22 posts tagged “nanowrimo”
Do you remember when I talked about meeting Trudi Canavan and how she told us that she belivied the reason she had gotten her books published was that she had written a million words before she ever tried. She told us something along the lines of 'I belive you have to write a million words before you can writte anything good.'
This, along with me being about to complete Nanowrimo 2008 (and rather a bit above 50,000 words may I add) has inspired me to set myself a challenge. I will write 1 million words by the time I graduate from Uni. Assignments, creative writing, and any blog posts/other writing that I have put at least some deal of effort into will count towards the overall word count. Doing stuff like taking lecture notes will not. I'll take it on a case by case basis. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I can achieve this, and more than anything it is about giving myself a reason to write all of those things I have been meaning to get writen. So, I'm going to start tracking my progress here. And I'm going to break it down as well, to track my progress on individual projects and show how much progress I am making.
If anyone else wants to join me on the challenge heres the break down: Write 1,000,000 words in three years, 333,334 a year, 27,777 words a month, or 915 words a day... around about. It realy doesn't seem that hard does it? Not when you compare it to nano pacing, and take into acount that you are going to be writing 3 Nano's in this time period, and a hell of alot of essays. Oh and also, I'm starting this challenge retrospectivly, from November 1 this year. The aim is to learn about myself, about how I write, and to get stuff writen. It's a little less fast paced than nano, and I will probably give up in a months time, but hell, it's worth a try.
My progress so far:
<a href="http://www.languageisavirus.com/nanowrimo/word-meter.html" target="_blank" title="NaNoWriMo writing toys games & gadgets">
Oh and as for my 2008 Nano, Wunderkind:
<a href="http://www.languageisavirus.com/nanowrimo/word-meter.html" target="_blank" title="NaNoWriMo writing toys games & gadgets">
I think I did well enough, don't you think.
At 1:48 this morning, Jessica crossed the line, and reached 50,000 words of insanity in her Nano. She then collapsed and fell asleep. Just thought I'd share.
In case you are wondering, the 50,000th word was 'hands' just thought I'd say. Yeah.
The great thing about it, is that both things are shown in detailed evidence in the picture that acompanies the post. I know my internal editor died a while ago, but today I recieved proof that my external editor has joined it in the grave. RIP Microsoft Word Spell Check, not that I will miss you, you where kind of shitty to begin with, and the red lines where getting annoying. The second thing that happened was I lost words due to a computer crash, 1,320 of them. I know it was that amount, because I had writen them in half an hour using write or die, and was very impressed with the number, it's the highest I have gotten so far. I had just pasted them into the document, put my finger on ctrl, and was about to hit S when the computer crashed. The auto save picked up the 100 words I had pasted in when I realised write or die wasn't on evil mode, but that was it. You can see the loss of words in the name Wunderkind (Autosaved). Yeah, so like, I'm not having the best night. That was stream of consiousness stuff that was very very very gory, and actually managed to make me feel sick, so maybe it's better that it ia lost, but still. There is now a large section of the letter "A" repeated alot in my nano, taking up exactly 1,320 words. At least I knew how many words it was, so I don't feel like I'm cheating at all. I've also put in a short descripion of the passage, along with some of the more gory details that I would probably have forgotten, and if I finish before the 30th, I'll fill in the scene again. I'm not re writing it now. Too pissed off. Damn it.
Two absolutly magical things happened today. The first happened without me noticing. I past the 25,000 word mark during a word war today. When I pressed the magical word count button, and the number 25,304 words popped up, it was both a great, and terrible moment. Great because I realised the true extent of my awesomeness. Terrible, because I realised just how truley insane I realy was.
The second beautiful moment of complete magic happened not that long ago. My two main characters pulled out their wooden practice swords and started fighting, marking what I think will probably be the middle of the book. Part one doesn't end for another couple of chapters, but I'm at the halfway point.
The realy great thing was realising that the half way point for word count and plot where pretty damned similar, and that likely as not, I'm not going to have to finish the novel with a two page summery of what happens at the end.
Oh, did I mention that it's only day 8? Yeah, i'm a freak. But before you throw me in the insane assylumn, figgure this. On the Irc, someone knows someone who is up to 550,000 they where at 500,000 yesterday, but apparently they pulled an all nighter and tapped their way to another 50,000 words in a 12 hour period. I think they mayy just be a robot.
There are some things about Nanowrimo that are absolutly prooceless, like reading the week two pep talk, and realising that you went through the week 2 blues on day 4, and that from here on, it's smooth sailing.
At least thats the hope, if it doesn't work out, i'll just keep relying on momentumn. If I don't stop, I'm fine. If I pause and realise what I'm doing, I'm screwed. Monumentally.
Um. It's day 5. And so that means it must be novemeber 5th. And that means I need to remember something. Maybe it was a plot point? I don't know, I forget.
It's like... 11:50. And...I am sleep deprived I think. Also, I don't think this counts as awake. I don't FEEL awake. I seriously need to start drinking Coffee. Or Coke, or apples or something.
Dude. I need sleep.
You wanna know why?
