Seriously. Stop making the rest of us feel inadequate. Time to resume crying in the shower.
----------
Mike
NaNo '09: Strings of a Marionette
| mgwrite | The how the hell did some of you people get to the word count you're at shoutout |
    25,025 / 50,000 Official Participant
Joined: Sep 29, 2009
Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 7
Posted on:
Nov 5, 2009 - 21 44 |
Seriously. Stop making the rest of us feel inadequate. Time to resume crying in the shower. ---------- |
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74,450 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 22 05
I pushed myself for the first 3 days of Nanowrimo, and got to 16k... since then I have forced myself not to stop typing until I get a minimum of 5k words per day. It's been a struggle sometimes... I should reset my personal word count goal on my excel spreadsheet.
----------2005, 2006, 2007 - WON
2008 - FAILED
2009 § The Sidereal Rose
http://thesiderealrose.blogspot.com/
132,832 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 22 34
:( I'm just having lots of fun. :D
Seriously, though... I get the word count I get in the time I do because words flow naturally for me. (This doesn't mean, of course, that every one of those words in perfect. It just means that there is a lot of them.)
Keep up your writing! You're doing great - you're ahead of schedule to get to 50k in 30 days. Remember - you're only competing against yourself, no one else. (unless you're in a word war, but that's different).
Good luck! Have fun!
----------Remember this November by making a scrapbook about NaNo!
My blog: http://yesiaminsane.wordpress.com/
214,862 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 22 48
While this is my first nano, I've written professionally before, albeit doing poetry and short stories. I'm also very good at typing while I think, and I'm also good at doing research, making notes, and laying out an outline that works for me. In total, this makes me a very prolific writer when I get inspired.
Now editing, that part I suck at.
----------I seem to have found myself working on a trilogy for my first NaNo. Huh.
2009: Dawn of Steam
Book1: First Light (finished)
Book2: Gods of the Sun (finished)
Book3: House of the Rising Sun (in progress)
66,844 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 22 49
I just get going and don't want to stop because the ideas are flowing. If I do stop for the night (sleep is overrated) assuming that I'll remember what I had planned the night before I'll forget and then be angry with myself. Today for example I got in over 8000 words and that was with plenty of interruptions. Another day I'll struggle but I have good days too.
----------2007 - The Witch of Spokeland -Won
2008 - Incomplete
2009 - Master of the Clouds - Won 50,195; A Petunia by Any Other Name
16,000 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 03 53
I feel inadequate because I have about a third of what I need. Not because of other's counts.
----------38,388 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 04 51
No reason to feel inadequate! You're ahead of where you need to be for today! Just keep up the pace you have and you'll cross the finishline with ease! ^_^
@ Previous poster: You can do it too! You're not so far behind yet that you can't make up the difference. ^_^
----------Death toll: 7 named, about 181 unnamed
210,055 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 05 10
I write between 10 and now once 16 hours a day
258,000 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 06 54
I just did a quick check of the highest word counts to date. We have nine people who've produced at least 500,000 words. And four of those people have hit the top end of the counter -- 999,999. None of these people have posted in the Forum, so we probably don't know how they are hitting these big numbers. Some of them may be fast typists who are doing nothing but writing, eating and sleeping. They may have very carefully plotted out their work in advance. Others may be using computerized writing aids that allow them to post high numbers in a relatively short period of time. I'm not in the Top 9, but I am using a cut-up engine and I can tell you it quickly piles up big word counts. The down side is I am looking at a lot of rewrite time come Dec. 1. But I happen to enjoy the rewrite process, so I am driven to get through the rough draft as quickly as possible. This is the approach I have chosen for myself. My point is that some people with higher word counts may have made similar choices, and it could be that they are not working any harder than you. Personally, I have the most respect and admiration for those people who are writing every day, regardless of output. I'll give a shout out to Kateness, who is writing every day AND putting up big word counts. (For the record, I am not writing every day.) I think it would be a real shame for anyone to look at the word counts being posted by others and then feel bad about their own word counts.
----------Mark Leach
33,155 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 06 59
There are plenty of normal people in on this thing, too! I'm trying to build up a buffer right now so that I don't get too far behind this weekend -- when I have work and won't be able to get any writing done except by sheer chance.
Don't get discouraged! So what if they have 800 billion words? Us normies will have 50k at the end of the month and feel like kings (or queens) (or non-gendered antitraditional monarchs).
