Life in a day of a NaNo Writer

Well, if it goes anything like last year, it will be something like this:

Wake up. Make coffee. Write a little. Get annoyed because kids are awake and hungry. Feed kids. Give kids something to do. Write a little. Get annoyed because it's lunchtime and kids are hungry. Get kids food. Remember that I should eat too. Eat something. Remember that I have to go to work. Take shower. Go to work. Spend work day hiding that I have google docs open and write in between doing actual job. Go home. Write some more. Remember that sleep is good. Go to bed.

Later, rinse, repeat.

Depends on the week, usually it goes like this:

-Week 1: Wake up and write a hundred words or so, dictate into digital voice recorder on commute, get to work and pretend to be concentrating, go to lunch a few minutes early ready to transcribe voice recording, find out I forgot to hit "record", cuss a little, go back to work, finish out the day, opt for the radio instead of the recorder on the way home, eat while writing, fall asleep at keyboard.

-Week 2: Sleep through alarm, rush to work without a shower or shave, forget voice recorder, decide to "go BIG" at lunch, work until noon, take lunch to a cofee shop, surf the forums for inspiration, realize that I'm late for a meeting, back to work, drive home with good writing intentions, watch a movie for inspiration, fall asleep on the couch.

-Week 3: Wake up late because I broke the alarm, call in sick...to write, stare at computer and eventually decide I hate my story anyway, take a nap, wake up more tired than before, get something to eat and bang out a few more words before going out...anywhere, wake up the next morning (wait a minute, how did I get home?)

-Week 4: Wake up realizing that I only have a few days to finish, beg my wife for a night alone, find a coffee shop after work and bang out 10k words, realize that 30k is not too far away from 50k, drive home, type a little more, and a little more, watch the sun rise...still typing, do my best zombie at work, get home and type like a madman, crawl over the finish line with 50k just before midnight, begin talking about how things will be different next year.

Something like that.

______
"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."
-Mark Twain

My Website
Blog 1

The first year, I did Nano, I didn't really know I could do it. I wrote more than 1683 or whatever it breaks down to words a day and made it.
Last year I knew I could do it and a friend was having major surgery mid month. I wanted to be done in case she had problems or died. I wrote about 5000 words a day and finished early. My friend lived. She hasn't made it home from the hospital yet however, but soon will I hope.
I get up and write early with a pot of 3/4 decaf and 1/4 coffee. I did some word wars. I definitely don't get hung up on perfection or editing. I cover my screen and don't even look at it.
A friend asked if I would upload some of my novel so she could read it. That seemed very odd to me because I could barely tell what I wrote.
When I'm stuck, I just write whatever is present. I often go to a coffee shop and write for 2 hours or mote without any interruptions.
My husband is very good about leaving me alone and even does a little housework. i tell everyone that I will be very busy and get back to them in January.
I clean house before 11/1 and don't do much more until I finish Nano or know that I am finishing.
I don't do well with last minute.

"Have your best day ever." Ron Hulnick

Last year was a little hectic. I'd wake up in the morning and rush about the house, getting ready for High School. At school, in nearly all of my classes, I would be scribbling away in a notebook. About every 15 minutes I stopped to do a rough word count. (I think I got about 2,000 words written a day at school.)

After school, I'd go home and type up everything I'd done in school. Then I would try and write some more. While writing I would have to balance doing homework, housework and making sure I spent some time paying attention to my dog and cats. Also, while writing, I would be holding text-conversations with my boyfriend.

I usually didn't go to bed until about three in the morning. I'm an insomniac anyway, so it worked, haha.

This year I'm not sure how it will be. I am out of school, am not going to college yet, and do not have a job, either. This leaves me quite a lot of time to write. I am hoping I can finish NaNO a little early this year, so I have time at the end of the month to begin packing, since I will hopefully be moving out.

I write when I'm not doing other stuff -- in other words, just about every spare minute. Until this year, I used my laptop. One year I stood and worked, which really worked well. It was my best novel. Mostly, I don't alter my day -- we are self-employed, so we don't have an actual schedule. We just do what has to be done when it needs to be done. I am a lifelong tea drinker, so I keep a pot of hot tea in my Mr Coffee. Chocolate is my reward for a good word count. I use my notebook for prewrite notes and sketchy outline (hate that nasty word!) I get a sense of direction that way.

