Hey Everyone,
I'm 47, but my b/f is 59, that's an avg of 53...please don't make me go to those other groups, have you read through those posts?
:-)
I thought I would invite the idea for those of us who need a 'check in' - a place to post their accountability. Maybe I'm just a nervous newby, but if your relating to this idea, your welcome to do it here! ...okay sing it with me now:
"THERE'S... Ahhhhh PLACE FOR US"
This is not an excuse center, this is a celebration forum! (um, was that motivating enough to start us off?)
----------
cathyformusa
40,455 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2009 - 18 29
I 'll take that as a "No"
----------cathyformusa
69,021 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2009 - 18 45
Oh, don't go Cathyformusa! I'm sure you just didn't give enough time for responses. I know you must be welcome here! Don't worry, you don't have to hang out with the young'uns! A page for accountability sounds fine to me.
----------Barbara/Myth Maker
http://www.roadsidegems.blogspot.com
32,445 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2009 - 18 52
Cathy,
Please stay, we really are friendly. I've got a couple of friends who are also doing NaNo and we are pledged to mutual support and butt-kicking, but I think this thread is a great idea for those who don't have that (or even those who do).
Patricia
----------The good ended happily and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means - Oscar Wilde
2009: Swan's Wing
25,099 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2009 - 20 27
daily ACCOUNTABILITY sounds like a good thing - I'm just waiting for November - to start being accountable
and asking for others to be as well.
But I'm definitely with you once we get going.
"SOMEWHERE... Ahhhhh PLACE FOR US......."
----------Chance is only Fate using a pen name ~ ej runyon
'01 Your Little Red Book...'02 Treasure Island Vin Rose (win)...'03 A House of Light and Stone (win)..'05 Good People (win)..'06 Subway Tunes (win)...'07 900 miles (win)
'08 Bridge to Story
26,989 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2009 - 20 30
Kathy,
Age isn't an issue in this forum--we have senior Seniors, we have middlin' Middles & we also get "youngsters" who just like the vibe in here. You are most welcome & no creative math is required! lol We're prolly the most inclusive age group on NaNo, but that said, what with different time zones, jobs, families, etc--not every post gets its due acknowledgment for awhile sometimes...I hope you'll stick around.
----------~Mer
ML-Modesto Region, CA
Co-moderator: NaNo Rebels thread
"I'm Gonna Wave my nerd Flag High"
"Put 'em up! Put 'em uuuup!!"
43,004 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 09 15
welcome to the 50+ group, Cathy. I was kind of the same way when I saw this forum (other than being completely legal by about three months). I read the description: free of whippersnappers, rocking chairs, and secretly knowing that 50+ers have the highest win rate at NaNo, and I knew it was where I wanted to be.
I like the idea of the daily check-in. Being something of a techno-geek, I made myself an Excel sheet where I can log each day's "mileage" and compare it to either a straight-line word rate or an early acceleration schedule and see just how I'm doing.
----------An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered. - G. K. Chesterton
23,089 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 12 22
Color me adolescent and attitudinal, but I just bristle at the idea that I'm doing something *wrong* if I don't rack up some set number of words per day. Most years I don't even reach the 10k mark by mid-month, but I do still finish by the 30th. Every. Single. Year.
Some of us just aren't slow&steady writers, just as some of us aren't outliners or snowflakers. And while I think it's great to applaud other peoples' progress, I'd hate to see some folks becoming discouraged or feeling like failures because they're not marching to that 1,667words/day beat.
52,042 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 16 21
I've got an Excel-style spreadsheet, too. For me, it helps. And it's still a cheap thrill to see the numbers grow to something that approaches the total needed to be a novel. I like reporting my day's numbers. But to each his own.
Accountability isn't quite how I'd term the reporting, though. We're really only accountable to ourselves in NaNo. There are threads with all sorts of silly hints for cheating, but they're absurd. What are you going to do, display an icon saying you won when you didn't? That's messed up. And pointless.
I like to think of NaNo in terms of achievement, rather than living up to a stated goal. The one is strictly positive. The other has a lot of potential for entangling us in guilt, not to mention failure. I've read posts by people who beat themselves up for not "winning" NaNo. That attitude is a waste of their pain. So you didn't make 50k; so what? Maybe you made 30k and passed exams in November, or kept a household going, or retained your job and thus a roof over your head. Priorities.
Let's celebrate our successes, on this thread or others.
51,642 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 17 48
Everyone is welcome! We're here to encourage each other.
Each of us has his/her own style for NaNo, and it's like many other things, I think--there's no right or wrong way, only the way that's right for you. Keeping track daily helps me because I work well with structure. I have an Excel spreadsheet to track my word count, too.
That said, there are days in November when I'll sit in front of this computer and NOT WANT TO WRITE. And I'll just have to get over it, won't I?
