Post-NaNo Plans

Just a quick note to send out to my writing friends who want to continue our adventure now that November and NaNoWriMo are over.

For December, let's keep the Twitter chatting going on using the hashtag #writeallyear.  I wanted to switch away from the #NaNoPDX tag and other NaNo specific tags we were using because some people who didn't do NaNo would like to have some writing company throughout the year.  This doesn't mean we will do away with #NaNoPDX or any of the others.  The PDX version will still be great for planning local meetings, write-ins, etc. But I wanted to create something that is more generic.

So, what are we going to do with this?  Post monthly goals, post progress, cheer each other on. Pretty much the same stuff we did in November. 

Later this month, I will be unveiling a new website (I hope) that will give us member profile pages and other things we can use in addition to the Twitter chat, but I didn't want to wait for that to be up and running to put something in place. Don't want to lose that momentum!

So, after you read this, let us know your December goals either here in the comments or on Twitter or both.  I'll let you know when the next phase is ready to go.

Meanwhile, keep writing!

(My December goal: 15,000 words; trying to be realistic and plan for the holiday crazies.)

Words, Sensible and Otherwise

Tonight, I'm at the Soiree of Furious Typing, an awesomely fun six hour write-in put together by one of our Portland NaNoWriMo people.

Now for confession time--I stopped writing about 45 minutes ago.  I hit my 2,000 word goal for the day, and I stopped.  Mostly because I'm so tired that it was getting to a point where I knew I wasn't going to be able to write anything sensible or coherent.  And while the point of NaNo is mostly to get things down and worry about coherence and whatnot after the first draft is done, I just can't stand to type complete drivel.  If it's something to do with the story, and I'm just not quite getting the descriptions right or full enough or something like that on the first try, I'm okay with that.  But I'm so tired, I found myself repeating things, so I knew it was time to stop.

But, it's all fine.  Yesterday, I wrote just over 7,600 words.  Today I wrote 2,082 words for a total of 45,794 which puts me a few hundred words over today's goal of 45,009.  I may even finish this out tomorrow, although Monday is more likely.

Now, it sounds like it's time for cleaning up as the Soiree ends in half an hour.  It's been fun, but I am so looking forward to my bed!

NaNoWriMo Day 21

I didn't write yesterday.  I had a relapse of my nasty cold on Friday, and yesterday was generally miserable, too.  Today, finally, I feel mostly better.  I still have a bit of a cough, and my throat is not completely better, but it feels so much better by comparison!  Now if I could just stop needing to sleep so much.

So, NaNoWriMo. My plan for the rest of the month is to write at least 3,000 words each day.  Thursday being Thanksgiving may put a bit of a kink in that plan, but if I do at least the 3K over the next few days, I'll have a cushion going into Thursday and will be fine, especially because Friday I am off work and can write all day.

I'm starting to see a pattern in my writing schedule.  I think I'm not an every day writer.  I seem to do really well with 3-4 writing sessions a week, especially if I can make them 2-3 hours long.  That's actually a really good thing to know.  That's also a writing schedule I believe I can easily fit into my life even when it's not November.  That should let me easily reach my 25,000 words a month goal I'm planning on.  I may even find that 25K is a little low, but I'll wait a few months and see how it goes. Maybe I'll revisit my plan and adjust my monthly goals at the end of March--three months should give me a decent idea of whether or not my plan is a good one for me.

Back to NaNo. Today I've written 2,027 of my 3K.  I'm taking a break now to clean up and go grocery shopping.  It's cold and wet and nasty out, so I'd really rather stay here and write.  It's so hard to drag myself out of the house on days like this!

But drag myself out the door I must, because I am not excessively rich and have no servants to send out shopping for me.  Anyone feel sorry for me?  I didn't think so. :D

Have a great Sunday, everyone! More writing talk tomorrow, I'm sure.

Day Two

447 words today. I fell a bit short of my 500 word goal for the day, but it's been crazy and hectic and full of interruptions over here, so I'm just going to be glad I got some writing done at all.

I also started putting my Think Sideways course printouts into a big three ring binder so I can have everything organized and in one place for my planned read through of the course. Did I mention that here? I am going to read it all and then go back and do the actual steps. This plan works much better with the way my brain works. So, I am glad to be started on the organizing part so I can do the reading part.

