College and... NaNoWriMo?

Um me...I have midterms and papers and tests, and just general reading to do, and I have been an absolute slacker since the semester began. I am going to have to do everything I can ahead of time to have time for NaNo. Pray for me. *g*

Writer of Edwardian-set fiction
http://www.edwardianpromenade.com

I've been there. It's not impossible, but just another facet of the challenge. ;)

Please tell me you don't have any 10 page papers due this semester. Because trying to do that after NaNo was harsh (and no, there was no way of combining the two).

I'm trying the same thing. And I am the worst procrastinator. I'm hoping that the creative juices give me a boost for the rest of the semester. In fact, I really need to start working on homework now, but I am procrastinating here on the boards. ;)

2008: Jade - 0 until Nov. 1

I'm a little worried as well! This is my first year of college (I'm 19 but I figured I was closer to 20's than teens ... feel free to kick me out! ;) ) and I've never been good at time management. There are two possible scenarios here: either my management will be so bad I don't get any NaNoWriMo done, or I'll use NaNo as procrastination when I should be getting work done. At least midterms are over and NaNo ends before the end of the semester exams start!

"The Greatest Adventure is what lies ahead,
today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances the changes are all yours to make,
the mold of your life is in your hands to break"
- from Rankin-Bass's cartoon "The Hobbit"

Thankfully I just finished my midterms and have no ridiculously long papers due in November, but it's still going to be a big challenge for me. I too am a procrastinator, and hopefully I'll be motivated enough to work on nanowrimo and not just keep putting it off for the entire month!

I, too, am 19, but my second year of college. The teen boards are all about high school drama, and I have been beyond that since I was still in high school. Nothing against them, just... yeah, I'm going to stop now.

I have a full courseload. Three ASL related classes, and an online history class. I could actually read ahead and do the little chapter tests ahead. That would work. Hmm.

I'm actually very surprised that I'm keeping up with my online course. I'm usually really bad about that. I've been getting my chapter tests in a week before the due date (I do them the week that we are "doing this chapter", not after we have finished it), and reading early in the week.

I'll just have to be sure I don't get distracted listening to the lectures. I can knit, but I can't write during them.

yeah, i'm just a little worried because finals are less than a week after nano ends, so umm, i'm trying not to procrastinate.

Yeah, I second everything. This is my 3rd year in college, and my 3rd year doing Nano. It's interesting trying to juggle everything. Most of the time I'm more motivated to write than I am to do homework however : /
But at least this year, to my knowledge anyway, I only have one maybe two big papers due during nano, big as in a lot of points, not necessarily a lot of pages...which is kind of a blessing and a curse. Anyway, it is possible to do both. Hey, during Thanksgiving break last year (we have a week) I was able to work at a grocery store, work on my nano novel AND work on a major history paper. :D

I just write what my characters tell me....

I've got three writing intensive classes this year and I'm still planning on doing NaNo. I'm already getting into my routine. Before dinner, I have some 'me-time' set aside, that right now is used for goofing off - except for Thursdays, when I clean. After dinner I do homework, and usually I'm done with that by eight or nine at the latest, and I write from then until I"m too tired to get another word out. I find that setting a routine well before November and planning in a set time for homework helps a lot in reachign word count while keeping the GPA up. This is my third year in college and my fourth doing NaNo.

The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everyone else.

- Umberto Eco

I'm taking three classes currently, with a fourth one coming up in a couple weeks with a lot of homework (I'm a child development major)...plus I'm MLing for my region this year (or rather hoping to as nobody has gotten back to me) on top of having labs to do every Monday and observations...I'm saying right now that I'm not going to finish the 50k but who knows what will happen. I've put off homework before, but we'll just have to see what happens.

