Hello,
I have two small children (3 and just turned 1). I was at 4020 ish up until last night. But when I went to write I kept being interrupted! Then I got irritated and couldn't think of what my character would do next so I just shut the lap top. Bad start - day 3 and I only wrote a paragraph. Are you supposed to clock 1600 every day or can you bulk write and take a day off like yesterday? Seriously think it'll be tough going every single day... as I work too.
Anyway - hello any other mothers doing it! I wrote a book on maternity leave before and got it published so I know I am not too bad...maybe I can do it!
Sarah
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72,510 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 01 47
The aim is to write 1667 every day, at least, but if it does not come or there are interruptions and you can't, then you can't.
Yes, you can 'bulk write' when either the opportunity arises or it just happens to flow. Apart from anything else, we are not limited to 50K words. So long as it is during November you can write as much as you want.
By the same token, not everyone gets to the 50K, so if you get stuck, it is not the end of the world.
I am not just a mother, I am also a grandmother, but in the context that you mean, I do not have small children around the house. Mary Lavin used to say that every time there was a pram in the hall, it took away a book. In other words mothers tend to put their energy and creativity into their children, so it is recognised as sapping both.
When you can't actually sit at the computer and hammer out your words you can be thinking about where you want to go next and mentally noting ideas for scenes or plot lines. If you have done this, then when you sit down the words will dance onto the page more easily.
21,015 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 03 08
Thank you for your lovely reply! I have had the opposite effect with the pram in the hall, I find with my time to consumed by routine I really make the best of the time when I am alone – not watching TV but writing. Writing at this rate is a new challenge now, one I really want to succeed at.
I am on a bus two hours a day, 3 days a week. I have memo cards in my handbag that I write scenes on… I have a description of my main character when she met her husband ten years earlier, the bar etc. Yesterday I just had a feeling about the type of day it was so I wrote down the details, to give a good description for a scene in my book at some point. I don’t know where or if these scenes will fit into the book but I am actually handwriting quite a bit.
Despite the bad day yesterday I am loving this!
72,510 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 04 21
Glad to hear you are enjoying Nano. It can be great fun if it does not stress you too much.
If your handwritten notes relate to your novel, transcribe them in to an area at the beginning for such things. Particularly if you hit a block, this will sometimes set the juices going and help you to break through - and they are all words and writing towards your 50K. Just setting them down tends to help you get things moving.
21,015 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 12 52
Thanks Mamo! I am off up north for five days going up to my mother in laws (that the children call Mamo!!) so lots of time to write now. ;-)