NaNoWriMo newbie needs advice!

If you simply must edit, print off a hard copy of your story after you meet your daily goal and edit by hand and stick the pages in a folder until after Nanowrimo is over. I read that advice recently from a pro writer who is doing Nano and I think it is good advice, especially if you are more prone to cut words than to add them. Plus, you'll still be able to get your first draft to The End by the end of November without getting bogged down in rewriting throughout the month.

Hope it helps!
Carissa

That's not a bad idea.

Thanks! :)

Your word count after three days should be 5000, so you're doing well. Today's "on target" number is 8333. I've been as much as 10K behind before and still made it (last year in fact), so there is no such thing as "too behind." Welcome!

Name my novel!

Welcome to the insanity that is Nano! I can see you're already afflicted, your word count has shot way up! Awesome job!
Last year my cousin started Nano 2 weeks late and through sheer stubborn willpower actually reached 50k words just before midnight, December 1st.
If she can do it, you can do it!

I have trouble with my inner editor too, so I've made up a set of rules for me to follow this year.
If I'm REALLY stuck with what I'm writing, I'll allow myself to edit my previous day's writing, but only so long as it's adding words.
Or, if I've finished my words per day and I'm not completely disgusted with writing as a whole, I'm allowed to edit a little bit--
But only the previous day's writing!
That's the key bit. Going back through all those pages every day is going to kill any freshness that my story might have had and probably bog me down in a pit of self-loathing to boot. XD

However you decide to do it, find something that works for you and stick with it!

Oh and last but not least, in case you're not already familiar with it, Write or Die saved my word count many times last year, which was my first nano year. Check it out if you need a little kick in the keister. ;)
http://writeordie.drwicked.com/

I'm behind myself, but as a semi-pro writer one thing I've learned. Never loose faith in yourself.

www.carolineatigeress.com

Thanks. I'm hitting the first wall, I think... =/ I'm at the point where i'm not sure where my plot is going, but i'm plugging away, word by word.

If you need to keep track of word count, I recommend downloading this wallpaper: http://tacos4me.deviantart.com/art/NaNoWriMo-Calendar-2009-140034895

Ooh, or this one:http://kiriska.deviantart.com/art/NaNoWriMo-Calendar-2009-141386419

*cough* Anyway. Don't look back, literally, keep writing. I had some other bit of advice...What was it...If all else fails, lock the two characters who absolutely hate each other in a room. Either only one will emerge, covered in the other's blood having torn out his/her enemy's with his/her bare teeth or both of them will emerge, clothes rumpled since they just had an intense make out. If you're truly desperate, toss in a sex scene-- I know I might have to at some point.

“Reputation is what others know about you, honor is what you know about yourself…Guard your honor and let your reputation fall where it will…And outlive the bastards.” –Count Aral Vorkosigan, A Civil Campaign