I have so much junk due in November, it's not even funny >< I have an extensive take-home exam that is due on the fifth, which will take a freakishly long time to write (I spent three entire days, from morning to evening, writing the last one, and I can only guess that this one will be harder), so no getting a first week head start on my NaNo... Then I will have plenty of group assignments, which means I will have to factor in other people as well, so I can't exactly take breaks to type on my novel every once in a while...
But I am somewhat confident that I might actually manage to pull this off after all, I have a pretty good outline planned, and 1,667 words really don't take that long to just type, if I know what I'm writing. :) I just try to look at the small pieces, and not the big and scary picture XD

I'm graduating this quarter, so I have all my graduation paperwork, senior thesis, independent research paper, not to mention lengthy papers for all seven of my classes as well as midterms, all in November. Yay for being a zombie!!

When I knew I wanted to concentrate on my first NaNo, I took online classes from my university for a semester. That saved MAJOR time.

TAKE THE REINS (a 2006 NaNoNovel!) Jan 2009 from Simon & Schuster's Aladdin M!X
http://www.jessicaburkhart.com
http://www.canterwoodcrest.com
http://jessicaburkhart.blogspot.com

TAKE THE REINS (a 2006 NaNoNovel!) Jan 2009 from Simon & Schuster's Aladdin M!X
http://www.jessicaburkhart.com
http://www.canterwoodcrest.com
http://jessicaburkhart.blogspot.com

I am so there with all of you... I have two major projects/papers due during November and at the very beginning of December. Thankfully one of the papers is researching something I am interested in. Then I work 20-25 hours a week at my job. Plus I help my mom with my disabled sister. I am also a fantastic procrastinator and constantly get distracted. Guess I'll have to lick myself in my room and maybe take some time off from work:)

I'm thinking that NaNoWriMo+college+part-time job=universal fail.
Hopefully, I can set aside Sunday for total NaNoWriMo and make it to all the write-ins I can so that I will be forced to fit it in. The biggest challenge I think is that finals will be right around the corner after we're done with this! So it will be a very craaaazy month. Good luck all you college kids!

Every extra 500 words we type gets us 1% further to the finish!

I think I'll be okay - since I'm taking only (ha!) five science courses this semester, I have no papers to write and only 4.5 assignments and 2 lab writeups due every week... and five out of my seven my midterms are this month. Ooo, wait, there's probably a lab exam for the cs lab... uhhh... five out of my eight midterms are this month >.>;

But I'm gainfully unemployed (thank GOD) for the first time in three years, so I can totally handle this!

I hope.

(Don't ask me what year I am - it's really confusing... the abridged version is that I'm twenty and in my third year. Chemistry and (sorta) cs major.)

~Nikki

dA | aethre.net | Twitter

Yeah school killed me last year, which makes me think this is in a bad month. November is traditionally busy in high school, and even in college. I got all my papers last year during Novemember. I have no idea what the teacher is going to assign during November but I have long classes but thankfully no job. I just wish I could write with my mother around. *still lives at home like a bum*

She is the worst person to write around. She ACTS supportive but then will bug me every five minutes for nothing important. Even if I give really obvious signs like headphones in my ears and not answering. I write best in my chair which is in the living room so it gets hard.

Then again I'm weird. I like to do my homework and writing when I'm all alone. So god knows how I'll manage that.

