So, I've gotten a little bit behind on my writing the last few days. I'm still finishing up with moving, so I had to put some boxes into storage, and didn't get any writing done. So, I've been writing for about two hours, and have only gotten about a hundred or so words. Not very good...
Anyways! I was about to go out and have a cigarette (nasty habit, I know.) when I looked down at my word count and noticed how low it was. That's when I said to myself, "You write another 300 words, and THEN you can go have a smoke!" So I'm thinking, cigarettes will be my personal word count goal reward. Aside from a Reese's cup every 100 words.
So I want to know, what kind of rewards have you set up for yourself, and after what goal do you allow yourself these rewards?
----------
"While Man worked all those years to discover the secrets of life, he never managed to escape his overpowering fascination with death" - Allanon, Druid
http://rdkitsune.blogspot.com
101,864 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 11 41
I reward myself with food and sleep.
Last night I didn't go to sleep until 4 am because I wasn't allowed to sleep until I hit a certain word amount. I can do that though because the soonest I have to be anywhere on days I go somewhere is 6 pm.
Also, when I get hungry, I look at my word count, and if I'm on target I'll just go eat, but if I'm if I'm far behind I'll tell myself "X more words then you can go eat" (and it's never more than 1000, I'm not starving myself over here).
I'm going for a huge word count this month, but if I do it, I get to go on a road trip as my reward. Either to San Fran or Vegas, I haven't decided yet, but I get to go is the point.
14,657 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 11 57
Wow. Well, good luck on reaching your goal! I hope you get to go on your road trip! That sounds like a fantastic win reward!
----------"While Man worked all those years to discover the secrets of life, he never managed to escape his overpowering fascination with death" - Allanon, Druid
http://rdkitsune.blogspot.com
37,004 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 15 37
Little rewards are a good idea... I should find something to reward myself with rather than letting it distract me all the time.
I only have one, but it's a big one. I want to buy a netbook. Originally I was going to get it /for/ NaNo, but I don't have the money right now. So I figure, if I win, I'll buy myself one.
----------1,186 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 22 58
I've promised myself that I would buy myself a book each time I meet a significant wordcount goal. If I don't make the goal, I don't treat myself to any new books until then. It's off to a dreary start--I haven't been able to make time for my NaNo since it began. So I really have to buckle down.
65,661 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 04 38
A bar of chocolate for every 10K. Pretty expensive and evilly good chocolate, too. I didn't think it would actually work this well as motivation, but it does make me want to reach 20 K today. (Which means, of course, that I should go and write, instead of posting here.)
----------Those who want to make dreams come true must dream deeper and be wider awake than others.
-Karl Foerster
35,729 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 05 12
No, no rewards. No punishment, either. I just aim to write as much as I can. I've done very little the past couple of days, though, and I'm mentally flailing myself for that.
----------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
38,020 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 07 07
I turned 21 a few weeks ago, and got given a bottle of pretty expensive Champagne.
That cannot be opened until I reach 50K.
Also I'm reading a book that I'm really enjoying, but won't let myself read any more until I've reached my word count for the day / hour / whatever.
And a far off in the distance one, but a goal all the same. If I manage to get this published, I'm buying the Chanel bag I hired last month, and had to give back a few weeks ago. Until this novel is published, I'm not letting myself go anywhere near it.
51,532 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 07 17
Ultimate reward is sleep. I don't usually go to bed until sometime around midnight most nights anyway, but some nights I'm just tired and want to sleep, so if I reach 2K+ for the day I go to bed.
Right now I have an origami craft pad that I got from Chronicle Books with my donor goodies code that's begging for my attention. I already made a frog. :-D, but I'm not going to make any more till I break 20K, which hopefully will be today. I'm almost at 16K now, I can write 4K in one day, can't I?
----------http://dragcave.net/user/Unicornsky2982
84,946 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 07 35
I reward myself with Hulu episodes. Nothing motivates me to crank out the words like an episode of Castle waiting to be watched!
