NaNo Day Sixteen

So, halfway there and how are we doing? I've just opened my rather beautiful Excel spreadsheet (created in a fit of procrastination, naturally) to find:
Words written during NaNo: 18,062
Novel total: 93,723

I'm going to utterly fail the NaNoWriMo task of writing 50,000 words during the month of November. BUT I actually think I might finish the novel by the end of the month, which, after all, was the task. I didn't do any NaNo-ing today but spent the afternoon writing a short story which was hammering to get out. Also, we do have things like a trip to New York and Thanksgiving (which we're hosting again) getting in the way of writing, but really, if I finish my novel on, say, December 3rd I'm not going to be too unhappy.
Then, of course, LoEdShiFiDra begins (Localised Editing of the Shitty First Draft) begins.

In other news, I've just had a poem accepted into the stunning Inkspill Magazine for their next issue in January.

NaNo Day Three

Day three in the Big NaNo household. Jen is making a cup of tea.

Total word count so far: 4,056.

What have I learned?
Well, that I can write 2,000 words in a day perfectly easily. But I knew that already. Stephen King writes 2,000 words a day without a NaNoWriMo stat counter showing him a little blue bar. It's quite normal for a writer.

The difference now is that I have to write 2,000 words a day (I am busy most weekends in November so I have to do that little bit more each weekday).

When I hit a snag usually I make a cup of tea, chat to the cats, check Facebook... The procrastination kicks in. Now, I have to hit that target or the NaNo Stat Counter will shout at me and so I make that cup of tea, go back into Word and write through it. Turning off the internal editor, I plough on and - miraculously - the snags untangle.

Yesterday I literally found myself jumping for joy as I thought of a plot device that not only got my MC from A to B, but solved a lingering problem in a perfectly natural, unstrained way. I actually whooped.

I don't plot. I have my characters and I have a rough outline of main plot points on a few sides of A4 paper, some notes about my fictional world to keep place names/infrastructure points straight and that is it. It's up to the characters to find their way.

The problem with this approach is that, whilst I am perfectly capable of writing 2,000 words a day, I often get stuck and only nudge in at less than 1,000. What I am hoping to get from NaNo is the discipline to write through the tangles and let them sort themselves out, rather than being discouraged by them.

I can always take out the rubbish parts later. I am aiming to overwrite the novel by 10% at the very least so that I can do just that. (Another tip from Stephen King. Really, if you haven't read Stephen King's On Writing it's one of the best 'how to' books I have read. Whatever you think of his fiction, he is immensely successful and must be doing something right.)

I do have an advantage over the NaNo-ers who are doing this completely properly in that I am already three-quarters of the way through my novel so have momentum and characters who have learned the drill by now. It's the bit from 10,000 to 30,000 that is by far the hardest.

Good luck to all my fellow NaNo-ers this month, especially those doing this with full-time jobs, kids and Salsa classes. Hats off to you.

Happy November!

Happy November everyone! I have a poem called November Gift up at EDP to celebrate the darkest, rainiest, most huddle-inside month... perfect for writing!




This month I am taking part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for anyone sane enough not to be taking part). The aim is to write 50,000 words by the end of November. I'm not doing it totally properly as I am using it to finish the first draft of my novel (now at 75k words) rather than writing a new one, so I probably won't be doing the full 50k but enjoying the camaraderie for that final push. So although I'll have technically failed, it won't feel like a fail to me! I'll let you know how I got on.