NaNoWriMo 2014

[GandK]

32,007.

One of my "writing buddies," an old coworker who happens to be one of the most competitive human beings God ever made, is irritating me into higher word counts at present. She's one of those people who Must. Always. Win. And she's been quite deliberately aiming for my word count plus one as her final total each day.

I do not care about the word counts of my other writing buddies, but I'm finding that very annoying. I've been making an extra writing push each day to get around it.

Accidental win?

[Ian]

Thursday and Friday I had most of the day free (one of the perks of my job). On Thursday I wrote 12399 ramping up to the finale and on Friday I finished the book with 11914 more. The climax/denouement are always easy for me unless I've screwed something up.

Saturday was my truly impressive day: zero words.

My break is over, though, so I'm back to writing with a new project today.

[Ian]

Finished the first edit (about 3.5k in pure rewrites) and a new writing project (about 20k total). Going to need to find something new to keep up my momentum...

[Ian]

Well, this thread went quiet. The month is almost done and I know at least two of us are well over the goal - how did everyone else do? Anyone trying a big push to finish at the end?

[Spartan_Warrior]

I have about 1300 words to write today to reach 50,000, so I assume I will crawl across the finish line. Congrats to you and the other freaks of nature who did four or five Nanowrimos in one month.

[jennypenny]

I've never done NaNoWriMo, but I write all the time for my work. I'm writing more than ever now, so I decided to track it for November's NaNoWriMo to see how much I'm actually writing.

I wasn't able to track what I did right around the election or Ferguson coverage, but I still managed to write over 75K words. I was really stunned by that number. Granted, it's easier to write smaller pieces, and it's much easier to write when you know it will be published under a pseudonym or someone else's name or byline, but still...

I'm thinking it's time to (finally) stop writing for other people/outlets and try a project of my own. I have a couple of smaller projects lined up. After that, I might dust off a previous project and give it another go. We'll see what happens. It's so much easier ghost writing (for me, anyway).

[Ian]

Best of luck, Jenny.

I had quite a successful month. I could actually sustain this level of writing for a longer period, but I don't have enough notes prepared to write that much without getting ahead of myself (and I find that to be extremely unproductive).

[jennypenny]

Thanks, Ian.

Most of the authors I work with do their outlining/whiteboarding/beating work for their next project while their completed manuscript *rests* before editing.* I think it helps them to clear their mind of the old manuscript to make the re-read easier (like taking an eraser to their mental blackboard). I also think the creative part of the prep phase rejuvenates them a bit after the long write.

Constructive prep is as important as productive writing. Word count isn't everything.


*With serials/series, this also helps the editor because they have at least a rough outline of the next installment and can edit the current manuscript accordingly.

[GandK]

My final total: 45,066.

Thanksgiving, related holiday travel, and G getting injured derailed my progress. However, I'm thrilled with the material I did produce. I continue to be extremely pleased with the ROI of a good planning/outlining phase.

Congrats to everyone! Even a thousand words is better than October's word total!

[jennypenny]

My final total: 45,066.

Thanksgiving, related holiday travel, and G getting injured derailed my progress. However, I'm thrilled with the material I did produce. I continue to be extremely pleased with the ROI of a good planning/outlining phase.

That's great. What happened to G? (did I miss something?)

[GandK]

No, you didn't miss anything. I meant to make a proper blog post, but today has been crazy.

We were on our way home from Thanksgiving in Florida, and were staying in a hotel. Our 4-year-old was in the bed with us, and he thrashes around a lot in his sleep. At about 1 AM Sunday morning he popped G in the eye and it scratched the cornea. We went to urgent care yesterday, and I spent the remainder of the day nursing G. So... no more writing. But that wasn't important.

G's in serious pain (read: Percocet), and has antibiotic eyedrops. They don't think there will be permanent damage, thankfully. He can't see well enough to read, write or drive yet, though. The little guy and I spent today in the car driving G from county to county so he could get to his hearings, and I typed up his emails for him as well. I'm extremely grateful today that I'm retired and was able to do all this for him without jumping through logistical hoops.

[jennypenny]

No, you didn't miss anything. I meant to make a proper blog post, but today has been crazy.

We were on our way home from Thanksgiving in Florida, and were staying in a hotel. Our 4-year-old was in the bed with us, and he thrashes around a lot in his sleep. At about 1 AM Sunday morning he popped G in the eye and it scratched the cornea. We went to urgent care yesterday, and I spent the remainder of the day nursing G. So... no more writing. But that wasn't important.

G's in serious pain (read: Percocet), and has antibiotic eyedrops. They don't think there will be permanent damage, thankfully. He can't see well enough to read, write or drive yet, though. The little guy and I spent today in the car driving G from county to county so he could get to his hearings, and I typed up his emails for him as well. I'm extremely grateful today that I'm retired and was able to do all this for him without jumping through logistical hoops.

Oww! I did that in first grade (I looked up during Duck Duck Goose) and I still remember how much it hurt.

[Spartan_Warrior]

@Jenny: You have a great instinct for storytelling. I've been wondering why you don't try your hand at some projects of your own. Good luck!

@GandK: Sorry to hear about the injury, but congrats on the words!