ReneeAPickup's picture
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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 1, 2011 - 7:46pm

Thought this could serve as a little support thread. I never got involved in the forums there, and although LitReactor is new, I feel comfy and cozy here. I thought maybe we could congratulate each other on our progress, support each other when it sucks, and generally bitch and whine when stupid stuff lands us a day or two behind.

So...how are you doing?

I'm currently 189 words over the reccomended daily word count. I'm rewarding myself with Mexican food and Belgian beer.

Limbless K9's picture
Limbless K9 from Oregon is reading Wraeththu November 1, 2011 - 8:47pm

There's no way I could ever write that much in such a little time. I'm still new to writing though. I've only just begun to test the waters. Congratulations though! Keep up the good work! 

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Nighty Nite from NJ is reading Grimscribe: His Lives and Works November 1, 2011 - 8:47pm

Nice start, Renee.

I didn't think I'd do it this year, but some friends and the Mrs. convinced me to give it another try. I'm only 500 words in so far, but I'm liking what I got brewing.

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 1, 2011 - 9:32pm

Yeah, I had decided not to do it, but felt bad because I normally do the fund raising as well, last night the husband nudged me over the line while I was arguing with myself.

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 1, 2011 - 10:43pm

I'm about 900 words in today, but I can't tackle more. I'm enjoying the process so far, though. I don't really know what I'm doing. It's kind of a ghost story, but it's kind of not about ghosts. I dunno. 

I'm still having fun, though! I don't normally write in first person, so it's been interesting!

Despite falling behind, I'm sure I'll catch up tomorrow. I've got a bunch of meetings I need to attend at work but parts of those meetings don't really require my attention. Which means... writing time!

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 1, 2011 - 10:45pm

@nighty I've noticed this before but failed to mention... your avatar. The spooky face. Is it from the scary stories books? I know I have my copies somewhere... 

Raelyn's picture
Raelyn from California is reading The Liars' Club November 2, 2011 - 12:00am

Awesome job Renee. :)

In 7th grade my English teacher told me about NaNo and said I should give it a try. Being an enthusiastic little twelve year old, I did, and had a horrible experience -- because I was an enthusiastic little twelve year old. On the last day I went to my teacher, crying my eyes out and showing her my 5,000 word story and begging her not to hate me for not being able to finish. This was my introduction to writing. 

Charles's picture
Charles from Portland is reading Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones November 2, 2011 - 12:17am

technically i did some editing on a story today for my collection effort. if i count that, i have just over a thousand words, today

Renfield's picture
Renfield from Hell is reading 20th Century Ghosts November 2, 2011 - 12:49am

I'm currently 189 words over the reccomended daily word count.

 

What is their cap on the word count?

 

I wrote that thing in the Flash thread today. Think that's like 100 words. Not a bad day. I've been thinking about a novel though, ruminating.

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Bradley Sands from Boston is reading Greil Marcus's The History of Rock 'N' Roll in Ten Songs November 2, 2011 - 12:56am

I did it one year long ago. It was fun, but the book that I wrote is unpublishable (although I know some people who write the first drafts of novellas in 3 days). Marathoning just doesn't work for me. I'm a slow writer. I've found writing 1000 words a day until the book is done to work pretty well if I'm unemployed (and to write smaller amounts like 500 a day if I'm employed). I guess writing 1000 words a day is not much less than it would take to complete a Nanowrimo novel. You just have to write about 613 words more than 1000 a day. I enjoyed Nanowrimo because I gave myself the permission to write whatever I wanted regardless of whether or not it sucked. It was a nice vacation from editing as I write like I always do (although I currently don't do it as much as I used to do it back them). 

Since I outline my books before I start them along with writing detailed profiles for the main characters, write slowly, and edit as I go along, my first draft isn't that much different than my final draft. There's still a lot of changes though (pretty much on every page). But there will only be a few major changes here and there. Overall, most of the changes are minor. Most of the major changes occur while I'm writing the outline before I start writing the actual book.

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 2, 2011 - 10:50am

Renfield, there isn't a cap. You have a daily goal of 1,666 words to stay on track to hit exactly 50k by November 30th. If you go over, you go over. 'Winning' just means that you hit 50k, they don't even read the stories to be sure people aren't just typing in gibberish. It's all on the honor system.

 

Bradley, yes, my last years' project was just trash. It wasn't even worth wrapping up at the end of the 50k. The issue, I think, was that I needed more research on the topic and had way too much going on. I am hoping for a more salvagable product this year because I am using a pretty simple story line with only one character to really develop. Here's hoping, anyway!