20,000 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 07 05
I guess they just write a lot. xD
I'm perfectly happy with my slightly-ahead-of-schedule word count, actually.
----------# Characters: 11
# Deaths: 6
# Kisses: 6
# Serial Killers: 3
# Fight Scenes: 1
# Break-ups: 1
# Did-I-really-just-write-that Moments: 20
134,114 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 07 05
I sit and write until the wee hours of the morning, and i dont do a lot else but write. Plus I average about 1000-1500 words an hour and I can keep that pace steady for about 5 hours without going completely crazy.
222,684 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 07 21
Number one: I am disabled, my day job is being a cripple. It schedules its own hours. Yesterday, the fifth, I had zero word count. I had zero count on the third.
I racked up about 23,000 on the first day because I treated it like the 3 Day Novel Contest, which I entered this year with a 51,000 word manuscript and have practiced for since 2000, which was the first time I entered. The other times were unofficial.
I write on average one to two thousand words an hour. Nothing spectacular. I've seen other people get three or four thousand in an hour during Word Wars -- experienced writers. I am an experienced writer with over fifty trunk novels, so the process isn't something that I'm struggling with. I've evolved my process over a lot of practice. I've probably generated over ten million words of pointless whiny journal, which is excellent good practice for novelwriting. Tell your life story to yourself enough times and you get used to letting it flow and moving your fingers on the keys.
I got up at five in the morning today, it's when I happened to wake up. I got writing by about six. I've just done about five thousand words in three hours, so they were coming at a pretty fast clip for my pace.
If I do that again today, when I have nothing else in my life but writing this novel or hanging out online, then I'll hit 50,000 and still keep going because I have only gotten to the middle of the plot. Lots more needs to happen before I can write "The End" on this one and I want to match my best year this year -- do three 80,000 word novels (this one maybe a bit longer, it's getting fat and full of cool things that need to happen yet) by the end of November. That means finishing by the 10th.
That also means pushing myself to two-chapter days.
Think about the hours you put into school or your job. If you were able to schedule 40 hours in the week for your writing and during your writing hours, all you do is work on your novel's rough draft, steadily keep adding to it without hesitation even if you think the scene you're working on is crap, how high would your word count be at the end of the day? On my day one, I didn't just do eight hours. I did about sixteen or seventeen hours, maybe more.
When I'm doing a three day novel, there's writing and there's sleep and bathroom breaks and that's it. Sleep if you're not trying to go on sleep dep, is eight hours out of 24, so you're getting 14 to 16 hours of actual writing time depending on whether you stop for meals, what distractions you have and whether you were able to keep other people from grabbing your attention. On a three day novel weekend it's easier to slam the door on everyone.
I made a really strong start and since then I've coasted. I haven't had a 20k day since then but didn't need to. 10k days, or for this novel, two-chapter days since my chapters are running about 5,000 each or under, are enough to get me to my high goal and finish the book by the tenth.
Because I can't plan ahead for when my day job as cripple is going to schedule its days of chronic fatigue, I push hard when I'm feeling up to it. I get ahead as far and as fast as I can so that if I do lose a sick day, which I know I will sooner or later, it doesn't set me behind. There hasn't been one Nanowrimo since the first one I did in 2000 where I actually managed to write every single day during November. But I've won every year except 2002 when I was half dead, bedridden and didn't manage to start until the 25th. I still got a respectable 25,000 out of it because once I started I was going at about five thousand a day.
So there are some things to think about. Look at your life. Do you have one? Do you have a job or go to school? How many hours a day does that take out of your noveling time? Do you have a significant other? Do you live with family who expect some of your attention? Do you go out to do things besides noveling? If you can manage to schedule an hour a day on weekdays and you put in ten hours on weekends, you're doing really good and you will meet your goal.
Work it out. Look at your pace in the hours you're productive. Try doing word wars. Go to write-ins. Do everything you can to make it easier to do noveling and harder to get distracted. Most of all, cut television right out of your life during November. Save your favorite shows on Tivo or download them afterward from Amazon or something. That is the easiest thing to cut out of a normal person's life and free up time.
The first novel is the toughest, that's the one you're learning how to write a novel on. The second one is easier. Each one is a bit different and teaches something new, but by and large after having done several of them, the project stops being enormous and starts to feel just big -- major, yeah, but not impossible-big. More like comfortably big with lots of elbow room to go off on a tangent or let that weird new character steal the show or change the plot or put in something your friend mentioned in chat or you saw in a dare.
