The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: Enolaalone on October 27, 2012, 03:40:13 PM
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Is anyone here taking part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year? I am just signing up for my first attempt at it, and was just wondering if anyone else is doing it. If so this could be some sort of support thread?! :biggrin:
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I am! It's my first time too, and so far, my planned ideas suck! XD No idea what's gonna happen, but there's no point in not trying.
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Yay! I've never tried writing anything with a plan before so I'm not going to start now :lol: I'll just start writing on the 1st of November and hope for the best! I like that the site sends you encouraging emails throughout the month apparently. I am sure I will need encouraging emails after about the second day!
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I am using it as my finish a novel month. I need 41,000 words. So if I can at least write 1000 for 30 days, I'll be very close!
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I did it for the first time last year and failed miserably, but I'm going to do it again this year. Although I'm not actually doing it, because I've decided to finish the novel I started last year instead write one beginning to end. I just want to finish one before I start another. I have enough half-finished projects as it is! :biggrin:
It was helpful to have the encouragement and reminders. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to it this year.
This is gonna be fun!
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This will be my sixth NaNoWriMo :) I'm a little bit daunted this year, though, because I don't even have a quarter of an outline done, and don't really know where this story is going to end up. There's still a slim chance that I'll write something other than this story, but I'm trying to stick it out with this one to finish a saga I've been working on for some time.
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Good luck!!!
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I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time last year and it was a great experience. If I weren't in the process of revising the novel I wrote during it, I may have considered doing it this year too. So, I hope everyone else has fun with it! I'll be cheering you on. :D
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It's my third NaNo but the first REAL one. The other years I didn't even break the 5000 words. I have my plot ready to 80%, but left some parts undefined or really rough, so the story can take me everywhere.
Also I told all my friends and family what I'm doing so noone will be offended if I reply with a short "not now, I'm writing". Yay.
If you want to add me, I'm puuush at the NaNo-Website. Good luck to you all!!!
:heart:
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This will be my third year, and hopefully my third year winning as well, but I have exams until the 13th so I may die :P
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Hmmm yes and no for me. I'm participating bit not full on. I'm using Nano as a time to finish one I've already started. We are starting a novel writing club for the students this month. I will be kind of heading that, so I won't have time to start a new one this year.
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I'm doing an unofficial NaNo.
I won't be able to participate completely because of my crazy work schedule I am however using the free time I get to roughly draft my novel. It's been in place for years but I've yet to start writing anything other than notes.
GO NANOWRIMO
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I am undecided. I have a plot, but I don't know if I'm going to have any time to work on it at all. We'll see.
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I am undecided. I have a plot, but I don't know if I'm going to have any time to work on it at all. We'll see.
I'm the opposite, I know I have the time but I have no plot :lol:
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I can't decide. I want to, but I just got out from under a ton of stress. Do I really want to add more? It's so much fun though.
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I've done the YWP the last two years. Made my goal of 30,000 words both times. Unfortunately November's very busy this year, so it's not going to work. I might use the month to edit last year's novel instead, because I would like to try to get it published some day. Crazy, I know, but I can dream :P
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I like the fact that even if people aren't doing NaNo they are still using the time to do something creative writing-wise. It's really neat that it seems to have allowed people to make the time to write, in whatever form :)
Post Merge: October 28, 2012, 07:49:39 AM
Also, for anyone like me who needs to brain storm a little, can I recommend bubbl? Google it. 15 minutes ago I did not have a plot, now I have one. Thank you bubbl :biggrin:
:panda:
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I want to, but yet again im not prepared..and theres just too much going on right now to put my act together and try
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I don't think so this year. I've tried it a few times but always full flat in the first week. I don't think I've really got the motivation to write right now.
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:bump: not long to go now for those of us who are taking up the challenge! :blink:
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Aaaaaand we're off! Go Go Go WRIIIIIIITE! :cheer:
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This is my second year! I began a bit late last year because I had this ridiculously elaborate plot with equally elaborate character relationships and loads of "supernatural science" to build up, but I managed to hit 50,619 words on the 30th. It wasn't good enough to share with anyone and I'm not sure if it's salvageable enough to bother editing; the experience was nice, though. I almost never write because I get caught up in getting everything perfect (and inevitably rage-quitting when perfect doesn't happen). Just writing without editing myself too much felt like a major accomplishment.
This year, I'm doing a sort of... guided free-writing. ;) Even if it doesn't work better than the approach I tried last year, it should at least spark some ideas for other projects.