Its always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.
~~~
2008: Becoming Beasts
2007: Everyday Extravagance

I've actually found that I get more writing done if I have a lot of homework, just because I use it as an excuse to skip homework (of course, my grades then take a massive hit).

See Girl Write: the life of a college writer, trying not to flunk out.

I'm hoping this'll work out for me :/ I'm just gonna hunker down and focus on school work and nano next month x.x

Also, since I'm a Computer Science major (and therefore bombarded by all things math-y and technical-y), perhaps doing something creative will actually help me from jumping into the cold, soulless abyss of *dun dun DUN* a technical college.

Timing is usually pretty bad with school. Finals and big projects are always due after Thanksgiving break it seems like. I don't have a lot of time between classes and work, but last year I just lugged my laptop with me wherever I went, and if I had fifteen minutes, I wrote.

A writer never complains, disdains or explains.

I think the only way i'll be only to manage both is if i plan out my novel very carefully and make up a very strict time managment plan. As I'm not really into any of my major classes yet, I think it may be doable.

This is my life story. I am in my jr. year (journalism major) and this is also my third year doing Nano. Ive never won but I hope to chage that. :)

I'll Probably Die Writing

I'll Probably Die Writing

Sounds like a perfectly acceptable faith! Adding myself to the list of people that are 19 but found this to be closer to their situation than the teens one. After all, I just entered University here!

I happen to have quite a few exams along the way (four, I think), most of which requiring learning all kinds of stuff by heart. I've already planned out number of words per day that allowed me to slack when exams are incoming, mostly because I'd write a lot more over weekends. But, yeah, can't wait to see how mixing NaNo and student life will go!

I'm definitely freaked about class and writing this year... I just transferred (I'm a Junior) to a college that does only one course at a time, so I'm only going to be taking one class during Nano. The problem? The class is only 3 1/2 weeks, so, like all of our classes, it's going to be INTENSE. Oh, and did I mention that it's a French class? And that I'm terrible at foreign languages?

>.< I really hope that I'm not setting myself up for failure/death...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2007 - Awaken - Winner - 77921
2008 - No Hero - Winner - 80,126
2008 - Zombie Story - To be determined

Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.

I've done nano+college+full time (ish) job= and won twice. Usually, I take 2 classes fall quarter and work my ass off going ahead. It has worked. This year, I'm working more hours and I have 3 classes that are KILLING me. But I think I can finish most of the course work by the 1st. I have my fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

Trina

2008 -My Slightly Obsessive Fascination with Caleb Martin
2007-Antisocial: adj (winner!)
2006- Kizzy's Chaos (winner!)

Didn't read all of the posts... but try being an education major. thankfully student teaching is in the fall, but this semester I'm in methods (which is kind of like student teaching... its pre-service student teaching). I dont know how I"m going to do all of my lesson plans, reading, grading, etc, etc, etc AND write for NaNo... since I barely have enough time in the day to breathe.

Well, hey, maybe I can actually help you here. French is my first language, after all! If you get stuck in your class and can't seem to understand something and it's draining your NaNo time, drop a line. After all, we must support each others as best we can! ;)

I'm a student who's going to be attempting NaNo for her second year... It's my third year university and I'm pretty busy but budgeting my time helped me through it last year. School should still come first, but if you set daily goals and work a little more on weekends, it's perfectly doable. Stressful sometimes, but doable!

This year might be a little ummm... Deadly for me. Last year my course load was a little lighter and I actually had some idea of what I wanted to write. This year... Not so much. I've got a number of plot bunnies hopping around in my head, but I'm afraid none of them are going to be "the one". This might be a sit down, turn off brain and type situation.

Still fun. We'll see.

Best of luck to all of you fellow students out there. Let's stick together through the calculus assignments, late night laboratory sessions, thesis papers and essays about essays.

2007: Bandwagon (50100 words) - Winner!
2008: Shadow Chaser (0 words) - ???

I'm a video major at my college, so life during NaNo will be interesting. First off, my group will be filming a murder mystery during the month of November and hopefully be finished by the 20th. Second, I play a major character in the film, and I'll be one of the camera people when I'm not in front of it. This means I'll be at all the shootings. Third, I'm the executive editor for the group, meaning that once all the cameras are put away I'll be stuffed in a small office space putting the film together coherently. Plus this movie is going to be a pain to edit due to the various effects the group wants to use. Luckily this is the only thing taking up any time in my schedule in November, so when I'm not working on the film I'll be writing my ass off. I know I'll have no social life to speak of during November, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

I have to keep working. Think it, plan it, write it. Always with my head in the game. That is how a writer lives.

Goin to school fulltime, but I happen to be one of those people that doesn't have to do homework to remember stuff and can churn out great papers in a short amount of time. My obstacle is MMOs, so I'm simply not renewing my subscriptions for November. Ergo, all my video game free time can be converted into NaNo time.