So.
I'm failing. Miles behind the crowd, needing to average something like 4k a day until the end of the month if I'm going to win.
I've got a million and one excuses, some of which are actual genuine reasons. It's not been easy.
There's also lots of us in the same boat. I can almost smell the hints of negativity on the forum. I for one can feel failure looming over me. That and an awareness that if I wasn't in the word war we'd be winning. I'm losing hope, and I'm letting us all down.
But you want to know something.
I am no failure. No matter what your word count, you've already done something amazing. Something that thousands (or maybe millions) of people talk about doing, and about a tenth of that number attempt.
I mean, seriously, I'm writing my second novel.
And it's better than the first.
We're here because we tried. We here because we dared to take on something excessive, stupid and extreme. Some of us aren't making it, but we've tried. We've tried to achieve something amazing, absolutely incredible, and we've already done something great.
You remember that paragraph, two to ten thousand words ago, the one that you really liked. That was really amazing. You genuinely did that, all by yourself, and it was absolutely brilliant.
That's an achievement.
Remember that day you somehow stumbled out of bed with a hangover and somehow managed to write three thousand words, even though you couldn't get it together enough to make toast.
That's an achievement.
And it's all because you tried.
Now, here's the key.
I for one, am going to keep on trying. I'm going to try and get 4k a day. I'm going to put in a final day marathon effort, and I'm going to write my socks off (though I don't really wear socks, so that might be easier for me than it would be for others).
And then, even if I don't get there, I know I'll have achieved something even more amazing.
Okay, so this is getting more than a little cheesy. But does anyone else know where I'm coming from?
None of us are failures, but all of us can keep on trying, and that's what'll make us great.
Thanks for listening to me rant.
Now lets get writing.
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Mutability is our tragedy, but it is also our hope -Boethius
57,058 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 05 28
I think what Alabaster's trying to say is: "We did something amazing this month, and that makes us mighty."
50,026 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 05 30
Yeah, but he used sooooo many more words! :-)
50,060 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 07 29
But, oh, what words!
I sat down to check the boards before doing some tidying up - my house looks like a bomb's hit it and I have given myself the afternoon off to clear it up, it's doing me 'ead in.
But now - I'm gonna write, man!
(to capture that californian idiom we all seem to slip into when getting motivational on nano!)
Thanks Alabaster
50,197 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 08 48
Every day it is getting harder and harder to begin writing, my back and arms are starting to ache so much it's hard getting to sleep at night. But I've got to carry on, because if I see this out then I'll have achieved something ... I'll have written a novel!
2.5k words a day is a pretty daunting target for me (I'm a very slow writer) but I'm determined to do it. Because fighting against insurmountable odds is the stuff from which stories are made, it's not passing the finish mark with 50k done that makes it important ... it's the striving to get there. It's the late nights and the early mornings, it's trying to get there despite of all the obstacles in your way.
Great stories aren't about people who had an easy time, it's about people who have to struggle against adversity, however insignificant that adversity may seem when set against the Real World™
I'm all for making a great story ... and writing a novel while I'm at it.
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Fata Tractabilia Mutationi
50,072 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 11 19
Alabaster, i suggest putting your pep talk into your novel, make one of your characters say it!
50,403 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 12 08
Way to go Alabaster.
Like you said, it's not too late! Keep burning the midnight oil, keep writing. We have faith in you. We may not win the war, but we can have the biggest number of finishers. I hit a really rough patch at about 20k when I decided I really I had already finished, but thanks to a couple of challenges, I've been able to push through that and now I'm almost back on track. Now it's a question of plugging away and trying to get a little bit ahead. So, keep going Alabaster, we're all with you.
60,477 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 16 06
About a week ago, I wanted to give up. I was getting nowhere, half my characters were cardboard cut outs with no journey, no sub plot and nothing they wanted. I was tired, I had a cold, my family were making demands on me, and I got a commission to do something else which took me away from this. I had a good cry.
Then, I made a cup of tea, sat down at the computer and told myself, just write this. It doesn't matter if you have to rewrite later. Just go for it. Put in those adjectives and adverbs you would normally shun. You can take them out in December. Go back and add in bits that round out subordinate characters - but CUT NOTHING. I'm still here. (The restorative power of a cup of tea, eh?)
Tips people have given me. If you have a character with one name, give them three or four. Make Arthur "Arthur Henry John Smith". Use the find and replace facility to replace all Arthurs with this name. You just upped your word count by 3 times however many Arthurs you had written. I didn't use this, since I am verbose enough without it, but it's worth knowing.
If you make notes to yourself, or work on ideas for a scene, as long as you did those notes in November, you can put them in the count.
Hope they help someone.
And hey, we still have eight days!
50,197 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 17 23
Tea heals all wounds.
Writer's block? Tea.
Low word count? Tea.
Nothing happening in your plot? Tea.
Life being thoroughly awful? Tea.
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Fata Tractabilia Mutationi
50,197 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 17 27
Oh, and congratulations on winning!
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Fata Tractabilia Mutationi
4,205 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 17 40
Zombie attack? Tea.
(Says she who has been spending more time playing Call of Cthulhu than writing.)
42,615 / 50,000
Nov 28, 2007 - 10 04
I agree fully with Al. So much so that I think the best example your MLs can set this year is to be models of underachievement.
What the heck...we've had fun getting this far...