NaNoWriMo 2008

[Phoenixsong]

...and with that, I am finally caught up. Even after spending the better part of the day at the King Tut exhibit. Mwahaha, it feels so good to not be over 10,000 words behind anymore. (And to see the corner of my browser in that lovely, eye-hurting green.) Immediate goal-setting really helps, I guess. Bit of a shame, though, as now I won't get to see what wonderfully awful things you were going to do to me/my Arcanine. Hm.

I'm planning on writing at least 2000 words a day now; I'd like to be done on the 28th or sooner, if all goes according to plan. Given that I'm only going to have one day of school next week, that should not be a problem. [/famous last words]

Sandstone-Shadow: Yeah, try the software NWT linked you to. As for turning on backups in Word 97, eh... I haven't used that in years, but I'd assume it's the same as or similar to newer versions. In Word 2003, I go to Tools>Options>Save tab, and the checkbox for "always create automatic backups" or whatever it says should be there. If you do get Open Office, it should be similar. Tools>Options>Load/Save>General, and the checkbox is there.

 

[Shiny Grimer]

25k has been reached. w00t

Now I have to write that amount in a week in order to reach 50k. My plot is barely existant and moving along at a snail's pace.

no pressure

At least now I have some plot bunnies for a fanfiction that I simply must write when I'm finished with this. :)

 

[Empoleon]

I haven't touched mine since the first week, and sit at around 12K I think. So not likely going to finish. I could if I wasn't grounded this week. Musical got in the way and such. Alas.

 

[Jetx]

I just hit 30,000 and I overcame a writer's block, or at least pushed it back a bit with a nice plot twist, so I think that as long as I keep some momentum going I might make this. 13,000 in four days isn't too bad, especially not when the last two days of the month are a weekend (= SPRINT).

I'm really starting to like my story. The idea itself is a bit bad, but these have to be some of the best characters I've ever written about.

On the other hand, my teachers are seriously catching onto all the homework I haven't been doing/have been rushing the break-time before the lesson, so I can imagine some really horrible thing going wrong soon that will ruin this for me. For example, I have three homeworks in for tomorrow, one of which is coursework, and I'm going to try to get away with "forgetting" all three. :O

 

[Shiny Grimer]

I have a similar situation, except I'm at 26k.
4000 words per day?

 

[Leviathan]

I underestimated the load of work I had to do today and now I'm behind a few hundred words again. At least I'll have plenty of time to make up for that tomorrow (hopefully).

I had a sudden plotbunny yesterday for a sequel to this story, and yet I'm not even halfway finished with it. Now I'm going have to hope that I don't get consumed by the need to think about this new plot in addition to the coming Thanksgiving and all the goofing I should be doing all weekend instead of just writing. -_-;

 

[Mad MOAI]

I've got only 27.6k

DDDDDD:

 

[Shiranui]

Uh... Question.

If I go to a public school that's not IB or anything, can I still participate in this?
I mean, it's late now, but hypothetically, I've kinda wondered.

[everyone: wtf ragna you're dumb you can't write 50,000 words on anything lol]

 

[Evolutionary]

^ It is LATE. So unless you have HEAPS of time and are fast at writing and are willing to use your time writing then don't bother.

 

[nyuu]

NaNo isn't related to school at all; if you can type fast enough it isn't too late to join.

 

[Leviathan]

Remember that post I made yesterday? The one about ending up a little behind on that day's word count and then catching up on it today? Forget it. Forget it completely. I absolutely could not write anything at all today; I suppose I hit one of those "walls" that the latest "pep talk" e-mail was talking about. It's like, I've gotten up to one of the points in the story that I've been greatly anticipating ever since NaNo started, and then my creativity drops dead. I'd like to say that I'll be able to recover, but I'm really just not feeling very good about the whole situation right now and I'm a little disappointed with myself for letting the temptations of the real world distract me so much. Stuff like writing this whiny load of crap.

So...yeah.

 

[FMC_x_ANS]

Oh... I thought it was next month....

Oops....