My username's Vedarling on the website, if anyone wants to be friends. I just joined and haven't figured out how to do that yet. :blush:
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This is my second year! I began a bit late last year because I had this ridiculously elaborate plot with equally elaborate character relationships and loads of "supernatural science" to build up, but I managed to hit 50,619 words on the 30th. It wasn't good enough to share with anyone and I'm not sure if it's salvageable enough to bother editing; the experience was nice, though. I almost never write because I get caught up in getting everything perfect (and inevitably rage-quitting when perfect doesn't happen). Just writing without editing myself too much felt like a major accomplishment.
This year, I'm doing a sort of... guided free-writing. ;) Even if it doesn't work better than the approach I tried last year, it should at least spark some ideas for other projects.
My username's Vedarling on the website, if anyone wants to be friends. I just joined and haven't figured out how to do that yet. :blush:
If you can figure out how to do it, I'm Enolaalone on there as well :)
I am doing similar to you with the guided free-writing thing. Well, I say that. So far I have opened Word. :lol: I must move away from the internet and get on with my first 1,667 words! Good luck all :biggrin:
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I've got 1206 so far, but have been distracted by some custom ponies, the dishes, and I'm now getting ready to go out to work my horses. I'm hoping to at least double what I have so far before the night is over.
What I think is really funny is that usually I have a solid outline from beginning to end since like the beginning of October. This year, I tried all through September and October to make an outline, and could only get about the first two or three chapters. I started writing this morning and lo and behold, I've *already* gone off course! Usually, my characters start running away with the story about 2/3 of the way through. This year, it happened on the second page. I guess that's what I get for having the outline so short to start with, huh? Ah, well. I've trusted my characters to take me to "The End" in the past, I suppose I should do it again. They're all pretty decent kids ;)
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I have already found numerous distractions - the Arena, emails, cheese on toast, cooking dinner etc etc. I am on 1,077 words so far though, and I still have a couple of hours before I intend to be asleep so here's hoping I pass the 1,667 daily target!
Katika - my characters are kinda behaving so far, but I have gained a character I didn't know I was going to have. Where did you come from, little guy?! XD
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I'm really tempted to go in, but I've barely finished my last novel which I started nearly 2 years ago.
I suppose I can think of one or two ideas, but only one would be sufficient for a 50k story. For those who do participate every year, how long do you spend on writing your story per day?
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1825 words written on day one! :cheer: time for bed!
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Sora - I honestly doubted my ability to complete my first NaNo, but it really did help to have the support of thousands of other people, as well as that set goal ahead. The biggest thing you have to do is not edit as you go, be willing to use the "not quite right" words instead of getting hung up on making it perfect the first go-around and just keep pushing ahead.
Tricks I've used are circling words when I know they are just a stand in for something else I want to use later (or if I catch myself using the same word too frequently - I don't stop to find synonyms, but I do know that I want to fix it, come December!), using caps to denote names I haven't thought of yet (I write fantasy, so I have several Sir SURNAMEs running around my drafts ;)), and putting scenes that I'm not quite ready to write in parenthesis (It would be something like this: (Character A is going to go over to Character B's house. I'm not really sure how it's going to start, but they are going to get into an argument that has to result in Character B leaving his own house) That way, it still adds to the word count, but I don't have to sit and dwell on it and waste time worrying over it. I can go back later, if I write that scene out of order, which I do quite often, or just revisit it when it's time to edit).
I write everything long hand first, which makes me have a bit of a slower word count than those that use a computer. With my pen and paper, I usually can get my 1667 done in eh, an hour and a half, but if I'm able to concentrate with the computer screen and actually get going, I've been known to get my daily word count in about half an hour. I guess it depends on how fast you type and how well you know where you're going with your story.
I vote give it a go! Even if you don't make 50k, at least you will have tried - and you'll have *some* part of a story started! Think about all of the people out there that have stories in their head and don't even start! Trying in itself is a huge step!!
*Edit to Add* Also, even if you don't make the 1667 words per day, you can always catch up later. Or, if you know you're going to be busy on a certain day, try to get ahead before hand. I usually like to try to reach 10k around day 3, so I don't feel as pressured for the rest of the month, then on the days when I only get like 300 words done, I don't feel any kind of panic. I've heard of people cranking out all 50k in a week. *I* haven't done it (though my best day was just over 15k in one day, but that was with self-inflicted word wars through the bulk of the day), but I've seen it done.
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Ugh . . . long, exhausting day today, in a good way, but I haven't written a single novel related word yet today. I'm thinking if I get the file open and write some words, I'm gonna call it a good day.
It's great to see how well everyone's doing so far! Keep up the great work!
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Ugh . . . long, exhausting day today, in a good way, but I haven't written a single novel related word yet today. I'm thinking if I get the file open and write some words, I'm gonna call it a good day.
It's great to see how well everyone's doing so far! Keep up the great work!
Just as long as you have something on the page, it's less daunting than a big empty space.