I get this kind of count by way of years of practice and the production of millions of words of unreadable tripe, most of which thankfully is buried in personal journals. No one will ever dig out the steamy bits or anything because they'd have to wade through too many volumes of the whiny bits to get to it, even if someone tries after I'm dead.
It gets easier with practice, that's what my word counts show. Enjoy the process. The more you enjoy the process, the more you'll do it, the less tempting television is, the easier it is to do more. Past a certain point your novel gets to be more interesting than anything they could put on TV because let's face it -- you're writing it to your tastes. Write the novel you want to read. It's like cooking something exactly your flavor. You find out later that yeah, a lot of other people like that kind of thing too, but in the rough draft when it's all yours, you can be completely self indulgent.
No matter how many novels I write, none of them are the one that you're working on right now. It won't exist unless you finish it. Go for it.
----------
Mike
NaNo '09: Strings of a Marionette
robertsloan2 is leading a SFFmuse membership drive in 2009 and writing and editing LOTS this November! Ari Cat sheds his infamous Cat Hairs of Inspiration on you ----------
Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: three 80k novels!
Magic in the Streets 82,964
Greenwood Road 84,709
Medicine Show 55,011 and Growing!
Join SFFmuse!
82,070 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 08 30
Okay, brace yourself.
My "secret" is having my days free. (the first three nano's, they weren't)
So, I can write for 12, 14, or like yesterday 17 HOURS in one day.
Yup. Secret. I got up at four this morning.
I time my time on the forum. I limit my non writing activities. As Nora Roberts, Dean Koontz or Stephen King say, "*ss in chair." Focus.
Next year, I may have three jobs, eleven obligations and who knows what else. So I'm doing what I can with what I;ve got now.
----------"Not a Rose but a Thistle" -- 2005 (Win)
"Welcome To Lamentation!" -- 2006 (Win)
"A Saint Nobody's Heard Of " -- 2007 (Win)
"Nympho-izing Love Goo!" (working title) -- 2008 (Win)
"Like Getting Honey From a Stone" -- 2009
214,862 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 09 46
If they are, they aren't hurting anyone, and aren't cheating anyone but themselves.
For my part, I don't know that there's a lot of secrets. I have things going on like work, social life, distractions, etc. as well that cut into writing time.
That said,
1. I'm not a professional writer, really, but I did get my degree in English: creative writing, I have classes behind me to help with this sort of thing, and a lot of experience writing for grades or just to write. I do also have a couple short stories and a few poems published, so I have some background.
2. I know my writing style. I gave myself a careful outline of the things I wanted to get done, broken up bit by bit. I have full page bios of all of my characters including background, love interests, secrets, etc., so while they take off from me now and then, as good characters should, they don't surprise me very often.
3. I wrote a short story with these characters in October. I'm not using it for my word count or for anything else. I just got to know their voices a little bit before I got started. They surprise me less now, and I rarely get stumped trying to find a character's motivations or voice.
4. I know my muse. I created my own radio station on last fm with about 85 songs that will play endlessly and randomly while I write, so I always have mood music without need to change CDs or hear commercials.
5. I allow myself my small temptations during the week. I watch football Sundays and Monday night, but if the games aren't good, I turn it off and write. I don't follow any TV series, so that helps.
6. I have good writing habits and have pretty good discipline for writing established by now.
7. My housemates and girlfriend are huge helps, and the only regular parts of my daily life that might otherwise distract me. My gf is doing NaNo as well, and my housemates are very encouraging, give me lots of time to write, and love to ask me about my wordcount. Many of my friends are former NaNo'ers as well, so my social environment is understanding and helpful, and I have no major restrictions on my writing once work is done.
8. I go to write-ins and the like, which aren't necessary for me to get my wordcount up, but interacting with other writers and hearing their ideas and seeing their enthusiasm inspires me and keeps me writing.
9. I have a very fast typing speed, and can write as I think pretty well.
That's all I can think of, really. A lot of people just don't have the same habits and discipline, don't type as fast, or don't have as much experience just writing. But that's ok. I don't see myself as competing against any one person, and anyone who hits the mark they set for themselves, or just does more writing in November than they'd have done otherwise should be proud of themselves.
----------I seem to have found myself working on a trilogy for my first NaNo. Huh.
