The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur due to life circumstances…and I almost forgot that today was the start of November and NaNoWriMo.
I’m not gonna lie–this year may be incredibly difficult for me to hit the 50K mark, but I’m going to try.
Also, I am one more year closer to 30 today 😛 A whopping 26 years old.
It’s almost that time of year again–no, not Christmas–but NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
I can’t believe it’s only a little more than a month away. This year is going to be different too–I’ll be a Co-ML (Multiple Liason) this year. MLs are in charge of organizing write-ins and giving overall encouragement to the writers of our particular region. I am thankful I am not the only one though and that there will be someone sharing in the ML duties (actually, he’s probably been doing the bulk of the planning anyway, so really I’m just an assistant :P)
Being an ML though means I have to come up with an idea in order to participate for NaNo. I can’t decide anymore what I want to do this year–it’s not concrete like it has been for the last three. I’m still leaning towards my one fantasy idea–based off an ancient Indian legend–but there’s LOTS of world building I have to do before then since I’m borrowing aspects of different cultures and attempting to blend them in a “new” world. Also, trying to figure out how to start the thing–I know I have over a month still but it’s difficult. Guess I’ll have to focus on it during October.
Anyway, I hope you may be able to participate this year in NaNo. It’s lots of fun; if anything, it gives you something to do and get you closer to getting a novel done (well, at least a rough first draft version). As much as I’ve tried throughout the year, I have never been able to get as much writing done in a month as I can during NaNo. Here’s hoping I can get something concrete enough by then to write!
National Novel Writing Month starts one month from today! So excited!
I know some writers view it as overrated; others say it’s a bunch of “amateurs” that do it. Some it may be true, but aren’t we all amateurs at some point? 🙂
I like it simply for what I call writer’s fellowship. I love knowing there are thousands of others embarking on the same path I am. I like seeing how we’re all going through the various stages of enjoyment and depression when it comes to our WiPs. And I love that there’s a tangible deadline–something about there being one set by someone else makes it easier for me to stick to it. Self-imposed deadlines are incredibly difficult for me to follow.
Of course there are some who say that we aren’t true writers if we can’t do what we’re doing in NaNo the rest of the year. But I’ve realized that some of them who say this tend to be the kind of writer that is a little on the snooty side anyway 😛 Some of what they say has a kernal of truth to it–as writers we need to be writing all year, not just during NaNo. Sometimes though, the best plans go awry. I know I try to write throughout the year, but not nearly as much as I do during November. I know it’s something I need to work on but I don’t think myself any less of a writer if I can’t do that other eleven months of the year.
And then there are of course those writers who think that they can start querying immediately after November. This is an error on their part, but you’re always going to have writers who think this, no matter what time of the year (although I’ve heard there is a bit of a surge in the months immediately after…)
Even if there are a good number who never get published or plan on getting published, there’s also a good number who do end up seeing their stories on bookshelves(Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants, was a NaNo participant and I’m almost certain Cindy Pon, author of Silver Phoenix, was as well).
Anyway, I’m mostly ready for it to begin. I have my “loose” outline planned out and just a bit of research to do. Perhaps I may write a chapter or two before then (unsure of this just yet–we’ll see how it goes).
Are you taking part in NaNo? Or are you embarking on your own novel adventure? How do you set goals for yourself?
(P.S. The NaNo site may or may not be online when you click on the link. They’re doing their site relaunch and it may be buggy for the next few days).
National Novel Writing Month is still a little while away (beginning November 1st–also my birthday :)) but they’ve recently posted badges on their site:
There are plenty more on the site, in different colors. Thanks to Anna Scott Graham for alerting me to the NaNo site update!
Looking forward to NaNo this year, like the past two years. This year will be Lady of the Snow, even though I’ve already started on it and “technically” you are supposed to start completely new. I never count what I’ve previously written; only that which is new. But I suppose I’m still a rule breaker 😛 Not that it matters in this case! As long as it helps me get ahead on my first draft it doesn’t matter!
I managed to cross my daily goal of 2,000 words today.
Word count for November 1: 2,236
I wrote slightly less than 1k from early this morning, but as I was at my NaNo kickoff party, there was a fair amount of socializing and eating rather than writing. I did manage 900 something words though and most importantly, met that daily word count goal.
It would probably be A LOT more as I am planning on sticking in two haiku poems in this segment, adding a few dozen more words.
I’ve also decided that perhaps somewhere along the way, I will be having a character read a Shakesperean sonnet (or at least part of one) so that will really bring that word count up. I would like to use that in the novel itself but I’m not sure; that may go in the editing process; it depends on how much it adds to the story.
Anyway, I hope those of you who are participating in NaNo managed to have a good writing day! The first few days are easy but come this time next week, it becomes challenging 😛
It’s a quarter after 1 in the morning and I’ve written about as much as I can tonight before I continue onward tomorrow.
Current word count: 1,394.
Most of it is utter crap, haha. Especially as my brain does not function well after midnight or so; I think I was half asleep as I was writing half of that.