Jamie

You have to sing every day so you can build up to being, you know, Amazingly Brilliant. -- Mick Jagger

This year's going to be a wreck.

Wake up 7:30am. Write. Find out I have class in half and hour. Crazy BS homework. Commute a 30 min trip in 10. Run to class. Fall asleep in class. Complain about how hungry I am after class. Go to the library to write. Set up laptop, stare at screen. Realize I have class in ten minutes. Freak out. Run to class. Idly take notes, go home. Write until midnight. Sleep.

That probably won't change much during the week. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays will probably look like this.

Wake up 7:30am. Write. Mom comes in to bug me at 8:00am, won't leave me alone, drags me to help her work. Get home around 1:00pm. Whine. Try to go back to the computer. Mom makes me do something else. Complain, get yelled at. Finally have time to write at 10:00pm. Write until I fall asleep.

My life, in a nutshell. I wonder if I'll get a job before November? Oh boy.

----
http://mywritingmind.blogspot.com

Last year I had no real schedule and failed miserably, so this is my plan this year.
It helps since I'm home schooled and can write at my mother's office.

First 2 weeks:
Get up around seven, eat breakfast, hop into the car and head to mom's office, pull up mom's laptop, which basically follows me everywhere, pull up new Word document, bang out as much as possible, try to reach daily goal in two hours, close computer and take break to do schoolwork, all the while daydreaming about my novel, pull computer back up, type as much as I possibly can, go home, put off lunch as long as possible, transfer my work from Word to Liquid Story Binder, write more, if possible, finally give in to my growling stomach and eat something, blog, work on other writing projects, finish off writing for NaNo for the day, go to bed.

Week 3:
As above, but with a tad more panic, because of the realization of time constraints and the Thanksgiving holiday. Gee, this year's gonna be fun!

Week 4:
As above, but with much more panic than ever before. Pages will fly, keyboards will die, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong! Burst through the 50K mark sometime, track record shows November 28th. No literally, any time I do a writing competition like this, I always finish on the 28th. Yes, Really.

And that's my plan. Week 3 is definitely going to be...interesting, what with Thanksgiving and all. If we head to one set of grandparents' for Thanksgiving, which I have a feeling we will, since they're sick, I will have pretty much no internet access except at the local library. This year is definitely going to be easy, considering I am home schooled, meaning I can pretty much write whenever I want, because it counts as Language Arts! I'm lucky, no?

~~~~~
The clouds begin to thunder. Crickets wander, murmuring...All shall know the wonder, I will sing the song of Purple Summer.
~~~~~
Script Frenzy Project '09: words unspoken, a new musical

I'm a fulltime writer, so Nano has to fit in with the rest of the roster.

Typical day, Nano or no is:

Wake up
Feed cats/put on coffee
Do yoga/meditation
Write my first 1K of the day (during Nano it's 2500 words)
Write and post on my writing life blog Ink in My Coffee
During Nano, send out the daily encouragement email to my mentees
Check email
Work on whatever's on deadline
Spend a couple of hours on marketing, networking, etc.
Hop back on to do more on the morning's project if I can
Get some editing done in the late afternoon, or research whatever project needs research

in and around this are meetings, errands, interviews, guest whatevers, and, if I'm working on Broadway that particular day, it all has to be truncated around the show schedule.

Devon
Ink in My Coffee -- http://devonellington.wordpress.com
www.devonellingtonwork.com
www.fearlessink.com

I usually write in the early mornings or late evenings for NaNo. I try to get in at least 1,000 words in the morning and 1,000 at night. Then that frees up the rest of the day to do whatever I need to, which this year is going to be going to class Monday through Friday.

