NaNoWriMo Success List

For AW Blog Chain this month we are talking about survival list for writers. Those who are participating in NaNoWriMo are talking about that specifically. I have already done my NaNo Arsenal Post, so now I will list what I think will make NaNoWriMo effort a successful one - at least for me.

1. It is limited, fixed time goal - one month, first draft. That's it. I am not trying to write a publishable book. That comes with editing. I am just trying to finish a first draft. With that one fixed goal, there is no faffing about. No lack of focus. And certainly no flitting around from one project to another.
   
   
2. Word Count Matters (because I am prepared) - I know some people do NaNo by just focusing on word count, regardless of what they write. That is not my purpose. I am aiming for one complete, and hopefully coherent story. But if I were to start thinking about what's good and what isn't now, I wouldn't get very far. So I prepared myself with a detailed outline. I anguished over the plot when I was outlining. So now, writing the first draft, I just have to move from one point in the outline to next one, without worrying about plot holes. It doesn't mean I rigidly follow it, because my outline is quite flexible. But it simply means that I know what sort of direction the story is heading in. That helps. Because then I can start writing without having to worry about what I am going to write next.
   
   
3. I have made this my top priority for this month - again, this helps and is possible because it's for a limited time. For one month I can say that everything else is secondary. I can't do that for a whole year. It doesn't mean I don't do anything else (after all, I am writing this post), but simply that I keep in mind that I must meet my minimum word count goal and carry on forward, and leave myself enough time in the day to do so. And for those with busy life styles, I assure you I haven't got all leisure time. I work full-time, have many interests, and can't stop reading blogs. So you have to make time.
   
   
4. Finn is amazingly useful - Finn is the new netbook I bought. I just happened to want it and get it in time for NaNoWriMo which has been godsend because now I can actually write in the bus when I commute to work. Believe me, it is amazing feeling when I get off from the bus at 8:00 am to start my working day, with 600 words already behind me.
   
   
5. Competition helps - yes, I am competitive. Not insanely, mind you. But when I see other people posting on AW forums how many words they have done in the day, it motivates me to keep writing. Don't push yourself to do what you can't handle, because your life isn't same as everyone else's. You may have more demands on your time than those who stack up words like Paris Hilton stacks up best friends. But, also keep in mind that if someone else can write 2000 words in 2 hours, so can you. It doesn't mean you have to, or you should. But you could. That's the point. To grow. To stretch yourself.
   
   
6. Find joy in productivity - As I mentioned, just having done some words in the morning starts my day with a positive feeling. After those morning words, I am usually not able to write until I finish work, but when I do start in the evening, I am not starting at 0. As I add more words to my draft, I have the joy of creating a story that will be completed very shortly, and then I can work on making it better. It's a joy of creating something that is uniquely your own. It's your story. It's your words. It's beautiful experience.
   
   
7. Aim High - I could have aimed for 50K. But I thought, if I am going to do this, might as well do it extreme. 50K isn't going to give me a full novel. So I am going to finish a full first draft in November. Before November I wasn't sure I could do it. Now I know I can, and I will. It's simply a matter of pushing myself that little bit further.
   
   
8. Have a Reward - You must have a reward that you value after all that hard work. And I am in luck, because Sims 3 Expansion Pack comes out on November 20. When a new expansion pack comes out, I like to get obsessed with it for at least 2 weeks. So when I finish the first draft, I get to binge on Sims 3 for a couple of weeks before starting to edit this NaNoWriMo novel. And you know what? Now, I want to finish this novel as close to 20th as possible, because I so want to get my hands on that game. So find something that works for you.

Of course most of these things could apply to day-to-day writing as well, so take what you like. :) Now, I must actually get on with my writing.

Here is the list of participants in this month's blog chain

1. DavidZahir - http://zahirblue.blogspot.com/
2. shethinkstoomuch - http://shethinkstoomuch.wordpress.com
3. Lost Wanderer - http://lostwanderer5.blogspot.com/
4. aimeelaine - http://www.aimeelaine.com/
5. Ravencorinncarluk - http://raven.youareannoying.us/
6. Bsolah - http://www.benjaminsolah.com/blog/
7. Charlotte49ers - http://www.amandaplavich.com/
8. Angyl78 - http://jelyzabeth.wordpress.com/
9. truelyana - http://expressiveworld.com/
10. Claire Crossdale - http://theromanticqueryletter.blogspot.com/

Third Day of NaNoWriMo and How is it going?

