how to not be intimidated by everyone else word counts?

I try to include stuff that I like in my writing. And no more looking at other people's word count! =D
Write about stuff you like a lot and before you know it the words will pile up. And don't keep checking your own word count either. Write!

I tell myself very pointedly that I'm doing this for myself, and that it doesn't matter how fast I get there so long as I make it before the month is out. It also helps when I remember that if I write too fast I have a higher tendency to burn out.

Choose to be guilt free about not writing as quickly. Write to meet your goals for the day, and then if no more inspiration comes, don't sweat it! Do something else, enjoy the rest of the day, your novel will be waiting for tomorrow and burn-out will be the furthest thing from your mind. And who knows, maybe inspiration will sneak up on you when you least expect it.

I choose to believe that everyone who is not me is a liar. I know that most of them probably aren't, given how friendly and helpful and honest many of the forum-goers are, but I've found that a constant state of denial helps my psyche.

Of course, that's only for when I actually look at other NaNoers' word counts. Mostly I try not to. Ignorance is bliss, man. XD

My word count is the only one that matters to me.

The search has begun, this is page one. Man meet your maker, I give you... the Author. --The Author, The Academy Is...

I only got to where I am because Sunday is my day off and I have the first seven chapters planned really well for my story. I wrote 12K on Sunday, but don't be discouraged by everyone. I saw someone on 40K the other day and was like O_O.

Think of it this way, everyone has different styles of planning, of writing, different timetables etc, so some people who ahve nothing to do the first three days of November, but are busy the rest of the month, may have stayed up for 12-13 hours a day rushing to get as much in as possible because they know their schedule; whereas people who have school and work, can only get a couple of hours in of a night, and on the weekends say, so their word count is lower. Take me. Sunday is my only day off so this is how my word count went for the first three days.

Sunday - 12001
Monday - 3833
Tuesday - 2830

That's how much my word count has varied from when I had my day off to when I go to work in the week ^_^. Also, look at things this way, are you keeping up with the daily track limit of 1667 words per day. Because if you are, you'll finish in time.

Don't worry about others, worry about your own. All that matters is you getting yourself there, not you watching other people getting there. It doesn't matter how long it takes you, as long as you get there by the 30th. Good Luck! Hope what I've written has helped!

First NaNo year!!!

NaNo 2009 - Lullaby 51763 - Winner

Just try to remember that if you get 50,000 words by the end of November, you win. Someone who has 500,000 doesn't win harder than you, or more than you. 50k or 500k you both get a certificate and a winner bar. The 500k people don't get a sparklier one, I promise.

Mmm, I like to look at other people's wordcount because I know they all approach their novels differently and that approach is reflected in their wordcount. I don't feel intimidated, because I know I can get to 50k in a month. This is my first year of having achieved this much within such a short period of time and the cause of that is mostly the fact that we started out in a weekend. I always write more during Saturday and Sunday than I do during the week.

The thing is that I can't do word wars and competitions to save my life. I don't even like their concept. So, I rely on my own self-discipline and the weekends in order to get anywhere during NaNo. Everyone approaches this differently and you should not feel intimidated because of other people's wordcounts. You'll get to 50k in your own time and it'll be just as valuable of a 50k than mine or anyone else's.

hope is more than a postponed disappointment.

I respect those ahead of me, rather than get intimidated by them. There are people who have already genuinely quadrupled my 25k, and I have so much respect for their determination and self-motivation. That, and of course I feel tremendously for their wrists! :P

If you're feeling uncomfortable, you can exit where you entered, baby, that's fo' sho.

'06: Relying on You.
'07: A Map of the World.
'08: Vos Poings.
'09: Prince Charming.

Why do you worry about what other people are doing if you're not competitive by nature and you can't participate in word wars (I don't either, though I am competitive - I like calculating where I am in my age group in terms of percentile so much I only let myself calculate it once every three days.)

This is like a marathon. Okay, fine, some dude is going to run the thing in less than three hours, and that's great for him, but are you going to let his time keep you from doing your best or having fun or achieving whatever it is you joined the event to accomplish in the first place?

If they had set up a "Write 100,000 Words In 100 Hours!!!!" website, you probably wouldn't have joined. Some people look at NaNo, and literally write for a living, and say "50,000 words would be a terrible month for me, but I like the camaraderie and such so I'll sign up and it'll be fun and maybe I can inspire some other people." You joined NaNo with a different goal than they did, and that's fine. Arguably a person who does their 1,667 words a day is closer to the NaNo ideal than one who does 25,000 words a day. The 1,667-word person is certainly a lot more common.