MissKakomen--okay, that's funny. I never write in the first person anymore, but when I do NaNo I always write in the first person. For some reason it helps me keep the speed up!

Raelyn--OMG! That's awful! I used to write everything by hand, and I would write until callouses formed and my hands were stiff--I don't think I ever came close to nearly 2,000 words a day as a child, though!

Waterhouse's picture
Waterhouse from Columbus is reading Bullet Park, John Cheever November 2, 2011 - 11:04am

Nah, did it a couple times. felt too rushed and came out with nearly unsalvageable dreck. I work in a deliberate manner that just doesn't fit the whole 50,000 words in 30 days schema-- the whole thing just ended up spiking my anxiety levels.

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amazingrobots from Savannah, GA is reading When You Are Engulfed In Flames November 2, 2011 - 5:15pm

Doing it mostly for the discipline. I barely hardly write much anymore, so this is like a shock of cold water, forcing out 50,000 words. I'm doing Backwards Nano, and it's helping thus far.

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 2, 2011 - 8:22pm

What is "backwards Nano"?

I screwed off today. Was a hard day with the toddler which inevitibly leads to a hard day with the husband. I am hoping to get a little in tonight, and bust hump on our long drive tomorrow (husband drives on all our long road trips in November, for this very reason).

amazingrobots's picture
amazingrobots from Savannah, GA is reading When You Are Engulfed In Flames November 3, 2011 - 7:43am

Backwards Nano is a way of hitting your word count for the month by writing a lot for the first two weeks, then barely any for the last two weeks. You start high, with like 3500 words on the first day, then a little less the next day, a little less the day after that, until you're so far above word count, by week three, you're only doing 1000 words one day, then 900, 700, all the way until you only have to write a single word on the very last day.

http://nicolehumphrey.net/backwards-nanowrimo-the-reward-system/

Frederick's picture
Frederick from Southeast Connecticut is reading Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs By Chuck Klosterman November 3, 2011 - 11:07am

@Renee Congratulations so far! I am also participating and I find myself way more comfortable here than posting threads on the NaNo site. I love the site though and how easy it is to keep track with the stats section.

@Amazingrobots that's an awesome idea, I am going to try and keep ahead of the 1,667 word a day pace but right now it is working out well. 

I am currently doing alright and right on pace.

Nighty Nite's picture
Nighty Nite from NJ is reading Grimscribe: His Lives and Works November 3, 2011 - 11:11am

@misskokamon: Yes. It is indeed from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Fond childhood memories trauma.

 

@Everyone: Post some NaNo usernames so we can keep up with each other. I'm Metagnostic Metaphors add me.

XyZy's picture
XyZy from New York City is reading Seveneves and Animal Money November 3, 2011 - 11:32am

I'm XyZy there as well. Feel free to yell at me, cause I'm slacking already.

Frederick's picture
Frederick from Southeast Connecticut is reading Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs By Chuck Klosterman November 3, 2011 - 11:42am

I just added a couple of you. My name is simply Frederick and it is the same picture as on here.

amazingrobots's picture
amazingrobots from Savannah, GA is reading When You Are Engulfed In Flames November 3, 2011 - 12:04pm

Also amazingrobots on there. Adding everyone!

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 3, 2011 - 1:08pm

My name is Koka on there, if ya'll want to add me. :3

It's raining today and my company has a happy hour planned at a bar, so I didn't bring my laptop with me for wroodling. But I'm doing pretty good so far... can't wait for the weekend! I'll write from breakfast to dinner, and sometime afterward. 

David Welsh's picture
David Welsh from New Hampshire is reading The Shining November 3, 2011 - 3:59pm

Good luck, everyone!

You can find me on there as QuickerMcWild. I'll have to get around to adding everyone later.

I have some local friends that are doing it too, so I feel very fortunate to have a face-to-face team to get me through the challenge. But I've only jsut developed this group. That sense of community is one of the reasons I've joined LitReactor. I'm glad it's actually working for people too.

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 3, 2011 - 9:02pm

Ah, Backwards NaNo sounds pretty cool. As it stands I am 500 short for the day, so I guess I'm not adopting that tho year, hahah.

I am only online from my phone until Monday night, but my SN is Caffeinated_Pix there. I'll go through and ad everyone when I am home next week.

EdVaughn's picture
EdVaughn from Louisville, Ky is reading a whole bunch of different stuff November 3, 2011 - 9:17pm

I just started mine today. So I'm already behind. I'm already discovering it's almost impossible with a two year old running around. I don't expect to get to 50k but I'm still going to work on it. I'm red v. over there.

