NaNoWriMo, anyone?

Alchemist

Alchemist

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Sep 26, 2007
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If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, its National Novel Writing Month. I've never participated but am doing so this year - actually, leading a small group of teenagers, albeit in the Young Writers version. But I'm still going to try for the 50,000 words - that's 1,667 per day! Hmm...

Anyone done this or going to do this?
 
There are a bunch of us that have done it. At least enough to fill a cabin but I'm afraid I am out this year.
 
I am. (Going to really really try.)
You can add me as a buddy. Hamilton Kohl.

10k is the most I have ever written in a month. My goal is 3, 25 min sprints a day for 1k a day. That should give me my 30 k novella.

@JonLaidlow is also gearing up.
 
I wish I had time, it was difficult enough to squeeze out a few short fiction pieces for the contests... maybe next year.

EDIT: I signed up... I have a story idea I've been toying with for a while now that's kind of got "novella" written all over it. I signed up... maybe this will serve as the motivation I need to get out of this funk.
 
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I was about to say, "Yes, I have signed up and I will be attempting NaNoWriMo!"

The obvious reason being to get myself motivated, because I have not been writing. . . I haven't written anything in ages, and then as I was responding to this thread it occurred to me that this is also the happiest I've been in my entire life, or at least the closest I've ever been to 'happy.'

So, maybe I just changed my mind about trying to force myself to write again. . . Maybe I should be done with writing until it decides to change its mind; my creative spark has never given a damn about when or if I want to write. It does what it wants, when it wants. Can't imagine it's going to change its mind in time for NaNoWriMo.
 
norm said:
I was about to say, "Yes, I have signed up and I will be attempting NaNoWriMo!"

The obvious reason being to get myself motivated, because I have not been writing. . . I haven't written anything in ages, and then as I was responding to this thread it occurred to me that this is also the happiest I've been in my entire life, or at least the closest I've ever been to 'happy.'

So, maybe I just changed my mind about trying to force myself to write again. . . Maybe I should be done with writing until it decides to change its mind; my creative spark has never given a damn about when or if I want to write. It does what it wants, when it wants. Can't imagine it's going to change its mind in time for NaNoWriMo.
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Everyone likes to talk about "do what makes you happy" but hardly mentions "avoid what makes you unhappy." The prose will be there waiting when you're ready to engage good sir!
 
According to my NaNo page, I've written 604,289 words in total over the years. Though it also claims the most words I wrote in one day is 302,175, so the numbers many not be entirely trustworthy :).

Anyway, I'll be writing the sequel to Rebellion this year, which was also a NaNo novel a couple of years back.
 
Alchemist said:
If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, its National Novel Writing Month. I've never participated but am doing so this year - actually, leading a small group of teenagers, albeit in the Young Writers version. But I'm still going to try for the 50,000 words - that's 1,667 per day! Hmm...

Anyone done this or going to do this?
Click to expand...
I have signed up but I am trying for an hourly thing so I'm going to look like a flake as my word count will likely fall short of the goal. :)
 
Beth Wagner said:
I have signed up but I am trying for an hourly thing so I'm going to look like a flake as my word count will likely fall short of the goal. :)
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I'm feeling the same way, but I'm "Day 1 Motivated" so it will likely be in two weeks that I realize I've 'done made a mistake'
 
Not sure how to add buddies on this thing... if anyone can enlighten me, I'd love to have some of the SFF folks on there. I hit the 2,200 word mark today so I'm feeling pretty good about it LOL

Nevermind... I figured it out but the Author Search feature seems to be broken at the moment.
 
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SteveW said:
I am. (Going to really really try.)
You can add me as a buddy. Hamilton Kohl.

10k is the most I have ever written in a month. My goal is 3, 25 min sprints a day for 1k a day. That should give me my 30 k novella.

@JonLaidlow is also gearing up.
Click to expand...

I added you just now, it finally worked properly. I think it should show up as WyrvenGuard as my name, but Mike Pollock might also pop up. lol
 
2317 words for me for Day One, so am pleased. I'd like to reach 50k but have a softer goal of 30k, as I'm doing it with a group of my students (I teach at a private high school). Most of them are shooting for the 20-25k range.
 
Alchemist said:
2317 words for me for Day One, so am pleased. I'd like to reach 50k but have a softer goal of 30k, as I'm doing it with a group of my students (I teach at a private high school). Most of them are shooting for the 20-25k range.
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Awesome, and goals are what get us there, no? I'm sitting at around 4,300 words but hope to hit the 7-9k by tomorrow night (I work a 2nd job at a liquor store and have plenty of free time to type away...)

I wasn't sure when I signed up for this thing how it'd go, but having that goal and seeing myself pass each checkpoint feels great. It's motivation that maybe I've been lacking.
 
WyrvenGuard said:
Awesome, and goals are what get us there, no? I'm sitting at around 4,300 words but hope to hit the 7-9k by tomorrow night (I work a 2nd job at a liquor store and have plenty of free time to type away...)

I wasn't sure when I signed up for this thing how it'd go, but having that goal and seeing myself pass each checkpoint feels great. It's motivation that maybe I've been lacking.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I lost a ton of weight over the last year to year and a half, going from around 250 to a trim 170 lbs. It was great motivation to see the next "decade" on the scale: 229, 219, etc. Reaching 199 was very exciting, but 169 was best of all. On the other hand, it is possible to go too far the other way and obsess about fluctuations and minor step-backs. In any process there's some degree of "two steps forward, one step back." But I find momentum is the key: to just keep going and, if at all possible, write something every day. And if you skip a day, don't worry and start afresh the next day.
 
Alchemist said:
Absolutely. I lost a ton of weight over the last year to year and a half, going from around 250 to a trim 170 lbs. It was great motivation to see the next "decade" on the scale: 229, 219, etc. Reaching 199 was very exciting, but 169 was best of all. On the other hand, it is possible to go too far the other way and obsess about fluctuations and minor step-backs. In any process there's some degree of "two steps forward, one step back." But I find momentum is the key: to just keep going and, if at all possible, write something every day. And if you skip a day, don't worry and start afresh the next day.
Click to expand...

Yea, I know there'll be a few days here and there that will be difficult to write. Luckily I work the kind of desk job that gives me a little opportunity Mon-Fri to get some words in. That being said, having attainable milestones is what's doing it for me. Just "write 50k words this month" may not be enough to keep me motivated, but see how I stack up at the end of the day against those goals is really helping.

Good luck in your continued questing!
 
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