As I said before, I'm using NaNo to finish or make serious headway on stories I've already started, so I'm bouncing between novels and counting everything I write toward my NaNo words. It is day 8 and I have written 25,810 words so far this month.
O_O
I don't know what it is about NaNo--maybe so many people writing and so many of my friends writing so much that the part of me that loves writing challenges kicks into high gear--but it is a great time for me, personally, to reach goals I've been struggling with during the year.
Right now, my characters are all clamoring for attention and they won't. shut. up. This is a good thing, considering I've spent a good half of the year begging them to talk to me, but they won't shut up to the point where I haven't slept much this month and my eye keeps getting a twitch from lack of sleep. Or maybe all the caffeine.
NaNoWriMo is for some people; it works for some people, and if you're on the sleep-deprived crazy train with me, I'm sorry. Er, I mean GOOD FOR YOU! >_>
But if you are one of those lovely writers not participating, GOOD FOR YOU too! Part of writing is knowing what you want to do and what you're up for doing, and every single person writes differently. Last year, my pathetic attempt at a NaNo novel fell horribly flat, but it was good for me because I got back to work on the book I really wanted to finish.
So I'd like to take a moment to cheer on all of you doing NaNo--you can reach your goals!--and a moment to thank all of you not doing it for having patience with those of us who are.
You are all awesome. :D
I love your positive attitude. This is my first year and I was going to play it by the rules, specificially no editing.
ReplyDeleteBut after I wrote a few chapters, I wanted to make some changes before going on, so I edited the first few chapters and then moved on. I'm behind schedule but am really happy with what I've written.
I think I'd rather be happy with 8K words than unhappy with 12K - or whatever the goal was for the day.
It's awesome that you figured out what works for you best during NaNo! I can't do the "no editing" thing during NaNo, either. My novel "Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld" was written during NaNo in 2009, and I remember one day when I wrote 4,000 words, realized they didn't work at all, and cut them out. I'm always cutting and editing during NaNo, because as you said--for me, it's better to have words I'm happier with than ones that would make me miserable. There's a balance between pushing forward to finish and being satisfied with what I'm pushing forward with. Good luck on the rest of NaNo!
ReplyDeleteImpressive # so far! I opted out. Didn't help matters I had no power for the entire first week. I'm hoping to get 30K in and call it a month.
ReplyDelete~ Wendy
What excellent headway you've made with your word count! Impressive! I've been editing something, so haven't done that much writing this month... NaNo was never gonna work for me!
ReplyDeleteAnd yet your NaNo project from 2 years ago was an absolute delight!
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