Frederick's picture
Frederick from Southeast Connecticut is reading Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs By Chuck Klosterman November 4, 2011 - 12:41pm

Frederick at the NaNo site and @awhittle2clever on twitter. i'll probably keep that updated with where I'm at..

Bruno Hat's picture
Bruno Hat from Glasgow, Scotland is reading writing and arithmetic November 4, 2011 - 3:14pm

I did the Nano thing last two years but I'm not doing it this year. I achieved the word count both times, but to be honest I never went back to the stories I'd written, or felt it helped me much.

Having said that though, best of luck to everyone who's trying it this year.

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 6, 2011 - 3:38pm

I'm currently 10k in as of today. I want to squeeze out another 2k before I call it quits for the day.

I realized my main character is messed up. I mean, he was pretty messed up when I pieced him together, but I didn't expect him to be as crazy as he is.

NaNoWriMo, you're so full of surprises!

But yes. I'm thrilled to say that as tough as this first week was, I got it now. I'm addicted to writing daily again. I'm busting out about 1.5k a day and I'm loving every minute of it. That's exactly what I was going for with NaNo--making a habit of writing daily again. I plan on slowing my pace when I get back on my real project, but this experience was the real kick in the ass I needed.

I don't think I will ever share this story with serious intentions, though. Maybe for fun, but not for any other reason.

Steve's picture
Steve from Southwestern Chicagoland, IL November 8, 2011 - 7:43am

I started the month with the best of intentions, but a week in I've hit that point where I like the story too much to churn out crap just to hit the word count, if that makes sense. I need to spend some time noodling it out before I can get over that hump. With a little more planning (and a different story) next October, I think I'll crack this nut yet. Backwards NaNo sounds interesting--I'll have to try that next time.

It did get me back in the habit of writing regularly again, though. And to keep the momentum going, I signed up for a class. 

 

 

CJ Roberts's picture
CJ Roberts from Salem, MA is reading goodreads.com/cjroberts_dmm November 8, 2011 - 10:01am

I lost my first few days to travel but came out strong I guess. I hit 10k words yesterday and hope for more as we see this thing to its conclusion.

Most of the time I write clipped and jagged anyway so this forced me to reexamine what the reader was seeing in every scenario and describe it better. I have my wife read whatever vomit spills onto page and usually I get a thumbs up so I think Im doing alright. But I was never planning on this being anything more than a great exercise for my pen/

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 8, 2011 - 7:14pm

Had a rough couple days, nothing written. I have to say I am actually liking the story and how it is progressing, though. After dinner I am going to try and play a little catch up.

missesdash's picture
missesdash from Paris is reading The Informers November 9, 2011 - 12:10am

I'm doing NaNoRevMo instead. Overhauling my entire manuscript in 30 days. It's just as much work, honestly.

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 9, 2011 - 10:53am

@Renee I'm in the same boat. A pet passed away unexpectedly this week so I haven't touched my story since Sunday. I'm not too behind though. On Sunday I clocked in at 13.5k words, so I was a couple days ahead. I need to start writing TODAY if I'm to stay on track, but I haven't outlined the next act so I'm stuck. And I have this huge deadline today at work, so I can't use my lunch break to figure out the next chapter. Drat! 

@Misses I imagine it is the same amount of work, and with much mroe headache involved. Good luck!

 

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 9, 2011 - 12:42pm

Misses, I imagine in some ways it is even more work!

I am really behind, and we only get busier as the month goes on, I need to really hit it hard. I am hoping the husband will take over some toddler duty to ight so I can get it going.

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 9, 2011 - 3:55pm

http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/11/09/nanowrimo-pep-talk-from-brandon/

I thought I'd share this little pep talk from Brandon Sanderson. It's about a minute long, but he's so enthusiastic! I love those guys at Writing Excuses. Such nice fellas.

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 10, 2011 - 11:54am

Going through adding everyone, I couldn't find Frederick or MissKokamen on there...

Caffeinated_Pix IS my username so if you wanna find me, you're welcome to.

I am a little behind, but nothing too crazy over all, I've actually been taking a really relaxed approach and it's working for me so far...

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 10, 2011 - 12:40pm

@Renee my name on there is Koka. My account is old :( I didn't evolve into MissKokamon until this year.

I'll look for you when I log in to NaNoWriMo again. I need to buy that ceramic traveler's mug that says "WRITE FIRST!" on it. 

