One of the things that has slowly crept back into daily life for me that was seemingly snuffed out with the long quarantine was being able to write in coffee shops. When summer came along, I was able to scratch that itch at a shop (3Fish) nearby that has an outdoor patio. And then, as regulations were relaxed further, another coffee shop (Brewtus) opened up to minimal indoor seating. It was a nice aspect of life that returned to me a sliver of normalcy while also providing me with new venues to write. Now, with the pandemic racing out of control, there are whispers that lockdowns are going to once again go into place, and I may once again lose these writing haunts. This is especially saddening during Nanowrimo, because so much of the tradition of writing during November has involved me becoming a squatter in Albany area coffee shops. Nanowrimo has made me something of a coffee shop expert in the Capital Region.
The tradition began with the first year I successfully completed the competition. I spent the months leading up to the contest occupying tables in the coffee shop down the street from where I lived, plotting and outlining far beyond what I would end up needing to reach the 50k goal. Then I made a coffee shop in Colonie my home base of sorts, so that every year that followed I would typically start my Nanowrimo experience in the Professor Javas library. Picking out a table in the corner of their chilly library with a coffee and some enormous brownie from their pastry case, and just digging in to writing for a few hours. I typically end up transitioning to writing mostly at home as the month goes on, but those first two weeks were always the most enjoyable.
But COVID rules the world, and Javas has moved from the comfortable location I visited for years to a more sterile, less inviting spot up the road, and suddenly the drive doesn't seem worth the effort. Thinking about it now, I may consider taking a trip over there this month, but with the news predicting that shutdowns may return, thanks to spiking infections all over the country, I may just take a pass this year. It's unfortunate, because it is almost an essential part of the experience at this point, but safety is far more important than nostalgia.
My productivity continues to be consistent. I have maintained a pace just under the 2500 words per day that I need to hit my goal for the month. I've only had two days where I wrote under a thousand words, and if not for those days I'd be well above pace. As of now, I'm sitting at 38,000 words, so I'll crack 40k earlier than I ever have before.
The story itself is coming together. There is a lot of discovery writing going on here, so I'm learning as I go who these characters are and what their story is about. I've stuck with the rule of writing a character's perspective every other day, and the output for each has been remarkably similar. Three days ago I did experience the first bit of story lag though, where Protagonist B's story didn't keep up, and so I found myself sort of flying blind with Protagonist A as I tried to anticipate what might happen in the other thread. I'll be picking that up today and hopefully getting them both synced back up by the end of the day. The only thing I am disappointed in so far is how little planning I've done for the next day when I finish writing for the day. I really thought this would be a good method, and I still think it is, I just haven't been taking advantage of it. That's on me and my discipline.
The march continues. I'm expecting to finish the month probably around 80k, a full 30k more than the expected result. As I approach the natural goal, I may even ramp up my writing, as a sprinter might once he sees the finish line. Only in this case, like Forrest Gump, once I snap that tape I'm just going to keep running.
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