My schedule schedule during the school week (if I don't have a swim meet...)
Wake up, write a little, get yelled at by the mother, get dressed, write a little bit more, get yelled at once again by the mother, get dragged down to breakfast, eat breakfast, catch the bus, write on the bus on the way to school, write before school starts, if it's not a thursday,. write during first period (I have only evens classes on thursdays), classes, lunch, write during lunch, and maybe eat something, classes, catch the bus, write on the bus on the way home, homework, study (to appease the mother), eat dinner, get ready for swim, write if I have time, go to swim, swim, get out of the pool, exhausted, as always, shower, change into pjs, get dragged out of the locker room by the mother, go home, get my backpack ready for school, grab flashlight, take flashlight and notebook to room without getting caught with either, turn lights out, think about what i'm going to write while waiting for my parents to go to sleep, when their bedrooom lights finally off, take notebook and flashlight under the covers, turn flashlight on, write, write, hopefully get some sleep, sleep. and repeat, of course, it is different if I have a swim meet, but, it's actually a bit easier to write more.

* * * * *
Pirate Princesses: 5 pages
Three Hundred Years: 6 pages
cups of Coffee: 0
All Nighters: 0

*Wake up and do normal morning stuff (feed self, feed cats, brush and flush, etc.)
*Scribble things on notebook while riding bus to school. Stop writing when someone sits behind me because I'm terrified they'll try to read it.
*Arrive on campus, get coffee, check NaNo boards before class
*Spend class scribbling stuff in notebook, none of which is class-related
*Go to library, check email and whatnot. Write when I'm sure absolutely NO ONE is standing behind me.
*Eat something.
*Write some more if no one is watching. Otherwise spend afternoon on myspace, lj, NaNo boards, etc.
*Meeting. Spend time scrawling in notebook and making awkward statements when people ask me questions.
*Ride bus home, wishing it wasn't so crawded so I could write.
*Turn on computer, play tunes and spend more time playing solitaire than writing.
*Pay attention to the cats.
*Get in fight with fiance because I'm not paying attention to him.
*Make-up with fiance and go out for a beer.

2006:The Road to True Love (winner winner chicken dinner!)
2007:Burger Flipping Mad (not so much win)
2008: I'll get back to you on that...

Well... since my first (which was last year) NaNo was pretty much bs , I'll say what this year is looking like.

Monday - Wake up really early (6 AM), go to college, go to Photography class, write, go to First Year Experience class, study/eat/write/hang out w/BFF, write, go to Math class, go home, write, eat, write, sleep.

Tuesday - Wake up (6 AM), go to college, work, go to class, work, go home, write, eat, write, sleep.

Wednesday - Wake up (6 AM), go to college, go to Photography class, write/eat, work, write, go Math class, go home, write, eat, write, sleep.

Thursday - same as Tuesday

Friday - wake up (6 AM), go to college, write for 4 hours while BFF is working, go to Computer class, write, go home, write, eat, write, sleep.

Saturday & Sunday - wake up, eat, write, eat, write, maybe go to the bookstore to browse & write, eat, write, sleep...

And include studying & homework wherever I can! :D Probably on weekends, Mondays, and Fridays for the most part.

- ~ -

'07 :: Even Without Kingdom Hearts (14k)
'08 :: Rock Rock Crushes Roses; One Breath Away; [Untitled]; When a Writer Goes Crazy... ((and a few other variations or short stories))

This NaNo my day will probably go something like this...

Wake up. Shower. Go to school. Get home by noon. Make tea and something I can eat at the computer. Finish as much homework as I can (I'm trying to work ahead to get some slack for November). Write as much as I can in 1-3 hours. Go over to my boyfriend's. Bore him by talking about my novel. Eat dinner either at home or at my boyfriend's. Write when I get home. Go to bed.

Slight variations, but that's basically how my day goes any day this semester, not just November. I like being a part-time student. :]

Last year it went something like this:
Wake up. Get dressed, etc. Do whatever work is necessary (I didn't have a job or anything). And then write until I got bored unless I had an online class that day.

This year it should go something like this:
Wake up. Get ready. Go to school. Come home and do a bit of homework. Write until I either get bored or have to go do something else. Go to bed.