2009: Dawn of Steam
Book1: First Light (finished)
Book2: Gods of the Sun (finished)
Book3: House of the Rising Sun (in progress)
172,119 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 09 59
I am actually a slow typist because I keep having to stop and think about what I'm doing. (One of my stories is completely outline-less, and the other I only have a vague idea of events, which slows me down.) I've been averaging about 1k an hour. I have a job with duties that are requiring me to work overtime (though I've been trying to limit it due to write-in obligations). So how do I manage it? So far this month, I have literally done nothing but work, write, ML/modly things on occasion, and karate class two times a week. I don't watch TV. I don't chat with friends. I don't play video games. I don't RP or do any other writing. Everything else fun that I usually do in my free time has been booted til next month. If I'm not at a write-in, I go home around 5-6PM and literally write until after midnight with no major breaks. I write on my lunch breaks.
It's not pretty, and it takes a lot of self-discipline, but it is possible.
----------Goal: 200k. My wordcount was going to be an average, but we need to beat the pants off Denver, right?
Novelling since 2004. Current word total: 833k. Aiming for 1mil before the end of 2009.
Part of the evil triumvirate of Atlanta.
100,315 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 10 26
Yesterday I only wrote 2000 words. There are days it's a struggle for me, too. Most days I just have an idea of what I want to say or where the story is going or am feeling particularly verbiose and I can get more words out, too. On top of that, I'm a pretty fast typer. Not 100 WPM fast, but still pretty fast. But then there are the days where I'm busy or I don't know where the story is going, I've gotten so seriously derailed, and I just can't write as much.
124,870 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 10 51
My answer: I have no life. Seriously.
I wake up, drink coffee, open OpenOffice (or writeordie.drwicked.com) and just get going. I can write around 2000-2500 words in an hour. Only time I need to get up is for more coffee, bathroom/bathing breaks and then back to the laptop. (Okay, sometimes I hug my cats. And spend around an hour with my family/eating. I only eat once a day, usually.) Plus, I'm having fun. Browsing the forums takes up a large chunk of my time, unfortunately, and I like to pause and read something when I get tired of my own story.
Don't feel inadequate. As much as I love writing, I think I would rather have more of a life than a high word count. The people who have both have definitely earned my admiration but I don't see this as a race or a contest. It's all about reaching a personal goal.
That said, crying in the shower is really cathartic. Make sure to bring a notebook with you to write down any ideas that might spring to mind.
----------"Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed." -Ray Bradbury
90,657 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 18 43
I wrote 20k on the first day. I've slowed down considerably since then because I don't have hours to spare every day.
-------------
Witty signature feature broken. Please try again later.
http://www.sushimustwrite.com
22,527 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 04 28
Well, I for one started this about 5 days late with no real plan in mind and came down with a tummy bug (while DH went out of town for 4 day class) on the heels of dealing with a little one who caught the flu ... Oh, you meant the folks with high word counts... *sigh*... I feel your pain. I'll share my box of tissues with you.
:)
(But I'm still having a blast anyway.)
21,050 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 42
Yesterday I went to a write-in. I wasted pretty much half the time (or more) chatting away with my two companions, but with the 15-minute word wars I met my quota for both today and yesterday. I was pretty proud of myself. The only problem with it is that now I don't know how I'm going to get myself to write a lot today since I have that lovely cushion behind me. For me, the idea of NaNo is "motivation by desperation", so knowing that I'm ahead... well... that's not a good way to keep me going. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to try today, it's just hat I won't have as much motivation to turn off the TV or stop reading random threads on NaNo. I'm very much an amateur writer, so I haven't developed very good habits as of now to keep me going, which is why NaNo is the best thing in the world for me to actually get around to finishing things. Hats off to those who already have ridiculous word counts, but I'm content with my own slowly growing skill and word count.
Lydia <3
----------NaNoWriMo 2009: /50K -The Mind
10,745 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 07 06
I'm with you! I only started a few days ago, but I basically had to put every normal activity of my life on hold to get up to where I am right now. and with school and work being entirely unavoidable for the rest of the month, I have a feeling my social life is going to take a bit of a hit.
I'm having a blast as well though, and that's really what counts, right? That's what I'm telling myself anyway!
52,175 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 09 16
I have no life, basically. And, luckily, no homework, although I do need to go work on that essay. -skitters off-
----------Really, it's just shutting up the inner editor and writing and only editing typos and stupid grammar things.
