NaNoWriMo Chronicles: The Wordening

We're twelve days into NaNoWriMo, which means that I (and you!) should have jotted at least 20,004 words by midnight tonight.

I have written 4,716.

I am of two minds about this. One mind is all "4,716 words! That's pretty good! It's 4,716 more than zero, which is what you had written before November 1st."

The second mind is like "If you can't sit still long enough to write 1,667 words a day why the hell would you ever want to be a full-time writer?"

Second mind has a point.

And yet... you don't run a race to beat everyone else, but to beat yourself. (Okay, so some run to beat everyone else too; these people are, however, insane... and not to be trusted.)

This morning I wrote just under 700 words in about an hour. This means I'm getting close to the magical sweet spot of 1,000 words per hour. And if I can achieve that, and sustain it, was this year's NaNoWriMo still a failure?

(Here I am assuming, it would seem, that the full 50,000 words are not going to happen. Way to call the fight before it's over, Me!)

Anyway, I'm doing much better this year than the two years previous. The difference is that, twelve days in, I'm still forcing myself to that chair.

How's your writing going this month?