Edit: I write on a type writer. I just prefer the atmosphere it has.

 

[Phoenixsong]

I absolutely could not write anything at all today; I suppose I hit one of those "walls" that the latest "pep talk" e-mail was talking about. It's like, I've gotten up to one of the points in the story that I've been greatly anticipating ever since NaNo started, and then my creativity drops dead.

Hm... yeah, personally I don't really buy the whole "the last part is all downhill, Week 4 is the easiest!" bit. Of course, it was definitely easier than 2 and 3 when I couldn't write at all, but I'm definitely fighting with the story as well. (It *might* have something to do with the fact that I haven't been writing in a very linear fashion and so don't have anything properly "concrete" to back up any sort of "ending", but I dunno.)

Anyway, what I've been trying is just summarizing the part of the story you're struggling with. Obviously NaNo novels are supposed to be shitty first drafts and you aren't supposed to have excellent description and dialogue and whatnot, but what I mean is not even trying to write decent description/whatever at all. Just push on with "And then he did this. And then the bad guy said this. And then they started fighting. And then..." It seems short and choppy and as though it won't add much to your wordcount, and at first it doesn't, but I find that the faster I try to move through a summary the more I start to waffle anyway. It ends up turning into something that vaguely resembles description/dialogue/whatever anyway, but it flows out a little better because you aren't trying to force it to be full and cohesive at first.

Dunno if that made any sense, but it works for me. *shrug*

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to go throw myself a mini-party over the fact that my word count is currently higher than Negrek's. I'm sure that's only because she's currently on her way back home for the holidays, and she probably has more written that she just hasn't had internet access to update with, but shh. Let me have my moment.

 

[Shiny Grimer]

I just reached 30k and sacrificed a good night's sleep.

I think I can do this.

I also just added what has to be my favorite original character up to now. Wow.

I guess that story "I have no mouth and I must scream" IS good for something other than scaring the stuffs out of me.

 

[Autumn]

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to go throw myself a mini-party over the fact that my word count is currently higher than Negrek's. I'm sure that's only because she's currently on her way back home for the holidays, and she probably has more written that she just hasn't had internet access to update with, but shh. Let me have my moment.

And now I have a higher word count than Kratos. >3

 

[Harlequin]

Uh... Question.

If I go to a public school that's not IB or anything, can I still participate in this?
I mean, it's late now, but hypothetically, I've kinda wondered.

[everyone: wtf ragna you're dumb you can't write 50,000 words on anything lol]

Why would where you go to school have any bearing on whether you can participate in NaNoWriMo?

 

[OrangeAipom]

I think he's talking about the YWP.

 

[Cryssie]

Sho Minamimoto has some words of inspiration to give to you all. Through a megaphone.

 

[Leviathan]

So as of me writing this, I'm still a little behind (ignore what my word count says right now; I haven't updated it yet), but I think I've managed to catch up from the rut I was trapped in following Monday.

Hm... yeah, personally I don't really buy the whole "the last part is all downhill, Week 4 is the easiest!" bit.

Ha, you and your plot conclusions.

...at the rate I'm going, I don't think 50000 will even be enough...

And I'm even farther behind the point I thought I'd be at back then! God, I don't mean to brag but the only good thing about this is that when I finally finish the writing and then the editing afterward it might actually be long enough to be a real novel. *is probably hoping too much*

 

[Negrek]

I finished Tuesday, but I haven't been able to get to a computer to update my wordcount for a long time. I won't be able to "verify and win" until Sunday, when I'll have my USB drive back and I can move the document onto my computer with internet access at school, but it's finished.

It's sort of depressing to look back and see how much higher quality the writing was at the beginnig of the month relative to the end, but that's all right, I suppose. The last scene I wrote was one I'd been looking forward to for a while, so I think it turned out all right. I really wanted to end this portion of the manuscript on a huge cliffhanger/plot twist, but I ended up not being able to and had to go a couple of paragraphs beyond it in order to reach 50,000, but I'm satisfied anyway.

Good luck to those of you still in the running!