----------36,754 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 18 50
Back when this was the Geezers, before we got our own forum, we had people from their 30s to their 70s in here. Have a seat wherever you feel comfortable.
I'm one who needs accountability. Otherwise -- I know myself -- I get lazy. I'm getting eager for Nano to start, although I'm nowhere near as prepared as I wanted to be.
----------2005 In Back of the North Wind WINNER!
2006 Leopard's Paw WINNER!
2007 The Old Straight Track (finished) WINNER!
2008 The Other Side of the Wall (finished) WINNER!
2009 Dark Inheritance
44,397 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 19 27
Give me your poor, your wretched, your NaNoers under the legal limit. Over 50 is a state of mind... albeit one that is frequently wondering what the heck you walked into a room to find... just like being young is a state of mind. Welcome. Please bring your own pablum or soft frozen yogurt.
----------We all should have accountability just by getting involved in this event, because accountability is that little nagging voice that keeps saying, "Ya know, you really could write another 100 words tonight." As my mother used to say, "Guilt is the great motivator... are you trying to kill you mother?"
And remember, at 47 (even if you didn't round it up) in dog years you'd be dead.
John Grisham once said he was thinking about giving up writing as it was "too easy." I'd bet 99.9% of all writers wanted to bitch-slap him at that point.
40,455 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 20 10
Wow..thanks for calling me back here Mythmaker, whoa! You folks are super great. I apologize for my fleeing so suddenly, I was feeling a bit gaumless for my idea. I suppose I used the word "accountability" from my fitness world, and realize it is maybe too harsh for such dedicated nanowrimo's ! (I don't know if there is a way to delete a posting?)
----------Your responses are filled with great writing and I am in a group of terrific people..
cathyformusa
39,505 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 09 16
I'm 57, newbie in NaNo, never thought about age when I decided to join in this year...... Until.......
There is a kick-off write-in (bruch) next sunday, in a city next to my city, and I thought, Okay! Fun! I'll go too, and I told them I would come to, but then.... ohhh shocks!!!.... I discoverd they are all 18-24 year old (students)... What now? Do I go? Do not go????
Any (encouraging) ideas, anyone of you 50+s???????
32,787 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 13 25
Well,
I'm 54 AND a first time college student finishing up her freshman year. . . so I understand the whole idea about hanging with the younger crowd. That being said - I love my peers at school no matter what their ages. I remember being that age and how frustrating it was when people (then my current age) wouldn't take me OR my ideas seriously because I was so young. Well, not about to make that mistake with any of the younger folks I attend school with. We've both actually been able to learn well from one another.
Just a plus.
Still, here I sit at 54 and doing NANO this year. Last year wanted to do this but was sick with breast cancer for the 3rd time. Got through it well and am in full remission right now.
Would love a little accountability - managing classes full time AND doing NaNo will be challenging to say the least. I've already decided not to bother with housework for the month. And fortunately, my boyfriend drives truck (professionally) for a living and I don't expect to see him any time before Thanksgiving. So.
Looks like it's all going to be relatively -- what? Easy is not quite the word I'm grasping for. But the accountability would be great.
I plan on 4 double spaced pages in the morning and another 4 double spaced pages in the evening. That should more than get my word count for the day in.
Best of luck to you all.
----------JJ
Herein lies the power of fiction -- You know the magic is there when your main character wakes up one day and takes that first faltering and raspy breath on her own and then announces that she has a much better idea than you did. -- JeH
55,819 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 13 57
Dorothee, I'm a 52-year-old newbie. My 15-year-old daughter did NaNoWriMo last year (came awfully close to 50k!!) and talked me into it this year with her (not writing together, you understand, but as buddies). [Aside: cathyformusa, our ages average to 33 years old, so I'd better leave this forum!] I get more excited each passing day. Can't wait for tomorrow (Nov 1). It is very fun to have a young person to write with ... you will give each other really fresh perspectives. The students will probably value your input as much as you'll relish theirs.
Wahoo! 6 hours to go in my time zone!
53,782 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 15 34
Zookeeper
You need accountability??
2005: In Back of the North Wind -- WINNER!
2006: Leopard's Paw -- WINNER!
2007: The Old Straight Track (finished) -- WINNER!
2008: The Other Side of the Wall (finished) -- WINNER!
2009: Dark Inheritance
Me I need accountability
2005 36000
2006 42000 words
2007 finished
2008 oops lost my jump drive before putting the thing in for verification LOL but I did over 50000
Now its 2009 and I'm off to a slow start but I'm on my way
Now if I could only finish a story I start (sigh)
53,782 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 15 53
Phoenix
I have the opposite problem. I generally get off to a roaring start and slow down big time by mid-month. Really going to have to work on it this year because I'll lose the use of my left arm (surgery on my elbow) after the 23rd.
