The first week of NaNoWriMo is over. How did everyone do? I know the Kitchener/Cambridge/Waterloo region had a weekend of catching up. How far away from the target 11,669 words for Sunday were you? Did you meet that target? Were you already at the target by Sunday with no need to catch up?
I am so happy to say that I have written more in the first week of NaNoWriMo this year than I did for all of last year’s NaNo. One thing keeping me motivated is the desire to have an official Guelph region next year. To apply to be an ML (Municipal Liaison) you need to have won at least one NaNoWriMo challenge. I have another motivator too. I’ll tell you all about that if it happens.
I am a little behind where I want to be even though I am ahead technically. One thing last week has taught me is that my days of 100 words a day are over. My weeks of squeaking out maybe 1,000 words are history. I wrote 15,882 words last week. I’m not saying I’ll be able to do that all the time. But there’s no reason I can’t do that the majority of the time. I can write 2,000 words a day. When NaNo is over that will be my ongoing goal.
Also wanted to give a heads up to any Guelph Wrimos out there. We’re having a write in at the William’s Coffee Pub on Stone Road tomorrow, November 9 at 7:00 PM. I’m holding it with my usual Guelph Write Now write-in and we’d love to see some new faces! We usually sit at the front and I have a sign on the table.
Oh and be sure to come back on Wednesday when we'll have guest blogger Dale Mayer talking about how she wrote 93,000 words last November.
Happy writing everyone!
Cindy
Monday, November 8, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Getting into the thick of things
So, we are now 5 days into NaNoWriMo for this year. Actually, by the time I get this posted, we will be really close to the start of the 6th day, but that's just a technicality, and for now I'm just going to pretend we're on day 5 still. Because if it's day 5, I'm still ahead of schedule.
Last night, we had our first write-in in Guelph. It was rather small, but we got work done. I'm not sure how many words were actually written among us, but I'm pretty sure I wrote close to 1500 words myself. But I have to say, the best part of it was simply getting out and writing somewhere different, and being able to talk, face to face, with people doing the same thing, trying to write this many words in just 30 days.
But to do this, to keep with your novel and writing every day, you need to enjoy it. Either that, or a very strong stubborn streak that keeps you writing even when you hate what you're writing about. Me and another NaNo'er who was out last night, who goes by phlegm on the boards, was taking about this last night. She had actually restarted her NaNo yesterday because her first plan wasn't working out. I'm not sure how many words she has on it at this point, because she made sure to tell me that her word count on the site is far from accurate. How many others out there are having trouble getting on the site to update your word counts? I know that there are many times during the day and evening when the site is very slow.
But, my big accomplishment yesterday was that I wrote over 4600 words. How, you might ask? It was a combination of not having to work (and so I spent most of the day, when not being distracted) writing, going to the write in, and then participating in word wars when I got home. Lots of writing, which would not have happened if I hadn't had an outline to work from.
But, with Saturday's goal (the number of words you should have to be on track to finish by the 30th) being 10,002 words, we all need to get back to writing this weekend. K-W/Cambridge are having a write in tomorrow at 1pm and another Monday at 6pm, for anyone interested in going. So, whether you are writing on your own, going to a write in, or participating in a word war or NaNo Sprint, let's get some words out this weekend! Even if you're ahead of schedule, keep writing and save those words for a rainy day. Or, more likely, a sunny day, so you can go out and enjoy the weather without worrying about meeting your word count that day.
And just remember, 50,000 words isn't a stopping point, it's a goal. If you can manage more, go for it! Even if those extra words are after November is finished.
Last night, we had our first write-in in Guelph. It was rather small, but we got work done. I'm not sure how many words were actually written among us, but I'm pretty sure I wrote close to 1500 words myself. But I have to say, the best part of it was simply getting out and writing somewhere different, and being able to talk, face to face, with people doing the same thing, trying to write this many words in just 30 days.
But to do this, to keep with your novel and writing every day, you need to enjoy it. Either that, or a very strong stubborn streak that keeps you writing even when you hate what you're writing about. Me and another NaNo'er who was out last night, who goes by phlegm on the boards, was taking about this last night. She had actually restarted her NaNo yesterday because her first plan wasn't working out. I'm not sure how many words she has on it at this point, because she made sure to tell me that her word count on the site is far from accurate. How many others out there are having trouble getting on the site to update your word counts? I know that there are many times during the day and evening when the site is very slow.