I'm actually really pleased! I hadn't written more than about a paragraph in 2 years before this, and I'm sat here with almost four pages! I didn't realise how much of a good feeling that is! :cheer:
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I'm lagging, but the first leg is the hardest part for me. :P It takes time to convince the editor to help less!
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I'm actually really pleased! I hadn't written more than about a paragraph in 2 years before this, and I'm sat here with almost four pages! I didn't realise how much of a good feeling that is! :cheer:
It IS the best feeling, isn't it? I wish I could remember that beforehand. It would make sitting down to do it in the first place much easier.
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This is my second year of writing a novel but I started a day late. I hope I can catch up!
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I :heart: NaNo!
I went to a NaNo Meet today. It was awesome. There were about 15 people sitting cramped in a diner, all writing like mad but also chatting and laughing. I edged near and they immerdiately found me a seat asked tons of questions and then let me write. And I had a wonderful time, met new people and got 2400 words done there.
Not bad for the start. And when I got home I sat down again and got it over 4000. THAT feels awesome. (And also because I has to start one day late).
It's 3a.m. and I need to sleep now though. Have fun writing! :lovey:
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Good job on the progress, everyone!
I'm currently at 4116, hoping to get some more done before bed, since I like to conclude "scenes" before I take lengthy breaks. Today's been super exciting for me for two reasons. First, I think my fear of tackling this year without an outline is officially gone, because my characters are taking me quite clearly through things so far. Secondly, (this one needs some deeper explaining) the novels that I have been writing over the past few years are all part of what I've loosely been calling "The Afflicted Saga." The first six were mostly about a FMC that encountered my MMC, they are involved in a sort of holy war, she dies and he has to go find her soul. During this holy war, there is a good deity and an evil deity. The past two years (three, if you include this one) I've been telling the MMC's back story. The majority of the divine powers in my world are sealed in people that used to be mortals, and one of my (so I thought) minor characters just whispered to me that SHE is actually the one that goes on to be the evil deity from the earlier books. It's not just a convenient plot device, either. It actually makes sense! Super stoked. Things like this are what makes NaNoWriMo so wonderful :)
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Katika, that sounds great. I love it when the spark of ideas struck! I got it this morning when I woke up and said, weaving magic permanently into objects? Boring. Make it life force and see what happens. MUAHAHA!
Now I let the idea sit in my head another two hours while I do pony customs and then I try to melt my keyboard with fast typing.
:cheer:
Great to hear you all are doing great.
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I :heart: NaNo!
I went to a NaNo Meet today. It was awesome. There were about 15 people sitting cramped in a diner, all writing like mad but also chatting and laughing. I edged near and they immerdiately found me a seat asked tons of questions and then let me write. And I had a wonderful time, met new people and got 2400 words done there.
Not bad for the start. And when I got home I sat down again and got it over 4000. THAT feels awesome. (And also because I has to start one day late).
It's 3a.m. and I need to sleep now though. Have fun writing! :lovey:
Aww that amazing! How nice of them! I have fallen behind a tad as I didn't have much time to write yesterday, today isn't likely to be much better but I have a clear window of Sunday afternoon that should give me enough time to catch up.
Just have to steer clear of distractions!
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I started my novel hehe
(finshing is a whole other story)
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*looks at page*
*cries*
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I got it this morning when I woke up and said, weaving magic permanently into objects? Boring. Make it life force and see what happens. MUAHAHA!
That sounds FASCINATING! I wanna know how that turns out!
*looks at page*
*cries*
Aw, it'll be ok. You can do this! Start with "I have no idea where to start, this blank page is freaking me out because . . . etc . . ." and see what happens. Sometimes getting ANYTHING down can release the good stuff.
Now I'm off to drink more coffee and try to catch up . . . toodles!
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You guys have words counts i'm still writing character notes and sketching out my plot
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I got it this morning when I woke up and said, weaving magic permanently into objects? Boring. Make it life force and see what happens. MUAHAHA!
That sounds FASCINATING! I wanna know how that turns out!
Thanks, LAA. I'm also excited and I have no idea how it will influence my story yet. But I have the slight anticipation that it might solve a big plot-problem AND will give me some bada..-action scenes too. Woohoo! Can't wait to get into the real action scenes.
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*looks at page*
*cries*
Whenever I get stuck or can't start, I immediately tell myself "A streaker just ran past." Whether or not the streaker ends up even being mentioned in the story, it always either gets my characters uncomfortable enough to start doing *anything* or turns into its own adventure that could be edited out in December, should it not actually pertain to the story. It does, however, get the words start flowing. Don't have any characters yet? Maybe your character *is* the streaker? ;)
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Katika, thanks heaps for those great tips. I'm well on my way to starting now thanks to those very tips!
