Pre-writing Counts Too

Someone wrote "I may not have won...accomplished my best yesterday, but today...tomorrow...they are new days that require of me all my might for that day's task."

For many writers participating in NaNoWriMo, this is the time to reach those word count goals. Maybe they've already researched, plotted, developed, all of the preparatory work before sitting down and writing the story. And that's fabulous! We pray for fleet finger tips for them as the story spills out on the page.

And there are others who aren't at that point in their stories, yet. Maybe, like me, they're fleshing out their characters, doing some research on the locations, buildings, history of the setting and plotting with all of that information they've gained. This is prewriting, and if you're like me, some piece of information will flash a scene before your eyes, and you'll jot down a scrap of conversation. Or some piece of research tells you that "the fire was actually set in that old building when you discover that the perp was an electrician in the army and served time at Leavenworth before being dishonorably discharged for setting electrical fires in the army," and of course you have to make notes on that and pencil in a scene for it.

However, this also adds to your word count, but at a much slower speed of writing. So, while we may not reach 50K words by the end of November, just look what we will have accomplished! I think it's thrilling and I am so thankful to the Lord for everything and everybody He has placed in my path during NaNo.

I'm thankful to crit buddies who are so quick to help me brainstorm my WIP when I'm stuck; I'm thankful for all the help from craft books (Susan May Warren's Lulu books, especially; I can just copy paste from them right into my MS and have pointers in the text to help keep me focused), and so many other encouragements. I may actually get this ms finished! Wow!

So, don't feel discouraged; if you are writing, researching, brainstorming, everything associated with pre-writing, it counts. Maybe not for winning NaNo; but it sure counts in moving your story forward.