Am I The Only One

Don't look back and just write. Wait until the end to work out whether it's decent or not.

Benjamin Solah
writer and Marxist revolutionary
http://benjaminsolah.com

I feel the same way. Don't be critical, write what flows and feels natural. If you want you can edit it next month, remember word count is your main aim here. Quantity over quality! (Although I do find quality important....and try my best...).

Yeah...I think thats about all I can say. Hope it makes some kind of sense and can be of some use!

I've quite often felt as though I were writing utter rubbish. But after running several stories past a dear friend who's opinion I trust and value, I've learned that generally what I think is utter crap turns out to be quite spectacular with only very minor tweaking.

So I say, find someone you trust and have them read it, but keep in mind that it's only a first draft. The polish that will lift your story to the heights will take place after November! And the most important thing, keep writing!

What you think is crap about your writing, someone else will think is marvellous. Keep that in mind!

I wrote a few short stories for a community in the last few weeks. I was flattered at their positive responses to my writing - but they were rightly critical of an aspect of plot management I was not so good at.

The other thing is to just churn it out and come back to the editing stage later. Just like Baty's email said to do. :-)

Don't worry that you're the only one, either - I eached 5k this morning, and thought - what the hell am i doing? this SUCKS! and i'm a second year nanoer, so it's my second struggle. (i kept thinking it all last year, too - when it got around to editing, i realised it was sucky, but not too much - and i was still incredibly proud of myself.)

If you're really really concerned (Don't do this otherwise) get someone else to read it. preferably another nanoer, but the msot important thing is to ignore what you've come up with, and focus on what you think you are coming up with. did that make sense? no? good - that's how nano works!

One day, I will think of something funny, yet profound, intelligent, yet easily understandable, to post here.

I decided to participate on the last day and I must say I am happy I did join in. I know what I'm writing is utter shite but it is helping me get words on paper which I haven't done before and it is preventing me from editing on the fly. That, I believe, is the purpose of NaNoWriMo and it is doing its job. That is my motivation.

Had a major writing splurge did not even bother with the spell check I need the weekend off and was on a role so thought I would write till my head was about to explode, so I can have a couple days away from this most evil thing called a computer...Still think its crap but meh i am just too harsh on myself at times LOL

I think everyone feels that way don't they?
Just keep going forward...
I read my last year's NANO just this week having not done so since January and while it needs work, it was much better than I expected...you'll be surprised.

This is my first too, and I'm shocked, I feel like I've written junk.

And I'm way behind on the word count, because I had exams.

Can someone please tell me how to upload the 5K that I've already written, please?

Thankyou!

Nadia

"When I said I'd hit that, I meant with my car."

I think there are instructions in the FAQ section on this website. Don't know for sure though, as I haven't uploaded anything.
Yesterday and today were my slowest writing days yet. First, I lost a whole heap of work when I pressed delete instead of copy on a long passage of selected text. So I spent all of last night rewriting what I could remember of that. Then today I got bogged down at the end of a section. I got just over a thousand words done and I think I'm over the worst of the problem but now I'm working three days straight and two of them are earlies so I was hoping to get more done. I did crack the big 7000 though, which was my goal for today.

This is my first time as well and when I look back I see bad, at times very bad writing. Then I remind myself that my goal is not to produce a novel that could be published but instead my goal is to show that I am capable of writing 50,000 words without getting bored or disheartened and giving up. So, for me the exciting thing each day is checking the word count (constantly) rather than the quality of the words

This is my first time too. I'm writing crappotext and I don't care. I can edit in December.

MsL I totally agree with you.

As another first time NaNoer and long time dreamer, I think you've summed it up perfectly. My goal is to prove to myself that I can write 50,000 words that hang together and relate enough to be called a novel. I've never ever come this far with a piece of creative writing, and it's really exciting to be almost at the halfway mark of my first (very) rough draft.

Always keep moving forward. The time for looking back is at the end.

Good luck and thanks for giving me a little inspiration tonight!

This is my third year. I didn't finish the first two years and did feel like I was writing just crap. This year it feels really, really good. I'm a very happy NaNoNovelist this time.

Maybe it's the weather. The last two years I was in the US.

I am... You!!

This is my first year, but I'm getting really buggered with it lately even though I'm not even into the main plot much yet. And I'm getting rather impatient to edit already. But I think that I might as well just get a move on already because its still November. Still, though, I can't help but procrastinate.

"Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!" --Severus Snape