Unfortunately, I fear I'm rushing into the main story too quickly. But I can always come back once I've hit the 50k I suppose!
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Very, very welcome! Don't worry about skipping or rushing things right now - that's what December's for ;)
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I tried participating in Nano once, and failed miserably. I'd love to try again, but I don't think I could handle the extra stress on my plate right now. So instead, I shall wish you all a GOOD LUCK! :lovey:
And remember: when your characters inevitably decide that they don't like the plot you've written and try to take things in a completely different direction.... let them! ;)
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Auuuuuugggggghhhhhh!!! Why does it suck SO BAD!!! (Sorry, just had to get that out. :blush:)
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Push through it! You can do this!!! :D
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Yes! You guys can do it! :D
When I hit a roadblock, I'd get up for fifteen minutes and do something else, anything else. Stretch or walk around the house or drink a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Then go back to writing. Doing all that writing for such a long time can make your eyes cross sometimes, so you need a little bit of a break. :)
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I've just hit a snag, myself. I boldly declared halfway through the day on Friday that I would reach at least 10k by the end of the day today, but am still shy of that goal by just over 3000 words. It can get done, easily, but the nasty, hateful side of my brain is saying "That's almost twice the normal daily word count! Pffft! You're not going to get there!" On top of that, I keep thinking about how I still have to rebury an exposed water line, do dishes and laundry and customs and vacuuming... You can see where my mind's going now!
What I really think is the worst part of this, is that I actually *know* what I'm going to write next. And I *really, really* like the plot in this next section. That reluctance could go back to one of my old habits of not wanting to write stuff that I was really excited about, because then it would be "over." I guess that my actual writing time is going to happen later than normal today. Still aiming for my 10k!
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I've just a snag too.
I've accidentally plunged into the main part of the story, and I'm not even at 10k yet! Sure, I might be able to recover thanks to the versatile nature of the story, but still. Argh! :silly:
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Keep up the good work everybody! Don't let your icky old editor mind muck up a perfectly good writing effort.
I more or less met my goal yesterday. Yay! I'm still behind, but not as badly as last year.
I've been setting a timer for 15 minutes and writing as hard as I can until the timer goes off. Then I get up and walk around a little and then do another 15 minutes. Repeat as desired. It gives me a chance to focus closely, but it's not overwhelming.
Good writing everyone!
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I've been setting a timer for 15 minutes and writing as hard as I can until the timer goes off. Then I get up and walk around a little and then do another 15 minutes. Repeat as desired. It gives me a chance to focus closely, but it's not overwhelming.
I did that through one entire Saturday when my husband was at work last year. That was the day that I got around 15k in one day. I did 30 minute word sprints and then took 15 to 30 minute breaks between to do house work and check in on other NaNoing friends. I'm going to wait for the next day when my hubby is at work all day and aim to do that again - it was SUCH a great push! I'm just about at 8k right now, so I feel good about making my weekend goal now. I've got the current scene that I'm working 100% figured out, but what happens next is still kind of shady. Either way, I've got three characters that are *very* good at pushing things along for me, and I have the strange feeling that the one that is going to get introduced in the next few pages is going to do an even better job at it, at least for a couple of chapters.
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I haven't written anything yet. I tried starting the other day at work, but everything I wrote was so awkward. Just didn't flow well or grip the reader's attention at all. I don't know what to do about it either... :(
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Even if it's awkward, keep going! The focus of NaNoWriMo ISN'T to produce a compelling manuscript ready for publication - it's to get the story down on paper. This includes any amount of awkward wording, run-on sentences, plot holes, failed devices and lackings of detail. You can't edit something that you don't have in front of you, nor can you turn a blank page into something compelling or interesting to read. The story's in you, so let it come out! You can go back and "fix" it once it's done, but it has to get done first :)
It's perhaps easier for me, because I don't ever write for readers. I write for myself. If someone else gets enjoyment out of my stories, great! But ultimately, it's my story, with my characters, in my world. Don't worry about trying to please others at this stage - it should help make things easier :)
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Ditto what Katika said. You just have to try really hard to cut out your inner editor. It doesn't matter if your story seems boring or you're repeating yourself, it's not original, anything like that. Just keep going forwards. Don't let yourself press the backspace key. Before you know it you'll have your first 1,000 words!
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I already have a minor plot hole in the story. An exaggerated example:
Character: Hey! We need that balloon! That's all we need!
*4 paragraphs later*
Character: Quickly, we can't leave without the ice cream, we need it now!
*steals the ice cream and leaves without the balloon*
Woopsy.
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Well, I tried again, and it's actually off to a decent start. It's because I'm writing about ponies (G2s); they bring about the best of my abilities. XP
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I'm totally cheating (but I didn't sign up for Nano just a personal thing), and I'm working on my personal novel instead. Using Nano as an excuse for a push! Type self type!
