So is everybody having fun? I'm actually enjoying this because after I had finished my last novel, "Raven's Rage", I was sort of pooped out and with other personal problems at home with an ailing husband, wasn't feeling that I was disciplined enough to write everyday. This is making me do that and I'm thankful so I'm happy that I took up this challenge. Plus, it's giving me a chance to write something different other than my Raven series and that's always cool.
Currently I'm ahead of the game and hope to keep writing over the weekend to get comfortably ahead for those times when I just don't have it. But this is also proving one major thing to me. No matter how much I have going with work, my sick husband, and other crap, I can always find time to pound out at least four pages or so everyday. I needed the swift kick in the pants to figure that out because I can allow myself to get lazy at times.
Any tricks anybody can pass on, I'd be glad to have them. Oh, plus now that baseball is over and our Phillies lost, there is more time to write and the Eagles are on at 8:00 tomorrow night so plenty of time.
K*rry Marzock
----------
Author of the Raven series, "Raven's Way" and "Raven's Rage - Order of the Claw", with the third installment currently in the works, "Raven Unleashed"
50,872 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 08 17
I'm definitely having fun this year. Last year I didn't start until six days in, and for obvious reasons didn't get close to finishing. Now I'm ahead of the game and really surprising myself with how many words I can get out in a short amount of time during word wars and such. I'm quite enjoying my novel so far and I hope that I'll end up finishing it even if it's not fully written by the time NaNo is over.
22,042 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 08 25
nothing will ever be fun until i get to 15k.
----------"the difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."
- mark twain
50,580 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 09 10
Good luck, and I do hope you are having fun.
The next time I get discourged (which happens every day), I will think of you and get typing!
50,028 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 13 55
This is my first NaNo and I'm finding I have a love hate relationship with it. The first week? Love. I wrote over 15K on my first day. The words were coming so easily. Now I'm beginning to struggle. Still enjoying it, but not quite so much anymore.
32,024 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 16 05
Oh please, ZigZag, no complaining allowed for those who have crossed 37,000 words at day 8! Those of us still struggling through the first plot twist have very little sympathy. So what's your secret? No-Doz? Red Bull? House all to yourself?
Care to throw a random scene out there for those of us still trying to catch up to 15,000 by tomorrow? Anybody?
Oh, and yes, I'm having the time of my life! I had no idea sitting in front of my glowing screen could be so immensely rewarding.
----------- Kathy
45,058 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 16 37
I must say this is more fun that I thought it was going to be. It is so motivating and I never knew it would be like this. This is my first year doing this and in past years I thought it was impossible for me to do this, so I never did it. I am so glad I decided to go through with it this year. Happy writings!
T.. Nicole
----------T. Nicole
Author of My Own Terms
50,704 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 16 57
Wow, i just got a chance to come back in here to check out the posts and what a nice surprise. Well, it does seem that everybody is going along quite well. I reached the 18,000 word goal today and am really liking this so far. Since I write horror novels, obviously this one is in the same genre, but different. So it's given me a chance to get away from trilogy+plus, and explore something different. It's also proving to me once again that I can be dedicated once more, even when all the everyday problems mount up. In reality as I was telling my publisher just a little bit ago, 2,000 words a day is not very much.
So let's keep on writing, having fun, and anybody who wants to throw hints out as to what you're writing, I think it would be cool. Mine is a take on all the good old monster movies from the past with the Ray Harryhausens of the world. And I get to throw in some alien crap which I've not written about before. So I'm having a blast and who knows, this probably definitely will turn into a novel for next year well before the third Raven novel is done.
K*rry
----------Author of the Raven series, "Raven's Way" and "Raven's Rage - Order of the Claw", with the third installment currently in the works, "Raven Unleashed"
13,277 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 18 28
this is my first nanowrimo :-) I wish I had more time to dedicate to my writing............I have a toddler running around and have to dispatch calls for a limo service.
