 days ahead of a winning pace, I can afford to take a couple days off." I will strive to reach 50,000 words as soon as possible, by continuing to exceed the modest daily goals I've set for myself every single day. And when I get to 50,000 words, I will not say, "I've crossed the finish line, time to wrap this up." I will keep writing until my story is done or June is, however many words that results in.

I will not promise it, but I think I'm going to write a 60,000+ word novel this month.

Now, the next question is: is anyone else prepared to set themselves* a loftier goal than simply 50,000 words by June 30? (Yes, Adam, I already know about you.)

* That one's for you, Steve.