And by the way, though I think it's always a logical fallacy for a noncompetitive writer to compare his or her wordcount to that of another person, it's even more of an error on day two or day three. Some of us type 100 words per minute and are spectacularly inconsistent. I have done and won NaNo five times and never, not one single year, written even remotely similar wordcounts from day to day. There has been at least one 5,000+ word day (usually a 12,000+ word day) every year. There have been between five and fifteen 0 word days, every year. Last year I had 10,000 words at the end of day 1 and had to write about 20,000 words after Thanksgiving. I would love to have the discipline to write over a thousand words every day for thirty days. Trying again this year. Sixth time's the charm?

Again, marathon. Put your head down and pay attention to your water intake and don't worry about the performance of people you already know you don't care about.

Sarah Marie Parker-Allen

Around chapter 8 my main character has to decide whether or not to undo the events that led to the total annihilation of Austin, Chicago, Lima (Peru) and Vancouver/Seattle. It's harder than it sounds, okay?

I always remember that at the end of the month, you can't tell who hit 50K when unless you go all the way into their stats. It just says 50K, not 50K reached on November 3rd. That helps a lot.

Also, regarding word wars... do them with yourself. Not with the forum. (Although even in there, they're very non-competitive.) Set a timer and write your heart out for ten minutes, or fifteen, then try to keep breaking your own record.

I always used to be intimidated by people with high words counts. Just keep in mind that their (our? wow) word counts probably weren't that high when they started.

That said:
I failed miserably my first year at NaNo. Didn't even reach 13k by November 28th and just gave up.
On my second year, I won, but just barely. I pulled an all-nighter on the 30th to be able to make it.
On my third year, I won by Nov 27th, I believe.

This is my fourth year. I had never, ever been able to get such a high word count in such a short amount of time. But I have realized that practice does make perfect (or at least decent), and the more I write, the faster and better I can do it.

So just keep at it, and keep on writing :) If you are consistent and really dedicated to your writing, in a few years you too will be bragging about an insane word count!

~o~

If live gives you lemons, make orange juice. Let the rest of the world wonder how the #$%# you managed it.

Si la vida te da limones, has jugo de naranja y deja que el resto del mundo se pregunte cómo carajos lo lograste.

This is my first Nano, and I am very intimidated by other posters word count!

My plan was to do 2000 words on Sunday, then 1667 on weekdays as I don't get home from work until after 6. I was sick on Sunday though, so only managed 1500, and been so busy at work I'm already 1500 words behind! Hopefully I'll manage to catch up tonight, then I have a five days off work to get ahead of myself.

I do find the actual writing difficult though - I know exactly where my story is going, I just get stuck on the specific words to get the story to where I want it.

Don't be discouraged. It's just down to other peoples' approaches. There will always be people with insanely high word counts, and, since it's the early part of the month, there are a lot of people who just crammed in a lot of writing in the first few days, to have a cushion. That's what I did, but it's also how I work best: when I feel like writing, I'll write 4-5k in a day. When I don't feel like writing, I'll write 4-5 hundred. (Yesterday was one of those days...I think I got like a thousand total in the day.)

That, and I (for one) have the motivation of being in a regional word war. We wanna keep our imaginary trophy!

This is my 5th year doing nano, I've won 2 and not made the count 2 years. This is the first time I have ever had this kind of word count this early on. For me it isn't *other people's* word counts that intimidate me, but rather that insidious idea that I have to do 1670 words every day or I will FALL BEHIND. I try to remember that sometimes I have the time, energy and concentration to pump out 5,000 words in a sitting, and sometimes I can't even manage 500, but if I keep plugging away, I can make the goal by the end.

If I watch my word count too closely I get discouraged, so I try to only check my word count once a day, at the end of my writing when I update my nano page. I can't think of it as falling behind, or even getting ahead ... it just is what it is, and I feel good with whatever I have accomplished for that day.

I keep seeing these comments about Word Wars and it seems those poor things are getting a bad rap. There's nothing competitive going on in them at all. Really, if people would just go check out a couple of pages you'd see that, if anything, everyone encourages everyone else. There is no War going on. If anything, most just compete against themselves to see if they can get higher than their last time, but they are writing with others and sharing their goals. And, they're having fun doing them. NaNo is all about the fun.

Man, if you finish early then what are you gonna do for the rest of the month?
In the past, when I've hit 50k before the 30th, I just feel kind of bored and let down until December.
It's more fun to let the beast evolve over time-- at least in my opinion.
Yeah, it's pretty awesome that people can pound their ideas out that quickly, but there is no need for speed.

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http://prettymuchthecoolestever.blogspot.com

Agree.
Good on you if you're ahead of target. Personally, I'll be doing catching up at weekends because weekdays are proving too hectic to get enough done.
I figure as long as I'm writing the target (or close to!) each day, that's ok.