Apparently I'm meant to be at 8,335 words. I'm not.
I'm at 20,000. A note for first time nanoers. Never, Ever Ever aim to do 20,000 in 5 days. It's not healthy. You'll get RSI.
Also, um. I think I wanted to say something about my plot, or writing or something.
I don't know. I forget. Maybe I will just nap for a miniute. Ok?
Take that how you will. If it's sarcastic, it's true. If it's not, then it's true that way as well. Eitherway, any nanowrimo metaphore that involves the word "monkey" should be treated with upmost respect. The Dark Gods of Writing have decreed it.
You may have noticed I am begining every nano post with a pretty dispaly pic. Which I shamelessly stole from the LG community. Oh well. They are pretty and shiney and make me feel clever.
Day 2, if you want to know, was horendously painful. I managed to wretch myself to (exactly) 10,000 words, then collapsed in a gibbering wreck. I probably should have given up once I had written 1,666 for the day, but I felt duty bound to help out with the Melbourne region war (SYDNEY IS BEATING US?!?!) I take these kind of things way too seriously. Gah.
Day 3 however has gone like, well, like it is being pulled along by a monkey driving a speed boat. Going into this I had a clear idea of two characters, a decent bit of world building, and a vauge idea of how the story would start.
Today it developed plot. I knew it had, the moment that the Antagonist arived on the scene. It was a birlliant moment of enlightenment. A shining point where the path forward was laid clear, and the plot spread out around me.
Character where created, and back story. If you are wondering, the Antagonist is the man of the MC's dreams, (or is it nightmares) which are realy shadows of memories from a former life. They where lovers, and he killed her, because she had borne him a daughter and not a son. He's passionate like that. Bet he regreted it the moment he did it. Anyway, their relationship is a delicate balance of lust, divided loyalties, and wanting to kill eachother.
Needless to say, my MC is haveing rather intresting dreams. And they are doing wonders for the word count.
So day 3 has come, and day 3 has gone. I'm sitting pretty at 13,375 words, and looking forward to tomorrow.
When in all likelyhood, my novel will grind to a screming halt when I run out of plot. Oh well.
I think this is quite possibly my slogan for the forst two days on nano. A mantra that is chanted over and over, in an attempt to convince myself that it is realy true. My internal editor, while he has been pulled away by miniture guilt monkeys and thrown in Editor Jail for the month, has some how found the internet connection, and started dialing out to my parents instead.
"But if it's not worth publishing theres no point!"
I don't think my dad realised how harmful that can be in the nanotransitional period. And so the little computer virus that is my internal editor hitched a ride via the family network, and the self doubting voice got himself firmly stuck in my head again. I reacted by beating him into submission by writing as fast as I could for three hours strait. It was semi succesful, and when the editor removal squad arived for a second time he didnt have a chance in hell of using the internet. I think I had broken his thumbs.
The other issue of the day is that my sleep deprived and sugar fed brain seems convinced this is day 2. I spent the morning panicing that I want on track yet, only to realise that 4,000 words in one day is wayy ahead of schedual. Still just to be sure, I forced my way to 6,109 words and past the prolouge which has taken up a rediculously large slice of the day. Damn it.
The other issue of the day was, as usual distraction. My mum insisted on watching a Harry Potter marathon. that is movies 1-4 in one day. *shudders*
But the day is ending, and I must sleep, ready for the challenges of day 2. Also, If I am asleep, I can't "accidently* dlete all the word padding while I'm not looking. Remmber, the how shit the writing is doesn't matter. It's the quality that counts, and I'm definatly ahead on that one.
Oh and as proof that I am sticking to this golden rule, I'm not going to even attempt to correct my spelling or grammer. Aha Aha Aha ha ha ha ha.
Oh god it's that time of year again. Why I put myself through this every year, I don't know. Well actualy, I do, its a crazy fun ride that oddly enough, is the only thing that keeps me sane for the other 11 months.
What makes this year different? I'm older, wiser and have failed one more time that last year. But I've succeeded too. Also, I'm involving myself in the community and loving it. I joined the IRC and rode the countdown high for four hours before the seconds ticked over, and my muse was released on the helpless blank screen of a pristine word doc. Oh and this also explains why I am writing a vox post at 1:00 in the morning.
The IRC is amazing fun, in case you are wondering (and I am sure you are). As for my story, well I've writen a third of the prolouge and 1,212 words, which equates to more than half of my daily count, and it isn't even daytime yet.
The story is random, badly written, and as usual, awesome. My insanity levels have normalised after a week of doing nothing but wait for nano to start, and I am already on the road to sleep deprived. In otherwords, I'm well on my way to writing 50,000 words in 30 days.
Wish me luck.
I made something so I can make my nanoprogress as public as possible.
It looks kinda blurry here cause it's all reduced. It was pretty much copied from the YWP booklet. I like this version better because it has a nice convinient progress chart as well as a calender. Yay. So feel free to use it if you want. I advise taping it to the back of your laptop, on doors, windows, etc. Anywhere you possibly can.
Book: Show us a book you've read more than once.photos
