NaNoWriMo -- Here I come!
I was chatting with Marie the other day and I've decided to do NaNoWriMo along with her -- and any of you who are diving into the November speed-writing madness. Yep, 50K words in 30 days. And I'm stating it here and will be posting my word counts every day here. The potential for public shame and humiliation should be enough to push me through the month -- and hopefully to resounding success.
As most of you know, I'm an editor in my day job. And my editing brain gets in the way of my writing. Constantly. For the month of November, I'm going to lock her in my office closet. No editing, no second-guessing, just write, write, write.
I've been asked by my editor to keep my books right around 100K words. If I can keep up a NaNoWriMo pace through December, I could have the first draft of Con & Conjure finished by January 1. How freakin' cool would that be?! I want to eventually be able to write two series, and to do it, I'm going to have to learn to write in a quicker and more efficient way.
So I'm going to give NaNoWriMo a shot. No, I'm not going to give it a shot -- I'm going to DO IT. I know a lot of you out there routinely do NaNoWriMo. So why don't we all encourage each other? Leave comments on my blog posts to let everyone know how you're doing. I'll be posting my word counts every day. I'll need to do 1700 words a day (about 7 pages) for 30 days to give me 51K.
And for those doing NaNoWriMo with me and posting your progress in the comments -- I'll think of some sort of contest with a cool prize. Yet one more reason to jump in and join me.
Who's up for a crazy November? : )
BTW -- I'm going to extend the deadline for the contest I announced on Saturday to tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. EST. Scroll down to Saturday's post for the details.
As most of you know, I'm an editor in my day job. And my editing brain gets in the way of my writing. Constantly. For the month of November, I'm going to lock her in my office closet. No editing, no second-guessing, just write, write, write.
I've been asked by my editor to keep my books right around 100K words. If I can keep up a NaNoWriMo pace through December, I could have the first draft of Con & Conjure finished by January 1. How freakin' cool would that be?! I want to eventually be able to write two series, and to do it, I'm going to have to learn to write in a quicker and more efficient way.
So I'm going to give NaNoWriMo a shot. No, I'm not going to give it a shot -- I'm going to DO IT. I know a lot of you out there routinely do NaNoWriMo. So why don't we all encourage each other? Leave comments on my blog posts to let everyone know how you're doing. I'll be posting my word counts every day. I'll need to do 1700 words a day (about 7 pages) for 30 days to give me 51K.
And for those doing NaNoWriMo with me and posting your progress in the comments -- I'll think of some sort of contest with a cool prize. Yet one more reason to jump in and join me.
Who's up for a crazy November? : )
BTW -- I'm going to extend the deadline for the contest I announced on Saturday to tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. EST. Scroll down to Saturday's post for the details.
posted by Lisa Shearin at
6:35 AM
28 Comments:
I'm absolutely doing Nano. I owe my first ever completed draft to Nano, and I love it! (Nano that is. I love the draft too, but it's... er... messy O:))
Hurrah for you joining in the fun! :)
I'm probably crazy, but I'm trying it.
Just a week until Nov 1. My fingers are twitching and my mind is spinning. It's the first time I'm doing this, and I'm equally excited and scared. I'm also planning to do 5k the first day, to give me some breathing space later in the month.
Yep, definitely crazy.
Ohh, good luck with it, Lisa! I hope you do well! :D It would be so awesome if you were to finish the first draft by January!
Believe me, it sounds fun. I wish someone had come up with this before my daughter was born. But right now, I have way too many time commitments.
I'll be watching all the fun, though! and I will be writing, but only at my slow-but-steady 5000 words a week pace. It works for me!
Thanks for the good luck wishes, Tia & Jo!
Inkblot, looks like me and Tanja are NaNoWriMo first-timers. (waves at Tanja).
I love Nano! This is my fifth year in a row and I've "won" every year. It can be pretty exhausting, though, but in a good way.
Of course, I have almost no idea what I'm going to write this year. Oh well, that's part of the fun.
Argh! You're killing me! I really, really wanted to do NaNo this year, but I just started revisions on the novel I wrote for NaNo 2007, and I feel like I can't interrupt the progress I'm making there. But you guys are making it awfully tempting.
I think the secret to both being successful and having fun during NaNo is exactly this kind of community thing, where people post their progress and talk about the process. It's what made NaNo 2007 so great for me, at least. I wish you NaNo-ers all the best!
For those of you doing NaNoWriMo -- I'm signed up on the official site now. If you want to be one of my "Writing Buddies" just add me to your list, and I'll add you to mine.
Hope Nano works for you! I can't do it this year but definitely cheering you on.
2 series at the same time = incredible!
I have a BSc dissertation to write...
... maybe I'll join in next year.
Avocado - what degree? I work with students in Construction Management and Engineering. Their deadline for dissertations is February (mine when I did it was May). Hope it goes well!
I'm in too! Nano has helped me lock away that inner editor during my first drafts and it has been *very* helpful for my perfectionistic streak :)
Good luck everyone!
Yep, editor/perfectionist -- that's me.
WOOO!! Go Lisa! You're going to find this VERY liberating....we just need to pry the editor hat off of yer head ;).
So glad you're jumping in on this!
Marie
And good luck to ALL of the NaNoing Rangers!!!
I've decided not to do it again this year--different goals and ambitions at the moment. ;)
Good luck, Lisa! :D I'm sure it'll be an experience. ;)
Thank you, Merc!
Yay! I love NaNo. It's a great way to get a draft finished and out on paper.
Good luck!
Thank you, Liana!
Lisa and all-- I'm doing NaNo for the fourth year I think. Last year it got me through a nearly completed draft of a historical novel. This year-- a mystery's in the on deck circle.
Good luck to everyone!
Good luck! I tried this one year, but only got 28,000 words done. I would love to try again, but school and my comics get in the way.
I really hope you get into the groove! I want more stories from you! (No pressure though)
Yunalesca- I do *deep breath* BSc Environmantal Biogeoscience. Deadline is actually March, but I have a lot of other coursework due in around then, as well as extra lectures. Plus, my supervisor is going on maternity leave. So I feel the need to get ahead.
I'm a first timer as well! I don't know what I'm getting myself into...I haven't even gotten the complete storyline down yet. I must be crazy.
Lisa- If you want to write another series in the near future then seeing if you can complete your first draft at a faster pace is a must. You can do it!
Thanks, Tori!
Best of luck with NaNo. I've never tried it because my stories are no where near long enough. However, a few of my friends have. I was quite impressed just getting to watch them. So best of luck to everyone who's going for it. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Thank you, Anne Elizabeth!
I'm going to try and give it a shot this year too. God knows I don't have the free time, but there never really will ever be a good time, right? At the very least I'll get a partial draft out of it :]
Best of luck, we can cheer each other on!
You're right, there's never a good time to do NaNo (busy, busy). But I'm going to give it my best shot.
And I'll need all the encouragement I can get, so thank you!
I'm totally doing Nano. I've participated for the last five years but this is the first official year. I've never signed up before. I wanted some writing company this year. Something different, you know?
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