Truthfully, that's the only way that I can see myself getting everything done. I have no clue what I'm going to do when I have school and a job. I guess I'll just have to write nonstop whenever I get free time. Which works when you're constantly editing yourself or getting blocked like I am.

~*~
"If I'm so happy - I've got everything to lose. And now it's always raining - you're the one to blame"

I'm in the Scriptwriter's Mafia. Are you?

I can't imagine how it's going to go this year, because several key things have changed:
(a) I'm losing the first two days of NaNo to another commitment, so come up short on probably the most critical 48 straight hours of available writing time.
(b) This year I have cats that must be fed, watered, littered, and entertained, (tho thankfully they'll stay upstairs, while I'm downstairs writing, so not as much distraction as they might have been).
(c) My company is militantly enforcing its 'no personal stuff on company time' and since the bulk of my writing in NaNo07 was done at work, I'm afraid I may come up short (but hey, there are still 22 days to figure out a way around their web monitor and file creation spy software!).
No doubt there will be loads of late nights, early mornings, and weekends when I never venture out of my study.

I don't really have a set writing schedule. I don't really like schedules all that much. Here's a basic run through though:

Wake up go to class, hopefully write before/during/after class.
Run across campus and go to work (Note to Self: figure out a way to write at work)
Either go to more classes or go home or go to a play depending on the day.
Do homework.
Write
Sleep

That's not even half my schedule really. My schedule is actually really sporadic and changes all of the time, I guess that's just the life of a theatre geek/honors student for you.

The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom s

For me the day is the same as usual except when I get home from work, I sit down and write instead of doing regular stuff like going out or watching TV, or eating, or sleeping...

-----------------------------------------------------------
"If you wish to be a writer... write!" -Epictetus

I've never had a plan before and I've never won NaNo before so I'm wondering if the two are linked.

So this year's plan will be:

8am wake up.

9am haul myself out of bed (Yeah I'm definitely not a morning person!).

10am until 4pm in work.

4pm until 5pm hopefully write if I can convince my boss to let me use one of the work computers and then allow me to e-mail what I've done to my personal e-mail address or use my USB pen to save it.

Realise boss will not let me use work facilities for this purpose so go somewhere else to write by hand.

Spend rest of first half hour of break mentally cursing boss repeatedly. Write during second half.

Now ideally (on a good day) by this point I will have done most if not all of my 2000 daily word aim - Ok realistically I'll be lucky if I have 500 words done by this point due to procrastinating during first half hour mentally cursing the boss.

5pm until 6pm back to work.

6pm until 7pm get back home and eat.

7pm try to do the rest of my daily word aim.

7.05pm curse the fact that my sister, who is also doing NaNo, cannot possibly write without either the t.v. or some music on at a level which drives me to distraction and storm out of the house in search of somewhere quieter.

8pm Give up for the day having realised that any coffee shop I try will also have music which is great when planning a story but not great when actually writing it. (Unless it's a Tuesday when the library is open until 7pm so go straight there after work and spend the last half hour of the day getting a bit more done).

Resolve to get more done at work tomorrow.

NaNo has never really affected my regular schedule, since I tend to write at night. Around 8pm, I'll sit down at my desk, and stay put until I have my 2k. Which, depending on the amount of motivation, inspiration and distraction, can sometimes stretch out until 1 or 2am. I tend to just limit my social activities to daylight hours, or allow myself one night off per week.

Of course, this year, my last class on Monday doesn't end 'till 8, and thanks to our effed up bus schedule, I won't actually get home 'till ten, and then reading for Tuesday will take priority over writing. We'll see how I work around that. It might help that this year I finally have a smaller laptop that I can take to campus with me without breaking my back in the process.

"The question is not who will let me, but who is going to stop me." -Ayn Rand

NaNo 2005: "Barefoot" - Winner!
NaNo 2006: "Break the Skin" - Winner!
NaNo 2007: "Chances & Choices" - Winner!
NaNo 2008: "Unbound" - Winner!

