I promised myself that I would write at least 2000 words on the first day because, well it is Sunday! If I cannot reach 2000 on November 1st then what hope have I got?
I am proud to say that I have managed 2458 words in two and a half hours and it all flowed fairly easily. That is not to say that I am confident I can keep that up day after day for most of the next 29 days but it is the first target overcome.
I have to say that one thing I have found useful is the 'anything goes' rule. I do have a plot but I have allowed myself to veer off into sidelines and philosphical musings several times and to be honest have not advanced the plot itself very much at all but so what? I have managed to do the opening chapter which is an important part and I have started to lay the foundations and if I have not get any further then I have still got at least 47500 words remaininbg to get me to the final line, which I have already, nearly arbitrarily, selected :-) Damn! thats is nearly two hundred wasted words I could have spent on my story!
----------
40,003 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 03 50
*laughing* wait until week 2 when the grind hits. Then you begrudge every word you type that isn't adding to your word count ;)
Go you, that's a great effort for Nov 1st! I'm starting night shifts tonight, so I thought what the hell and began NaNoing about 1am this morning, figured my body clocks going to get all messed up anyway and I could catch up with sleep later in the day right? I got to just over 2K mark.
Personally, and based on previous NaNo experience, I'd say going with your veerings and musings are the right way to go. Who knows what weird and wonderful things you'll discover along the way about your world and characters or what random tangents your novel will throw up that you'd never have uncovered if you'd kept to too rigid a plan :) I love spinning off on random rambles, you can always bring yourself back on track later if you find you've veered too far and have lost your course :)
Plus, if you decide to edit your NaNovel at a later date, you might find that although those musings and veerings didn't fit at the point you originally wrote them, there may be just the spot for them elsewhere in your novel, so worth getting them down I think :)
Good luck with the rest of the day!
547 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 04 00
Well props on getting that far ahead. I'm aiming for 2000 by the end of the day, but y'know, not until the end of the day. I wrote a token 500 words at midnight (just so I could say I started at midnight) and I'm going to have a proper writing session - with a big pot of Earl Grey and some very bad weather which I'm sure is about as inductive to writing as you can get.
Whereabouts are you in Kent? There are going to be regular meet ups in Canterbury so you can make us feel inferior about our word counts.
I still have to write essays for uni, poems for open mic nights and forum postings across the Internet to maintain my twisted social life - I'm going to try not to resent them too much. :)
51,009 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 14 15
Do we know of any other meet-ups in Kent? Canterbury's a bit far to be travelling on a regular basis this month, sadly =(
Since my friends and I are located in the Medway Towns, I can guarantee there's at least the three of us in that sort of area. Any chance of any meet-ups near where we are?
(Also, yay for midnight writing! I kept myself up and writing last night. Quite a thrilling experience, but then this morning I realised what I'd written barely made any sense D=)
EDIT: Aha! There's another thread about the Medway and Maidstone areas. Good times.
22,167 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 14 45
Ahhh.....finally!
That 1st post was v.funny - I really want to write more, but I'm thinking I'm going to keep the momentum and hopefully the excitement that I feel now will carry me through until tomorrow! I think we are actually going to do this!
I'm from Ashford, btw - Yeah, yeah, go on...point and laugh! :o)
Good luck for tomorrow everyone! Go Us!
xx
41,768 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 17 27
I'm at the Uni in Canterbury and just joined yesterday. This is a damn fine way of exercising my muse!
32,883 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 00 51
I am also at the Uni at Canterbury (Kent, not Christ Church) and really enjoying this. If anyone can give me any more info on when the meet ups are taking place that would be awesome.
22,167 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 14 23
I graduated at UKC in 2001! How's it going? My plot is already going to pot - I'm so far out of the outline I originally planned, so tomorrow I'll try to work it back.
What are you Canterbury students studying??
keep it going everyone ....a couple of hours of freewriting a day - not much really, when you look at it - We can do this.....:o)
39,043 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 14 39
Glad to hear it's going alright for everyone so far! I feel my word count is really lame at the moment, being a third year at Uni sucks!! Don't have nearly enough time to write :( but hopefully the weekends will be nice in donating time :]
Anyway, for anyone who's interested in the Canterbury meets, they will be happening weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays from about 4-7pm at Costa on the High Street. (Although I think one of the Thursday meets will be happening at Starbucks!)
----------Get in touch with me for more info. Alternatively, if you're a Facebook user, join the Canterbury NaNo group!!
(Which can be found here )
--Nuri