It’s December and NaNo is officially over. For those of you who have read this blog the past month, you’ve seen several posts about NaNo. Well, I thought I would share my NaNo failure story. Yep, my first time posting on this blog and I’m going to talk about my failures.
50,000 in one month – doable? Oh yeah! For me? Nope.
I started off great – 10K in one weekend, the most I’ve ever written in such a short span. I thought, Hey this’ll be a breeze, I can write Larch this month and finish Judgement next month and be ready to query again by the end of January.
By day seven I was right where I should be. By day ten I was behind. That little graph laughed at me every time I clicked on it’s tab. Seriously, I heard it snickering and taunting. By day twenty I was up to 20k, still 10k behind and realized there was no way in Hades I would reach 50k by today. I was going to join the ranks of NaNo failures, plus Larch and Stone wouldn’t shut up in my mind, dreams, shower or car.
Of course I have to be faithful to my characters and finish their story. I have fallen in love with them and their world and finishing their story is something I look forward to. Would I have ever tried a dystopian? A book set in the future? A borderline sci-fi? I must give a resounding no but now I have attempted it, have 30K and a fleshed out plot.
So do I consider myself a NaNo failure? Yes and no. Yes, I didn’t get out the 50k. Too much in my life got in the way: family, homeschooling, beta reading and the oh, five or ten novels I read this month. I guess I could’ve skipped schooling the kids but I do want them to go to college. And I could’ve not read those other books but I enjoyed them.
So the conclusion I have come to is: if 50k was that important to me then I would’ve prioritized it over the frivolous things I did – and no, schooling is not considered frivolous, don’t even go there ;) .
I’m very grateful to NaNoWriMo and will definitely participate again next year, plus I met some great writers in Augusta at our NaNo writing meet-ups. I encourage all writers to try it next year. I had a blast!
Original post published on Old People Writing for Teens by GotYA contributor Jennifer Wood. Original post and reader comments can be viewed here.
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
NaNo Buddies and the Importance of Passion
I’m lucky. I have a best friend who loves writing just as much as I do. It’s wonderful to be able to bounce ideas off of one another while listening to music that inspires a scene, character, or relationship.
She really helped when I wrote a novel in a year, and even more so in a month.
A lot of us are participating in NaNoWriMo this month. If you’re like me, you start to panic when you get behind, staring at a blank Microsoft Word page and thinking “What the hell do I type next? I need a thousand more words before I complete my daily quota!”
Writing buddies are a powerful tool. A few nights ago I participated in a very miniature write in with my best friend from 2pm-4am, taking a midnight shopping break to buy goodies that would help us get through the next few hours. We had a word war, and I am proud to say I completed 1000 words in less than a half an hour, which, for poor little short attention span me, is very, VERY good.
Why is it so much easier to buckle down and write when you have another writer there? This applies even in a cyberspace sense, for those of you who have participated in the world wide webfamous Friday Night Writes. Is it the slight or large competitive side of us? Is it the companionship–the idea that a person close by is as crazy as you, trying to complete 10,000 words in a day? Is it the ability to bounce a fresh idea off of someone instead of keeping it bottled up inside?
I don’t know. Does the reason really matter? It’s NaNo time, ladies and gents. Word count is all that matters. Whether it’s a writing partner or five trips to Starbucks, find what gets you typing the fastest in your limited amount of free time this month.
Original post published on Old People Writing for Teens by GotYA contributor Sarah Harian. Original post and reader comments can be viewed here.
She really helped when I wrote a novel in a year, and even more so in a month.
A lot of us are participating in NaNoWriMo this month. If you’re like me, you start to panic when you get behind, staring at a blank Microsoft Word page and thinking “What the hell do I type next? I need a thousand more words before I complete my daily quota!”
Writing buddies are a powerful tool. A few nights ago I participated in a very miniature write in with my best friend from 2pm-4am, taking a midnight shopping break to buy goodies that would help us get through the next few hours. We had a word war, and I am proud to say I completed 1000 words in less than a half an hour, which, for poor little short attention span me, is very, VERY good.
Why is it so much easier to buckle down and write when you have another writer there? This applies even in a cyberspace sense, for those of you who have participated in the world wide webfamous Friday Night Writes. Is it the slight or large competitive side of us? Is it the companionship–the idea that a person close by is as crazy as you, trying to complete 10,000 words in a day? Is it the ability to bounce a fresh idea off of someone instead of keeping it bottled up inside?
I don’t know. Does the reason really matter? It’s NaNo time, ladies and gents. Word count is all that matters. Whether it’s a writing partner or five trips to Starbucks, find what gets you typing the fastest in your limited amount of free time this month.
Original post published on Old People Writing for Teens by GotYA contributor Sarah Harian. Original post and reader comments can be viewed here.
Friday, October 9, 2009
30 Days + Loads of Caffiene =
Are you ready for the most insane 30 days of your life? It’s that time of year…the time writers itch for all year. That’s right! National Novel Writing Month! At midnight Nov. 1st, writers from all over the world will open their laptops and tuck in to their pc’s to type the first of 50,000 words, the goal for the NaNo WriMo month.
For those of you doing the math, that’s 1,666.6666666666666666666667 words per day.
50k is a good word count for a young adult or middle grade book, which is why it’s perfect for us OPWFTers.
Many NaNo WriMo participants choose to take on a project that’s out of the ordinary from what they typically write. Personally, I’m taking on a middle grade steampunk novel. If I pull it off, it’ll be my first complete middle grade novel and second attempt at steampunk. (Speaking of which, Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan is AMAZING – but we’ll save the gushing for another post)
One of the best parts of NaNo is the supportive community. On the official website, http://www.nanowrimo.org/, there are forums and personal buddy lists to keep you motivated and provide hours of distraction from reaching your goal – so be careful!!! Don’t fall into the online trap and forget to write.
Are you braving the NaNo challenge this year? Leave us your username in the comments so we can buddy you and we’ll all cheer each other on to 50k!
Original post published on Old People Writing for Teens by GotYA contributor Jamie Blair. To view the original post and reader comments, please click here.
For those of you doing the math, that’s 1,666.6666666666666666666667 words per day.
50k is a good word count for a young adult or middle grade book, which is why it’s perfect for us OPWFTers.
Many NaNo WriMo participants choose to take on a project that’s out of the ordinary from what they typically write. Personally, I’m taking on a middle grade steampunk novel. If I pull it off, it’ll be my first complete middle grade novel and second attempt at steampunk. (Speaking of which, Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan is AMAZING – but we’ll save the gushing for another post)
One of the best parts of NaNo is the supportive community. On the official website, http://www.nanowrimo.org/, there are forums and personal buddy lists to keep you motivated and provide hours of distraction from reaching your goal – so be careful!!! Don’t fall into the online trap and forget to write.
Are you braving the NaNo challenge this year? Leave us your username in the comments so we can buddy you and we’ll all cheer each other on to 50k!
Original post published on Old People Writing for Teens by GotYA contributor Jamie Blair. To view the original post and reader comments, please click here.
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