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Work through the blocks and ignore the plot holes! :hug:
It sounds like most everyone's off to a good start, and Katika, thank you for the advice. I hope that today's a good word count day for you all.
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It's horrible. I might work overhours today but all I can think about is WRITING MY NOVEL! (I'll be up late I guess.) :frolic:
Keep up the good words, everyone. :D
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Agh, I didn't have a lot of time on Sunday in the end, so now I'm quite far behind. Hopefully I can catch up at some point this week. I've written over 2,000 words today so that helps.
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Well, I missed reaching my 10k by the end of Sunday goal. Oops. And then, my husband and I spent the entire day running around "the big city" (we live very rural...) and I've managed *maybe* 100 words. Maybe.
The good news? Tonight's the midnight release of Halo 4, so husband's going to be dashing out of here, giving me some late night quiet time to do some word sprints!
*Edit* First 15 minute sprint of the evening gave me 859 words! Going to aim on three more sprints before bed tonight to give myself a full, solid hour of writing today :) I'll also add that my sprints are pushing me a bit out of my normal comfort zone and I'm attempting to type them. Not sure if I am physically able to hand-write 850 words in 15 minutes!
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I didn't write yesterday, but I did get a huge amount of stuff done on my house (I'm also doing a complete overhaul of my house, sorting and cleaning and organizing, which is *probably* not the best timing, but that's how it worked out.) so yay for that!
I'm gonna go now and see if I can squeeze some words in before bed.
P.S. I always decide beforehand that I'm going to write as badly as possible for the first draft. It really takes the pressure off. :lol:
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My sprints officially put me past 10k last night, but it resulted in me over sleeping this morning. Oopsies! I think that most of today's efforts are going to be spent working on custom ponies, though. I'll aim for my 1667 for the day (and if I get more done, that's great, too!) but don't really feel the need to push myself. We'll see, though. My writing habits have been kinda screwy so far this year.
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I think if there's one thing that can be said for NaNo it's that it's encouraged me to write every day and whenever I get the chance. So far I've written on the train, in my boyfriend's living room, outside, in Starbucks, in work and finally and most normally in my house. It's pretty crazy. :lol:
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Oh, it certainly does! My first NaNo, I even wrote while on my horse! Four years ago, I NaNo'ed while waiting to vote (didn't have to do it this year, due to getting an absentee ballot). I've written on a board resting on the tubs walls while I was taking a bubble bath, I've written in my husband's office, in the car as a passenger, (blips of a story) in the car while being the driver (NOTE: it's usually when I get like a brief phrase that I can't risk forgetting - I don't actually *write* while driving), and while waiting for appointments. I think the best thing that NaNo has taught me over the years is to ALWAYS carry something to write on and something to write with. Always.
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Ugh. My extension cable fizzled out yesterday, so I was left with a laptop and no copy of my novel. I had to start on a later chapter on my laptop and transfer it over. I can't help but feel as though I may have fallen a little behind, as I'm not sure if there are any plotholes in what I wrote. I guess I can come back to that in December, or when I've finished the main bulk of the story.
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Sora - I'm pretty convinced there's a hole where my plot ought to be, but I am not thinking about that until December :lol: You just have to keep moving forwards and try not to worry about it imo.
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Yep, you're right. Those kinds of things can be perfected next month! ^.^
And wow, I somehow passed 12k! Wasn't expecting that with all the interruptions I've had, honestly.
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I'm so behind and the plot seems to be going nowhere lol but at least I wrote 7000 I've not written that much in awhile. :D
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I decided to join today, just for the heck of it. I have some catching up to do, but it's not like I'll be leaving my house this weekend anyway. Ha ha!
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I decided to join today, just for the heck of it. I have some catching up to do, but it's not like I'll be leaving my house this weekend anyway. Ha ha!
Yay! Good luck! If you have plenty of time on your hands I'm sure you could catch up quite easily :)
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Oooh, I only just found this thread! I'm doing NaNo too, it'll be my third year now! I won my first year and failed my second, so hopefully I'll do better this time around :S
I added the guys who posted their usernames here already, I hope that's ok. My name's Voni on the site. Add me! :D
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Awesome! Yes, feel free to add me! :biggrin: You're doing really well, I am still behind although I finally broke 10,000 words!
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Well I'm averaging about 250 words a day, really, like 500 words every other day, but since I'm just trying to finish last year's novel, I'm OK with that rate. What's really the important part is that I'm writing regularly. If I can develop the habit of writing, even just a little, every day, I'd be really happy with the outcome of this month, no matter what my word count turns out to be.
I Love hearing about everyone's progress and I'm glad to know so many other writers.
