Mainers,
We are all over the place as far as word count goes. Out of the 157 Maine writers with word counts, only 26% have at least 30k. There are probably as many excuses...er, I mean reasons...for that as there are people, but I'm here to ask:
How can we help you boost your word count?
A cheering section complete with pom-poms and megaphone? Hold you personally accountable for writing each day? Get you to a write-in where you can write uninterrupted for several hours? Stand over your shoulder with arms folded tapping an impatient foot? Regular word wars here on the Maine forum?
Those 74% of you out there who need a boost--How can we help?
Aynslie
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"If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[pasdlgkhasdfasdf."-- Lemony Snicket
51,325 / 50,000
Nov 21, 2007 - 14 18
Is it possible that people are writing but not posting their word counts? I'm new to NaNoWriMo and for the first few days I was keeping track of my words (I have a Firefox plugin that tells me what my predicted count is based on total to date) but forgot I had to put them into my author profile.
I found the Neil Gaiman pep talk really helpful. I thought "real" writers loved their work from beginning to end. Silly me. Now that I've decided to just press on, write something everyday, the plot is moving again and with 15,000 words to go, the end is achievable.
Funny how writing 1667 words a day seemed like so much at the beginning of the month and now seems like such a reasonable amount. I don't try to write in long stretches, but 2000 or so words per day really mounts up.
32,441 / 50,000
Nov 21, 2007 - 20 03
Now, I do realize that your post was likely meant to boost, help and cheer those of us who are not near 30k up to snuff, Aunt Silly; perhaps it's my lack of sleep talking, but that didn't help my morale at all. I write when I can, and have had more days unavailable for writing anything this month than I envisaged. This is my first year at NaNo, and my idea came the morning of 1 November, right before I had to go to work and could do nothing with it. No months for research, no character or plot planning, just a ghost of an idea.
I love doing NaNo, but reading this thread was the first time I felt nearly "chastised" for my low word count - more than what I was already doing to myself.
Back to noveling now.
53,483 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 12 05
Pixie girl:
Nano is supposed to be fun, shrug off any chastising. It's not the end of the world if you don't reach the 50K mark. You are not in competition with others (even if registered for the Tri-State Challenge). You are writing for you and you alone. Enjoy it, don't let others' numbers or comments get you down. Pressure is not what Nano is about....
50,171 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 13 36
Even worse, quite possibly, are those who, like me. are stuck close to the day's goal (I'm only off by...okay, 4k), but fell short too many days in a row, and now just need a kick in the rear to get up to date, because it's so close that they can smell it.
Or maybe I'm projecting.
50,012 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 17 22
Pixie.girl,
I, myself, keep falling behind every few days by at least 2-3k. Everyone writes what they can when they can, and there is no such thing as "up to snuff". My post was not, in fact, meant so much to boost anyone's morale or to be encouraging as to inform and gather information, so I'm not surprised that you gained no cheer from it. And I'm sorry that it made you feel chastised. My intent was to ask what people who were behind in their word counts (for whatever reason) might need in the way of encouragement, boosts, morale raisers, etc. so that they could increase their word counts. I wasn't trying to give so much as to find out what people would like to be given.
Aynslie
50,349 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 20 49
I know I know!!! You can go to Bangor for me, go to Verizon, and offer to work in my stead for the next couple of days, Aynslie!
Or, you could just come find me out here in the woods and give me caffeine injections....
or I could stop reading the forums and get off MSN messenger and go into the bedroom away from the Halo 3 and Mass Effect, and block out everything except my writing.
Unfortunately, that would require the character to talk to me.
bah.... stupid writers block
32,441 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 20 59
Now, there's a thought - any chance of setting up a caffeine IV drip?
IV caffeine drip
Providing the energy
Needed for NaNo
:)