My mom would always ask me this question anytime I was faced with an enormous and daunting challenge or project. I always balked at first because I LOVE elephants...but then we got to the meat of her moral...
one bite at a time!
50,000 words in 30 days is an enormous project.
1,667 words in a day too seemed ominous.
So I asked myself...how can I make this into bite sized morsels?
1 page, double-spaced = 250 words
That equated to 6.668 pages per day...(Well!!!!! I didn't like the ominous looks of that number so I rounded up.)
7 pages/day = 1,750 words/day...(although I am a fan for odd numbers I didn't like this one)
8 pages/day = 2,000 words/day
8 per day means I could try to tackle 4 morning pages (anyone familiar with THE ARTIST's WAY???? Does this sound familiar???) And then tackle 4 evening pages...
In then end, I think I will find rather than eating an elephant I created one...one PAGE at a time!
Go luck to all my fellow NaNoWriMo writers!
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63,538 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 11 23
Soup. The best way to eat an elephant is as soup.
This is excellent advice, by the way, and very much appeals to my inner quantity surveyor.
----------http://www.irennie.com
25,066 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 14 52
this is very helpful to me...thanks! I live near in Sedgefield. Ill be doing some write-ins at various places. Let me know if anyone's interested.
----------LocationLaura
http://LocationLaura.com/
4,177 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 06 36
Haha - how great! I haven't heard that in a long time. I've got to bolster my word count to catch up to the next goal, but I think I'll be able to make it.
Hmmm... I love elephants too. But I also love soup. What a conundrum.
I would totally be interested in writing somewhere near Sedgefield! I think Regann goes to the Caribou on East Blvd every Wednesday. That is very doable.
----------There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith
10,323 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 07 53
I'm pretty certain now that I won't hit 50,000 words by 11/30. I'm OK with that, well mostly OK with that. I am just so happy to be writing, that the imminent failure is overshadowed by the joys of creating again. I started a second book this month (oops), but it's not fiction. I can work on it five minutes here and there, whereas it seems I need at least twenty minutes to get in a groove with fiction writing.
I'm gonna keep plugging away, and get as far as I can this month with the fiction.
Good luck everyone!!
:-) Jen
17,024 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2009 - 17 01
Why darling, everyone knows the best way to eat a silly ole elephant is bar-b-qued why every Southerner loves a good barbque.
Why we can barbque just about anything.... even an elephant.
Now let's just barbque our word count....
Get prepped, dig a hole, throw in some fire stuff, toss in the elephant and check it WEEKLY not daily in 30 days it will either be finger lickin falling off the bone good---- or it will smell really really bad.
In all seriousness -
If you target your word count at 1667 daily then use Saturday and Sunday to play catch up if you get behind in the week.... you'll rock it out in 30 days..
BJ
----------Sincerely.
BJ LEE
- 2009 NaNoWriMo Participant
- 2008 Charlotte NC Co - ML with REGANN (aka Kellie) WINNER
- 2007 Charlotte NC ML & NaNo WInner
- 2006 Charlotte NC Co-ML with Richard Smith
- 2005 NaNoWriMo Participant & Winner
- 2004 NaNo LURKER