----------I don't have Plot Bunnies so much as I have Plot Bunniculas... Mine go for blood.
19,722 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 08 42
I actually don't do anything to reward myself. I've tried it before, and it doesn't really work. It just makes me frustrated because I can't eat/drink until I get to where I need t be. Which makes my writing worse in the long run. And movies and TV aren't much of a help for me, 'cuase I don't really watch TV to begin with, and I keep movies running in the long run.
I think it's because I have a very clear understanding of why I'm doing NaNo, so the ultimate reward is finishing it and having that bunch of text to go back and revise.
----------2007 Novel - Ice to Embers (Fantasy) - Winner
52,134 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 11 54
Sometimes if I haven't wrote much that day, I will not go to sleep until I have a certian amount of words wrote. So I think that qualifies as my usual reward.
----------52,229 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 15 30
I do this too! And I LOVE Castle. When Nathan Fillian showed up in his space cowboy costume two weeks ago I almost peed my pants! ;-)
Author of What the Sea Wants
----------http://www.amazon.com/What-Sea-Wants-Tracy-Banghart/dp/0977975304
Author of What the Sea Wants
http://www.amazon.com/What-Sea-Wants-Tracy-Banghart/dp/0977975304
41,730 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 17 49
It's been a slightly rough start this year for me so far. Most of the time, the writing is the punishing part as I have a very bad right arm. If I write/type too long I get a lot of cramps on top of the normal pain and yesterday I had to force myself to go to sleep before making a good word count. Definitely going to buy myself a new book once I hit the half way mark for sure!
----------~* MageQueenHoshi aka Lindsey *~
42,917 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 20 33
A Reese's peanut butter cup for every time I hit a daily wordcount goal. Keeps me motivated as I love peanut butter cups and also prevents me from eating the whole bag in one sitting. Its worked well so far.
40,364 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 21 13
I got to 10k just before lunch time today, and I was surprised by my parents taking me out for a week-early birthday lunch :D How appropriate! I don't reward myself every word count or whatever, but I might reward myself every 10k.
----------http://cupcake_writer.livejournal.com
2009: Welcome to Hell. A novel about Gods in high school.
2010: Thermals (tentaitive title). Steampunk. High adventure/fantasy of an all-female crew of airship pirates.
44,002 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 21 25
Well tonight, for having been ahead of schedule, I rewarded myself with wine. An entire bottle of wine. Big mistake. I need to go drool and contemplate drunkeness now.
Seriously, I have no planned reward. I have a daily limit I want to hit, but I hadn't considered any benefit other than my pillow, which is a beautiful thing. I suppose I could announce a reward, and at the end of the month if (WHEN) I hit 50k, I get the Munny doll I've been twitching over for the past year...
34,948 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 12 15
My goal is to hit 10k today as well. I think My Winning Object with be coffee at starbucks with my dad. Which means I should probably tell him about this so he'll pester the crap out of me.
otherwise, my goals are at 25k, 35k, and 50k. And I'm not sure what they are yet.
6,800 words today already. I can and I will hit 10k!!!
----------HGL is behind, but that's normal. (behind again :'I *sigh*)
~~~
Do the characters have minds of their own? yes
Did they do something you weren't expecting? yes
Are they hiding things from you? yes
What good is it to be the author?!
36,331 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 16 39
My reward has been that I get to play video games every time I hit whatever word count goal I've set for the day. (Some days it's larger than others.) Problem is that I procrastinate, and so I always hit my goal, but with like a half-hour to midnight, and then I write until midnight, and then I have to order myself to bed. So I haven't actually played any games yet! I'm at the end of a fantastic one, too, and I've got one that should be arriving any day. So I really wish I would finish up earlier! But hey, at least I'm hitting my goals!
Man, I feel so geeky compared to everyone else's goals of things like food. Lol!
