Tag Archives: National Novel Writing Month

NaNoWriMo – 15 days to go.

ImageWell, we are half-way through November already. Time just seems to fly by, doesn’t it? This is my first NaNoWriMo and to tell the truth I wasn’t sure if I could make it. But as of today I am at 30k words and about one chapter way from finishing Part 1 in my novel. And I still have 15 days to write another 20k words. That looks a lot less daunting than the big 50k from November 1. So I start getting more hopeful about the fact that I can make it to then end and win.

I would like to use this half-way point to go over some of the observations I made so far about my writing process. Hopefully, someone else will find them useful too.

1. Discipline helps. I haven’t missed  single day of writing so far. I made sure that I would find time to sit down and work on my novel every day, rain, snow or storm. It doesn’t matter how much time I have, even a five minute coffee break spent scribbling in a notepad can produce 100-200 words. A lunch date with a pen and paper adds another 400-500 words. And in the end, it all adds up.

2. Setting goals and working towards reaching them is essential. When I decided to do NaNo, I set myself  a daily goal of 1700 words. And I made a vow not to go to bed until I reach that goal. So it doesn’t matter if my pen is flying so fast that makes the paper smoke or if my muse packed up and went on vacation, I will sit and put one word after another until I get that goal done. And most of the days I end up with 200-300 words over that goal.

3. Celebrating small and big achievements is a sure way of boost motivation. I had a piece of chocolate cake and a fresh cup of tea when I reached my first 10k. I pored myself a glass of wine at the 20k marker. I sneak attacked my husband in the bedroom after I flew by the 25k :). Those little celebrations really make you want to go on writing, and thinking about your next reward helps when the fatigue sets in and you start getting discouraged with your writing.

4. Word wars and prompts help. No, seriously, they really do! There are days when words are just not coming, no matter how much you stare at the blank screen. I found that picking up a prompt or joining a word war either on the site or on twitter @NaNoWordsprints helps me get the ideas on the page. I tend to procrastinate less when I have a deadline.

5. Do not get discouraged. Whether you are 5k ahead or 10k behind, keep writing. You still have 15 days to go, don’t abandon you novel now. Every word you add to it is more than you had before. Word by word, the novel will get from “Once upon a time” to “The end”.

So how is everyone else doing at his half-way point? What are you guys happy about or struggling with?

NaNoWriMo – half way through week one.

ImageThe first week of NaNoWriMo is not over yet but I have broken the 10k words mark today. That’s one fifth of the goal done. I think I will allow myself a glass of wine tonight to celebrate.

Between bouts of frantic writing this weekend, I have noticed several things.

First of all, tying and gaging my inner editor and shoving her in a dark closet for the duration of NaNo had been strangely liberating. I didn’t realize how much fun it would be to just put words on paper (or on the computer screen in my case) without worrying about bad grammar, spelling or lack of style. Yes, it might look like a smoking pile of manure, but it moves the story forward, and anything is better than a blank page. Manure I can work with later and grow beautiful polished prose with, blank – not so much.

Another thing that I learned about my writing – having a pretty good idea of where your story goes and outlining it works wonders. All the other (unsuccessful) attempts at writing a novel started with me having a wonderful idea and a vague picture of the main characters. And I would sit down and happily punch words in for a week or two. Then I would get lost with no idea where my story is supposed to go, or hit a roadblock, or just lose interest and move on to a new shiny idea.

In this case I spent the entire month of October thinking about my story. I wrote the main idea, I thought about the beginning and the ending, I even sat down and wrote a more or less detailed outline. I dived into my world and tried to figure out as much about it as I could. I cornered my characters in tights spaces and interrogated them. So when November 1 arrived, I knew my world and my characters and I had a pretty good idea where my story was going. And guess what – I am still very much in love with the story.

So lesson learned – do not jump right into writing, let the idea sit and mature, poke at it for a week or two and see if what hatches is worth writing about.

