Next week we’ll talk about what to do if you’re seriously behind on your NaNo word count, but for today, just feel the joy. That’s the joy of writing, not of falling behind on your word count. In case there was any confusion. Today, Day 2, is still in the throes of the beginning, when the vast majority of the writing still lies ahead, and all of the ideas that have been percolating in the writer’s head finally show up on the screen. It’s a day to relish that we’re in book-creation mode, worry-free. So stop worrying and write. It honestly doesn’t matter what comes out right now, because:
- We’ll change it later in edits
- Writing begets more writing
- The draft will get better as it goes
That’s right, I said better. If we’re paying any kind of attention as we write, we’ll notice turns of phrase we tend to overuse, and avoid them, for example. We’ll decide we don’t like the sidekick and begin to describe her differently, noting that in draft #2 we need to go back and revise her earlier scenes. We’ll change a premise of the plot and watch it reach a new level of believability. We’ll sell the characters more. On Day 2, we are simply writing—maybe well, maybe less than well—but every castle starts with the first few layers of brick and mortar. Just push through and build the story’s foundation, and sure, feel free to take a moment and reflect that hey, wow, I’m writing something.
And then dive back in and type away. Happy NaNoing!
Trans/plant/portation 
The hardest part is not editing.
It’s funny, because when I do finish a draft, even though I know its far, far from publishing ready, I am just so exhausted with it. I don’t want to touch it anymore. I just want to pawn it off on an English student and have him or her correct the grammar and spelling before giving it back a long time later and letting me reaproach it.
I have those moments with my manuscripts, too, and I take it as a good sign. If I weren’t happy with my progress at that point, I’d be obsessive, combing over all of the language and blustering about my inability to articulate my way out of a wet paper bag. My last novel had me pulling my hair out—I didn’t like this development, or that plot point, or some piece of dialogue was just awful. I put it down for two months and wrote short stories that had nothing to do with the novel (or so I thought), and when I finally sat down with it again, I wasn’t winded by it anymore. It was like a friend I hadn’t seen in a long while.
That said, I hear from a lot of writer friends that getting through the beginning of a novel is the hardest part for them, in terms of dealing with their own self-doubt. So for them, I hope they enjoy the beginning this NaNo cycle.