----------Original Fiction/NaNo Journal | tiesuchaknot.livejournal.com
"Drama, instead of telling us the whole of a man's life, must place him in such a situation, tie such a knot, that when it is untied, the whole man is visible." ~Leo Tolstoy
43,280 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 01 56
For every 1,000 words I write, I put £1 into a pot (well actually it's my Starlight Express mug, but it has the same effect). When November 30th roles around, whatever's in the pot, I get to spend on myself. I haven't decided what I want yet though...
----------Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality
34,948 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 09 03
That's a good idea, maybe I should try this... a dollar for every day I've made my goal. and 2 for every day that I've made my goal doubled. ^.^
----------HGL is behind, but that's normal. (behind again :'I *sigh*)
~~~
Do the characters have minds of their own? yes
Did they do something you weren't expecting? yes
Are they hiding things from you? yes
What good is it to be the author?!
13,341 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 20 54
Tonight I want to hit 15K.... and when I do I'm allowed to eat my oh so tempting chocolate bar...
26,079 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 21 24
I reward myself with time on my forms. I'm a horrible internet addict so any time on the computer outside of my O.A class is a reward for me but now its like. "Write the rest of the page and then you can go on HNZ" I really shouldn't because writing my novel should be a joy for me but still.
36,867 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 05 24
I've been rewarding myself with little breaks, I guess.. I'll tell myself I won't go to the bathroom, get a drink, play an online game or whatever until I've written a certain amount of words. It's been working great so far :)
----------I also promised myself to buy the New Super Mario Bros for the Wii if I reach the 50k, so now I'm EXTRA motivated, lol.
2009: Working title: Kalliope
42,265 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 05 43
For every chapter I reward myself with one (1) dungeon run in WoW :)
----------I've been neglecting my guildies quite some bit now :(
99,9% of the time, the problem lies between the keyboard and the chair
50,021 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 07 39
The other day, my reward for hitting goal was getting to pee. I'd been doing the dance in my chair for a while, but I was sleepy and knew I'd end up going to bed instead of getting back to work after a bathroom break, so I didn't let myself until I hit minimum count for the day.
Playing on Facebook is another reward, but it's more a "yay I wrote a few paragraphs let's play Mafia Wars" thing. Other big reward is writing with my roleplay group. I'm on a reduced posting leave of absence right now, so one of my rewards is to get to work on the plots that consume my waking life most of the time... Unless it's NaNoWriMo...
----------Pots of tea consumed: 4
Hours slept: 112
Hours worked: 109
WW won / total: 14 / 24
Characters killed: 2
Parts completed: 1.25 / 5
Daily count max: 9000
[[as of day 17]]
Overachiever Goal: 75,000 words
79,018 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 12 00
I'm going to third the Hulu option, here. And the Castle. I think my roommates freaked a little when I started shrieking because Castle came onscreen as MAL. (I'm so luckly I live with geeks, at least they understood when I explain.)
I've got an episode of White Collar waiting for me once I hit 27,000 today (whoops, I have a long way to go)
18,576 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 19 31
My fiancee has told me that if I hit 50,000 words by the end of November, he'll take what I've written and get it printed and bound by Lulu.com. This way, every year that I win I have have physical proof of my achievements. We'll see how this works out. :-)
--Jenny
30,230 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 20 25
I'm going to buy myself the Dragon Age: Origins video game if I win NaNo. 8D
----------13,496 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 21 10
If I win I'm buying myself a NaNo shirt, but tonight I got my word count done quickly so I could watch the newest episode of Merlin before bed. Generally I just put off something I'm looking forward to until after I'm done for the day, so I have motivation to get it done. I find it helps a lot! :)
25,471 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 22 03
I always buy myself a shirt if I finish 50k.
This year, I also get to watch one episode of whatever anime for every 2000 words. These can carry over by day, so usually by weekend, I get a good handful of episodes. XD
----------2003: The Nipul-Suris (fail)
2004: Untitled (fail)
2005: Peter Pan Syndrome (epic fail)
2006: Shoot the Moon (WIN)
2007: Goodnight Moon (WIN)
2008: Urban Decay (epic, epic fail)
http://www.deadend-detour.com