NaNoWriMo Take Two

A few years ago, I tried to do NaNoWriMo. And I failed. I definitely did not hit my 50,000-word mark. Instead, I got 23,911 and 61 pages, which really is a decent accomplishment. And being a person who does not like to fail, I decided to try it again - as a total whim.

So, last time, I had a plan. I had ideas for characters and a very brief outline. That made life a smidge easier. This time, I decided to start it a day into the month with absolutely no pre-planning at all. I had a basic idea, but for the most part - I'm flying by the seat of my pants.

I'll be posting on my Twitter what my daily word count is. So far, I've actually caught up to where I should be, and once a week I'll be doing a check in here.

So here's to finishing (or at least getting more words than last time!).

NaNoWriMo - What I Know So Far

We are now more than halfway through NaNoWriMo. Am I up to where I'm supposed to be word countwise? Um, not even close. I may catch up, but I may not. But, I've already learned some things through this process that should help me if I ever choose to do it again.

1. I'm not good at not revising while I write.
It's the editor in me. I want to go back and polish write away. But, in this situation, I know I need to just keep writing (I won't discuss how many times I get "just keep writing, just keep writing, just keep writing" in my head. Thanks Finding Nemo.) I can go back later and polish. This month is just concentrating and getting a word count done.

2. Know your characters!
Usually, I write by the seat of my pants. I got used to it as a reporter because typically you don't have time to make a detailed plan before you write an article - you just write. With this, though, I did have some notes and ideas (although I still don't have an end). But, I didn't really think about my character's motives, thoughts, feelings before I started writing. This has made dialog tough, and it's made coming up with their names even tougher (as of today, most of the character's are just referred to by their relationship to the main character).

3. Don't force writing.
Part of the reason I don't have my word count is that I haven't made myself write every day. I only write when I'm inspired to because if I force myself, it doesn't come out right.

4. Find inspiration, ideas everywhere and anywhere.
Keep your eyes open when you're out and about. You may get some weird idea for a scene -- or even a character. For example, as ridiculous as she was, I owe a very, very drunk girl at the Iowa Wild game a big thanks. Her antics have given me more than 2,000 words for one scene that I didn't know would be in the book but made a great comedic relief scene.

5. Any words are good words.
I may not be happy with what they actually are, but at least I'm writing. I honestly have never written this many words or stuck with a project for this long. So, that makes me really proud and happy. This book may never see the light of day, no one else may read it, and I may never go back through and revise, but it's there. I'll have finished it and written a book. And that's a huge accomplishment in itself.

NaNoWriMo - Taking the Plunge

One of my goals for this quarter was to post on the blog more and to write more with you guys. But that was before I decided to do NaNoWriMo - the challenge to write a novel or at least 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November.

I'm not sure what crazy has overtaken me on this. It's not like I've never thought about writing a book ... That is one thing on my bucket list. But in a month? And during the school year? That's super crazy. 

So, I have been writing more during quick write time, but I haven't been good about posting. And in the next month, I'm going to be posting even less. I have a feeling I'll be using quick write time to get some extra words in. But, I most likely won't post anything I write during this time. I don't even want to give you the plot because I don't want to feel like I've completely locked myself in. I could see myself occasionally posting some excerpts but never the entire thing. 

I will be writing with you - just not what you're writing about. And I will post my progress as the month goes on. Then, on December 1, I'll give you a rundown of how it went, what I learned and if I reached my goal.