Wednesday, November 17, 2010

NaNoWriMo Update

Back on November 1st, I blogged about my participation in National Novel Writing Month and promised to update Novel Spaces readers on my progress. I'm happy to report that I'm halfway through this crazy experience and haven't lost my mind...yet.

All kidding aside, I've found NaNoWriMo to be a great motivator. From comparing my word count to those of my online writing buddies, to meeting some very cool folks at local Write-Ins here in Austin. It's great knowing that, despite the differences in our writing levels (participants range from hobbyist to full-time published authors), we all have one common goal: to complete our novels by 11:59 p.m. on November 30th.

NaNoWriMo has been eye-opening, to say the least, and during the course of these first couple of weeks, I've discovered some very interesting things:

1. I have been selling myself way short when it comes to how much I can comfortably write during a single day. If I put my mind to it, I can write 4,000 to 5,000 words a day, everyday.

2. It's okay to write a really crappy first draft, because it can always be rewritten. In fact, I'm already thinking about what it will take to fix my NaNoWriMo book.

3. My internal editor has a really loud voice. Despite my acknowledgment of the acceptability of the crappy first draft, it is still hard for me to embrace it. I'm sure I would be even closer to my goal if I could stop going back and tweaking sentences here and there.

I'm confident that I will reach NaNoWriMo's 50,000 word count goal by the end of the month. Even though I've been sidetracked by several out of town trips, and unexpected work that was due on one of my contracted novels, as of last night, I was at 31,989 words. Reaching 50,000 words should be a piece of cake, right? Only time will tell.

Come back on December 1st when I'll report my final NaNoWriMo word count and share tips on how to write through the holiday season. If you're interested, you can follow my progress on my NaNoWriMo page.

8 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I've very very rarely managed more than a couple of thousand a day. It just doesn't want to flow for me like that. I do too much rewriting.

Jewel Amethyst said...

I saw a bunch of writers at my local barnes and nobles participating in NanoRimo a few nights ago. Their fingers were flying over the keyboards, they looked stressed, yet they seemed to be enjoying it. Maybe i'll try it next year. As long as it doesn't take the joy out of writing.

Anonymous said...

Kind of funny, wholly related:
Famous Authors' NaNoWriMo Tips (as found on twitter)
http://inkwellbookstore.blogspot.com/2009/11/famous-authors-nanowrimo-tips-as-found.html

kaye said...

Mmmm.. that must be tough! I might be getting crazy if I will be joining the event. lol.

Carol Mitchell said...

I signed up but I am yet to post even one word! I have a novel in mind and I thought that it would be a good impetus to get a first draft out. However, the timing was bad, I will be better prepared next time.

Unless I can write 47,234 in 12 days ... hmmm.

Farrah Rochon said...

Go for it, Carol! :)

Anon, that post was hilarious! Thanks for the link!

Liane Spicer said...

You're over the hump, Farrah! Good going!

Shauna Roberts said...

Wow, you're really churning out the words! I can't wait to see what you come up with!