And now, since I can tell that last sentence was barely coherent, I am going to put myself to bed. I've been exhausted all day. I think I'll just give in to it.

Day One

I am trying something new for my writing. I'm working on Ordinary Girl, a novel I started during NaNoWriMo 2006. I am using some of the things I've learned so far from the Think Sideways course, but I'm also using some ideas I've pulled from other places. I'm using the Think Sideways ideas for coming up with conflicts, etc.

Right now, I'm going through the 60K or so words I've already written to get character and place names and descriptions. That's just listing stuff, though, so I'm not counting it toward my word count. I am also writing character essays, and since some of this will get inserted in the actual novel, I am counting these words. The major bit I'm working on write now is writing a summary outline--basically writing out everything that's going to happen (as much of it as I know) without the details. So "first she did this, then this happened, then this happened, then this happened." And so on. And I am counting these words because this is going to be the bare bones of the novel, and once I reach the end of this bit, I will go back and start adding details and description and dialogue to turn it into an actual story.

Today's word count: 680 (the even number was completely unintentional!)

50K!

I did it! I hit my 50K mark about 45 minutes ago. I am an official NaNoWriMo winner! Two years in a row, too. The only two years that I actually made a plan and a loose schedule and really vowed to do it. It makes me realize that I can do a lot. I just have to make the decision.

Right now, I'm going to have some food. Then stare at television and go to bed early.

Yippee!

Almost there!

Today I went past the 45,000 mark. I am less than 5,000 words from winning NaNoWriMo. Now I just have to get that last 5K written. And then I have to do the really hard part. I have to finish out the story once November is over. Then I have to do the rewrites and editing. And then I have to let people read it. But one step at a time, right? For now, I just need 4,802 more words. This, I can do.

Tooling along

Yesterday, I was short on my daily goal by just under 500 words. I just couldn't quite get in the swing of things just couldn't manage to get that last little bit written. Today was better, although I couldn't get up to speed. My highest word count for a 15 minute word war was 400 words. But at least I hit my goal today, so who cares if I was slow?

I am getting so close to my 50,000 words now! I am at 43,125. I think I will hit 50K by the end of Wednesday. The story won't be quite finished, but it will be close. I just have to find some way this time of pushing myself and actually finishing the story after November ends. And I have to find the way to keep myself writing regularly, finishing stories, editing, doing all the things I need to do to reach my dream of being a published author. I am worried about whether or not I will manage. Not finishing has been my weakness for so many years, in more than just my writing. But these are plans to make after I reach 50K. I will write much about it after November.

Best Day Ever!

Today I wrote over 5,000 words! Hurray! I am very pleased with this. I set myself the 5K goal for today, but I was really nervous about whether or not I could reach it. I'm doubly happy because, even though I had a very low day Wednesday and didn't write anything yesterday, I am now over 1,000 words past today's minimum. I am planning to write 2,000 tomorrow and Sunday. I'm going to try to reach 50K by Thursday. Since I am writing by hand, I have to have Matthew send an e-mail to one of the NaNo administrators verifying that I wrote all 50K words, and then I get my winner status. So, I have to write 1,765 words each day for the next six days to win. I am planning to do at least 2K each day just to be safe.

In another twist of events, my main character decided to take a jaunt to England and take a bunch of other characters with her. She really is turning out to be a lot of fun. I'm really getting to like her. I'm glad I have three story ideas for her so I can stick with her for a while.

Really tired now, and I still need to exercise. More reports tomorrow.

Adjusting Goals for Today

I realized that, with everything else I have to get done today and the shortened work schedule leaving me with no afternoon writing time, my goal of writing 2500 words today was not even remotely realistic. I am not sure my reduced goal of 2051 is realistic. But I'm going to give it a try. This will have me needing to write just over 600 words tomorrow. More realistically, it will have me going into Friday just over 600 words short. But that's as it must be. I will see if I can get the 2051 today and let the rest of the week worry about itself. I am thinking of setting a goal for myself for Friday to write 5K. I'm not sure if I can do it. I feel really nervous about setting that goal. I want to do it, but I'm afraid I might be setting myself up for failure. Maybe I will try. (The Yoda in my head is giving his speech.)

Oh what the hell. I did 4004 words on Saturday, and I slept really late and had to run out to do errands for a few hours in the afternoon. I *will* do 5,000 words on Friday. And I think I will make my 2051 today, too. Maybe I will just stay up really late...