But, my big accomplishment yesterday was that I wrote over 4600 words. How, you might ask? It was a combination of not having to work (and so I spent most of the day, when not being distracted) writing, going to the write in, and then participating in word wars when I got home. Lots of writing, which would not have happened if I hadn't had an outline to work from.
But, with Saturday's goal (the number of words you should have to be on track to finish by the 30th) being 10,002 words, we all need to get back to writing this weekend. K-W/Cambridge are having a write in tomorrow at 1pm and another Monday at 6pm, for anyone interested in going. So, whether you are writing on your own, going to a write in, or participating in a word war or NaNo Sprint, let's get some words out this weekend! Even if you're ahead of schedule, keep writing and save those words for a rainy day. Or, more likely, a sunny day, so you can go out and enjoy the weather without worrying about meeting your word count that day.
And just remember, 50,000 words isn't a stopping point, it's a goal. If you can manage more, go for it! Even if those extra words are after November is finished.
The NaNoWriMo Experience
Please welcome guest blogger Sharon Clare!
Last year, for the first time, I successfully completed the NaNoWriMo challenge having spewed out 50,178 words during the month of November. And spewed out pretty much sums it up.
To share some of last year’s statistics on NaNo, 167,150 people participated. Of those writers, 32,173 writers completed the challenge successfully meaning a 19.2% win rate. A little less than I expected, but none too shabby either.
To get ready for the competition, I outlined my novel using Karen Weisner’s First Draft in 30 Days. With this method, I described each scene in a few sentences, so when it came time to write, I didn’t waste time pondering what to put on the page. To keep up the pace, as a daily goal, I tried to write 1,700 words. For the most part I was able to keep to this, but missing one day meant writing 3,400 the next day, so after a couple of those days, I really focused on writing each day.
With the launch of NaNo 2010, I reflected back on last year’s experience to tally up the benefits of this all-out write-a-thon. Well, one major benefit, I wrote 50,178 words. Admittedly, it’s an incredibly rough manuscript that I’d never share with a human soul, but it’s also a spring board to what I hope will be a good story—with major revisions. That said, I now realize a year has passed and I’ve not gone back to that manuscript yet. Not yet, but I will.
Benefit number two. Even though the competition ended at midnight on November 30th, we were not been abandoned by the NaNo organization. On the NaNo website, authors gave advice on how to rewrite those 50,000 odd words into a sellable manuscript. Chris Baty is the founder of NaNoWriMo and author of No Plot? No Problem! His advice struck a chord with me: "Do not spend a single second making your prose readable until you're absolutely, positively sure that you have your story locked down.”
This has been a major hurdle for me. I’ve never been able to resist tightening each sentence from the previous day’s work before I could continue writing. And my rewriting obsession didn’t end there. I then polished each chapter in linear sequence. The main reason for this was to present a decent read to my critique group. In my defense, I’m not alone in this. Many of us in the group write that way, presenting our polished but first drafts to each other, looking for feedback one scene at a time. And while this is helpful on one level, I’m not sure it best serves the story because once I’ve polished a scene I’m reluctant to part with it. From NaNo, I have a different perspective. Writing the story from start to finish without editing means truly feeling no attachment to any sentence.
I thought I had a fairly good outline to work from with conflict in every scene, yet as I wrote some scenes fell short. Kate Moses, author of Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath, advises: "Pay attention to your instincts and deep little voices, including the ones that say, "It's wrong!"
Again, I had no time to consider changing those particular scenes. I had to keep writing. Now, I wonder if I’d not had the NaNo time pressure, would I have been stalled by those scenes, unable to resist the urge to fix them. Instead I moved past them and now I have a much broader perspective. There may be no fixing those scenes. They may need to go, and again since I’d not invested much time in them, the cut won’t be painful.
There’s also no denying that I work better with a deadline, and I’m highly motivated once I’ve made a goal public knowledge. I had great support from other NaNo writers, my family and friends. Because of my virtual writing world connections, I was able to connect with writers world wild and it was great fun to spur each other on. Overall, I do reflect positively on NaNo. Writing may be a solitary occupation, but it doesn’t mean we need to go it all alone.
