Posts Tagged ‘nanowrimo’

I finished my NaNo novel today. Just over 60k words. I hit 50k on Monday, which means I technically won on Monday. It will need a lot of editing work and no doubt will be padded out significantly, since I write pretty bare-bones during NaNo. But still, I did the 50k in 8 days. I am not sure how this happened. I still like my story, and think it has good potential once I revamp, rewrite, and edit the hell out of it in December. I could start that now. But I don’t want to.

So instead, I am starting another novel. I figured, hey, it’s only the 12th, and I’d already written 60k. Even if I don’t finish the second one (enter competitiveness again – I MUST FINISH IT), I have already written a novel in a week and a half. I still have over half the month left. And as is always said during NaNo, even if you don’t finish, anything you write is something you didn’t have written before. And that’s nothing to sneeze at.

And so, novel #2 begins. Untitled as yet, and a sequel to something I already wrote (not this year’s NaNo novel #1), but I’m now at 65k total for the month. It was agreed during a write-in I attended tonight that I ought to just continue counting words from where I was rather than starting a second account on the website or whatever. So my word count now includes both novels.

I was feeling kind of deflated, having finished so early, but now I’m kind of jazzed. New challenge! Two novels! Vastly different styles! Hahahaha! So now I can do all new dares, and use the Traveling Shovel of Death, and push myself to another 50k! Boo-rah!

<insert evil scientist laugh>

I think NaNoWriMo is stealing my sanity instead of my soul. Possibly both. But it’s so much fun. And I already have an idea for next year’s plot. Woohoo!

I have, through a series of tweets that were entirely not my fault (I blame Linda. Peer pressure), signed up for NaNoWriMo this year. It isn’t my first NaNo. I did 2008 (and won) and 2009 (and won, though as a NaNo Rebel – writing in two stories instead of one). It isn’t my first novel, either. I’ve completed five original and three fanfic novels. So I shouldn’t really be biting my nails at the thought of writing another – but it’s not so much the completed novel as it is the time frame. Which is the whole point of NaNoWriMo, in case you didn’t know – 50,000 words in 30 days.

That’s not a lot of time. It equals out to 1667 words a day though, and honestly, that’s not much. It’s not even a chapter. It’s barely a scene. So in bite-size chunks, it’s doable. You just have to buckle down, is the key. And beat your muse into shape. I did it before, so I’m not too worried. This year, I’m not in school, I don’t have any dance performances scheduled for November but do have to prepare for a workshop I’m teaching on Dec 4th, my kids are 6 and thus in school from 8am-2pm, and That Man will only be home part of the month. Basically, if I can get my ass in gear and write every weekday for at least 2000 words while the monkeys are in school, I think I can make it. This is me being confident.

Seriously though, I don’t do well with failure. I like to win things. I NEED to be the top, the best. So while there is not really any actual pressure to complete NaNoWriMo (nothing happens if you lose except that… you lose), I put huge pressure on myself. I must finish it. It’s a sickness, I realize this.

So I now have between November 1st and November 30th to write a new novel. I know what I’m going to write. Vaguely. Now I need to do some planning. In 2008 I had a very definite outline, chapter-by-chapter, and I’m not sure how much it helped. I think I might try doing a more winging-it style this year and just have events I want to happen and string them together as necessary. I don’t know. I have 9 days (well, 8 really, since it’s already 9:30 at night) to decide if I want to make an outline. And pick character names. And some sort of plot points. I had this idea a few months ago for a Regency romance novel – as is well documented by my reading habits, I love them – and I will be writing that. But I never fleshed out the idea fully.

I suppose that’s what the rest of October is for. And inventing dukes, marquesses, earls, and viscounts. Whee!

Hey, don’t call me next month. I’ll be busy.

Usually for NaNoWriMo, I pick up a Moleskine, so I can cart it around with me everywhere in case I get an idea. I do the majority of my writing directly on OpenOffice, so I don’t usually fill up the Moleskine for quite some time – the next NaNoWriMo.

This year I went to Barnes and Noble as usual and grabbed the Moleskine I normally get, the black ruled classic style. But then another display caught my eye, because I favor the color turquoise. Ecosystem makes a Moleskine-like notebook of recycled materials, for the same price as a Moleskine. Well hell, I thought, I like buying recycled cack whenever the opportunity arises. It also said 100% made in America. I checked the Moleskines, and it says “designed in Italy. Made in China.”

China??? Didn’t they used to be made in Italy? I don’t like buying Chinese-produced anything, so I dumped the Moleskine and grabbed a Lagoon ecosystem ruled notebook instead. And you know, there’s no difference in using the two. In fact, I think the Ecosystem one is better, but I may be blinded by the pretty color. Ecofriendly NaNo-ing ftw.

Mon, 10pm, ABC: Castle

Tues, 8pm, CBS: NCIS (and probably NCIS-LA afterward, though it’s not as good, and then the Good Wife)

Wed, 10pm, ABC: Eastwick

Thur, 8pm, Fox: Bones

Thur, 9pm, ABC: Grey’s Anatomy (and probably Private Practice afterward, though again, not as good)

Aside from that, I’ll be writing. It’s NaNoWriMo time again!