Handwriting it.

Normally I do write in longhand. There's something really nice about it--just me, the moleskine, and my magic fountain pen. I was seriously thinking about getting to 50K in longhand this year, but I type a lot faster than I write. It's my first time with NaNoWriMo--I want to go easy on myself and try to crank out the words as quickly as possible. Plus I do have a tendency to self-edit when I can see the words, which is why I'm going to try and type with my eyes closed (which is much safer than writing blind with a fountain pen).

I do find that my writing is a little bit better and more thought-out when I write longhand, so I'm pretty reluctant to type out my novel solely on the computer. But they keep saying, "quantity over quality," right?

I'm still going to miss my notebook :(

Why do you have to give up the notebook? A moleskine makes a great place to capture plot bunnies. :D

I wrote probably a third of my nano last year by hand. :)

I like to hand write sometimes, though I don't thin I'd ever be able to hand write the entire thing.

I did a lot of my work by hand last year. At a certain point I realized I was taking notes by typing them in school, typing papers, typing to chat, and typing to do my novel and I was tired of having a computer tied to me all the time. It was a nice break and I did really like it at times.

I reached my problem when I finished. I didn't mind estimating my numbers but I did realize that it prevented me from wanting to ever actually work on it again. The idea of having to later type my first draft to edit it has been keeping me from taking it to a second draft. It's not a really big concern for everyone but it is something important to keep in mind.

Edit: This is something I need to remind myself because part of me does really want to write some of this with my fountain pen. I have to remind myself of the problems of keeping track of something in paper form though. (notes and planning go on paper though)

I've never had that problem myself, but it may be the fact that I've never finished anything. But it would be a nice problem to have.

I'm the opposite: I tend to prefer doing a first draft on paper and then typing the whole thing up for the second draft and usually end up re-writing a lot of it.

It also means I can't be tempted to show everyone the dodgy first draft. Bonus.

I used to be reluctant to hand write anything because I thought it made the editing process longer and harder. But this year I've found that writing a first draft longhand really helps when I go to revise. I think the real thing about hand writing (other than the physicality of it) is that it forces you to rewrite, not just edit. So really, even if you type all your first drafts, you should print them out and rewrite them by re-typing them anyway (I think).

But I am going to try and hand write everything this year... I should just use a plain notebook since I have a million of them, but I love moleskines and I want to buy one specially for this project....but I shouldn't.

I almost always handwrite my stories. You never have to worry about losing the story if your computer crashes. (Which happened to me once.) Or resist the urge to hit yourself over the head because you realize that you were so tired last night you didn't save your last thousand or so words before you shut down the program. (Which has happened to me more than once. ) LOL

Plus, notebooks have the benefit of being able to fit into your locker at work. Which neither my computer or typewriter do. So, ya, definately handwriting it.

I did it for '05, and parts of '06, but it was a pain in the rear to convert handwritten text to the .txt to validate when I was really crunched during the last week. I suggest you be very organized about it.

I'm going to be doing some of it by hand beause I'll probably be in school, but I actually hate writing stories out. I have a tendency to go on tangents when I'm actually writing and I'm awful at then imputting it onto a computer. So I'l try to do most of it on the computer, but I will be doing some by hand.

I end up handwriting parts of my story every year due to portability issues. I just dislike hauling my laptop to different places where there may or may not be an abundance of electrical outlets (I don't like depending on the battery either). I usually use a cheap notebook and a black pen. Just those two things and I'm good to go.

I usually tend to have a decent amount of half hand written and half on the computer when I write anything. I've noticed I write completely differently on the two different medias. Hand written work tends to be the bare essential of plot and dialogue since my mind runs away from me with my slow writing but on the computer, it tends to run on and on and on and loses sight of the plot. I have yet to find a happy medium between the two other than the editing stage.

So, mine will probably be written in a number of spirals and notebooks and typed in word. Because I have a desktop, an uncomfortable computer chair and the firm belief that my apartment is only there for sleeping. So, my plan consist of night time writing on the computer and day time writing on whatever in the world is handy. (I have written stories on Napkins and toilet paper before, you'd think I would remember to bring the spiral *shakes head at self*)

I've handwritten NaNo for the past two years, and won both times. I'm handwriting again this year.

When I handwrite, the words just seem to flow easier, and I can write almost as fast as I can type.

For NaNo, I just write what I need to for the day (a chapter, etc.), and at the end of the session, I go back and count all my words, writing the day's tally at the bottom of the last written page. I add the total together and update my wordcount, all without having to retype it on the computer. When it's time to verify, I use an online nonsense word generator and create a .txt document to upload.

Now I just have to decide what notebook to use for this year. :-)

I've been beseiged by killer plot bunnies, but they seem to not get out of the moleskine, so I"m keeping it. That, combined with my vintage shaeffer fountain pen or any of the dozen others I always seem to ahve with me, should keep me good until november, when I'll turnto the comptuer for the sheer ease of it--I've got over 500 pages of handwritten stuff to put onto the computer, so i'm loathe to write the whole thing by hand.

But, I'm pretty sure I'll be buying a new moleskine before november. I started one of the big 240 pages ones in july and have almost filled it up. its insanity.

I think I will. I get better flow when my view isn't obstructed by a screen. I'm using a sketchbook so I can doodle when I'm stuck with writing. xD
(I don't like writing on lines, nor have I found a notebook or journal that I like.)