My nano day -

6.45 - wake up. Do all the getting up things - throw on clothes, put on make up, try and make hair look normal instead of like a crazed birds nest, eat cereal, brush teeth. No time to write, except maybe for a few little notes.
7.15 - Out the door. Catch bus.
7.30 - Get to bus station. Stand shivering in the cold waiting for next bus.
7.40 - Hopefully do some writing in the bus, unless I feel too tired and decide to read the metro instead.
8.30 - Walk through town centre to get to work.
1.00 - Lunch. Go shopping. Surf internet.
5.30 - Leave work. Get on bus home. Maybe do some writing.
6.40 - Get home. Eat. Collapse in front of the telly for three hours until I remember what time of year it is. Play with cat. Read. Eat oranges. General procrastination. Watch DVDs. Talk to friends on phone/msn.
9.30 - Stare at computer screen for half an hour.
10.00 Fall asleep.
11.00 - Wake up with a start and write furiously for an hour and a half until fall exhausted into bed.

Than do it all over again the next day. The weekends are going to be my savoiur. Luckily I've been able to take quite a few days off work in november, so at least I'll have that to fall back on if I get really behind.

My website: http://lorettameyr.livejournal.com

Last year it depended on if I was working or not. Depending on my schedule I would head down to my favourite cafe for a good four or five hours, attempt not to procrastinate for too long in the chat room or on the forums, and write write write until the cafe closed at 9pm. Then I would come home and keep going into hours that could often be described as "wee".

This year, due to various life events, I probably won't be working during Nano so I really do want a 'typical weekday' and for it to look something like this:

8:30 onwards: Wake up!
WRITE SOMETHING! - in my plan because I am so bad at morning writing
11am onwards: Food/dog walk/gym/errands/housework/more food - depending on what needs doing
4pm onwards: scribble in notebook on way to town
5pm: get to cafe in town and write some more stuff
9pm: cafe shuts
9pm onwards: scribble some more on way home
10pm: get home, eat more stuff, write more stuff
11pm: watch whatever TV I have stored for that day
midnight: collapse

That's what I'll be aiming for on most days in November, anyway.

---------
ANNA
+ SF 08: Paragon for TV, WIN!
+ NANO 07: The Block, WIN!
+ SF 07: untitled, no win
+ NANO 06: Paragon, no win

Anna, ML for England-Liverpool
SF09: The Centre, screenplay, drama
Nano08 win | SF08 win | Nano07 win | SF07 | Nano06
Get it writ!

Well I have never done NaNo before but this is how I hope it'll go:

Wake up
Make lunch
Have breakfast
Chat with fiance during his train journey
Shower and get ready
Write for a bit
Pack bag
Rush to get bus for work
Work
Lunch break- write whilst eating
Work
Break- think about what to write later
Work
Home
Eat
Write
Go to fiances
Maybe write
Home
Write
Bed
Sleep

I think thats how it's gonna work. Sundays and days off will be different though.

If I'm lucky to get some sleep:
Wake up
write a paragraph or two
brush teeth...whilst thinking of next paragraph
drag notebook around during the course of the day
and at night's end...
I'm up till the wee-morning trying to get as much out of me as possible before I drop and then it's back up to do it all over again...
Help me.

"For want of the Pen, the paper was gather, and thus the words were written."

Last year was just spur-of-the-moment writing, so I honestly didn't get much done, and the year before was well dismal.
So this year I plan on it going similar to this...:

Actually get up at 5:30, get ready for school, have breakfast, write until 6: 55, get on the bus, 7:20 hop on the shuttle up to school, crack open the laptop write for another hour, close laptop, go into the school get coffee/hot choctolate, sit down and write. Bell rings run to math, write before class actually starts, go to english, and personal finance, then go to chem, if we have spare time i'll write, then go to lunch, get food eat quickly ,go to comfy chairs and write for another half hour. Go to lab, wait till freetime to write, write until time to clean up. Get on the shuttle home, write for 45 min, get on another bus, can't write cause of stupid little kids, get home, do homework, write until I can't write anymore and then go to bed.

Saturdays are a bit difference, get up at 6:30, get ready, leave for art class, type on the way to art class, get out of art class, type for the hour and a half home ,go home do whatever it is I have to do, then type for the rest of the day. Write all sunday if possible. And then repeat.