Oh well. My daily word count goal is 2,000 so that means I only need just a little over 600 more words tomorrow, er…later today.
Off to bed now, dreaming of my novel….probably.
Midnight tonight signals the start of NaNo (as well as my 24th birthday)! I’m going to try and begin writing some then, even if I only get a few hundred words. I tend to stay up late on any given night anyway (on average going to bed around midnight or so) and normally I’ll stay up until 1 or 1:30 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Anyway, not sure how much coherency there will be to my late night writing, but it’s fun to actually do so for NaNo.
Before then though, I need to crank out as many chapter summaries as possible; I’ve gotten a few past the point I ended at during last NaNo so I won’t be writing blind 😛 However, I’m thinking I won’t come anywhere near close to writing the rest of them, so I probably will just have to follow where the story takes me. Normally it’s difficult for me to write without some sort of basic outline, but it’s not impossible. Besides, most of my summaries end up changing a great deal as I am actually writing. My characters end up doing things I don’t expect, which I know every writer at some point has experienced.
I’m also realizing that I think my novel will be way too long with the course I was following, so I think I’m going to do a number of major changes (such as Kaiyo never discovering her father’s identity and profession until much later on). It’ll take out bigger chunks and hopefully speed the story along, as I think it’s kind of plodding along now.
I’m wondering if I should make her father’s identity a mystery to the reader as well but I’m still on the fence with that one. Part of my thinking is if the reader knows his identity for most of the book, they’ll get frustrated seeing Kaiyo never discovering it. But then I’m not sure how much the reader will like being kept in the dark for a longer period of time without becoming annoyed as well. I can’t dwell on that now though or else it will take away precious thought space on the edge of NaNo.
Anyway, good luck to all of the rest of you out there embarking on this month long novel adventure!
I realize it’s been too long since I’ve blogged. Unfortunately work has zapped all strength from me this past week. It’s been non-stop busy and generally I’m too tired at the end of the day to want to do anything that requires thinking (or more time in front of the computer).
However I pushed myself today, realizing such habits would NOT do me well during NaNo. So I continued on with my chapter summaries, hoping that I may actually finish them by Friday at midnight and the start of November. Not sure if I’ll make it, but if I don’t I’ll just do my best to write without them–who knows, that may actually end up being better for me.
Anyway, I still promise to keep the blogging up, if not for a daily update on word count and some story progression–that’s what I planned on doing over a month ago when I devoted myself to being a consistent blogger 🙂 And there will be NO EXCUSES to avoid it 🙂
A little more than a week and the NaNo craziness begins!
Not only that, but November 1st is also my birthday (I’ll be the big 2-4 this year). What can be better than birthday cake, word counts and word wars?
I am hoping to get more of my chapter summaries done; the goal is to finish those but I’m uncertain if that’s going to happen. I am trying, though I’m normally utterly exhausted from work when I get home at 4…and I only work five to five and a half hours a day. It’s hard for me to want to do anything but laze around on the couch during the week. It’s sad; I need to push myself more despite the exhaustion.
Work has been a little on the crazy side, considering now I’m the “official” office admin assitant (the PC term for secretary). This past week there have been times where I seriously had to remind myself to breathe as there was so much to keep up with!
I’m still missing things here and there; if not for the former AA (who stil technically does a lot of the AA work and helping me transition) I’d be making mistakes left and right. I’m getting things slowly, but there is SO much that I have to remember it’s insane.
Let this be a lesson to anyone who desires to work in the real estate industry 😛 It’s ever changing and ever frustrating. Agents can be very demanding, though most have been very understanding that I’m still learning and that it’s not going to happen overnight (in fact it’ll probably be another six months before I feel truly confident). The industry is constantly changing though, especially with the slow economy (even though I wouldn’t think that by the number of closings I am processing on a weekly basis). Still, I shouldn’t complain, as it is a job and I do work with many good people.
So I’m trying to balance myself between the madness of work and the impending insanity of NaNo–though I’m looking forward to the latter 🙂 Cranking out 50K + words in a month could be considered a mark of insanity, too…then again, I’ve not met one writer in life that doesn’t border on the sane/insane line 😛 It’s what makes us be the wonders that we are 🙂
So, I did manage to get some of my book worked on. Not any actual writing itself, but considerable work on my chapter summaries. I moved them around, added some, deleted others, etc.
I’m also going to condense them a bit so they aren’t as convuluted as they are now. I started working on the smaller summaries this weekend getting up to about chapter nine or ten.
I know it seems like I’m stalling the actual writing part–which I am because I’m waiting for NaNo. I figure now is the planning and re-organizing stage. There’s lots of little issues I’ve been finding as I go through the older summaries and I’m trying to fix them now. Key word there: trying.
I need more weekends where I’m out in the middle of nowhere with no distractions like TV and internet. That seems to be the only way I ever get anything done. Perhaps I ought to try working on my novel more out at the local bookstore or Panera Bread or something. I may get more done that way!
Tales from the Writing Front 