I think accountability is a good thing.
Some of us do need that little added incentive "to get the job done."
Obviously that isn't true for the self motivators out there, but I need all the help I can get. Never felt I was doing something wrong when I don't meet some kind of goal, but it does goad me into greater efforts for the next day.
I hope people keep posting here. I need a place to be accountable.
58,894 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 16 14
I am jazzed! I got up at 6:30 and was sitting down at my laptop by 7. Between 7 and 9:15 or 9:30 I had a bath, ate breakfast and wrote 4000 words! And I don't think it's c**p, either! What a great start! I think I know what tomorrow's is going to be, too, and I am working out in to the future, too. Very cool.
Let's all be hopeful that we don't founder next week but today I am exultant! I even coerced by 13 year old niece to promise to read my daily offerings to 'proof ' it for me. How cool is that?
----------A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
26,000 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 11 50
A check-in thread is a nice idea.
Cathyformusa, if you've decided against using the word accountability, maybe it would let you edit and change just the title. I don't know what word might be better, though. I'm fine with it either way. I don't check in every day, though, and I've always tended to update my count sporadically.
So far, I'm off to my best start ever, since this is the first year I've been able to begin on November 1. I'm not setting the world on fire with my count, but so far, I've managed to make my word count goal both days. For the first time in my NaNoing history , I'm not behind:)
Best of luck, everyone.
58,894 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 16 47
Today didn't flow as smoothly as yesterday did but I still managed close to 3500 words and I think it's going in the right direction.
----------A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
2,331 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 22 31
The first day I didn't need it (so much). I'm in a play that is opening on Friday (6TH) so I'm trying to memorize things (like script and blocking) with a 50+ brain! I was heartened to hear that some of us don't start out at 1667 a day, yet manage to finish! That's what I'm heading for!
From Sunday the 8th onward, I'll take encouragement.
For now, I'll just hang in, write what I can, and know that the GRAPHS won't defeat me!
52,262 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 03 27
Hi Cathy and all my other "50+ NaNos",
Great idea. I like the "check-in" idea.
First two days went well and I managed to exceed (but just a little bit) my daily target. Now Day 3 and hm, I'm thinking about doing laundry (except I did it all last week), I've had two cups of coffee, I've made myself a pot of tea, I've refreshed my Facebook page innumerable times. And now, I'm really really really going to get down to writing. After I look in the refrigerator.
Today's target word count's 2,250. Will she make it?
Everyone have a great writing day. BicHokTam!
40,008 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 05 59
Didn't make my target yesterday. Just too tired to write last night after 10 hrs at work, a visit to Staples for a flash drive to back up with and a trip to the library to upload my words to e-mail. Still above the graff line if I can do 1700 today. Gonna write like mad on my lunch hour and really, really try when I get home. Don't want to get behind this first week, cause as we all know, the 2nd week is really hard.
0 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 07 56
Cathyformusa,
I just started this thing today, so I'm already 6000 words behind, and have a day full of errands before I can start. Not only do I need accountability, I need time-travel, a cheerleading squad, and possibly a miracle. Count me in for whatever accountability you and these other fine 50+ folks agree on. (I'll explore this forum thang more thoroughly when I get back from the grocery store and sit down to write.)
Mutual support and celebration, yes!
Cheers,
Jkar (age about 60) from California
47,834 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 08 38
Hi Cathy,
I like the idea of checking in daily, stops us from feeling lonely. After all writing is a pretty lonesome activity. I feel like I need some human contact.
As my name over on the left suggests, I live in the Netherlands but I am Scottish. I am in my 50s and this is my first NaNo.
Strangely enough, I always thought I would write a novel one day, but a couple of years ago, I mentally crossed that off my list of things to do before I die. Then I heard about NaNo and here I am.
It is strange how easy it is going at the moment. It can't possibly last! I am meeting my daily targets, so far.
Good luck with your writing,
Dawn
51,945 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 09 25
There is a kick-off write-in (bruch) next sunday, in a city next to my city, and I thought, Okay! Fun! I'll go too, and I told them I would come to, but then.... ohhh shocks!!!.... I discoverd they are all 18-24 year old (students)... What now? Do I go? Do not go????
Any (encouraging) ideas, anyone of you 50+s???????
Hi there Dorothee!!
Sorry I didn't see this post earlier, hope you are still reading. Going to send you a PM anyway. Did you go? I didn't (or I would have known) for the same reason. I have been thinking of organizing some write-ins for erm...batty old ladies like you and me who would rather get together in a nice quiet Grand Café or something like that, instead of a very noisy one. Anyway, I'll PM you and then we can natter about that in Dutch.
----------2008: Lapis Lazuli (historical fiction) - WON! (57K)
2009: Vicit Vim Virtus (historical fiction) - WON! (51K)