We are in the thick of NaNoWriMo, and I am at Peak Form.

And by Peak Form, I mean I am: writing in a frenzy before midnight, with a hot tea on one side, ice pack on my other wrist, barely even editing this, and without the notes or previous draft I was working on for this particular post.

Yes! It is true, writing is a chore, something that is a devil to squeeze in during a busy day and even with the time available, the words just don’t seem to come out right. Or at all.

This is the murky muddy middle of NaNoWriMo, and there is no other way around it other than going right through. It is tiresome, a drag, your numbers are nowhere near where you want them to be. And, let’s be honest, you’re probably craving that extra boost of caffeine/sugar just for the dopamine release of a treat, and not because you are actually hungry or completed the goal you had set.

Listen, this is normal.

It kinda sucks and you have the urge to stop talking about it or distract others when they ask how your project is going. There might be a great visual storyboard or epic number game system that you are using to plot or push yourself… But the words just aren’t coming, and you can feel your brain lagging like a 2000’s computer trying to get on the internet.

Personally, I’m ready to toss down a hundred words or so, take the “L” to write another day, and just go to bed.

But this is a learning moment. To be honest, this post will be a more accurate testament to the writing process. Because it will not always be pretty. You are tired and grouchy, pretty sure you need to change the table cloth and your shoulders are killing you. The notes are lost and you just have to wing it completely.

So what do you do?

You keep going.

Even if it means tossing down a few hundred words and go to bed. Or you even write down notes for something you think you can complete tomorrow! Build this crazy writing idea you have word by word if you have to.

Remember, this is the bottom. You can only go up from here. Keep chipping away, see if you can reach an even 1000 words or end that chapter or page. I don’t care if you have to challenge yourself to finish a paragraph or a simple line.

This is the point where we are flexing those endurance muscles. It will hurt, you will grumble. But. Keep. Going.

Trust in yourself, trust in the process, and trust that your next burst of energy can come from going around a different corner.

Take it from the slowest girl on the high school cross country team, pick a tree about twenty feet away, get to it, and then pick out another one further down. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to get to those goals, as long as you are properly challenging yourself within the general, agreed on time limit. There is still plenty of a month left. And I know, just as there is a runner’s high, there is a writer’s groove. They feel the same, one is just way less sweaty.

When you feel that incredible power building up and then surging out of you, holy crap it will feel so good. It will make the struggle and word constipation seem like a distant memory.

You can do this. We can do this.

Keep strong my friend.