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Well I'm averaging about 250 words a day, really, like 500 words every other day, but since I'm just trying to finish last year's novel, I'm OK with that rate. What's really the important part is that I'm writing regularly. If I can develop the habit of writing, even just a little, every day, I'd be really happy with the outcome of this month, no matter what my word count turns out to be.
I Love hearing about everyone's progress and I'm glad to know so many other writers.
True that, the regular writing is what's important. I lost all love for my fiction writing, since I have to contribute articles to three different websites on a weekly basis (!). It's helping me get back into the habit.
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I didn't write one creative thing yesterday :blush:
I sat down with my computer to do word sprints (I can't sprint on notebook paper - my fingers won't move fast enough to hand-write words), and ended up playing solitaire until I fell asleep...
My goal is to make up for yesterday today and sprint between loads of laundry and finishing custom pony heads :) Keep going, everyone!!!
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I wrote over 3,000 words yesterday and had myself completely caught up. Now I am exhausted and I don't have the energy to keep going. Motivate me please!
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Today's my first "big scary test" of November this year - I'm going to visit my parents for four days! This is likely going to involve heavy amounts of shopping done by me and my mom. Add to that, I'm bringing seven (I think) ponies that need to be rehaired, as well. I don't know if I'll have any spare time while I'm there, but if I do, I'm going to be busy! I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to work in a few sprints while I'm there. I'm sitting on just over 14k words today, and I'm hoping to be somewhere between 22 and 25k by the time I get back home. Keeping my fingers crossed for that one!
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Good luck Katika! I am still feeling wiped out after yesterday. I've squeezed out about 600 words today, not sure if I'll manage any more...
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Aie, I fell behind :( I was so tired from work yesterday, and now it looks as though I need to catch up!
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Finally started typing. I have a pretty empty 3 day weekend so hopefully I can catch up and make up what i'm going to miss next week during my productions.
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Gaaaah, falling behind! I was so tired yesterday after work I got nothing written, and today I've only managed a few hundred words. Won't get any more done either because I've got friends coming over this evening. Why did I think this was a good idea?!
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I'm way behind, no thanks to college. Maybe this wasn't the best year to sign up. I'm definitely not going to win this year, but I'll probably continue the story after the event and post it somewhere. :)
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I'm nearly at the halfway mark! So far, the novel is falling into place perfectly too, which is a pleasant surprise :)
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I hope everyone is doing okay! :cheer: remember, just keep going forwards and don't press the backspace!
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I'm nearly at the halfway mark! So far, the novel is falling into place perfectly too, which is a pleasant surprise :)
:razz:
Never mind my raging jealousy, Sora, that's fantastic! I'm really happy for you. That's a great feeling.
I haven't written anything for several days, but I have gotten 400 words today, and will probably do a few more 15 sprints before bed. At least one. Even though I know some of what I've written is pure rubbish, the idea is there, and I can fix the bad words later. I just have to keep reminding myself of that and not fling my computer across the room because it's so terrible. (Also, I'm going to do a search when I'm done for just how many times I've used the word "just" and "so." I'm taking bets it's more than 1000 each. lol)
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LeighAnn - I think I will have a similar problem! My characters have not stopped sighing since I started writing about them! I bet about 1,000 of my final 50,000 will be a variation on the word sighed.
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Enola, :lol: I've had that problem before. Not this story, but I've had some where I don't know how the pages didn't blow away from all the sighing. And head shaking. :lol:
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EEK! I SO fell behind over my out of town time! I think this is the first time in the six years I've done this that I've been this far behind! I know I'll be able to catch up, but it's kind of stressful now!
I'm still "distracted" over some custom ponies, have the farrier coming out tomorrow, and am needing to go run some errands tomorrow. I'm going to try to keep everything on schedule right now and aim for my 1667 per day and then try to catch up/get ahead on Thursday with some hard-core sprints.
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So I stopped writing for a couple of days due to my last exam, but luckily I was 3 days ahead anyway, so I just have to write 1667 words today to be one day ahead :P
So far I have an author in my story, and the story she is writing is almost getting more attention than my actual story itself. I prefer writing her story anyway, but it's hard to fit it in. And I think I just confused myself with the story within the story :D
Anyway, keep writing everyone, we can all win this! :)
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LOL I haven't written at all. Fail.
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I'm still well behind, thanks to work and health issues. UGH. YOU WILL NOT BEAT ME!
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Hang in there, Water_Fire! It sounds like we're in a very similar boat! I just caught up one full day's worth of being behind with a 30 minute word sprint. I usually do best with 10 or 15 minute ones, but I wanted to make sure I got a solid chunk done all at once before bed. AND the weekend's coming! Hopefully you can get some catch up/get ahead work then!!
