Well, I might not be an author, but I still write 2000 words of coherent, grammatically correct fiction each day. It is just not good fiction. Yeah, that sucks, but with the years you get used to not reaching your dreams. And still keep going.

I “won” NaNoWriMo by completing the goal of writing 50 000 words in November on a single book started this month. The book, as mentioned, didn’t become very interesting. I blame the characters. ^_^

Writing 50 000 words in a month on a single project is pretty routine for me now, so I had a couple subgoals. Write just over 2000 words a day, not slavishly but preferably at least as a 3-day running average. This worked fine, and I finished on the 24th. The other goal was to not have any “plot bunnies” or obvious fillers that had nothing to do with the story, like the year when my characters spent several chapters playing my favorite games. Those are things that are legal and common during NaNoWriMo, but when you have been writing for 50 years you should probably be able to skip that.

I did not actually write only 2000 words a day, of course. Those were just on that project. I had another more personal story that I wrote just for fun that also came along nicely, if not as fast as usual. And I still write nonfiction like my journal (not so much anymore since the age of journals is pretty much over) and answering questions on Quora.

I sometimes think I would be a better ghostwriter or cooperative writer. I have plenty of interesting ideas, but that is the human condition. Ideas are like cats, once you have two or three of them it won’t be long until the house is full and overflowing with cats. My plots could need work, but plot is overrated in my opinion. No, my biggest problem is that I can’t write believable characters, because I am not a believable character myself. Even my oldest brother expressed doubt, back when my journal was daily and more slice of life, whether it was fact or fiction. Of course, we have only sporadically seen each other since I was 9, so that doesn’t say so much…

Anyway, the way things are now, chances are that I will never be a good writer. It is OK for my harddisks to get wiped and my old manuscripts burned when I am dead. Actually that is probably the best outcome. But I still don’t have a time of arrival for that, so in the meantime I keep walking forward, at a speed of 2000 words a day.