Sharon
Last year, for the first time, I successfully completed the NaNoWriMo challenge having spewed out 50,178 words during the month of November. And spewed out pretty much sums it up.
To share some of last year’s statistics on NaNo, 167,150 people participated. Of those writers, 32,173 writers completed the challenge successfully meaning a 19.2% win rate. A little less than I expected, but none too shabby either.
To get ready for the competition, I outlined my novel using Karen Weisner’s First Draft in 30 Days. With this method, I described each scene in a few sentences, so when it came time to write, I didn’t waste time pondering what to put on the page. To keep up the pace, as a daily goal, I tried to write 1,700 words. For the most part I was able to keep to this, but missing one day meant writing 3,400 the next day, so after a couple of those days, I really focused on writing each day.
With the launch of NaNo 2010, I reflected back on last year’s experience to tally up the benefits of this all-out write-a-thon. Well, one major benefit, I wrote 50,178 words. Admittedly, it’s an incredibly rough manuscript that I’d never share with a human soul, but it’s also a spring board to what I hope will be a good story—with major revisions. That said, I now realize a year has passed and I’ve not gone back to that manuscript yet. Not yet, but I will.
Benefit number two. Even though the competition ended at midnight on November 30th, we were not been abandoned by the NaNo organization. On the NaNo website, authors gave advice on how to rewrite those 50,000 odd words into a sellable manuscript. Chris Baty is the founder of NaNoWriMo and author of No Plot? No Problem! His advice struck a chord with me: "Do not spend a single second making your prose readable until you're absolutely, positively sure that you have your story locked down.”
This has been a major hurdle for me. I’ve never been able to resist tightening each sentence from the previous day’s work before I could continue writing. And my rewriting obsession didn’t end there. I then polished each chapter in linear sequence. The main reason for this was to present a decent read to my critique group. In my defense, I’m not alone in this. Many of us in the group write that way, presenting our polished but first drafts to each other, looking for feedback one scene at a time. And while this is helpful on one level, I’m not sure it best serves the story because once I’ve polished a scene I’m reluctant to part with it. From NaNo, I have a different perspective. Writing the story from start to finish without editing means truly feeling no attachment to any sentence.
I thought I had a fairly good outline to work from with conflict in every scene, yet as I wrote some scenes fell short. Kate Moses, author of Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath, advises: "Pay attention to your instincts and deep little voices, including the ones that say, "It's wrong!"
Again, I had no time to consider changing those particular scenes. I had to keep writing. Now, I wonder if I’d not had the NaNo time pressure, would I have been stalled by those scenes, unable to resist the urge to fix them. Instead I moved past them and now I have a much broader perspective. There may be no fixing those scenes. They may need to go, and again since I’d not invested much time in them, the cut won’t be painful.
There’s also no denying that I work better with a deadline, and I’m highly motivated once I’ve made a goal public knowledge. I had great support from other NaNo writers, my family and friends. Because of my virtual writing world connections, I was able to connect with writers world wild and it was great fun to spur each other on. Overall, I do reflect positively on NaNo. Writing may be a solitary occupation, but it doesn’t mean we need to go it all alone.
Sharon
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Write-in heads up
Just a quick heads up to everyone out there in case you haven't seen in on the NaNo forums (which is quite possible since they have been very slow since November 1st. Tonight, starting around 7pm, some of us are going to be meeting at William's Coffee Pub for a write-in. At the moment, I'm hoping to be there until they close, getting as many words in as I possibly can, but we'll see how the night goes.
Also, anyone who was planning on donating books to the NaNoWriMo book drive, feel free to bring them along for me to grab as the Bookdriver-In-Chief. I'll have my car there, with an empty trunk, and I know that I can fit at least 5 file boxes in there, so there's plenty of room.
Also, anyone who was planning on donating books to the NaNoWriMo book drive, feel free to bring them along for me to grab as the Bookdriver-In-Chief. I'll have my car there, with an empty trunk, and I know that I can fit at least 5 file boxes in there, so there's plenty of room.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
We have progress!
It’s only been two days so I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up the pace I’ve set so far but I’m thrilled that I’ve written more than 2,000 words each day. Last year for the whole month I only wrote 14,000 words. If I keep up this year’s pace I’ll beat that total by the end of the first week.