Today was definitely the hardest. This morning I managed to write 600 words in the bus on my way to work, that was great. Gave me a very good feeling of productivity.

Then, no time for writing during the day. And in the evening, at first I got distracted and then I was really tired. DVD itself didn't take long, so I had time to go for my word count, but just found it really really hard to focus.

That's where the spreadsheet comes in handy. I had decided that I wanted to get to 15000 today. So I kept adding my word count to my overall total at every few hundred words. What this did was that everytime, it showed me a lower number that I needed to write to get to 15000. So I kept pushing myself, saying just a bit more. In the end, it came to 38 words more, and then 9 words more.

This is the word count for my first three days:

1/11 = 8376
2/11 = 4361
3/11 = 2267

When I look at it, it looks like a downward trent, but of course I know that it isn't true. It's simply dependent on my circumstances. So I am definitely happy with my GRAND TOTAL OF 15004 words.

between 65K to 70K left to write to finish the full first draft.

Tomorrow's target: 2200

First Day of NaNoWriMo Over and the Word Count is...

I stopped writing at about 11:40ish at night, and final word count 8376. To be honest, from later part of the evening I was far less productive, taking like 3 hours to write 500 words, because at that point I could feel the tiredness, and my brain didn't want to focus. So even though I was hoping to reach 10K, I stopped when I finished the point in my outline.

Of course I am not complaining, because 8376 is a very good start. Working week starts tomorrow, and unfortunately for me, I have got work related plans on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so I don't know how much time I will get in the evenings.

Tomorrow's minimum word count goal is 2200 words.

How did your first day go? Do you have set word goals for each day?

NaNoWriMo - Midnight Exerpeince

Edit: BigWords at AW very kindly and privately pointed out the spelling mistake in my post title. I thought about correcting it, but then I thought in the spirit of NaNo I shall leave it. It will be a proof of my excitement to get the post done and get back to writing (or it could've been slacking on the forums).

Original Post
It's 11:26 am, November 1. I have just woken up. Quite fresh and perky, and the reason for that is that I went to bed at 4:30, having done 3295 words for my NaNo Novel. :-)

Just a few quick thoughts:

1. I LOVE OUTLINES. I don't think I would have written that much if I didn't have an outline, because then my tired brain would have had to think more about what I was supposed to write. But because I have an outline, I was even able to do short edits - not proper edits, but go back and insert what I realised later I should have added.
2. I am too fussy to be happy with any writing software. After all the goody goody stuff I told you about Liquid Story Binder (which still applies), I ended up using MS Word anyway, because LSB wasn't indenting my paragraphs the way I wanted them and that annoyed me. I use Word's "Read" function when I type. I like the look of that. Obviously its' tiny on a netbook, but I got used to it pretty quickly.
3. Word count shout outs rocks. I had my laptop on the side, with only AW and NaNo, specific forums open. So when I finished 1000 words, or rather 1 point in my outline which was about 1000 words, I took a break, made a coffee, posted on forums. That was fun.

And now, I am seriously trying to push myself to go to that kick-off party. The weather is pretty crap. It's extremely wind, and early it was raining. I hate going out in bad weather (which is why I don't do it much since I live in England). And also, I think I might get more done if I stay home. Maybe I will go next week.

How is your first day going?

NaNo Arsenal at the Ready

I am as ready for NaNo as I am ever going to be. Well, there are things I could do, but then that will always be the case. So anyway....getting to the point....interested in finding out what's in my arsenal to kick NaNoWriMo butt?

1. Outline - My outline is finally complete. It's somewhere between a phase outline and a scene outline. I just came up with it based on all the various methods I had learned over time. It is fairly detailed, and I am hoping that because of it I will have far less plot holes than I usually do. If I find it effective then I will do a detailed post about the method after NaNo is finished.
2. Finn - you know Finn. :) Shiny new netbook. I expect I will be using that at home as well, so I won't have to keep transferring stuff between computers.
3. Liquid Story Binder & MS Word & Excel - Excel for word count spreadsheet. My outline is created in MS Word, and I will probably do some writing in it as well, and varify the word count. Liquid Story Binder is the new writing software I have downloaded. I prefer it over y-Writer, because to me y-Writer looks quite dated, where LSB has more modern, customizable appearance, and the screens and everything look more similar to MS Word. But what I like about it most is that you can have many windows open at the same time, and you can organise them as you like - overlaping, side by side etc. For small netbook screen, I find it gives me bigger screen than MS Word.
4. Coffee - *drool*
5. Coke - Just in case I need cold caffeine
6. Food - chocolates, crisps, brownies, and to compensate for all that junk one tiny pot of healthy seeds

AND Most Importantly...

