DIDN'T MAKE IT http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954 Sereana Anybody else out there in the same boat? Our group has a great win rate but I will not be one this year. I know, I know any words are more than I had. Blah, blah, blah. I failed horribly this year and I can't really pinpoint why. I quit after week one. I kept thinking I would jump back in, but it never happened. Has NaNo lost it's luster for me? I spent most of the last year editing a NaNo manuscript. It was such a mess. Maybe that's why. I just couldn't spit words out knowing how much work would be involved if I ever decided to edit it. Maybe, I just didn't like my story. Maybe my creative well has run dry. (I hope not, but that fear is in the back of my mind) Anyway, if you didn't finish, what are your reasons? Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:28:01 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_902788 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_902788 Catana Maybe what held you back was spending a year trying to salvage something that wasn't worth salvaging. That would certainly discourage me. I expect to learn something new about writing with each new novel. That's why NaNo has been such a great trip for me. This year, for the first time, I wondered if it would be worthwhile to do it again, if maybe I'd learned as much as I could from pounding out a complete novel in such a short time. That would have been a big mistake. We need to learn from our failures, maybe even more than from our successes. So what have you learned about writing from creating that mess last year? How could it have helped you do better this year if you'd kept all the mistakes in mind? Here's hoping you make a comeback next year. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:44:37 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_902985 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_902985 Kopiluwak I finished, but - Hi! I'm a compulsive writer. I can write a novel a week, if I let myself. But I totally understand not finishing. Our ML has had 2 bad years, one where she gave up only hours into NaNo, and one where she kept getting distracted. It happens. Having an off year is even more reason to toodle about on NaNo and read the stuff other people say. If you're going to not go purple, then you should by golly have fun not going purple! Hit the TGIO Parties and dance anyway. You tried - you got way more words than our ML did this year. At our age, everything is worth celebrating, and the NaNo community alone is worth partying about. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:46:42 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_903013 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_903013 dancingfool Sereana - I didn't finish on time, my first year (2009) -- not sure if I just got bogged down in research, or just hadn't fully appreciated how the process worked, or panicked too much when the story took off on its own, not knowing whether I should follow it, or rein it in. I did finish though, a week later. And last year, and this year. BUT -- I've made the conscious decision to not edt. Ever. Hmmm..that's not quite true. I go through my stuff almost immediately, because I invariably discover that there is 'stuff' that apparently took place in my head, and never made it to the computer.. so I have to add that stuff in. And I fix typos, and timeline issues. But that's about it. For me, I've decided it's about the writing, not the finished product. Once the story is out there, I'm done, and ready to move on. I can see that worries about the editing process, could interfere with the creative process. I doubt that your creative well ran dry. I suspect that, instead, you found yourself with lots of roadblocks between you and the well. Maybe Catana is right and you shouldn't have been editing your earlier story, or maybe you should have saved editing for a different time. Or maybe this month just wasn't the time for the new story you were trying to do. Put this year's nano aside, and do something else. Maybe go back to editing, maybe read a good book, maybe buy a bread machine and fuss with some new recipes. And perhaps you'll return to this year's nano, or maybe not. It doesn't matter. I enjoyed your posts this year, I hope you return next year, and in between, I wish you the very best. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:01:38 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_903219 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_903219 Kat Gentian Perhaps this year you were trying to write a story that wasn't 'ripe' yet. Or there were other things in your life that kept you from the story. Or ... well, there might be a long list. You tried. You wrote. Samuel Beckett: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:16:11 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_904180 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_904180 dancingfool darn... where is that "like" button? :-) Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:48:40 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_904749 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_904749 Wendy P4 I have a hunch others who didn't finish won't read this. When I was falling behind I couldn't read all the happy "I made it" stories. The last two years I did finish (and also squeaked by this year), but I never continued the habit of writing. This morning I felt like something was missing and it was the fun of just writing for my own enjoyment. Which is what I do. I don't think about the reader (anymore). Just write what I want to "talk about." I hope you can enjoy writing just for its own sake. Play around. I think that is what Nanowrimo is about. I haven't edited either of my other efforts. I tried, but got bogged down and then took a couple classes at the Loft Literary Center here in Minneapolis and go better direction for picking out what to keep and what to move somewhere else or put in a "some other writing" file. Here's to failing better! I finished, but I certainly didn't succeed at writing a novel. I wonder if I can count that as a fail! :^ ) You tried! I do really like the quote that showed up here: Samuel Beckett: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:57:19 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_910393 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_910393 Leah B. Schmidgall I didn't make it either. It was a combination of things: not enough preparation, too much procrastination, too many family responsibilities, problems with an arm that inhibits my typing speed. However, I did write about 18,000 words. I learned some things. I can incorporate those things in my writing the next time. I did discover that when I finally realized that I could not write 50,000 words in time, a great sense of relief washed over me. I am free to finish my novel at my own pace now. Leah Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:37:12 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_911020 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_911020 Generalist You wrote ten thousand plus words more than the typical "One day I'll write a novel" type that talks about it but never puts words to media. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:16:01 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_912326 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_912326 RutaBaker There's always another NaNo. Try again next year. I also tried to edit 2010's effort. I found myself rewriting it instead. Lots of changes. Somtimes it works to have a go at existing material, sometimes it doesn't. Hang about with the year 'rounders and come back in 2012 with fresh ideas. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:30:26 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_914016 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_914016 TKofG I didn't make it. But I never do. I love to write, but something about trying to make a single story fit precisely into some arbitrary 30-day period just feels awkward to me. There's so much else I have to do all the time. Plus so very few of my story ideas are even worth 50,000+ words (in all my life I've had one story that was that big), it doesn't make sense to keep writing words once a story is finished, just to reach some arbitrary word goal. (Yes, I'm a NaNo rebel.) So I write all year long and edit as I go. Even if it's unlikely I'll ever "win" at NaNo, I love the companionship of other writers. And that's why I'm here and why I keep coming back all the time. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:34:22 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_914648 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_914648 Carolf [quote=Generalist] You wrote ten thousand plus words more than the typical "One day I'll write a novel" type that talks about it but never puts words to media. [/quote] Yeah, I concur. I have an old (it's yellow with age) Shoe strip on my computer. Shoe is sitting at the diner counter, and a customer asks him when he thinks he'll finish his novel. "Oh, in about a month," answers Shoe. The waitress adds, "... Of somedays." That's where most people are. Before this, I had bout 4,000 words of a different novel, and that was my sum total of words to paper in ten years or more. Don't negate your accomplishment! Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:09:02 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_914850 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_914850 waterloon I didn't make it either. But I'm still working on my novel. Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:10:13 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_919570 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_919570 Hopeful lily If you don't like editing I can see why you don't want to write hasty or sloppy first drafts. Does anybody like editing? OTOH, requiring near perfection from yourself in a first draft could doom you to an archetypal "tortured writer" experience, the one-sentence-a-day kind. That's diametrically opposite the spirit of NaNo. I don't know where you go with this. Make promises to yourself? Go on forum threads and publicly set new goals? Blog about it? Just start writing again every day, ignoring word counts? Once you stop writing, your issue becomes one of motivation. If you write, your issue becomes one of stylistic effectiveness. The first is about you. The second is about your level of craft. I think the second is easier on the ego, messy as those edits may be. Good luck. Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:52:01 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_922820 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_922820 J.D.Martelle mine hit the wall around 4500 words and shattered into a million grammatical fragments that promptly vanished like water poured on sand.. so... Yeah :P. i was all fired up for 10 days before i could start writing, perhaps that has something to do with it. my first novel came in at around 88,000 words and wrote when the inspiration struck me, the waiting to start may have derailed it; but it was a fun attempt and i look forward to trying it again --Joe Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:42:38 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_923278 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_923278 TKofG I like to edit. Doing NaNo, I've sorta learned to turn my editor urge off during the first draft, so I can get the story out of my head and into the computer as quickly and efficiently and as close to the way I imagined it as possible. But... I'm also a perfectionist, and can't help wanting to fix, fix, fix all the time. In my story folder, I don't really have "finished" versions. I just have versions I stopped looking at. It ssems like if I ever do go back and look at one of them, I'll find something in it I want to chage. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:51:41 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_937850 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_937850 NoVaSheDragon I'm another one who couldn't get the words out this time. Not sure exactly what happened, but I suspect it's just the everyday life of a single mom with two teenagers at home. *shrug* I'm looking forward to Camp NaNo, and then next November. And I've got a real good start on a novel I actually want to finish! Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:03:36 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_938554 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/age-group-50/threads/45954?page=1#forum_thread_comment_938554