This is a curiosity as much as anything else. When I first did NaNo in 2007, even though I'd had a forest fire dislodge me and ruin my planning, I hit the 50k mark easily and thought it would be cruising the next year; but then, in 2008, I got hit by a kind of perfect storm where I lost interest in my story (which was, by that point, only being written stubbornly to keep pushing the word-count up) and then I had an explosion of stress and work-load in other parts of my life. I had, right before that, been considering dropping the 30k story and simply pushing a new novel into the line, and aiming to push the other 20k out onto that instead; but with the stress, I let it slide, and never got much past that 30k.
This year, I'm not expecting the same thing to happen; the story I'm writing now is already going well, it's held my interest for about a month so far, and there's far more to go than I could cover with writing now plus 50,000 more words during NaNo. But what are people's strategies (if they have them) for making it all the way to 50k this year?
And, just curious; what do you do when you get hit with a great idea for a short story while you're pushing out the NaNo novel? Do you just scribble it down in a notebook, like I did with mine in '07, or do you make a point of writing it while the idea's still hot and firing your imagination? Answers on a postcard...
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"In the grim darkness of the far future, I still haven't finished my novel."
34,832 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 10 04
My goal was 2k a day so I'd have a few days that if I didn't get anything done, it would be okay. I wrote every day up until the last week of Nov, my final word ount was like 48k.
----------17,405 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 11 18
I also have a minimum daily word count goal of 2k. This keeps me from falling behind and also gives me five "free days". Since I observe Sabbath, I do not write Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Depending upon how busy I am, there are times when I can't write at all on Fridays.
So having a minimum of 2k per day is a nice cushion. Except for my first year where I spent more time world-building than writing, I have used this goal and won.
If I get a new idea while in the middle of NaNo, I write it down but do not write it. I am easily distracted by new ideas so I have to put it away so I can focus on my NaNo.
Sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors. I'm post by cellphone.
----------site | journal | da
1,620 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 12 29
I always had a tendency to write less symmetrically; I'd aim for 1500 to 2000 Monday through Friday, but then on the weekends I tended to push out more, usually between 3 and 6k per day, but sometimes more. It helps me accommodate my work (which can be very unpredictable; not a 9-to-5 job or anything like one), and this November, I'm expecting some kind of large push from work, so I'm likely to be more busy during November than I have been through the ten earlier months (of course!). So, while I'm sure the story will hold my interest, I'm really hoping that the weekends will be my saving grace in making that 50k word-count in 2009...
----------"In the grim darkness of the far future, I still haven't finished my novel."
1,007 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2009 - 09 55
I have a goal of 1800 words daily, which I have traditionally hit with ease for the fist 10 days of the month before "real life" tanks my efforts (usually in the form of a set of midterms to grade or a family emergency) But something that has helped keep me (more) on track is a Nano Scorecard that an online writing friend shared with me. You put in your word count each day and it tracks everything from the word count left, the percentage completed, your emotional state for the day, to even charting your progress- showing where you are and where your target is. It is set up for the minimum 1,667 words per day (50,000/30), so if you consistently write more than that is shows you as being "ahead of schedule" which can be very motivating! It is set up in Excel and all of the functions are programmed in (good thing- I can't do functions to save my life!) so it's pretty user friendly.
Is there a place for file sharing here? If so, I could post it. Or I can share it with our illustrious ML for distribution/sharing?
Joanna
----------Write your treasure,
Joanna
33,798 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 09 23
I really don't set a daily word count but more milestones to be passed by a certain date. So by the 8th I should be between 12 - 15, 000, by the 15th between 25 - 30,000 and by the 23rd 37 - 45,000. And I have a group of student's doing the YWP who will be monitoring this and if I fall behind they will let me have it with both barrels!
----------Neither writer's cramp, nor power outages, nor writer's block, nor empty coffee pot will keep us from our appointed word count.
1,620 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 23 50
I like that way of managing word-count; I think it'll work a lot better for me than a daily count, too, as there's no way I'm going to be able to write as much during the week as I want to, but at the weekends I'll be able to take some time and really go at it.
Assuming work doesn't creep into the weekend, anyway.... *fingers crossed*
----------"In the grim darkness of the far future, I still haven't finished my novel."
40,154 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 00 14
I'm trying to aim for at least the minimum 1.7K/day to stay on track. In previous years, I've told myself that I can do less on the weekdays & make it up on the weekends...but that has never worked.
So far I'm exactly on track to make 50K by the end of the month, which is better than I've done the last three years.
One thing that's helped me this year is using Momentum Writer to do my writing, because it absolutely will not let me go back and edit. It forces me to just keep writing.
Yeah, my novel is full of typos and oddly-constructed paragraphs, but that's what the rest of the year is for, right? :-)
9,366 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 11 46
I'd love to see that scorecard if there is a way to share the file. Pretty please? :)
There's something similar in the Book in a Month workshop, but I like the sound of this one!
Jenn
Redlands
9,366 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 11 47
I'd love to see that scorecard if there is a way to share the file. Pretty please? :)
There's something similar in the Book in a Month workshop, but I like the sound of this one!
Jenn
Redlands