7. A Great Deal of Enthusiasm

So what's in your NaNo Arsenal?

P.S. Three and a Half Hours To Go before NaNoWriMo starts

Kreative Blogger Award

Thanks very much to Matt at Pensive Sarcasm for this Kreative Blogger award. :) I do love blog awards.

The Rules:

1. Copy the Kreativ Blogger picture and post it on your page.
2. Thank the person that gave the award to you and link back to their blog.
3. Write 7 things about you that we don't know.
4. Choose 7 other bloggers that you would like to give the award to.
5. Link to the bloggers that you chose.
6. Let your winners know that they have the lovely award!

7 Things You Don't Know About Me:

1. My favourite colour is Green
2. For outside coffee, Starbucks is my favourite
3. And since I talked about coffee, to go with it, I love Dunkin Donuts Chocolate Glazed Munchkins
4. I love old fashioned British accent. Not pinched-nose-royalty accent, but I suppose more standard accent that you hear on TV from more upscale newsreaders or documentary narrators, or Hugh Grant.
5. I LOVE STARGATE S.G 1 and ATLANTIS (okay, some you may know this, but not all)
6. I hate insects. All of them. I don't care if they exist out of my sight, but when they are in my space, or in my house, or in any indoor property that I happen to be in, I hate them.
7. Contrary to popular trend, I didn't want to be a writer when I was a kid. It never even occured to me as a child to consider being a writer as an occupation.

7 Bloggers that I would like to pass this award to

1. Jamie at Variety Pages - from posts on writing, her goals, and even samples of her writing, Jamie's blog makes an interesting and fun, and often thoughtful reading. I really enjoy it.
2. C R Ward at Random Thoughts - C R usually has regular topics on her blog, which include writing, detailed descriptions and good deal of thoughts on particular forms of poetry (often unusual ones that I have never heard of), as well as samples of her writing.
3. Lady Glamis at Innocent Flower - offers indepth post on all aspects of writing
4. Shonna at Routine for Writers - Interesting posts about how you can make sure writing is a regular part of your life
5. Todd Severin at My Writing Life - he offers more practical advice and shares his experience
6. Erica at Laugh Write Play - I have only been following her blog for a short time, but I do enjoy her entries
7. Three Amigos at The Literary Lab - If you haven't checked it out, do it now, and you will understand no explanation required.

NaNoWriMo Write-In

I learned from NaNo official website that my local area has a NaNo write-ins. Writers from Bristol and Bath meet in Bristol on Sunday afternoons and Thursday evenings during November. Thursday evenings are no-no for me, because travelling by public transport at night is something I totally avoid. But on Sundays I am thinking about going.

From the description, I have to say that the whole thing sounds more social than writing, though quite a few people mentioned that they do manage to up their word count by encouraging each other. Since 1st of November is a Sunday, I have decided to go and check it out. While I would really love to meet local writers and see how I get along with them, spending Sundays socialising and just talking about writing, instead of writing, isn't what I want to do. If I want to push for finishing a first draft in November, I really cannot afford to waste weekends. Still, worth experimenting.

When I thought of write-ins in my head, I always head this idea of people sitting around, mostly writing, occassionally chatting. I accept that to a lot of people this would sound incredibly boring. Someone might say that we might as well not bother getting together. But having been to one-day workshops where we have done just that, I have to say that I find that totally exciting and appealing.

If I am sitting around writing by myself, I am prone to distractions. But if I am sitting around writing at the same time as other people, I don't get distracted. I am focused. I think it's the fact that everyone else is writing, you don't want to be the only one not doing it, or when they end up writing 5000 words, you don't want to be stuck at 500. Okay, I admit, I am competitive. Not insane in I-have-to-win kind of way, but more in a if-you-can-do-it-so-can-I kind of way.

I will let you all know how my experience with Bristol write-in goes. But what about you guys? Especially the old NaNoers. Have you been to NaNo write-ins? How did you find it?