Oh and I also found an excellent book by Timothy Hallinan called Finish Your Novel, there is a lot of very good advice and encouragement here, so I definitely recommend it to all aspiring novelists.

NaNoWriMo – on your mark, ready, go!!!!

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So November 1 is officially here and NaNo madness has began. All the brave (and some would say crazy) souls participating this year will have exactly 30 days to produce 50 000 words of text in order to win. And I need to point out that 50k is not the limit, if our novel will be over that amount, feel free to write more (if you can). You also don’t need to have finished your novel by end of November in order to win. But still… 50 000 words is a lot, it really is. In fact it’s like a very scary mountain of words looming in front of me.

But no need to panic, there is a way to accomplish that without a psychotic break at the end (I hope) – eat the elephant in small bites. 50 000 words is 1667 words per day if you write every day in November. That doesn’t look as scary anymore, does it? Well, to me it still kinda does, since my usual daily production is more in the 500 – 800 words range. So I devised this plan that would help me reach my goals – I took a critical look at my usual work day and found out that I have three possibilities to write through the day: in the morning before I go to work, during lunch and late at night before bed (I am lucky to have a laptop and a convenient plug next to my bed). If I write 600 words in each of those sessions, I will get 1800 words per day – that is plenty enough to reach 50k! Now I just need to stick to the plan…

As far as day one is concerned, I think I am doing pretty well. I have 1700 words so far and that’s only after two sessions. I was so scared that I would stare at a blank page and just freeze, but words just kinds spilled out. Planning on using the weekend to up my world count. The goal is to be at 7000 total by Monday. We will see, we will see.

Any other Wrimos out there? How did your first day go?

Two days to NaNoWriMo – panic attack.

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It is officially two days till NaNoWriMo starts. I have been ready for at least a week  and oh so excited to dive into my novel. But now that November 1st is almost around the corner, the doubt is setting in. Will I be able to pull it off? After all, 50k words in one month is a lot of ink to put on paper – it’s 1667 words per day, every day in November. Or what if I get stuck in my story and I hate what I write, or if the characters stop speaking to me half way through? This is stuff nightmares are made of!

It’s funny, but this situation brings me back to my college days (darn, am I that old already?) and my pre-exam jitters. This is absolutely ridiculous because this time my grade doesn’t depend on the result, I don’t owe anyone anything, and the world will not stop turning if I don’t reach my goal. But the fact still remains – I am scared. I think it’s because this is important to me – I need to prove to myself that I can write consistently for a prolonged period of time. I also want to prove to myself that I can actually finish a manuscript, go through the whole first draft from “Once upon a time” to “The End”. So yes, there is a lot of pressure on my shoulders and this wait is absolutely killing me!

Come on November, get here already, let’s stop waiting and start finally writing…

The great NaNoWrimo adventure.

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I am embarking on a great adventure: I decided to join my very first NaNoWriMo

The reason for this madness is to push me to actually sit down and write one of those fabulous stories that have been running around my head for years. Write it from the beginning to the end without pausing to think about logic or grammar or plot holes until I write THE END and put my pen down. To actually get that first draft out of my head and on the paper.

That would be a first for me, for I have plenty of beginnings and half-baked stories, but I have never ever actually followed one to the very end. So this is my NaNoWriMo resolution – to write 50k words in November, but also to continue putting words on paper in December and January if need be, until my story is told in its entirety.

Some would ask why bother? To prove to myself that I can do it. If I can finish a story, I can chase my dream of actually being a writer. Because one doesn’t become a writer by talking about writing or dreaming about writing, but only by actually sitting down and writing.

We will see how that goes. I will try to post updates on my progress all through November.

So far I have actually sat down and wrote a detailed outline of my story as well as bios on all my main characters (and on some support characters too). I have thought and dreamed long enough about this story to see some of the scenes and episodes I know I want to write. I also know exactly how to begin it.

So my computer is ready, Scrivener is configured and loaded with all the research and plot outlines. Bring it NaNo!