I don't see a NaNoWriMo thread. I'm a NaNo Rebel this year. For one thing, I plan to start late (today, Nov. 5) and finish late (Dec.5). I had a busy weekend and decided not to let that ruin it from the start. Also, I'm not doing the traditional 50,000 word novel rough draft, but aiming for 30,000 words to finish a non-fiction book, and polishing every chapter before I go on to the next one. So, I guess my goal for the day is easy enough, (famous last words) 1,000 words or about four pages.
Anyone else already playing, or want to?
I'm playing - this will be my second year. I'm trying to not let the desire to stay ahead of the daily word count gaosl prevent me from reading back through the work as I go for minor edits.
Last year I was hesitant to do any editing in November because it generally meant I had to remove large portions of writings in order for it to make sense.
Quality over Quantity, as my husband keeps reminding me.
I did that one year too, Johanna. The manuscript is still a big mess, two years later. I'm not even sure where it is.
So, now I've been up for five hours and done zero writing. Time to get to it.
I'm tempted this year, just because I've been slacking. I should use this month to finish my book. Maybe I'll do that. Though I also need to edit a novella someone is expecting, and of course I'm in school again, so there's all that to be done.
But I'll join you and see what I can do. I started with 1,058 words yesterday. Let's see if I can bang out the rest of this first novel draft. It's been like 3 years, this thing needs to get done.
So, I am getting everything else done except writing. Will someone please tell me to knock off the shit and write?
Seriously, same boat. Get to it, girly!
I did pretty good (for me), with 637 words today, but instead of doing more this evening like I was supposed to, I was dealing with the dogs, a girlfriend who had a bad day, and watching a good movie instead of writing.
Maybe I'll stay up a little extra late ...
Thank you! I think it worked, I'm at 350 words so far but still at it, and I only have to do 1,000 per day.
Of course now that I'm supposed to be writing, I've gotten a lot of cooking, cleaning, and laundry done. I am beginning to think that writers aren't normal. :p
Woo hoo! I got my 1,000 words done. Oh. Damn. Didn't realize that it's now tomorrow and time to do 1,000 more words already. :(
How are youse doing?
Wow, 4 in the morning! Very nice. I wish I had that luxury, but those days are long behind me. I'm back in school with a class that starts at 9:05, and the arrangement because of school means my girlfriend's working while I'm not. So I'm the wife housewife. Up at the crack of dawn taking care of the dogs and making breakfast while she gets ready to roll.
Anyway, sort of change in plans. I decided I wanted to send something in for Chiral Mad 2, but I don't have anything prepped, so came up with an idea and started writing it. Only got 200 words in last night before bed, but combined with my earlier 600 it beats out my goal for the day. Still want to try to finish the first draft of the novel this month if I can manage it, but want to bang out this short first, so will probably slit my wrists trying to get a draft of that out today. Then rewrite/polish over the next couple days, then get back to the manuscript.
It feels so good to be writing again.
I've done it "for real" the last few years, and this year I guess I'm cheating. I already had almot 10k written when I started, so I'm aiming for 50k MORE, and honestly, I'll probably continue for another 10-15k after that on this one.
I thought it would be easy to just write and not edit, but I can't stop myself from editing and it is slowing me down. Good exercise for me though.
Okay, I'm doing 1,000 words a day on an already started NF manuscript, Nov. 5 - Dec. 5.
Second 1,000 done.
I am overwhelmed with organizing this more than writing it. I think I'll get a binder with dividers and a hole punch and try to put it into order by hand. Not sure why that sounds better than just moving things around on the computer, but it does. Oh no. It probably means I'm old. :(
Whassup, rebels?
Discovered the CM2 is already closed despite one site reporting to the contrary and the main site only suggesting so in a future news update (that I'd missed) and in a comment on the main entry, so ... hey, at least I started another whacked out story. That was pretty much all I worked on yesterday, and at least got the start of the idea down. Even sketched a brief visual outline in class. 721 words yesterday total.
Back to the novel today, then. Aiming for higher word count, though it's going to be tougher, as once I get past the next section I've no idea exactly how things will end up. I do suspect there will be violence.
I'm telling, you're drawing in class. :p
Got my 1,000 for 11/7 done so I'm caught up for now.
Hey, I can get away with it in my Texas Government class! It's the most useless waste of time I've ever been subjected to, I swear. Even the professor thinks it's worthless.
LOL!
I signed up for it but quickly realized, I'm not going to be able to commit to it. Doing film reviews at a three a week clip and I have some stories I'd like to get done for some cross my fingers anthologies. I have a couple of novel ideas but since I have no clue how to write one, I'm going to stick to refining my exisiting work and getting some stuff published until I gain the confidence.
I'm working on editing the zero draft I wrote for April's NaNo. So far I have chapters 1 through 5 off to beta readers--about 75 pages. Whew! And I have the next 9 days off of work to immerse myself.
The hard part is I keep having story ideas knocking on my brain. I'm writing the ideas down, trying to stay focused on this WIP, but I think I'm going to have to cave and do some new writing or I'll go a bit loony.
I planned to do connected short stories, but the one is going long and might turn into a novel. It us freaking me out though because I am used to short story writing more than the novel. I was distressed when the short story ending didn't come to me like it should. A friend said just keep writing whatever comes to you. I am doing that but sometimes I think I just have pages of 3/4 junk. Friend said I'm not far enough along in the story to know what it will even end up being. So, I feel I am working in the dark, going for quantity not quality, and that feels wrong. But I'm still doing it. Any advice?
I say just keep writing. You might be able to salvage it in rewrites, you might not. Most people's first novel is terrible. My first three were horrific, but writing them has allowed me to keep writing novel length works, and finally land on one that I actually really love.
It's hard to discern if you're writing crap or not when you have no time to get some space between yourself and the work. But give it a whirl if you think it's even halfway decent. Novels don't take everyone a long time, but I think for most people, writing a good novel is a long and involved process. I've been working on my current novel for between 2 & 1/2 and 3 years. I don't even have a first draft finished. But I do some editing as I go and have a sense of where it's going and where it will end up, though I never outline fully (usually just a bit in advance of where I am if I get stuck).
Roll with it. You might surprise yourself. If not, it's still time well spent in practice.
As far as writing a novel, you really just have to change your thinking in how pacing in general works. Adding description, revealing less per paragraph. All of it is just very very weird to get used to.
Okay, I'm about to get started for the day. I just have to remember to do my words on my manuscript and not on a bunch of message boards. Too bad those don't count, huh?