50,737 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 19 23
I am definitely having fun! But I've reached the point where my inner editor is struggling against the chains I bound her with and the inner fact checker is wasting time doing "research" on the details. If they'd just let the writer alone, I'd get more done!
----------"What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers." ~Logan Pearsall Smith
48,772 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 01 35
Oh, yes! I'm definitely having fun, mainly because I've surprised myself with how easily things have worked out so far while my dreaded inner editor has, for the most part been kept chained up in the basement. I'm very pleased with what I've done, but know I can do better! I'm looking forward to that challenge!
----------I write, therefore, I have fun! ^_^
50,704 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 21 54
Most definitely I agree with the inner editor part. Little guy (or girl) is always whispering, "No, that's not right...No, you spelled that name different ten pages ago...No, you big dummy, you forget that comma...Oh God, what a crappy writer you are... Well, I must confess that I do some editing but before I post, just a quick read thru, but a mass editing will be done at the end of the month.
Finally reached the 20,000 word count so onward and upward.
K*
----------Author of the Raven series, "Raven's Way" and "Raven's Rage - Order of the Claw", with the third installment currently in the works, "Raven Unleashed"
48,772 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2009 - 01 06
Well, I cracked 20K last night, thanks in part by cranking out nearly 1,700 words at work yesterday. I continue to be amazed at how much I've accomplished so far, and yeah, it's been great fun! In fact, I hope to reach the halfway point before I go to bed tonight. To do that after only 10 days would make for an awesome achievement!
----------I write, therefore, I have fun! ^_^
50,704 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 10 17
That's great Flash, I also hope to be at the halfway point tonight, just need to do a little over 2,500 and that's pretty good with lots of time left. If you live near the Roxborough/Manayunk area I'm trying to get a group together to meet someplace up there, probably in a local coffee shop. Let me know, K*
----------Author of the Raven series, "Raven's Way" and "Raven's Rage - Order of the Claw", with the third installment currently in the works, "Raven Unleashed"
43,248 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 11 23
Right now I'm struggling a little because I can't decide some issues. Since I'm doing fan fiction, although I know I can't begin to copy the style, I'm trying to keep the mystery that gets solved in each of Rowling's books. Problem is that Harry, Hermione, and Ron probably have a better idea of what is going on about now than I do. This is my first time to try to lay clues for my characters to find. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what the key pieces of the mystery are. I like the idea of where I'm trying to go. I just don't think my plot has the roadmap yet. So, I think I just need to keep writing scenes trying to find what is illuding me. Here is where a clear (even if very simple) outline would help me. Maybe in the writing I will figure it out...then can straighten all the inconsistencies in the re-write. Anybody else going through any kind of confusion like this in their plot?
48,772 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 12 46
Well, I don't have a plot, never even thought about crafting one, I simply sit down at my computer with a loose collection of ideas that I've somehow crafted into a story so far. Perhaps you simply need to stop worrying about plot and just write, let the characters tell the story. While I've never seen Harry Potter, you have some good characters in which to create whatever sort of story you want to write. The important thing right now is to write, worry about revising on December 1st.
----------I write, therefore, I have fun! ^_^
50,704 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 01 20
I've not outlined either of my first two novels other than jotting down character names, etc., that I have a tendency to forget how I spelled their names **smile**. I'm not sure how I would be in a tightly constructed world of outlining what I write. I think it may be good in the beginning, but I know for me, I let the book acquire a life of its own as I write. The first novel I was always several chapters ahead in my mind and got it finished relatively quickly, but the second one took over 3 years, mostly do to major health issues with my husband. But stick to it I did and it was just released in october. I think the hardest thing to do in writing a novel is staying disciplined to write everyday and I had gotten away from that during the last year of finishing up "Raven's Rage". But this nano challenge is making me write again everyday so I'm glad about that.
But, my novels and genre have a tendency to just flow as I feel it coming.