Agree.
Good on you if you're ahead of target. Personally, I'll be doing catching up at weekends because weekdays are proving too hectic to get enough done.
I figure as long as I'm writing the target (or close to!) each day, that's ok.

I am pretty ashamed to admit that yesterday I completely forewent my novel-writing in favor of watching old House episodes. Yeah, I know, I'm bad. But I wasn't procrastinating on Nano, just physics homework. Oh, and I was sending in university applications as well. :p
Anyway, I see how most everyone else is on track or WAY above par, but instead of discouraging me, I use it as a motivator. If other people can do it, who says I can't? It's definitely not impossible!

I don't have a job, and I don't really do much. If I do have to do something, I won't write as much. I can prove this:

Sunday-10,033 words written
Monday-14,085 words written
Tuesday-4,954 words written

Yesterday I had to go to school, and I only had one class. I still had plenty of writing time, but obviously I couldn't get anywhere near the totals as the days I didn't have to do anything. So don't be intimidated. Some of us just have more time than others. I get by intimidated by the people who've already written 50K+, but I try not to be because I understand they're faster typers.

Last year, I only typed 10K words for the whole month of November though. I think the only difference is last year I learned about NaNo all late and came up with an idea I didn't care about, and this year I was so excited for it I spent the whole month of October planning out the one I'm working on now and it's sequel. Even though I'm making stuff up as I go, knowing where I'm going ultimately seems to help some. But that's how I work, and that's not how everyone works.

Some members have been doing NaNo for years so now they challenge themselves to write more than one novel. Some even get 3 or 4 done this month. NaNo is a challenge for yourself, not against anyone else here.

Don't look at other people's word count. I ignore the left side of this thing. :-)

I was also very intimidated by the high word counters my first few years of NaNo. Eventually I realized that some people just write faster or have more spare time on their hands than others. Just remember that NaNo is only as much of a competition as you let it be. In the end, it's really a contest with yourself.

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http://www.sushimustwrite.com

To the OP - I know the feeling! Look at my word count! I didn't write yesterday, and to be honest I don't feel like it today either. my full time job is soul crushing and draining. But I figure, there's more time to make it up, and like the others said, everyone has their own pace/time to write (I realized today I better write in the a.m. BEFORE work).

I struggle with this myself, especially because last year (my first nano) I found it easy to go over my word count every day. (I type fast and I became a devotee of writeordie. I also didn't know where my plot was going so I could write long stretched-out description scenes and not care about where the story was going.)

Here's what helps for me: Remember what your goal is for the month, and WHY you set that goal.

If your goal is 50K in a month, maybe you set that goal because 50K already sounds like a lot, and you're a busy person. If you tried to write 100K you would burn out, or not make it, or fail out of school or whatever.

The person you envy might have chosen a different goal (more words, less time, whatever) because she has more time off from work, or types faster, or needs to finish early so she can go on a business trip later in the month. There are people here who write ridiculous quantities of words because they spend november doing absolutely nothing else, and because they have RSI-resistant wrists of steel.

That's not you. So you have a different target. Stay on the path to your own target, and you'll be doing what's best for you.

If the higher word counts are mesmerizing you, consider whether you COULD write that much, and what you'd have to change to get there, maybe next year - practice typing faster? Outline your book ahead of time? Borrow the brain of an easily-motivated professional writer? Quit your job and run away from your family so you have more free time?

(My goal is 75K, two semi-coherent plots, keep my infant son alive & happy, and don't fall too far behind on personal hygiene. I'm on maternity leave so I don't have the "job" thing getting in the way.)

yeah, word wars don't really do it for me either...

This may not work depending on how old you are, but I remind myself that most people here are older then me by quite a bit (I'm a freshman in highschool) and then I go spend some time on ywp.nanowrimo.com Where people are generally around my age and remind myself that at least I'm pretty far ahead of them.

Thanks to everybody for their encouraging responses. I am certainly busy with my full time job and it's shift work, so I'm finding it difficult to balance sleep, work, and writing. This is my first year, so I guess I'm just worried about failing and not meeting my goals.

Don't worry about it. (: There is usually someone less than you (Hello? All the 0-worders?), which can help make you feel better. I know it encourages me, hehe. If you're a student, keep in mind that there is Thanksgiving break, weekends, and so on that you just need to discipline yourself. Decline an invitation on the town if you know you're very behind. Really, you can live without one night out. I've had to do it myself, on Halloween. Just keep pushing yourself and when you get tired, do something else. Don't run out of fuel; refill the tank.

I'm not a competitive person.

If you keep count of everyone's else word count, you will lose count of yours. You will also rush your story, because you are trying to get to the finish line quick. Take your time and let your story flow freely. We are not in a race or shouldn't be in a race. Every one that reaches the 50k mark will receive the same prize, no matter who finish first or last.