This is probably what it shall look like (though it all depends on whether I have a summer job):

-Awake. Go forth in search of tea (milk and sugar required) and breakfast. Turn on laptop, write for a couple of hours.
-Take break (may involve watching West Wing/Heroes/Generation Kill/Band of Brothers in some form, taking a walk or somesuch). Complete household chores, such as putting out washing, washing the breakfast dishes, vaccum.
-Get self in town, set up in library = exam revision time. Remember that lunch might be a good idea. Either purchase lunch and go home or go home and get lunch
-Write some more. Also get more tea.
-Break for biscuits/baking of the biscuits.
-Theoretically write some more but mostly muck about on interwebs (LJ, fic plotting with friends on MSN, Sheroes)
-Dinner, more household chores to catch up on
-TV time (may include watching Countdown/Rachel Maddow clips on YouTube, Stewart and Colbert)
-Fic writing, more internets and tea
-Bed

"I love writing but hate starting. The page is awfully white." (Aaron Sorkin)

This is how I suspect it will go...

Wake up at 6.30. Spend extra 15 minutes scribbling in notebook as laptop takes too long to load up.

Get dressed, brush teeth, eat, go to school.

Try to write something at break and lunch if no one's watching.

Get home at 4.15. Type up what I wrote earlier and write for half an hour.

Do homework till 6pm, trying to resist temptation of nano boards.

Write a little more.

Eat something.

Write crazily into the evening trying to make up the wordcount as well as trying to do the revision for my GCSE Mocks which I 'forgot' to do earlier.

Sleep.

That's how it will go IN THEORY. In practice, well, we'll see.

Let's see here...

Monday-Friday
~Wake Up
~Catch bus
~Get to school, spend every class wishing that the teacher would just stop teaching so I can have some time to write
~Write on the bus ride home from school
~Get home, write
~Maybe do some homework between periods of writer's block
~Write More
~Go to bed

Saturday
~Wake Up
~Write
~Go to Bed

Sunday
~Wake Up
~Write
~Go to church
~Write
~Go to bed

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. ~Mark Twain

wake up
go to work
write on paper on the subway going to work
work
go to lunch
write during lunch
back to work
after work try to get to a write-in and write some more OR
go home and transfer writing to computer file
the news
write some more on 'puter
go to sleep

2006 - Faire Gypsy, Faire Game - winner
2007 - Immortal Jeopardy - winner
2008 - Armor of Sight
Gone Writing.

Wake up at 7:00 AM. Take 20 minute shower. Get dressed and rush off to school. Take notes when I should be paying attention (hey, if I don't get less than a B, I'm allowed to drift off in class XP). Come home. Write as much as possible until dinner. Groan when social life takes me off right after dinner. Come back at 9:30 PM and rush like mad to get more writing done to at LEAST get 1667 words. On weekends, bare minimum is 2000 words. Some days I write a lot more, some days I have to hurry to catch up. Last year I failed, but that's my schedule this year. :P

Now THAT was a good post!

This being my very first NaNo, I'll just have to guess what I'll be doing.

I'll attempt to get up earlier than normal.
Get a cup of coffee (First priority after crawling out of bed).
Hop on the computer and brainstorm.
Barely make it out the door to the bus stop.
Arrive at school.
Go to class/Scribble ideas in my notebook (Depends if I take the earlier bus or not).
Take any chance during class to think about the novel.
Eat lunch, ditch my friends and head to the library.
Maybe write a little bit if I have my novel saved to my memory stick.
Head back to class.
Not much desk work in this class, so I won't be able to write or think.
Catch the bus (Usually crowded so I probably won't do much on it)
Catch second bus (This one takes about 10 minutes to actually leave the station, giving me time to brainstorm more)
Arrive at home.
Eat.
Hop on the computer and take care of personal matters.
Call up my document and ignore it.
Have sudden bursts of genius and mass produce.
Crash.
More writing.
Homework, shower.
Take my document down and spend my last bit of time doing whatever I'd like.
Sleep.