Right now, I hate my book. I hate the way it’s so out of kilter with itself. I hate the way that it’s like wading through treacle just to get to the other side. NaNo will do this to you though – in other, less terrifying months, I would have taken a long break from this and not pushed through. Writing to this kind of deadline – and indeed using the Pomodoro Technique which I’ll talk about elsewhere – has a way of forcing you not to stop just because the going is tough. But it really is tough today, yesterday…in fact for quite a bit of the month so far. And yet, the graphs and the progress bar really does help me press on. 

Tomorrow perhaps I won’t hate it as much. Perhaps I shall have navigated the haunted wood and find myself in the daylight once again.

In other news, totally unsurprised to be unsuccessful with the competition. It did its job though with great skill. It got me writing again. I must have done about 40k since July and that is an enormous feat in itself and one of which I am very proud.