Friday, November 03, 2006

NaNoWriMo

Yes, it's that time of year. November is National Novel Writing Month. I've never participated in NaNoWriMo before. Usually I'm furiously trying to finish a book, not start one. But this year, due to things like painting and selling a house, major rewrites on last year's book, and general procrastinating, I only have half a book done. And since I'd hate to go a whole year without finishing a book, I decided NaNo would be a perfect way to shove my perfectionism in a closet and help me write a, um, crappy rough draft.

Technically with NaNo, you're supposed to be writing a new book. So I'm not doing it the official way. What else is new? But I do hope to get 50,000 words written this month. It's not too bad, actually. It works out to 2000 words a day, six days a week. I don't write on Sundays. Not legalistic, it's just that I could so easily be a workaholic when it comes to writing that taking a day off is my gift to God . . . and my family. But I generally write about 1500 words a day when I'm in my writing groove. And, if I get to the 50,000 word goal, my book will be mostly done by the end of the month, well on the way to my goal of having it done by the end of the year.

But it's Day Three of NaNo and I'm already behind. I spent the first two days rereading what I'd written up to this point. However, today I hit my daily goal, as evidenced by the neat little tracking widget under the NaNo icon on the sidebar to the right. Since I'm putting my goal out there, feel free to encourage, harass, mock . . . whatever. And if you're doing NaNo, leave your user name in the comments and we can add each other to the buddy lists.

14 comments:

~michelle pendergrass said...

I'm not good at following rules either. I do have about 2000 words written on this novel (I did NOT add that into my word count though) I just need the discipline.

Jeanne Damoff said...

I'm not participating in NaNoWriMo, but I do hope you have fun, chica! I will stop by to check your meter and offer the appropriate cheers and/or mockery. It's the least I can do.

Speaking of meters, you sure have lots of gadgetry on your blog. In fact, I confess I'm experiencing a moment of meter envy here. I don't have any meters or buttons or bells or whistles on my blog. Heck, I'm doing good to put WORDS on it. I do have quite a few internal meters, though. Nothing like a cheez-o-meter to keep you sane in certain situations, if you know what I mean. Do I even know what I mean? It's a mystery.

As I was saying, I hope the smoke flies from your frenzied fingers, dear. Can't wait to read the results.

Unknown said...

Ah, Jeanne, you make me laugh. And yes, I do know what you mean.

And yes, I was tweaking the little gadgets in my side bar today. I'm in html and CSS mode, so I might as well go with it while I'm in the mood. Anyone else want anything tweaked . . .? Just thought I'd ask.

Dineen A. Miller said...

Hey girl! You can do it. Get that book finished. Rah, rah, rah!!! :-)

Malia Spencer said...

Hey can you help me figure out how to create a book graveyard for my blog? That's if you ever get in the mood to mess with code again. Watch for a forthcoming blog entry that will explain this strange request. :)

Unknown said...

Can I join the behind word count in the NaNoWriMo club? Oh, well, best get to writing!

michael snyder said...

I signed up yesterday...wanted to make sure everybody had a good head start. (Okay, actually it was just wishful thinking on my part...to manny distractions in my life to actuallly get to 50K...but I like talking smack nonetheless.)

Jim Sanders said...

I am participating. Right now I have 10,000 words. 10,000 of overly verbose junk that I'm sure nobody is really interested in reading (except my mother, and I'm not even sure about her), but I'm sure it will make good liner for a bird cage.

Georgiana Daniels said...

Ooo, free to harass. Sounds like fun. So how many words have you written today? C'mon, fess up! I should have signed up even though I already started too, because I need the extra push on this WIP. So, how many words did you say you got in today? (If it's less than the requisite 1667, feel free to chuck a tomato at yourself.) JUST KIDDING, you know I'm kidding!

Heather said...

Write, girl, write!
I'm not doing NaNoWriMo (they really need a shorter catch title) this year, so you write for me.
My fortune cookie from Saturday said something about having the creativity of dragon fire this week. Here's to hoping that God uses even fortune cookies to reflect truth!

Unknown said...

Yeah, well heckle away. Yesterday was pathetic. 223 words. Yikes! However, I am currently at the library so I'm expecting to knock out some more words. Which I should be doing instead of commenting on my own blog. Life is just too full of distractions . . .

Georgiana Daniels said...

Hey, there's nothing wrong with commenting on your own blog, as long as you don't use it in your word count!

Malia Spencer said...

Okay the word count keeps going up. You're over 10% there. Way to go Jen! Keep it up. :)

Unknown said...

I didn't do Nano this year....but I started my sequel on the 8th and I just passed the 13K mark, so who am I to complain?

GO, JEN, GO! ok, putting up the po poms now! :D