Monday Motivation: Momentum

Happy Monday!  Today is the 12th, which means we are fast approaching the halfway point of NaNo.  Friday afternoon I set a goal for myself -- that I would hit 25k by Sunday night.  I planned a write-in with two of my critique partners.  I carved out other times to write around our planned activities and several hours of housecleaning.  (Seriously.  My kitchen floor was so clean.  For about half a day.)  I even threw in an impromptu afternoon at a local high school production of High School Musical with my daughter and my sister.

 The very last thing I did last night (okay, maybe not the very last, because I got sucked into an hour-long Entertainment Tonight) was sit down to write.  I was just under three thousand words short of my goal.  By the end, I was typing with my eyes closed, but I made it.  And it felt great.

That's the thing about NaNo this time around -- I've not only set a daily writing goal (1,851 usually, no matter what my starting work count is), but I've accounted for days I won't be able to write and I have not yet fallen behind.  Hitting 25k over the weekend was a lofty goal (especially since I fell asleep on the couch Friday night), but I pushed myself and made it.  I've set small goals and achieved those goals and I'm building on that momentum.

I'm motivated by that momentum to keep going and finish this manuscript.  According to my NaNo stats, if I keep going at my current pace I'll finish the day before Thanksgiving, which I achieved in both 2009 and 2010.  Hammer Guy thinks this is a great idea, but Thanksgiving is early this year and it's nice to know I have a cushion.

Now, I am well aware that a good, publishable, marketable novel is way more than just word count, but I believe that this momentum will carry over when it's time to revise or to critique or beta read others' work or resuscitate the query process.

Here's a little snippet of one of my favorite scenes from BEAUTIFUL BIRD, SING ON:

              Aunt Vivian walked out of the back room and threw her arms around me as though she hadn’t seen me the day before.

            “Hello, Kitten!” she said.  She wore rust-colored pencil pants and a matching slouchy shaker sweater off one shoulder.  Gigantic gold hoop earrings stuck out from her teased poof of hair, held back on one side with a barrette made with long streams of braided ribbons.

            “Hi, Viv," I said.  “Channeling your inner Molly Ringwald or what?”

            She smiled.  “Would you believe this outfit is 100% authentic Vivian Martin, circa 1985?  I like to call it back of the closet couture.  Senior year and it still fits like a dream, darling!”

            “You look gorgeous as always,” I said.

            “Kitten, just wait until you lay eyes on the fabulous dress that came in yesterday.   It’s almost too good to be true.  It’s a divine Kenneth Everly day dress.  Just wait till you see it!  You must model it for me, peaches!”

            She disappeared behind the beaded curtain and came back out with the dress over her arms.  She placed it in my arms and I gasped.

            The dress was a deep, rich blue with capped sleeves, a soft bow at the waist, and in the center of the bow, a jeweled seahorse brooch.

            The dress I wore yesterday.  In 1948.  I couldn’t breathe.

            “Kitten, are you all right?  You look as though you’ve seen a ghost!” Vivian said, and handed me my coffee.  “Take a drink, but for God’s sake, whatever you do, don’t spill on this divine thing!”

Well, kittens, I hope you all have a very productive week, whether you're reading or writing or getting crafty or whatever it is you do that makes you happy.  Leave a comment and let me know what you're up to!