This email is a cheerful high-five to all of you who are already behind on the daily word count goal. Woohoo!
I am currently standing on 4,631 words. Not even a lousy 5,000! But hey, am I giving up? Nyooooooo!
I thought about quitting, claiming that I'm really not "in the mood to make stuff up." (I bet you students have had many thoughts like this; feeling pulled between your educational responsibilities and this "fun stuff.") However, I am looking at this as a wonderful exercise in self-discipline. Today I discovered what it is that has been making this process so slow (other than going on a 4-day holiday with my family). First point: I am just starting to get to know my characters. I keep asking, "Who ARE you? What's your name?" and the second illustrious point is that I have no idea what I'm doing! Really!
Writing is much easier when you just fantasize about it!
Keep up the good work!
Kim
P.S. Remember on the Hello My Name is interview, someone asked the question Real names or Fake names (something liek that) That question is buzzing in my head each day as more and more characters pop up. I finally had to surrender and named one of my characters "Grant Hollow". Boy am I having fun with that one!
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Nurture your inner compost. One day flowers may grow.
52,037 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 15 42
Heh, I'm with you Kimberly. Falling behind miserably, but determined to strive onward! Looks like it's going to be a long night...but thanks for sharing, you've made me feel less alone in my current under achievement. ^_^
11,302 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 16 53
"Aren't you a little behind on your word count?" Asked Hime's wife.
"I'll catch up tomorrow." replied Himegoto the day before yesterday.
50,940 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 17 48
Look at me, all ML'd and no time to write. I'm falling behind already. I owe one friend the household chore of her choice already and have given in to flu-like symptoms and had to hand off duty for tonight's write in. I'm there in spirit, friends. Holding steady at 4360.
55,387 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 20 36
*lol*
Oh, I'm behind too... I think after cranking out 5k today I *might* be where I was supposed to be yesterday. :)
(I haven't written a thing for three days which may have something to do with it....)
It's always reassuring when you see that even Chris Baty isn't up to 10k. :)
Yes, to some degree it's a contest. But writing anything is still an accomplishment. There's this sort of natural wall many people find at the end of the second week. Keep pushing, guys, you'll get there. Even if it's drivel, keep writing.
Have your character fantasize about how it would feel to be a chain link fence or something. Bake chocolate cake with your villain. Write a whole page in rhyming couplets. Your MC just failed a test and now has to go scrub the lab tables with a toothbrush. Sometimes being a little silly can push you through. If silly's not your bag, just promise yourself ten minutes a day. You can manage ten minutes. Then see if you can't find ten minutes twice a day.
I understand that life happens. I mean heck, my Co-ML had her boss show up from head office to take her out to dinner and left me to manage fifteen people on my own at the write-in. *lmao* I've got all these people with no kit bags and no spare name badges and it's like ..."Hi, um, your name was...?" *thwack* I've got a concert on the second of December and pieces we still haven't started learning in choir. Most of us have day jobs and fambly and volunteer stuff and school (which can be all three to varying degrees).
There's a maxim in almost any realm you can imagine that amounts to the truth that, if you put the intention to do task X out into the universe, the universe has a tendency to push back in order to see if you really mean it. So it's really quite normal to start Nano and then have your life suddenly become complete and utter chaos. Just keep writing. Really. Eventually the universe decided you're no fun because it can't make you give up and goes to find someone else to bug. :)
Just keep plugging away at it. And don't be afraid to have fun with it. Most of us just do this for fun and are not professional writers by trade or inclination. It doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, in some ways, the less perfect it is, the easier it is to write. I regularly break the fourth wall with my characters when they're being stubborn (a theatre term, it means to address the audience directly and make a comment about what is going on out of context of the scene). No, it would never make the final edit, but sometimes it's funny. :)
Yay for being behind. Just think of it as having a lot more room to improvise. :)
-Bets-
1,908 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2007 - 11 18
Real life hijacked me and I have no chance of catching up this year. Maybe I'll just have to alternate my NaNo years. I can do it. Did it last year. Have my plot and characters completely ready. Just haven't had the mental desire or the time this year. New baby, busy work schedule, etc.
50,425 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2007 - 13 50
Aaah new babies and busy work schedules, now THAT 's something I can relate too. Congratulations by the way!
I thought about scrapping my project too. When the two little ones (the third one is in school) go down for their nap, that's when I settle down with the laptop. I know I only have 2 hours, maybe 2 1/2 so when it's time, I know it's all business.
It's been a frustrating, although rewarding, challenge. I've never written creatively like this before. When I sit down, I have no idea what I'm going to write but by the first cries from the crib, I've managed to eek out 1,200 words (which, unfortunately, is less than the daily word count.). Then the kids are up and the routine and obligations of life resume until the next writing opportunity. Then the next day it all starts over, including the mystery of what I will write. For example, today I created a character named "Angela". Who knew? Not me!
My current word count is 7,104 so not even a measly 10,000, but I'm still enjoying the process. This experience has been my "calgon moment", a time in which I do something only for me for my benefit.
So, by now you can probably deduce that this is my thinly-veiled attempt at saying: Don't give up!
Good luck!
6,200 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 00 44
So I figured out today that if I want to make this work, I need 6000 words a day until the end of the month. Can I do it? Not a clue. Am I gonna try? Heck yeah. :)
Peace,
Rob