nanowrimo day 24

Only six more days left in nanowrimo and I haven't even finished Act I. I blame the elections and Thanksgiving for this. Again I ask: who thought nanowrimo was a good idea in November? I've barely managed to keep up with a thousand words a day, but I should be at 38,400. <sigh>.

79 pages / 23,043 words

Interesting fact...

...the more time I have, the less productive I am.

Go and Read

Even though science fiction is not usually my first choice of reading material, science fiction writers are incredibly inventive, prolific and, it turns out, business savvy. I would be remiss if I did not pass on these amazing author sites. I only discovered them a month or two ago, but they are the reason that I felt I could take on nanowrimo. For these writers, the important part of writing is getting the story down onto the page rather than cripple themselves and lose time over trying to create a sentence of lasting beauty, which will come later with experience and editing. They also delve into the business of writing and publishing, which is a foreign country to me. I've learned much in the short time I've been reading them.

1. I'm linking directly to the Business Rusch page of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's website. She really breaks it down for you. For instance, did you ever consider what happens to your copyrights after you die, or what about your notebooks that you scribble your notes, letters or first drafts in? This is just some of the practical business advice she gives. I'm not quite ready to delve that far into it yet since I haven't yet published anything, but I recently enjoyed her three-part series on why writers disappear:

Why writers disappear Part I, Why writers disappear Part II, Why writers disappear Part III

2. Rusch's husband, Dean Wesley Smith is also a working writer and offers a series of in-person and online workshops. I hope to take one next year because they look amazing. This man also knows his business inside and out. Read it.

3. The third is Sarah Hoyt who writes fantasy--which I read even less of than science fiction--and writes often about raising children and her experiences growing up in Portugal and how that influences her today. Not really writing advice, but still interesting. She also sometimes writes about the business issues she runs into and takes a hard line against political correctness.

I hope these people inspire you as much as they have inspired me.

nanowrimo day 18

Still horribly behind, but making progress. The problem is, I'm at the end of the part of the story which I've mapped out. Everything beyond this point is unknown territory and will therefore be harder to write. I don't know what happens next or even what I want to happen next! Pitiful, I know.

60 pages / 17,226 words

nanowrimo day #10.5

Finishing up from yesterday, which was horrible. Still many thousands of words behind.

Current count: 36 pages / 10,410 words

nanowrimo day 8

Three days lost due to an election which means 5 days of writing. 5x1600=8000 so technically I've nearly reached my writing goal every day, but I know in my heart of hearts I should be at 12,800 words. I have a lot of catching up to do on Saturday. I feel tired just thinking about it.

Current count: 26 pages/ 7613 words

Now that it's over...

It's time to get back to work. I have lots of words to catch up on!

Why the HELL is nanowrimo in November?!

It simply isn't possible to write in election season. Election night jitters. I have them. We can scratch productivity from tomorrow's to do list. We might as well toss Wednesday out the window as well since I'll be staying up all night on Tuesday to hear the results.

There's always the weekend to make up the word count. Who needs sleep? Not I.

nanowrimo day #3

I don't know if yesterday's advice worked. One the one hand, I wrote eight pages today, an all time record for myself. On the other hand, I feel like I've been sitting on my tush all day.

Current count: 15 pages / 4262 words

nanowrimo 1st day experience

The 1st day of nanowrimo started inauspiciously with me waking up exhausted from a much interrupted night of sleep, getting to work late and not having a chance to sit down and write a sentence until after Munchkin went to sleep at 7:30pm. Husband was home from work by 8:30pm with a toothache. I tried to be sympathetic, but I'm friggin' serious about this novel. Take some Advil and visit the dentist.

While I thought I had the first chapter pretty well mapped out in my head, it still took hours to knock out four pages. I don't have hours. I'll have to learn to get my words done in one to two hours max. I didn't make it to my goal of 1600 words yesterday, but 1100 is nonetheless respectable.

Lesson: Think less, write faster!