High School Class of 2013 - REPRESENT!
This is my first year of NaNoWriMo and already I love it!
Most productive day: Nov 1 - 14057 words written
I won NaNo on: Nov 7
47,300 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 09 30
I'm cool with just finishing on time. This is my first NaNo, and regular sleep, meals, etc. are more important to me than getting a lot of words in. :-)
----------Read my last line of the night on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MuninnHrafn
50,087 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 09 49
Lydia <3
A fun and good way to keep yourself going is Write or Die,
----------http://writeordie.drwicked.com/
For stories have lives of their own
But what good's a story whose end is unknown
~Savatage~
115,558 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 09 53
Welp, when I first got the idea, it was October. I was starting to get pictures of scenes in my head dure'n then, and I couldn't write it because it was for NaNo. So, there was all this anticipation building and building...being only able to outline and jot down a few small points...and then when November 1st finally rolled around, BAM! I churned out over 10k words on the first day due to Mount Anticipation erupting.
I'm doing a mystery, but it's not just one case for the entire month. I have separate, smaller cases that are between 3-5 chapters and 7k-10k per case on average (just something I discovered when I began writing them, though I knew it'd have at least 3 chapters...the case, the investigation, and the big reveal). I've been trying to do one a day since I have ideas for them currently...a couple have spanned over two days, like yesterday's case...I didn't get to finish that one, yet, but what I had for yesterday was around 4k for the first chapter of the case.
I don't use any tricks...I don't even use padding (I frankly can't stand padding, and it takes away from the story). I saw someone mention some sort of device or program that can help up the wordcount...I have no clue what the heck that is. Didn't even know it existed.
I write maybe 3-4 hours a day, and not all at the same time cause I just can't sit still that long. Plus, it's just fun to write, and I enjoy doing it. This is the first year I've hit 50k before halfway through the month, but it's not as hard as I used to think it was when I break it down into a collection of shorter stories like I've done for this year. That, and I'm having much more success in writing mystery than fantasy, which was what I did for the previous years (except last year, which was fanficiton, but that was a success, too, actually).
Just find something that clicks and that you enjoy writing. That's all there is to it. No big secret or neeth'n.
----------2009 - "Unlocking Murder"
2008 - Winner - "Will of Fire"
2007 - Winner - "Butterfly"
2006 - Winner - "Amber"
Wearable DRAGONS and PLOT BUNNIES at the MYSTIC DEN!
82,738 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 22 33
My history with NaNo has been somewhat dramatic and for years I have been known as one of the site's yearly returning over achievers. To reach 50k was never once my goal, heck, I write more than that in a normal month anyways, 50k is nothing (for me at least.) My word counts each year have soared through the roof, and by my past history I should have reached 50k several days ago. (Last year I hit 50k on day 3 - which inspired an inbox full of flaming NaNoHateMails).
My goal this year was simple: To beat my word count from last year (which was 238,135). To make things simple, I just said I'll aim at 250k, but than I added, I'd really like to double that and go for 500k this year.
Well, that was in October. Than October 20th I had a stroke. Nothing big, but enough to slow me down and make me lose a bit of my coordination skills, which are slowly returning, but still, I'm having difficulty with some things I previously had no problems with. Than to make things just a little bit worse, due to my being in the doctor's office on the 21st, I ended up coming down with H1N1 flue on the 23rd, and was out of sorts for the next 14 days, bed ridden from the worst flue I've ever had in my entire life.
Long story short - my first week at NaNoWriMo this year was cut drastically due to my health not being at it's peak, and now instead of being in the 100k range I should be at by the end of week one, I'm ended with first week of NaNoWriMo with a miserable 30k. :( :( :(
I'm feeling much better this week, so hopefully I well get back on track. In any case, seeing how I'm so far behind, I don't think it's a realistic goal for me to be aiming at 250k any more. I could probably do it if I pushed myself, but I'm still not 100% over the flue yet, so pushing myself is not really an option this year. As a result I changed my goal. My new goal is to end at some point between 100k and 500k. I figure I'm still in the running to hit 100k before the end of the month, and as long as I do that, I'll be happy, but than once I hit 100k, I plan to keep right on going, just to see how far past it I can make it before the 30th.
