I'm diving into a new adventure this year or, more precisely, tonight at midnight. I decided to participate and am determined to complete National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo. Every year thousands of people all over the world take the 30 days of November and write a 50,000 word novel. Every one who reaches 50,000 words wins. This is one of those situations where a You Showed Up! Prize is quite appropriate, because the goal is steep. NaNoWriMo focuses on quantity over quality based on the idea that sitting down to write is the hardest part and you can't go very far without a first draft.
I first heard about this in 2005 when a friend threw out the word NaNoWriMo as if it were a common part of the English language. I thought it sounded cool, but I never had the discipline or motivation to do it and some years I literally did not have the time (I know, I know, you make time, but Cyrano consumed everything). This year I figured, whyever not? Let's see what I can do. I know that I will be starting at a disadvantage since it is tech & performance week on top of my "day job." November 1, 2, & 3 will be 9:30am to 11:00pm days for me, so I don't anticipate much of a word count in those early days, but the show ends Sunday which should give me the rest of the month to aim high. I don't really know if I'm prepared or not, never having done this, but I'm hopeful. If I'm super motivated, I'll post updates meaning my current statistics, not anything more involved than that.
Here are some statistics I need to meet:
Daily Average -- 1,667 words
Week 1 -- 8,335 words
Week 2 -- 11,669 words
Week 3 -- 11,669 words
Week 4 -- 11,669 words
Week 5 -- 6,668 words
(weeks end on Saturdays, except for Week 5 ending on Wed the 30th)
Using Write or Die, I can squeeze 500 words into half an hour. More realistically, 500 words will take 45mins to 1hour for a total of 75-100 hours throughout the month. I plan to use Write or Die for that extra push (if you pause for too long it will punish you based on the settings you've chosen -- annoying messages, horrible music, or deleting your text one word at a time) and see how it goes!
Wish me luck, and I'll see you in December.
3 comments:
So, I take it you won't be blogging much then. :D Will you stop writing long enough for Thanksgiving??
And if you need dialogue, well, Lady A has plenty to share! You have permission to steal some "overheard" comments off my blog if you need inspiration!
Love ya!
No I won't be blogging much. Not much has changed, I just published my excuse in advance ;)
And I take it you won't be available for a movie night. I was looking forward to watching The Matrix with you!
Oh, well. See you in December. =)
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