Hey guys,
I've heard from a few folks that they have, in essence, "Pulled a Sean" - writing several thousand words and then wiping them out so they can start over. This phrase refers to me because I've done it rather infamously for the last two years when I've reached the 10,000 word mark. I'm sympathetic, but I'm a bit concerned about how cavalier some folks are being about it.
We're early in November yet, so you can probably get away with doing this. But please, PLEASE get on a track you're somewhat happy with by the end of the week and make up the words you've deleted by the weekend. I understand how much it sucks to keep working on a story you hate, but really, guys -- the point of NaNo is to just keeping writing. Your novel might turn into something entirely different once you get more words on paper, but you can always cut, paste and revise down the road.
So please - if you've started over, stay on track. My job as an ML is to help you cross that finish line. I can tell you from experience that it is a LOT harder to achieve your goal if you sabotage yourself and set yourself back just because you're unhappy with your story.
To counter my bad behavior, I made a point of attending every write-in I could so I had some other writers there to yell at me for getting behind. I would HIGHLY suggest that those of you who are having trouble finding your groove start showing up at the write-ins so we can help you get on track!
I'll get off my soapbox now, but I must admit that I'm really concerned about this, so the topic will likely appear in this weekend's newsletter. I won't name names, of course, but I am going to be that little annoying voice reminding you that the destination is just as important as the journey in November!
----------
-----
Sean J. Jordan
Municipal Liaison, Southern Illinois Region
Keep up to date on Southern Illinois NaNoWriMo events on our blog!
7,443 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 22 03
I'll be the first to admit I was almost guilty of this. :/
My fiance talked me back into staying with the current story. The bonus out of all of this is I've had some cool ideas about other things I'm working on make their appearance. I just feel like I hit a block with my current one. Actually, it was more like I got scared thinking about how long it would take me to get where I was heading. Meh, excuses. Alright, I'll be at the write-in tomorrow at the Fairview Heights Borders. I have a feeling I need some others around so I can stop being so lazy.
Thanks for the reminder, Sean!
23,498 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 22 22
Pulled this stunt the first day, and after I'd gotten to 7000 words, too. That being said, my original plan was petering out fast, and I cut and pasted as much as I could salvage from that draft, which was about 4500 words. Good news is that I'm working at a good clip now, and I don't think my idea is going to get exhausted nearly as fast as it was at first.
I know I'm not going to do that again. It's depressing to get the wordcount so high, then starting over again.
37,007 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 06 30
If you get writer's block, I have three recommendations:
1) Check out the resources section of the SoIL Nano blog: http://soilnanowrimo.wordpress.com/category/resources/
2) Talk it out with another writer, particularly someone who understands story structure. Often, the reason writers get writer's block is because they've lost sight of the story's "skeleton".
3) Just start writing at a later point in the story. It's OK to skip ahead. You can fill in the details later or revise the plot to bridge points A and B together.
Good luck! I'll be at Borders after my class ends. Hope to see you there!
---------------
Sean J. Jordan
Municipal Liaison, Southern Illinois Region
Keep up to date on Southern Illinois NaNoWriMo events on our blog!
40,417 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 08 30
oooooh you guys have guts or you are nuts...I think I would have to just push the words already finished upward and then start over. Don't completely wipe everything out. As one of you said you cut and pasted 4500 words from your7000, so leave it on your computer..when you are done then you can play with your initial word count..eliminate or use what you need , .too hard to see the words go from 7000 to zero.. for some it might just mean defeat..we don't want that. Jan
----------PTJanny
11,278 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 01 20
Way too late for me. Not that I deleted what I wrote, I'm sure when I can process the dozens of steampunk information and the world history from 1880-1900 I will have several great stories to work with. But that's not for this month. And since I'm not going to be using any of it, my count is at the zilch mark.