As for, how I do it? Well, this year, of course my health has slowed me down, but even so, I'm still getting a pretty high word count. There is however a simple answer to your question:
I am a professional writer. I don't have a "regular" day job. Writing IS my day job. I wrote my first book in 1978 and haven't stopped since. I write fiction, non-fiction, how to books, short stories, articles, chap books, children's chapter books, novels, novellas, and I write an average of 7k words per day, 5 days per week, 52 weeks per year, for the last 31 years.
I'm an "older" woman. In other words, I finished school many years before most of the other NaNoWriters were even born. Thus I have no school work to worry about either.
I am single. No husband or children under feet. I do however have 19 cats.
I do not have a TV. I can write during times when other NaNoWriters are being interrupted by their Soaps, News, Sports, whatever.
I suffer from Agoraphobia. I've left the house less than a dozen times in the past 30 years.
My day goes like this:
I get up at 7AM and start writing.
Around noon I cook lunch, and than check the forums (which is why I'm here at this very moment.)
From about 2PM to about 7PM I do whatever needs being done around the house/yard. If I have time I read during this time too.
Between 7Pm - 9PM it's time to cook and eat and read.
At 9PM it's back on the computer to write until Midnight.
Five minutes before Midnight I update my word count that cruise the forums for a couple of hours.
I go to bed around 3AM, sleep 4 hours and start over again the next day.
That is my schedule all year long - not just during NaNoWriMo, btw. As you can see, my days are spent pretty much doing nothing but writing all day long each and every day. I average 8 hours of writing per day. Just as others spend 8 hours a day at work, so too do I spend 8 hours a day a work, it's just that I work at home and my job is to write.
What that all means is, I am at home 24 hours a day, and thus I am writing morning, noon, and night. And NaNoWriMo or no NaNoWriMo, I would being writing 100k to 200k this month anyways, so I might as well do it here with you guys rather than do it alone, like I do the rest of the 11 months of the year.
So, when you look at those of us who are way far ahead of the rest, think of it this way - most of us, have done NaNoWriMo many years now, and most of us are profession full time or part time writers who would have written this much anyways, even if NaNoWriMo did not exist, AND once upon a time, long ago and far a way, we were like you, trying to figure out how others found time to write. We didn't always write like this. It took us many years of practice to learn how to make time to write.
If you have time (like 4 or 5 hours) to read a really long, really detail explanation about how I do it, you can read this: http://www.squidoo.com/The13StepMethod which I wrote specifically for NaNoWriters who ask this question to me dozens of times every single year.
Think of it as playing the piano - you don't start out at Carnegie Hall, it takes years of practice to get there. You can't do it over night, but if you stick with it and devote years of your life to practicing, you will eventual reach your goal and become, the writer with high word counts. Slow and steady wins the race, so, don't worry about it. Just write what you can, when you can. If you have to, get up an hour earlier and go to bed an hour later and write while eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Oh yeah - and Moxie - seriously - lots of Moxie. I drink two cases of Moxie a week during November. The caffeine high has me writing at super hyper speeds, even when I had H1N1 and shouldn't have been able to write a word. Forget RedBull giving you wings - Moxie gives you jets packs!
----------Incubus: Fear the Night
http://twitter.com/EelKat
http://www.facebook.com/EelKat
http://eknano.blogspot
63,912 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 11 37
Two ways:
* Pre-planning. I've been making notes on index cards since early summer, and spending October rearranging them into an outline of sorts. I work much, much better if the big picture is set up in advance, and all I need to do in November is focus on the current chunk of the story, knowing that the overall direction of the tale is taken care of (if not fully fleshed out.)
* Using a manual typewriter. Seriously. No chance of time-sucking on the forums or email or the Net or whatever when it's just me and something utterly incapable of doing anything other than putting words-on-page. My writing sessions are crazy productive this year because I have no other choice -- I can write, or just look like an idiot sitting in front of a typewriter.
I prefer the non-idiot route.
----------http://clickthing.blogspot.com
26,829 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 02 18
-looks at all the green bars- I'm going to go sulk in the corner again for a half hour before continuing on my story...see you all in the dark hole we call jealousy soon... xD
----------First Year Participating;
2009 Story - Stellar Major! - Fanfiction based on,
"Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century" and it's sequels.
51,845 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 03 55
They worked very very very hard
----------*collapses*
_________________
Nano '09 - In Progress!
Nano '08 - 53k
Nano '07 - 55k
Nano '06 - 70k
Nano '05 - 33k (but complete)