K*rry
----------Author of the Raven series, "Raven's Way" and "Raven's Rage - Order of the Claw", with the third installment currently in the works, "Raven Unleashed"
44,042 / 50,000
Nov 15, 2009 - 14 36
Not so much. Initially I was pumped but I dunno today it's a bit of a struggle as I fear I am doing what irks me most in books, tv and movies... PREDICTABILITY! Which means I'll have to write something anything to make it not be that way. I am trying to keep the words of my husband and son fresh in my mind. DON"T FORCE IT. HAVE FUN.
Big Sigh... but I will keep at it.
40,690 / 50,000
Nov 15, 2009 - 23 03
Yeah, I agree entirely. But not only is what I'm writing now predictable, its crap on top of that. I'm trying hard not to edit because I know it will probably slash half my word count. I know 'kinda' what I want to do and I know 'sorta' what I want to say. But actually doing it and saying it isn't really working right now. So no, not having fun. The fun will return though, I know it will. Just have to hold out.
48,772 / 50,000
Nov 16, 2009 - 02 03
At present, I'm six days ahead of schedule after yesterday's writing, so far, the ideas are still coming, and the words born from those ideas are still flowing. Not bad for a first timer. As things stand, if I maintain my daily quota of around 1,700 words, I should be able to finish before the 30th. These are heady times for me as a writer as I never thought I could do something of this magnitude. Bottom line, yeah, I'm having great fun!
----------I write, therefore, I have fun! ^_^
43,248 / 50,000
Nov 16, 2009 - 05 34
Yep sounds like writing to me. I could slash about 50 percent of what I've written (after Nano) and not lose anything for the main story. Some days I start a scene and can't stop...then look back and think I should send that stream of consciousness out for analysis. Other scenes, I start, I struggle, and think, now there is some potential here. Sometimes a day or two later I'm not so sure but there is no delete key for November, I remember, and move on. If in all the crap some idea has come or I find a solution that helps my hero get through, I think, ' what a good day.' Thank God for Nano...I keep working to write stuff I like; but having a word count to maintain keeps me at the task even when I'm discouraged with what's being put out in the out put. Wasn't it Hemingway who said "all first drafts are s--t." If it wasn't him, it sounds like him. Muse on, old friends...manure makes flowers grow...so we spread it even though it isn't fun.
43,248 / 50,000
Nov 16, 2009 - 15 31
Good job PhillyFlash. I'm glad this is working so well for you. Wish I had done half as well as a first timer. But we blossom at different seasons as writers. I'm glad the first time out has been so positive. It should give encouragement to next years "freshmen" wrtiers. Keeeeeeep gooooooing.
50,028 / 50,000
Nov 17, 2009 - 14 54
Care to throw a random scene out there for those of us still trying to catch up to 15,000 by tomorrow? Anybody?
Oh, and yes, I'm having the time of my life! I had no idea sitting in front of my glowing screen could be so immensely rewarding.
OK, I take it back! And my secret? Pretty much forget that you ever had a social life and deal with the fact that I'll be lucky to get C's this month. Also? Naked Chocolate truffles? The BEST motivator ever! I promised myself a bite of one every thousand words, and boy did those words fly by!
Also, I stopped caring about how good my prose was. I like the first two paragraphs of my novel, but the rest is crap. The dialogue is awkward and the descriptions are more or less nonexistent. Or at least they are until I get stuck, then I spend a page talking about exactly what every character in the scene is wearing, the weather or the emotion shining through a character's eyes (no joke, one of my characters has eyes that can show flirtatiousness, sadness, anger and lust, not to mention excitement and joy and a ton of other things I'm forgetting)
But most of all: enjoy yourself. Is your story getting boring? Throw in something, anything, that will make it more interesting to you. And remember: you still have half a month left. There's still plenty of time to churn out something that, with massive amounts of editing, might be a passable novel.
