NaNo Win

I forgot when I started this how terrible I am at blogging. I finished the 50k in November! Woo! I'm only about halfway done with my story, though, so I'm going to continue writing after the holiday season. I am, in fact, considering setting a goal for the whole of next year. I was initially tempted by MilWordy, but I already know there is no way I could write a million words in a year. I don't have enough time, drive, or material, and my wrists would probably fall off even if I wore the braces every night. Instead I am trying to decide between 1k a day, or 366k this year OR 500k this year, to go for a little extra. Since I'm doing NaNo for sure in November, and will probably end up doing at least one month of Camp NaNo, that works out to about 40k for the rest of the months.

To help prepare for this year of noveling, I've begun to organize all of the stories I've worked on. I've made a list of my progress in each one. I'm sad to report that my finish rate is abysmally low. Of the stories I would ever consider working on again, only TWO have full first drafts, and one of those is a short story! SO. My other goal for this year is to finish four or five of the other novels.

I am confident in my ability to finish my Camp NaNo and my November NaNo from this year, as well as the one from last year. They all have pretty great outlines, and every time I look at the one from last year I am struck by how well it's paced. I also have a zombie related short story I could start and finish easily since I already know the entire storyline.

This leaves me with my 09 and 07 NaNos (so long ago!) which need outlining work before I'd be able to finish them. I also started a vampire story based on my friends, which trailed off because I stopped speaking to the girl who was supposed to date the vampire. I think I'm going to pick it back up. I have some ideas as to where the plot needs to go, but I don't have a written outline anymore. I also lost all of the chapters except the first one. This is literally the only story I have ever lost part of, and I'm sadder than I realized I'd be. As it is, I'm going to rewrite the first chapter, as my writing style has changed somewhat and I'm not sure I could make it flow well enough.

Finally, I have 7-8 story ideas I haven't yet fleshed out enough to write. Several of them are new, and several of them are ones I've just now had enough insight into to justify putting them on any sort of "to write" list. Two of them will likely be my NaNos for next year, so I don't want to work on them until it's closer to those months to make sure I don't get tired of them too quickly.

I suppose there is one last category on my list. It has three stories on it. My second NaNo, and two stories I started in high school. I never want to work on them again, though I still have everything related to them. The high school stories just aren't interesting enough to warrant more time, and I've somewhat cannibalized one of them for a later NaNo to much better effect. The NaNo from 2008...Let's just say I didn't win that year for a reason. Hate is too nice a word for how I feel about that story. It was influenced by a short lived interest in being as green as possible. While I still recycle and turn lights off when I don't use them and take short showers, I'm not anywhere near as disgustingly maniacal about it, and I certainly lack any urge to preach about it.

So after such a long time between posting, this one has ended up quite long! I realize I don't have many any readers, but I do have another post planned for the near future regarding writing. Until then, I'll be planning for my big year of writing!

20k and Second Write-In

I reached 20,000 words right after midnight yesterday! Woo! Then I took the rest of the day off despite the words feeling like they belonged in Tuesday instead, there only being 900 of them, and not writing anything for an entire "waking cycle" that I usually consider a day.

Luckily, I went to a write-in this evening, and I have been motivated once again. I'm now just past 23k and have stopped right before a scene I've been looking forward to writing for quite a while now! Lindsay and Diego are going to do something very stupid, and I can't wait. I know I'm ahead right now, but I'm really hoping to be able to keep up the pace of at least 2k a day so I can potentially finish the book in November, not  just write 50,000 words of a story I will then stop writing and never finish.

10,000 Words

I reached 10k last night! Woo! I'm still at the beginning of my novel, so I feel like my plot is moving slowly compared to some people. I always end up writing epic length novels, though. I've looked at all the other people in my region, and I am pretty sure I'm 7th. This is obviously not good enough. I'm considering trying to have a huge word count today so I can be in at least the top 5. It'll also be easier once the board has an official top 10 and I don't have to open a bunch of tabs every time I want to see where I'm at. The competition is really helping me this year! Hopefully it can shove me through week 2 and into week 3 without me stopping like previous years! I think as long as I don't fall behind on my word count, I'll be okay. Hope everyone else has novels that are going well too!

First Write In

Yesterday I went to my first real write-in. It was pretty okay, I got to know some of my fellow NaNoers better. I also learned something important about myself. I already knew that online word sprints didn't really do anything for me, and that trying to keep up with someone who is above me is only marginally more helpful because I always slack off if I get ahead. BUT! Word sprints in person make me insanely competitive. I did 562 words in the one we did. The next highest number I heard anyone say was 40 words beneath mine. It was like a monster come out of me. Every time I felt anything like distraction, I chastised myself and was so worried I was going to have the lowest score. Hearing people around me clacking their keys was fantastic! I can't wait for the next one on Sunday.

I finished last night with 8k, and I'm hoping to break 10k today. I might see how far along the person who I've chosen as my regional Nemesis is (though I might have to pick again because she's blown me away so far) and try to get closer to her again. All in all, I'm feeling much stronger about this NaNo than last year, even though I LOVED that plot more than this one. This plot actually kinda scares me a bit. No excerpt yet, I've been using my time trying to get a bigger buffer.

Day 1!

Today I started at midnight and wrote exactly 1,667 in the hour after midnight. I didn't even have to stop in the middle of a sentence. I've decided this is a good sign. Since I'd gotten my daily word count and I was surprisingly tired I went to bed in the middle of the prologue. When I got up this morning I finished the prologue, coming in at 3,379 words. That's a little over double the daily word count, and I'm feeling good still. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to start the next scene and push for 5k or if I should leave it for tomorrow and a nice, fresh start. Since I'm ahead, I'm also allowing myself to edit somewhat as long as I don't remove words. This means I'll have a nice somewhat polished excerpt from the first scene for sharing soon!

I also know that I'm going to get less and less ahead as the month continues. That's been my pattern every time I've done NaNo, and I'm already a little worried about it. For now my plan is to actually go to write ins (next one on Thursday!) so I have real life people to do it with and feel all shame-y if I show up too far behind. I'm guessing the hardest part will be Thanksgiving, because I'm going to my boyfriend's family friend's house on Thanksgiving, and my family is having their Thanksgiving party the Saturday after. Two days of eating! My current plan is to write in the morning, but there are a million things that could get in the way of that. In any event, I'm ahead right now. Woo!

Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I learned today that Neil Gaiman declared today All Hallows Read last year. The point of All Hallows Read is to give scary books and promote reading. I have obviously not been keeping up on my literary news! Someone on the NaNo boards suggested they could add writing scary literature to it, and I wish I'd known about it sooner. It would've been a perfect time for my zombie short story, but I don't think I'd have enough time now and I don't want to interfere with. . .

NaNoWriMo Eve! That's right. At midnight I will begin my story and write my first 1,667 words. Since I always need a buffer, I'm even going to write an extra 1,667 words when I wake up and begin a "new day" on Tuesday. I think that will take me through at least my first scene, the prologue. I am actually considering trying to write through the main group's introductions. That'd get me quite a nice buffer zone for Thanksgiving festivities (or, you know, getting behind) which I'll probably need.

Last Minute Prep

I've made a few changes to my story progression, but I still haven't entirely outlined it. I got sidetracked by job interviews and my boyfriend's parents visiting, so I'm way behind where I wanted to be for NaNoWriMo. I am going to be working hard tonight and the next two days in the hopes that I can catch up. At least I have concrete knowledge of what my first scene will be!