Tonight it might be a little harder getting my 2,000 words in. I’m stopping after work at my sister’s place to visit my niece. It’s my weekly visit and there’s no way anything is interfering with that. I won’t get home until after seven. With any luck I’ll unwind quickly and be able to dive in. This year I started a very loose outline so I’ll at least have a starting point when I sit down in front of the computer.
Last night I got to know my serial killer a little better. Still not quite sure what makes him tick or what set him off but I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. Tonight I’ll finish the scene with him and then go into the protagonist’s point of view again. Her best friend is going to be playing a bigger role in the book than I thought with a subplot of her own.
So how is everyone else doing? Any surprises yet? Have you met your daily targets?
Cindy
Tonight it might be a little harder getting my 2,000 words in. I’m stopping after work at my sister’s place to visit my niece. It’s my weekly visit and there’s no way anything is interfering with that. I won’t get home until after seven. With any luck I’ll unwind quickly and be able to dive in. This year I started a very loose outline so I’ll at least have a starting point when I sit down in front of the computer.
Last night I got to know my serial killer a little better. Still not quite sure what makes him tick or what set him off but I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. Tonight I’ll finish the scene with him and then go into the protagonist’s point of view again. Her best friend is going to be playing a bigger role in the book than I thought with a subplot of her own.
So how is everyone else doing? Any surprises yet? Have you met your daily targets?
Cindy
Monday, November 1, 2010
Go!
The official start of NaNoWriMo has finally arrived! I know some of you stayed up until midnight to start writing at 00:01. I wish I could have done that. Sadly, with work in the morning I needed to get to bed well before midnight. I will be typing away tonight when I get home from work. My random number generator/Nano word tracker will tell me how many words I need to write. It will be at least 1667 but could be up as high as 2000. If I’m dong well after the first week I might change the upper limit to something higher.
I’ve got the first twelve or thirteen scenes plotted out so I should be able to keep a steady pace for a while. I will have to plot out some more scenes this week so I can keep whatever momentum I have going.
If there are any other Guelph Wrimos out there who want to have their status bars included in the sidebar please send me an email through the contact form on my website. The URL is imbedded in my name below. I’ve already received one request and I know there are more of you out there.
So did you stay up to midnight to start writing? If not when will you start writing?
Happy writing!
Cindy
I’ve got the first twelve or thirteen scenes plotted out so I should be able to keep a steady pace for a while. I will have to plot out some more scenes this week so I can keep whatever momentum I have going.
If there are any other Guelph Wrimos out there who want to have their status bars included in the sidebar please send me an email through the contact form on my website. The URL is imbedded in my name below. I’ve already received one request and I know there are more of you out there.
So did you stay up to midnight to start writing? If not when will you start writing?
Happy writing!
Cindy
Friday, October 29, 2010
The countdown is on!
It’s two days, seven hours and 41 minutes (as of this post) before the official start of NaNoWriMo. The Guelph Wrimos blog has two new admins and we’re raring to go! Guelph doesn’t have its own region (still) on the NaNoWriMo site (I’m hoping that will change next year) so Guelph events will be posted here. You can also join the Meetup group specifically for Guelph Wrimos – Guelph-NaNoWriters – where we have write ins the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. We also have online sprints every Monday night.
For any Guelph Wrimos who aren’t aware, you can affiliate yourself with the closest region. This year it’s the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge region. Next year, if all goes as planned, Guelph will have its own region.
If you check the KWC boards you’ll see that the kick off party is at the Fox and Fiddle in Waterloo Sunday, October 31 starting at 1:00 PM. I hope to see some of you there!
Get those keyboards ready and those fingers nimble.
We’ll have an official kick off post November 1.
Cindy
For any Guelph Wrimos who aren’t aware, you can affiliate yourself with the closest region. This year it’s the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge region. Next year, if all goes as planned, Guelph will have its own region.
If you check the KWC boards you’ll see that the kick off party is at the Fox and Fiddle in Waterloo Sunday, October 31 starting at 1:00 PM. I hope to see some of you there!
Get those keyboards ready and those fingers nimble.
We’ll have an official kick off post November 1.
Cindy
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