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Hang in there, Water_Fire! It sounds like we're in a very similar boat! I just caught up one full day's worth of being behind with a 30 minute word sprint. I usually do best with 10 or 15 minute ones, but I wanted to make sure I got a solid chunk done all at once before bed. AND the weekend's coming! Hopefully you can get some catch up/get ahead work then!!
I will do it! YOU WILL NOT BEAT ME, NANOWRIMO!
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Don't worry LeighAnn! You'll get there eventually!
I've been quite lucky as I've had some free time this month. Go for it everyone! Don't give up now :)
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Ugh, I am ill! I haven't been ill in about 2 years, but I just started a new job so I guess I have a cold from the new people :( now I am tired and grumpy and have no energy to write.
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Ugh, I am ill! I haven't been ill in about 2 years, but I just started a new job so I guess I have a cold from the new people :( now I am tired and grumpy and have no energy to write.
BOO stupid new people! I hope you get better soon. I'm feeling your pain in a different way, my depression has been all 'HEY, I thought I'd come visit, hope you didn't want to get anything done!!' Utter git.
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Ugh, I am ill! I haven't been ill in about 2 years, but I just started a new job so I guess I have a cold from the new people :( now I am tired and grumpy and have no energy to write.
BOO stupid new people! I hope you get better soon. I'm feeling your pain in a different way, my depression has been all 'HEY, I thought I'd come visit, hope you didn't want to get anything done!!' Utter git.
Aw thanks. I'm almost half way so I'm just trying to make myself write something every day, no matter how crappy it is.
Sorry your depression has come to visit. Most inconvenient. I can only recommend what I'm doing, which is a bit every day and then hopefully you'll be able to do more in one go when you're feeling better. Good luck!
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Two sprints in for the day and I've written 2320 so far! I'm still behind schedule, but if I can get a few more of these bursts in for the day, I'll be on my way back to my comfort zone :) I'm aiming to get a full 10k written today, with hopefully close to that much tomorrow, so I can coast to Thanksgiving and hopefully be done before the holidays really start getting crazy. I also need to get a hold on my story so I can work without guilt on the custom challenge I'm doing this month. Poor planning on my part there, huh? ;) Keep writing, Wrimos!!!!
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I didn't get much done today, mostly because I hit a minor block where my mind just kept going blank. Doesn't help I'm at one of those 'This has been done so many times already' parts of the novel. I know nothing's 100% original these days, but I didn't want it to be too cliche/cheesy!
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Let it be cheese and go back and fix it later :) I caught myself writing stuff that downright bored me before, but kept pushing through it (in a few cases, it was so boring that I literally just skipped a section, lol) and took care of it after the first draft was completed.
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I powered through and now I'm enjoying my novel again :cheer: just over half way now.
Keep going everyone!
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Today has treated me SUPER well! I went from an estimated finish date of December 3rd to November 27, started today about 3k behind and am currently a little over 2k ahead. I've totally just hit a part in the plot that I'm apparently really excited about - I didn't have an outline this year, and that hung me up for a couple of days, but my characters all started telling each other secrets and now things are heating up. The worst part, though, is that it's looking like this is *not* going to be the last book of my current "trilogy." Oh, yes. It's looking more an more like next year's NaNo is going to be part four of Mathias's saga... *sigh* At least I like him?
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That's awesome Katika. I am behind again because I didn't have any time to write yesterday and I have mostly been having a cold. Hopefully I now have a couple of spare hours in which to catch up though.
Also, has anyone seen the dares on the front page of the Nano site? I am now totally naming the rest of my characters after streets around me(!) and I am very tempted to add a backstabbing zombie unicorn names Frank to my story, even though it is a romance with absolutely no sci fi in it at all. Haha.
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Also, has anyone seen the dares on the front page of the Nano site? I am now totally naming the rest of my characters after streets around me(!)
LOL! Mine would get super dull if I did that, because I live rural. My characters would be named "J Highway" and "501." :D
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Nice work, Katika! Sometimes this is just how they turn out though. I have the same situation with one of my other novels, though thankfully that was always going to be 'no ultimate conclusive ending' and just more of a random series - Like MLP in a way :)
And phew, work cut me off, but I'm back on track. I know roughly where to go next, I just hope the characters will help me through!
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Also, has anyone seen the dares on the front page of the Nano site? I am now totally naming the rest of my characters after streets around me(!)
LOL! Mine would get super dull if I did that, because I live rural. My characters would be named "J Highway" and "501." :D
Haha you should totally name a character 501. That would make my day.
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Okay. Every year, I find myself writing a little bit that sticks out to me as quite entertaining. Usually, it involves some terrible redundancy or situations that when taken out of context have TERRIBLE amounts of unintended inuendo, but I think I've finally one-upped myself on ridiculous NaNo-isms. This year's blip of ridiculous wording:
"What kills them?" Mathias asked, wondering if that was even the right way to word that request.
