This afternoon, I reached 50,000 words on my NaNoWriMo novel and became a winner! Hurray!
Now for the part where I have stumbled in the past--finishing the novel. I'm not sure exactly how many more words I'll need to finish it. I'm going to make a guess and say 70,000 words. So 35,000 words in December and another 35K in January, and I think that should finish it out. If I do what I've been doing and write about 2,000 words each weekday, with weekends off, I'll easily hit that goal even with a few weekdays off here and there.
We'll talk about revisions after I type "the end" for the first time on a novel. This time, I'm going to do it!
Showing posts with label finishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finishing. Show all posts
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
NaNoWriMo and Beyond
It's sort of like "to infinity and beyond" only with a lot more words and more caffeine.
Once again I've been participating in NaNoWriMo. It's my favorite part of November. Right now, I have 44510 words written; the goal is to write 50,000 words during November. So, I have fewer than 6,000 words to write in the next five days. I've been writing over 2K most days that I've written (no, I haven't written every day), so I don't think this is going to be a problem.
So why am I not celebrating? A few reasons. First, the end-of-NaNo blues. I always get a little bit sad when November and NaNo end. Adrift, not sure what to do. No group of other writers cheering me on, running with me toward that arbitrary goal. Second, I am worried that once again I will stall out with a partially written novel. I've won NaNoWriMo three times. I have three incomplete novels languishing in various locations around the house. This time, I need to do something different. I need to find that trigger inside me that will propel me to keep writing and finish a story! But how?
I may have a plan. I few of my friends and fellow writers also want to continue writing past November. I am hoping we will be able to keep each other going and that sometime early next year I will be here on this blog announcing a finished first draft.
One other thing that some of my fellow writers out there might find interesting and useful--I'm using a new piece of software to do my writing this year. That's right, I am writing my first draft on the computer rather than by hand. And I'm loving it. The new software is helping quite a lot with that. It's called Liquid Story Binder XE, and I highly recommend it. It's even on sale for 50% off during November. If you don't want to buy it right away though, no problem. They give you thirty days to try it out, but not thirty days in a row. Thirty days of actual usage, so if you use it on Monday and not again until Thursday, that's only two days of your free trial. It's a great set-up and a great piece of software.
And now it's time for the Thanksgiving preparations (really, I swear we just celebrated the New Year). Look for an "I won" post soon and then lots of planning and scheming for turning myself into a real writer who actually completes stories.
Once again I've been participating in NaNoWriMo. It's my favorite part of November. Right now, I have 44510 words written; the goal is to write 50,000 words during November. So, I have fewer than 6,000 words to write in the next five days. I've been writing over 2K most days that I've written (no, I haven't written every day), so I don't think this is going to be a problem.
So why am I not celebrating? A few reasons. First, the end-of-NaNo blues. I always get a little bit sad when November and NaNo end. Adrift, not sure what to do. No group of other writers cheering me on, running with me toward that arbitrary goal. Second, I am worried that once again I will stall out with a partially written novel. I've won NaNoWriMo three times. I have three incomplete novels languishing in various locations around the house. This time, I need to do something different. I need to find that trigger inside me that will propel me to keep writing and finish a story! But how?
I may have a plan. I few of my friends and fellow writers also want to continue writing past November. I am hoping we will be able to keep each other going and that sometime early next year I will be here on this blog announcing a finished first draft.
One other thing that some of my fellow writers out there might find interesting and useful--I'm using a new piece of software to do my writing this year. That's right, I am writing my first draft on the computer rather than by hand. And I'm loving it. The new software is helping quite a lot with that. It's called Liquid Story Binder XE, and I highly recommend it. It's even on sale for 50% off during November. If you don't want to buy it right away though, no problem. They give you thirty days to try it out, but not thirty days in a row. Thirty days of actual usage, so if you use it on Monday and not again until Thursday, that's only two days of your free trial. It's a great set-up and a great piece of software.
And now it's time for the Thanksgiving preparations (really, I swear we just celebrated the New Year). Look for an "I won" post soon and then lots of planning and scheming for turning myself into a real writer who actually completes stories.
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