50,704 / 50,000
Nov 17, 2009 - 18 22
Hey Zig, congrats really. I'm pretty much at the word count I can put out with working full time and caring for a sick husband. I've hit the 37,000 mark and hope to reach the 50,000 mark by Sunday. Some of us will be getting together at the Crossroads Coffee House on Ridge Avenue this Sunday from 11-1:00 for some banging away.
Actually, I'm really liking what I'm writing, it's an idea that had been on the shelf for awhile and now that the second 'Raven' novel has been released, and I got my husband home after two months of in and out of the hospital, I was about ready to plunge head long into something. And I'm actually thrilled at becoming disciplined again so I certainly plan on keeping this going long, long after November 30th. and definitely what I'm writing now will develop into a full length novel for sure.
K*rry
----------Author of the Raven series, "Raven's Way" and "Raven's Rage - Order of the Claw", with the third installment currently in the works, "Raven Unleashed"
25,164 / 50,000
Nov 17, 2009 - 20 40
I'm having a good time. I'm super behind and I've pretty much decided that the almost everything I've written so far needs to be either redone or thrown out. And the section I am about to begin writing is really where the meat of the story begins. I'm hoping the fact that starting tomorrow I get to begin writing what I have been writing toward will give me the kick in the pants to catch up. Also I think I'm going to hand cuff myself to my lap top during non-work hours in an attempt to get the ball going! :-) This is my first nano and I so can taste the finish line even if I'm only a fifth of the way there. :-)
43,248 / 50,000
Nov 17, 2009 - 21 00
You can do it tricia522! You are pretty much about where I was last year and I caught up. But it did mean being at the computer for hours at night and most of the weekend. I understand some people have done their whole novel in three days. So you can get over the finish line. If not, this is a yearly event and there used to be some people who did the same thing in July and script frenzy in April. I was in my third year before I got across the line. Mostly because I felt about my story the way you do yours. Then last year, I decided just to keep writing regardless of how I felt about the material already written. That, "let's see if I like what comes out today," was a winning strategy for me. Good luck!
25,164 / 50,000
Nov 17, 2009 - 21 15
Yeah I've known about nano for years and every year was like "hmm I don't have time", excuses excuses right? And this year I was like nope, your doing it...my point of view at the moment is, who cares if what you have sucks? You'll just edit it later "Get to the flashback/bar scene" :-) I think I'm even gonna try writing at work tomorrow, but yes determination I feel is key! That and I have to go buy more coffee...
50,704 / 50,000
Nov 18, 2009 - 04 12
Hey Tricia, you can get there girl. You've already got over 10,000 so stick to it, at least get as much done and as close to 50,000 as you can so that next year it'll be a breeze. But there is still time though you gotta' be disciplined and write. Don't worry about the context and flow of the story right now because 50,000 words is really only about half a decent size novel so there will plenty of time to expand, review, edit, and that stuff later if you really like what you're writing about. Be more expressive in descriptions of settings and characters, really imbellish them to where it's crazy. You can always pare it down after November 30th. If you're near K of Prussia mall some of us are getting together tomorrow at the Borders above the Cheesecake Factory around 4:00 or so. And I'll be at the Crossroads Coffee House on Ridge Avenue in Roxborough on Sunday, 11:00-1:00 (plenty of easy parking).
For me the problem was just getting back to being disciplined. My husband has been sick for a long time now and actually has gotten worse this year, especially the last four-five months. In fact, he was in and out of the hospital 4 times, plus a 20-day stint in rehab during July and August. But he's home, settled in, I've gotten some help during the day. This nano has given me the drive and discipline to write everyday again. Being a novelist with my second novel released in October, all I had to do was get the drive back and this has given it to me.
Believe me, with my work schedule and taking care of sick (pain in the butt) husband when I'm off work **smile** anybody can do this.
So let's do it together and make it a point to write 4-5 pages a day during the week and up to 10 pages a day on the weekend and you'll be there or real close.
We got it, I know we do, K*rry
----------Author of the Raven series, "Raven's Way" and "Raven's Rage - Order of the Claw", with the third installment currently in the works, "Raven Unleashed"