Pulling teeth is surely easier

I had a really hard time getting my last few hundred words. I am depressed, and some days it's much harder to shake it off. And things just added up today, and I wasn't actually sure I was going to get my word count. But I did. I suppose I'll feel proud of that tomorrow or something. I am 49 words over my personal goal for the day. 609 words over the day's goal following the 1667 words a day formula. Hoping for tomorrow to be better...

Caught up

I'm caught up! As a matter of fact, I am 241 words beyond where we need to be today to be on target with the NaNo word count. Whoo hoo!

I am planning to do around 2,000 words tomorrow and around 2,500 on Wednesday. That will put me very near where I need to be at the end of Thursday (260 words short). I'm pretty sure I can manage that even in amongst visiting family for Thanksgiving brunch and cooking dinner and baking for us when we get home in the afternoon.

For that matter, maybe I can boost my goals for tomorrow and Wednesday and hit Thursday's goal before the actual day...No. I am feeling a little burned out right now. So I don't think I will boost my goals. Especially since I'm off on Friday and will not be leaving the house. I should be able to get lots of writing in.

In other news, the Hero's Journey writing class I signed up for in October that was postponed was supposed to start today. I got the invitation over the weekend to join the e-mail group. But there have been no messages, no assignment, nothing today. I am a little concerned about this. And impatient. I was supposed to take this class starting mid-October! I'm very anxious and excited to get started.

I will give it until tomorrow morning, but if there's no lesson posted by then, I think I will write to the place that offers the course and ask what's going on. maybe I should just post to the e-mail list, but I'm not sure the instructor is on there yet...

Accomplished and dissatisfied

I am at 29,219 word total. I surpassed my goal for today by 219 words. So why am I dissatisfied? Probably because I'm less than 800 words from being completely caught up. And part of me is telling me I should just be going for it. But I'm feeling fuzzy brained, and I know I have a bunch of stuff that needs to get done today besides the writing. I need to grocery shop. Dishes need to be washed. I need to exercise. Laundry needs to be done. And it's 5:07 p.m. So I really need to set the writing aside and go do the other things I need to do. And just get over it. I still wrote
2972 words today, and I think that's a very respectable total, especially when added to yesterday's 4004.

More math

I am *so* close to being caught up! But I realized that if I push to get caught up today, I'm probably going to burn myself out, especially because I do have to do some errands today, so I won't have quite as much writing time as I did yesterday. So I'm being a clever wordsmith and changing my plan a bit. I will get myself caught up by end of day *tomorrow*. This is a much more do-able plan. I will only need to write 2713 words each day, which is only a few hundred more than the 2200 I've been aiming for over the past week or so. So there's my plan. We'll see later how it turns out...

So many words

I wrote 4,004 words of story today. It does not seem like much when I write it here. It was a lot, and my brain is exhausted. I will have to write nearly that much tomorrow if I am to make my goal of being caught up by the end of the weekend. I am not sure I will manage. I'm not sure I'm going to feel like trying. I will save that decision for tomorrow. For the time being, I am feeling incredibly accomplished. It was hours of work and as tiring as doing physical work, but I did it! I feel amazingly proud of myself. And now, as a reward, I am going to fall into bed with my new issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine and probably fall asleep before I even read one article.

Words and numbers

After my rough day yesterday, today was really great. I wrote 2300+ words today. I am still behind, but I am catching up. I just did the math--if I write 7,763 words over the next two days, I will be right on target at the end of Sunday. That's 3,882 words each day. It's a high count, but it's do-able. I know I did a couple of days like that last year. So far this year my highest day was 3,178 words. But I really can do this. I will have to really focus and not let myself do much of anything else, including things like dishes and cooking. But that's okay.

I just did a little more math...if I do the 15 minute word wars this weekend, I will need about eight or nine of them each day. That's not so bad. If I keep the schedule tight, I can do three an hour, so I could get that word count in three hours. Being realistic though, it will probably take closer to four hours. Still, that's not bad at all. I might even manage to do some of those dishes.

Before I start writing tomorrow, I do need to do a little planning. I need to work up a map of the Citadel in my story. But I have most of it figured out, so I don't think that will take even an hour, and I can do that in the morning while I'm having coffee and finishing waking up.

Now I'm going to catch up on sleep so I can catch up on my word count over the weekend.