How was your first day?

It was actually really good. I woke up wondering if I would even make word count for the day, but the muse was definitely with me and I got out 4,090 words. Really excited now!

Come over to the dark side... we have cookies

Positively elated! This has been the best start to my NaNo experiences so far and despite sleeping in until 2:30pm today, I still ended with over 5,000 words :D

For some reason this story is just flowing so freely, which is a great benefit when it comes to aiming for that high, high word count! Chatting away and sharing the experience with fellow wrimos on Twitter during the process and, obviously, at last Thursday night's kick-off meet has also made this year's NaNo even more enjoyable! It actually feels like I'm a part of something this year, whereas in previous years it was a bit more isolated :)

So overall, yep, full of NaNo love this year! Hope it's going well for everyone else too!

2006: So You've Fallen in Love - 1,477 words.
2007: Not-So-Lonely Road of Faith - 11,522 words.
2008: Faux - 13,366 words.
2009: The Coleridge Tape.

jayintheclouds.livejournal.com / twitter.com/jayintheclouds / facebook.com/onsentamago

So impressed by everyone who's exceeded the 1,667 mark on the first day.

I'm currently at 1,909 but that was quite a push... It's my first NaNoWriMo though - so I'm not going too hard on myself!

My first day was a complete bust.

I went out for a Halloween party with the intention of getting slightly lubricated (best way to write, surely) and returning home by midnight to start. What actually happened was, I got completely wrecked and ended up getting a cab home in the small hours after missing the last bus. Finally got up at 4pm, thankfully without much hangover, and procrastinated like a champ for the rest of the evening. First day total: zero.

I actually started writing about an hour ago and have managed 508 words, with a bit more procrastination and Wikipedia-surfing for somewhere to set the story. For some reason I specifically wanted to set it in south London, but nothing more specific than that. I went for Walworth, of all places. No idea why I didn't just go for somewhere near me, but there we go.

So yes, there we go. I'm way behind on where I should be and even further behind on where I'd like to be, but at least I'm off the mark.

My first day was absolutely amazing :D

I even made it 4002! I was so thrilled. So far I'm not quite enjoying my own writing style, but overall I'm loving my story.

Especially since I changed from doing a memoir to doing a complete fiction, oh, sometime AFTER the Thursday Nanomeet! I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but since it is an idea I've had for years I'm going to assume that is helping me.

Twitter's been quite enjoyable, I'm glad this reminded me I have one. Like you said Jay, it really does feel like being PART of something instead of being all alone.

So... thanks to everyone so far for helping make my first nano experience quite wicked (at least for now!)

I was hoping to build a cushion and get 3300 word in. I managed it, but it took me a lot longer than I had hoped. I ended up in doing it in short bursts on http://writeordie.drwicked.com/ , and then filling those sections out later. It's not really editing, just going back and adding in all those things that were in my head the first time and needed to be on the page. I'm going to try that for a while. If it seems to be interfering with my progress, I'll stop - maybe my ability to write everything down the first time will improve :).

I was aiming for 2000 words, and found it surprisingly tough. It is my first Nano though, and I've never done anything like this before - barely done any Creative Writing, let alone a whole book. 1500 words isn't too bad though - at least I started and managed to get something down.

I think my problem was not planning enough before I sat down to write. I have my whole plot, but no specific scenes. I'm going to plan today's writing in my lunchbreak today.

It went surprisingly well, considering I planned my story, oh.. maybe two hours before. November is going to be incredibly busy, so I hope I can carry on as easily as yesterday - the words seemed to flow despite my hatred for first sentences. :)

Now, on to a few more paragraphs before I have to leave. I hope I get to write more tonight, but meh.

And Rambling - definitely going to try the Write or Die thing! It sounds useful.

Slow start - still not done my first 1,666 yet - but from experience this really is a marathon and not a sprint, so still feeling positive!

Ben..

2009 - a place like this
2008 - Copernicus Undone (EPIC FAIL)
2007 - Monument (winner!)
2006 - Some Solitude for a Social Species (winner!)

My first day! I literally went into my book knowing the tagline and an few things about where the plot was going and a possible genre. I wrote frickin' 7,121 words! I'm amazed with myself. I don't think I've ever written that much on anything in my life. I'm usually an over-planner. And over-planning kills anything for me. I've learned something already and it's only the first day!

http://silverquill111.livejournal.com/

It was a little rocky, to be honest!

I headed off in the morning to my favourite Cafe Nero to write, but when I got there, I realized I'd forgotten my outline at home! I couldn't do anything without it - even though my best friend had told me to type it down on my laptop, and I told her, 'yes yes...I'll do it later' which led to going back to get it, having lunch, having a flat crisis, and finally making it back out by around 3pm.

I ended up writing a little over 3k once I really buckled down to work, but I still don't think I've made a very distinct connection to my character, which is vital to my writing process.

I'm not giving up though! Day two, you better be good to me.

Amazing, this is my first time doing NaNoWriMo and the words just came to me yesterday. I managed beat my personal goal of 7143/day, NaNo is so motivating and I've got far too many ideas, so the more I can get out in 30 days the better. ;D I'm in uni today and tomorrow so I doubt I'll make the goal again until Wednesday. Not gonna stop me from trying though.

