Almost 31,000 words into NaNoWriMo

I feel like I'm cheating. Writing 10 to 15 pages a day (to get the 1667 words needed) is something I do most days as part of my "job." But there are 115,000 writers out there trying to get to 50,000 words before Dec. 1 who don't write for a living. I know some of them are struggling and I feel for them.

I've decided that writing is a lot like learning to play the guitar. I'm told it gets easier when the "muscle memory" kicks in. Last night I was practicing the first two chords I'm to learn. Going from one chord to the next is the hard part, but I was starting to get it and what came out didn't sound half bad.

But it's such baby steps. And nothing brings that home like when someone who actually plays a guitar picks mine up and shows me what can be done on it. It's discouraging because I have real doubts I can ever get there in this lifetime.

So I know how some writers feel right now. They've written a few thousand words and, if they haven't already quit, they're thinking about it when they look at some of the other word counts being turned out.

I suspect they're taking all this way too seriously. No one is going to write the Great American Novel in a month. Sure the "nut" of the book might be in those 50,000 words, but the writer is going to have to dig it out. Which means editing.

So if they went into this thinking they were going to have a "book" when they got to the end, they are probably regretting the experience right now.

I'm not saying that writing a book in a month is a bad idea. I think it pushes writers to WRITE. But I suspect some writers had great expectations that they now realize aren't going to materialize.

I've put down a lot of words. Some of the things I've come up with, I like. Has it helped me see where I want to go with this book? I wish.

But there is still almost two weeks so who knows what will happen. I'm waiting for some form of "muscle memory" to kick in.