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 11, 2011 - 2:09am

I looked for you under Koka and it didn't find you, but I got your request a little while ago :)

lynx_child's picture
lynx_child from Seattle is reading The Dresden Files series November 12, 2011 - 1:34pm

Well, I started NaNo, and then I got a full-time job. That plus grad school plus the last few weeks at my part time job and I'm burned out.

So I had to give up, which is really disappointing. I was having fun with it.

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 17, 2011 - 5:33pm

Lynx--life happens! Congratulations on the new job.

My excuse is less...acceptable. I slacked off for a couple days and now, instead of working on my old laptop, I am waiting for Office to finish downloading on my shiny new one. I can't be expected to work on that OLD one when this pretty one is right here!

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Jamie Grefe from Michigan November 18, 2011 - 10:53pm

I just finished my NaNoWriMo novel...53,014 words. I have written many short stories, and used this "contest" to push myself to actually start and complete a novel. It worked and I'm extremely happy that I took the challenge. Now, time to revise...

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 18, 2011 - 11:39pm

Holy cow!! Congratulations! Reading that sort of puts a fire under my ass...

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Jamie Grefe from Michigan November 19, 2011 - 5:02pm

Renee, thank you. I busted my ass on the weekends and woke up at 4am during the week to write before going to work. Without those extra hours and constant drive, I wouldn't have been able to do it. I have a feeling that the editing and revising process will take me much longer than a month, though. Great experience overall.

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misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 21, 2011 - 12:44pm

Wow! Good job, Jamie! You did it with a weekor two to spare, too. Amazing!

I... I'm stuck at about 16k. But I haven't given up yet! I'm taking an extra day off this week and I'll be writing, writing, writing and cooking, cooking, cooking. I'm going to try my best to write the additional 34k needed in the next week. 
It doesn't help that I have a game due in December and that's asking for a lot of extra hours for work, but I'm going to prove to myself that I can do this. 

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 22, 2011 - 6:06pm

MissKakomon, I have probably written about 16k in 3 days trying to catch up, so 34 in a week should be possible!!!

I am at a point where it is slowing down, a little "squeezing water from stone" feeling coming on. I still think I can make it happen, but I am crawling around pretty slowly. ALMOST on par though...

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 23, 2011 - 11:06pm

Somehow went from being chronically behind to lOoking at finishing by Saturday. Ah, the roller coaster that is NaNoWriMo,

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 27, 2011 - 12:21am

Updates? Anyone?

I managed to finish a few days early, I am not sure who is more excited--me to be finished, or my husband to be off toddler and driving duty. I am really happy with what I turned out, although it obviously needs a lot of polish. Going to put it down for a nap until the new year and after I spend some time READING I am going back to my pet project and starting revision on another project.

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 28, 2011 - 2:00pm

I'm 15k words behind as of today. I wrote 10k a day for two days and by the third night my brain went empty. It was the most curious sensation; 1AM in the morning I wrote a single line, stared at it for five minutes, mumbled something to myself about justice and fell asleep. The next day I watched two of the three episodes of Sherlock on Netflix, talked about the unfairness that is childhood with a guest leftover from Thanksgiving, wrote 50 words and spent the rest of the night watching How I Met Your Mother. It was a necessary slackoff: I needed to refill my head with creative juices.

But now I need to haul major ass if I'm going to win this thing!

Side Note: Justice. There is this line in a Sherlock Holmes YA where, after suffering a tragic loss, boy Sherlock sticks his head out the window and screams the word, "JUSTICE!" I know it wasn't the writer's intention, but it made me laugh. Now it's a personal meme of mine whenever frustration scratches at my brain.

 

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CJ Roberts from Salem, MA is reading goodreads.com/cjroberts_dmm November 30, 2011 - 9:49am

I submitted last night at 54218. That 'manuscript' is still not even halfway done but this was exactly what I needed. To feel like I can fire myself up everyday.

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 30, 2011 - 12:48pm

Awesome, CJ!!!! I finished my story, but the first half is more of a list of things that went on, rather than telling a story and developing characters--I think I'll be able to push it to 60-70K and have a really great story.

I am also glowing because I just hit my (admittedly humble) fundraising goal. Maybe next year I'll go for the next level up!

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misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 30, 2011 - 3:26pm

I only have a few thousand left, but I don't know when I'll be able to do fulfill it. I need to work late today and my personal Dropbox won't sync on my work computer right now! Ugh!

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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 30, 2011 - 3:37pm

Ahhh! I'll keep fingers crossed you get there in time.