Beat the spread and didn't write complete crap, so happy.

Am now sitting at work and itching to get on with it but knowing that life is going to intervene tonight and tomorrow night and I'll struggle not to fall behind by Wednesday.

I did over 2,500 the first day, most of it before 8.30 am! I've been turning it over in my mind for so long that it just poured out. And this year I'm back to a QWERTY keyboard, so the typing is coming much easier. (With plenty of backspacing, as per usual!)

I think it will get harder, well it was already flowing less easily today, but I know from previous years that I can write when tired, uninspired or after a couple of glasses of wine. I'm hopeful!

My Blog

It was slow... got home at 3am and didn't get up until 12 hours later, then procrastinated till about 7pm... but I ended the day at 2,584, so yay! :D

I only just got up, so today hasn't started yet. We shall see.

50k. 30 days. No Plot? No Problem!

Kick-ass. 4100 words, and I wasn't even trying all that hard. No idea how I did it.

I seem to have gone a bit Dan Brown, and already my characters are taking on a life of my own. And the plot appears to be moving far too slowly compared to where I wanted to be but, hey, what the hell, there's always time to fix that later, right?

I got to 6,500 words yesterday. Most of which I'm happy with :)

Hi - I was a bit miffed when I realised that the first day was going to be broken up by Other Stuff - a 150 mile round trip in the car, plus dinner at my mother's - but was determined to do it and at 11:27 pm I submitted a word count of 1,730.

I got into this because I needed to be reminded about deadlines and commitment - I lost my job in February and have been drifting since! Got to 3pm today and thought: "Oh flip! I need to do that writing thing today too!"

So here I am, procrastinating...

;o)

Not too bad - didn't start until about half past two, spent about two and a half hours worrying about what to write and procrastinating by doing the washing up, but then managed to nail myself to a story and got my 1667 words. I'm still panicking a bit about the story though.

Mine was awful - I've deleted three attempts as discovered I didn't care enough about the characters to keep it going through the month. I didn't realise that procrastination could be so painful.
I HOPE I've discovered my niche now, and although I'm only 300 words in I will catch up this week. I will. Even if I end up not doing anything else all day on Friday.

Found it difficult and only managed 500 or so words! I'm trying to at least get myself to 2,000 tonight so I don't get too behind, but's it's tough. I know roughly how I want my story to turn out but because I'm writing bits and pieces of it rather than chronologically I don't know if they'll all fit together properly in the end. Hey ho. And I'm trying not to overthink it too, because that's a big problem of mine. I'm so impressed with all those people who've put down thousands of words on the first day, I don't know how you've done it! I think weekends will have to be my time. I'm just not that good at writing uninterrupted for ages. I have to stop and then get distracted - by forums like this for instance... :-)

my first day wasn't too bad but i've struggled this evening. i have at least done what i needed to do. very doubtful about keeping this up for thirty days. eek.

me too. but think how you'll feel at the end if you succeed!

Had to play a football match yesterday, got home and defrosted, cleared my desk and started writing by about 3pm. Got 1850 words done, didn't seem too hard compared to previous years. Today I got up half an hour early and got in 500 during breakfast and 700 at lunch (took my netbook into work). Then finished off with another 1,000 tonight. Nice steady progress. What I'm most pleased about though is that I managed to fit it in around work and chores without killing myself. I need to to keep this easy to get me through the month.

As long as you're still on track, it's way too early to think like that :) If you stick with it, you might just surprise yourself!

I'm a bit apprehensive about this year... although it's going better so far than I'd expected it to. Museum and dinner with friends on Sunday, work today from 10 till 10 (ew!) and yet I'm above the minimum. It does feel like I'm trying to fit NaNo around a hundred of other commitments. Anyone else having the problem of November being traditionally the busiest month of the year?

My problem with November was always that it was the most depressing month of the year XD I absolutely adore summer above any other time of year, so when it gets colder and darker earlier in the day, it tends to play havoc on my mood.

In an odd way, Nano is proving to be a good distraction from my November blues this year, whereas previously it suffered :)

2006: So You've Fallen in Love - 1,477 words.
2007: Not-So-Lonely Road of Faith - 11,522 words.
2008: Faux - 13,366 words.
2009: The Coleridge Tape.

jayintheclouds.livejournal.com / twitter.com/jayintheclouds / facebook.com/onsentamago

I didn't write a thing on Day 1 but wrote 4400 words on Day 2 :) Am planning to make 20000 by Sunday. XD

I didn't hear of this until today. Well yesterday because it's really early in the morning now.
I've written 1432 words, I just hope I'll be able to give myself enough time to write the full 50000!
:)

Maybe I will think of something to write here sometime that is both creative and intriguing...

I did say maybe.

November is horrendously busy! I'm out tonight, Wednesday and Friday (mainly because it's my birthday this week!) so I'm expecting to fall behind this week, but I have a fairly clear schedule for the weekend - just one football match to play, so should be able to catch up without too much trouble.