Falling Behind During Nano

So I write this for reasons that are obvious in the title. I'm falling behind in my WIP. When I first started I took off. I was ahead, and I mean really ahead, of the game! I thought I was going to cruise through this nano (click here to figure out what you're missing) like no other!

It only took a day or two of being busy with other things (like one of my two jobs, my internship, or my classwork) to fall behind. At the end of today, which is technically Sunday, I need to be at 16,666. As of right now I'm at 12,688. So yeah, this is happening.

I know that doesn't sound like a lot, and some of you reading this might even say I could catch up tomorrow, but the thing is there are other things in life that take up our time. Tomorrow night I'm working, and I have other work to do on my floor (RA PROBLEMS!) andddd I have to work on my final projects for class, seeing as finals are coming up.

I'm not feeling overwhelmed yet, but we'll see how this month pans out. I haven't given up hope yet. Last year I was behind for a majority of the time and then over the course of a day or two I just lost my mind and finished that dang word count!

But as of right now, I'm feeling like Michael Scott.

How are you doing on your word count? Are you nervous? Happy? Brag or vent in a comment!

Buried Alive

Picture by Marshall Astor

Every day I try to stay caught up on my NaNo, yet every day something threatens to distract me. For the past four or five days I have fallen behind in my word count, to the point where I am almost six thousand words behind!

So today, I have been trying to catch up. And let me tell you, it's not an easy task trying to write thousands more words then normal on a given day. Let me back track a little. When I say I have fallen behind, I don't want you to think it's because I'm sitting around watching The Office or Parks and Rec (both shows I love dearly). The reason why I've fallen behind is because I am, alas, a college student.

As a Creative Writing major I am required to take English courses. I'm not sure if you know this, kind readers, but English college courses are chock full of papers. I'm trying to write these papers, stay caught up with reading, and still watch my beloved shows, while staying caught up with my word count.

I'm trying to do the whole, write in sprints of 20 minutes, that is recommended on the official NaNo website. (Here if you have no idea what I'm talking about.) This works for the most part. My 20 minute writing sprint has ended actually which is why I'm currently writing this blog post. After I'm done with this I'll probably attempt another 20 minute stint.

One other problem I'm facing now with my story is, I feel like I'm writing completely off track. I mean there's no problem with writing off track, sometimes it can be fun to not know where your stories are going. Let them run free! The only problem is, when you're trying to write a couple thousand extra words and you won't know where your stories are going you find yourself writing things like, "And then the wombat ate a chicken wing and swung a baseball bat at an aloe vera plant." (Not an actual excerpt from my story, thankfully.)

I guess what I'm trying to say here is... Sometimes writing is difficult, I know this and so do you. But when I finish, and when you finish that Nano/poem/short story/screen play you're working on, you know it will be worth it. The surge of happiness you get when your story is finally done (first draft of course because we'd never dream of submitting an unedited story) is like that of... I don't know... Eating chocolate? Yes, let's go with eating chocolate.

So, people of this blog. How is your NaNo? How have you caught up on your stories you're behind on? How do you catch up to a deadline that is daunting you when life keeps throwing obstacles at you? Tell me your secrets!