I've written all of my Nano projects - and all of my other projects - by hand. I've even won word wars against people using laptops. For some reason I just go blank when presented with a blank screen. But when presented with a blank notebook I can just dream and scratch away.

I hand wrote my Nano project last year and plan to do it again this year. Bought a new notebook a couple of weeks ago. I also alternated between two different color pens so I would know what I wrote on each day. I like to stay as organized as possible.

Ok, stupid question, here: how do you guys validate your workcount is you are handwriting? I find that on the current project I'm working on the first draft comes easier when writing in my notebook, and then get polished a bit when transfered to the screen...

I like the idea of filling a couple of moleskines with my novel, but how do I get the numbers to add up on nano?

I wrote the second half of my novel from last year mainly in long hand. I also spent lots of time retyping and rewriting it. That's the form my revision seems to take. Write it over and over again until it looks good.

This year I'll probably do what I usually do. When I can't/don't feel like dragging the laptop in to work, I'll have a nano notebook that I can go home and type up for my word count. That'll hurt me when I close, considering I don't get off until midnight or after, but it's harder for those super high tech cameras to read my chicken scratch than legible computer fonts.

If i do any planning or notemaking it is usually on my laptop using freemind or cayra and then presenting it all in onenote

Then i do all my actually writing by hand.. there is a certain feel to handwriting it all and last year i did the whole 50k by hand, with a nice notebook and fountain pen

I count up the words in the margin witha little marker every 50 words. At the end of the page I have the total and at the end I add up all the totals and that's my days word count.

For validation, I create a dummy word doc with the same number of words in it and then upload that into the validator.

Well, that's how I did it last year anyway.

I'll give it a try this year. I tend to use A4 lined paper that you can just rip out of a book because it looks much less obvious when you're writing it during Chemistry. When I get back to the house (boarding school), I type it all up and continue typing from there.

I'm contemplating doing NANO by hand this year...I mean I love writing with my lap top and I type so quickly but I'm thinking that a change of pace will be great and when I'm really on a role I can write a couple pages in an hour...but it's the typing it all up at the end that I'm loathe to do...but I've been contemplating buying a really nice notebook and a shaeferr fountain pen...or maybe I can put that on my x-mas wish list for 08 and handwrite in 09?

Handwriting will come in handy when I'm a teacher and my lap-top stays at home....

...though you're all right the whole notion of typing it up from handwriting does cause you do edit and rewrite as you type...

What to do, what to do...

I'll be handwriting a portion of it this year, since I have class to go a few times a week and have no access to a computer during that time. I love composition notebooks, but am well on the way to filling up the ones I have... so might need to get a few more before NaNo starts.

I'm almost certain that I"m going to be handwriting it this year...that way when I'm working on my computer for school I'll be working on school stuff and school stuff only, like essays and studying.

I only have one quesiton--how many books and how many pages does a handwritten 50k novel usually take up?

I will this year and I did last year. I don't feel that I think as well when I type, and I get distracted. And I write pretty fast, and got up to amzing hand-cramping speeds last year. I think I was doing about ten minutes a page by the end of November.

To answer the question about how many pages 50,000 is, for me I ended up with about 200 words on each side of the page. I think it ended up being 120 sheets of paper last year.

I actually count all the words I write, on top of the words. It's kind of a procrastinating thing for me, and I do it even when I'm writing something outside of NaNoWriMo. I found a Lorem Ipsum generator on the web and I used that to get how many words I'd written.

Now is that standard sheets as in the ones you buy in bulk or a notebook and if so, what size was it?

I'm only asking 'cause I've been out searching for the perfect nano notebook but haven't found one yet 'cause I'm not exactly sure what size I'm looking for nor how many pages it should have....

...also the handwritting speed has got me a little worried. I can write 551 words in 10 minutes typing....I have yet to see what I can do writing. I think that that will be the determining factor for me.

NANO 03: Light of Allayna (Lost)
NANO 04: On the Other Side of the Sun (Won)
NANO 05: Pen’s Dreamscape (Won)
NANO 06: Unwritten (Didn’t attempt)
NANO 07: Emerald Moon (Lost)
NANO 08: Phoenix Fire (0/50,000)

Typically, I write all my first drafts by hand. Then type them up as a second. But with this being my first "offical" NaNo, I'm going to be typing it out. I'm a slow writer, and a fast typer. And I've figured that if I can do 2,000 words per day, I only need to work for an hour to get 60,000 words done. It'll be easier working an hour each day than all day, with two young kids to look after too. :)

I buy cheap-o spiral bound, college-ruled notebooks at my local office supply store. I've typed the past three years, but I handwrote my first NaNo in whatever pages were left in one of my college class notebooks. I haven't counted the pages, but it was a three-subject notebook, and I'm pretty sure it only took up maybe 1.5 sections.

I like to procrastinate by counting up my words, too. Guesstimating isn't good enough, I have to have an *exact* count by the end of every day. =) So much fun.

I've heard that we "shouldn't" write in pencil, because it encourages deleting. But I don't like the feel of pen on spiral-bound paper (loose leaf is okay, but I'm real picky like that). So I write in pencil. Is it really that big an issue? Of course, my favorite pencil has no eraser, so if I really want to make any large-scale edits, I just cross things out as I go along.

As for time worries...I type much faster than I write by hand, but I can concentrate better when I'm in front of my notebook than when I'm on my computer. So I think it balances out. I know my first NaNo, I had enough time to write it by hand AND type everything up on the computer when I had computer time on the weekends, and I won with plenty of time to spare.