"It's hard to say," Sazrah said, mostly because the author isn't entirely clear on what it is that kills most undead things.
Wow. Just WOW! In my defense, that came out during a word sprint, so I was on the clock and didn't really have the time to start researching that kind of thing or asking for other people's opinions/thoughts. This is seriously the first time that *I* have been allowed in my own novels, though, so thank you, Sazrah (a character who was never even supposed to exist!) for including me. You make a girl feel pretty loved :blush:
Your turn! Have any of you caught yourself writing anything embarassing/cringe-worthy this year?
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Katika - that made me lol! I like it, you're breaking down the 4th wall. Or...something.
I don't think I've done anything like that yet. I'm trying not to read back over anything more than my last paragraph when I need to remember where I am. I don't want to get caught in the trap of editing!
How is everyone doing?
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Failing, failing miserably. I haven't written anything in days. There's always something else that needs doing *right now!* and then I'm exhausted and can't think. I'll never catch up, but I can maybe still finish strong . . .
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Rofl, Katika! And here I was thinking it was my story's job to break the 4th wall :silly:
Phew, got some more work done today. I'm on the final leg of the story (it was only ever going to be in the 50ks anyway), and it's still coming along nicely, give or take a couple of areas that I need to brush up on later.
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I'm on target now, word-wise, but a little concerned I'm about to run out of story. My big drama bit is happening now, and I can't judge if it's too soon or not. Oh well. I'll just have to write a lot of extra waffle at the end if it is! >_<
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How'z everyone going? I'm totally running out of plot! Ahhh! >_<
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Getting there! I'm trying to think of a good way to have a final showdown though. It doesn't have to be overly epic, but it does need something to keep people interested of course!
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You're doing awesomely, well ahead of the word targets! Congrats :) my big drama has happened now so I have to fix my characters for the next 10,000 words. To be fair, I have broken them quite well, so they'll probably need at least 10,000 words in which to recover.
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Thanksgiving plans kinda derailed my ability to know where I am, progress-wise.
I know I'm at least somewhere around 44k+ as of before I started my mad dash around for the holiday :) Since I write most of my novels long-hand, I spent most of my "writing time" typing it up. Previous to this, I had a computer eat about 1k worth of new stuff that I've been trying to recreate (which is why I hate writing "new" stuff on the computer - I can't cope very well with losing creativity!). I should know where I'm officially at sometime this evening. I know I'm close-ish, and hope to be done by Monday, at the latest :)
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Oooh that sounds great Katika. I see there are people winning already this weekend :) I'm trying for a 5K day today (got just over half of that so far) and as much as I can tomorrow as I want to be ahead so I don't have to do much next week.
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Gah, finally reached 50k! :yippee: :frolic:
Thanks so much to Katika, Enolaalone and everyone else who gave me support in this. This was my first year trying NaNoWriMo, and I'm so pleased it was a success for me :D
I hope everyone else is doing great too. All I have to do now is a cover for the novel... Which is easier said than done when you're a very poor artist when it comes to human characters :silly:
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WOO HOO, SORA!!!
I still think one of the best feelings ever is holding your finished manuscript fresh out of the printer :)
I'm most likely not going to be finished tonight, as I'd hoped, but if my estimation is correct, I only have about 4k to go before I reach 50k. As I've mentioned before, I long hand almost all of my novels, so I've been spending the past few days working on typing it up. My "official" word count that I have typed up so far is somewhere around 35k, but I know I have another 10kish counted by hand in what I'm still typing and about a dozen pages I haven't counted up yet. I feel like I'm really cutting it close this year, lol!
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You can do it! You're nearly there. The fact that you hand write it first is really impressive, I must say. If I were writing by hand I'd barely make it past 10k probably! :silly:
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You won Sora! :cheer: I can't believe the month is almost over, it went so fast. I am close but the end is dragging so much. Ugh. I pretty much hate my story at this stage.
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I'm actually getting to the point that I'm GLAD that the month is almost over! My house is in desperate need of some TLC, lol!
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I'm glad, mostly because my story is progressing very slowly and it's boring me almost to death. Finish already! Agh.
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Yippee!! Sora, I just joined you in the winner's circle! Currently at 50922, with a bit more to go before the draft is officially done, but I reached 50K! YAY!!!
The one disappointing part: My 50,000th word is "in". Totally not exciting ;)
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I just joined y'all in the winners circle! :frolic: :freak: :newpony:
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Woohoo! Congrats, both of you! :frolic:
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I just finished my 50,000 words ^^ Congrats to the others in the winner circle
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Just won, but still haven't finished my novel :P
Congrats everyone! :cheer: