Surviving NaNoWriMo 2014

NaNoWriMo 2014 is officially over and I am thrilled to announce that I won! Yipee!! I ended the month with 56K+ words:

NaNoWriMo 2014 is officially over and I am thrilled to announce that I won! Yipee!! I ended the month with 56,000+words:

This year was more difficult for me because I had so many book-related things happening during the month of November. I was preparing my NaNoWriMo 2012 novel for a December 13, 2014 release date, I had to contact a new editor when my other one didn’t get back to me, I had to piece together my manuscript when the wrong file was sent to the new editor, I had to correct cover issues and the list goes on… All of this on top of writing 50,000 words.

In a way, my writing goal wasn’t as successful as I had hoped. I wanted to have a different manuscript finished during that time and unfortunately, that didn’t work out. So, I’m a bit behind in my writing now but I hope to catch up at the end of December and into January.

Did you participate in NaNo this year? Did you make it to the end? Did you complete your monthly writing goal(s)? And the big question: Did you hit 50K words and win NaNo?  :)

Until next time ~     

NaNoWriMo 2014!

 

So, NaNoWriMo 2014 is about to begin soon (in exactly 12 hours)!

I am definitely participating again this year… I can’t believe that this will be my third time participating in National Novel Writing Month. Who knew that I would actually have a completed novel and preparing to publish it two years later?  :) The Gods are actually smiling on us writers this year because November 1^st and 30^th fall on the weekends which gives more time to write.

This year, I’m going to do something different. As in the past, I had Pantsed my NaNo novels but this year, I am jumping ship and swimming over toward the Planners. I will be working on my sequel novel (starting tomorrow) and I have many ideas and plans for it. As of right now, all of those ideas are still swimming around in my head but I will be making an informal outline this evening so that I can climb onto the Planning Ship and start banging out my 50K+ words.

Here are my writing goals for November:

1. To write everyday

2. Not to stress out if I don’t hit my word count goal each day

3. To make an attempt not to be distracted by the internet and social media

4. Try to not use the delete button (although I do save what I “delete” and do count those deletions as part of my word count)!

5. To type more than 50,000 words of my story

6. To attempt to make a writing plan for each day (we’ll see about that one)

7. Not to worry if I make detours from my “Plan” – I do have Pantsing in my blood.  :)

8. To write like crazy from November 1-30!

How many of you are planning on participating in NaNoWriMo this year? If you are deciding to join in on the frenetic writing for the month of November, will you be a Pantser or a Planner? What are your November writing goals?

Until next time ~

Oh, P.S. Happy Halloween!!

 

Halfway Through Camp

Spring is officially here but the weather does not agree… so far we have had cold days, icy days, warm days, snowy days and rainy days. I thought March was in like a lion and out like a lamb but the lion is still roaring...

Anyway, it’s halfway through April and halfway through Camp NaNo. I am quite pleased to announce that I have surpassed my “editing” goal of 30K and have already hit approximately 55 hours of editing time or 55K words.

I even participated in the Camp NaNo Writing Marathon on April 12. I managed to buckle down and edit for 8.5 hours. I edited 100 pages (and rewrote some stuff, too). Instead of taking a snooze day on Sunday, I got my butt in gear and finished editing the last 170 pages of my novel! WOW!!

My second round of edits is now officially done! 

Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! 

I just formatted the mess of pages and I am now ready to send the whole shebang off to the Beta readers. Aren’t they so lucky?  Wait until they see how many pages this behemoth has. Hahaha…

So, I’m taking a small break today and tomorrow I will continue working on the prequel. I don’t think I have much more to write – maybe 100 pages or so but I figured that I should probably read it over so that I can plan the ending. I know, I know… I’m a Pantser but I’ve Pantsed most of the novel so far so a little planning wouldn’t be too bad. Right?

How are you monthly goals coming along? Are you still on track?

Until next time ~

What Type of NaNo Writer Are You?

Now that I have been able to catch up on some well deserved sleep, I wanted to write about the different writers that I have seen during NaNo this month.

There are the Naysayers: Many people think that it is practically impossible to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. These people stare at the NaNo writers with widened eyes, saying, “I don’t think I could ever do that. You have got to be crazy!”

There are the Cheaters: These people start writing days before November 1^st so that they are thousands of words ahead and then they brag about how much they have written at the end of the month (I am not going to talk about those people. Cheaters take the fun out of the competition and only make themselves look weak).

There are the Quitters: Some people start off writing 1667 words a day, miss a few days and then get so far behind that they just give up. Or they write for a few days, maybe a week or two and then just quit without ever looking back.

There are the Strugglers: Others start off writing above the 1667 daily word goal, get ahead, miss a few days and then fight to catch up. Sometimes they may just struggle with the writing, struggle with time management, struggle with the organization of writing, struggle with the plot, characters, dialogue, etc., or just struggle with the whole thing. They might make it to the end (see Motivators). Often, these people will struggle until the second week or maybe go as far as the middle of week three before they throw in the towel (see Quitters).

There are the Motivators: These people may start writing on November 1^st and then miss a few days or these people may not even start their writing on time and they fall behind very quickly. Then these people have to claw their way through the rest of the month, fighting to try and get close enough to the growing word count that they are using every free second to catch up. These people may become bumbling, mumbling idiots by the end of the month, the may be suffering from a lack of sleep or they may go temporarily blind from staring at the computer screen for so long. But, these people do make it to the 50K finish line by 11:59 pm on November 30.

There are the Capables: Other people who are able to write their daily 1667 words every day, without fail and win on time. Nothing stops them from writing. They are focused on the contest and they get their words done.

There are the Overachievers: Those who write way more than the 1667 daily words every day and exceed the 50,000 word goal. These people seem to have magic fingers that fly with lightening speed across the keyboard and time seems to freeze for them while they type madly away.

The Plotters: These people often reach their goal easier because they have spent countless of hours plotting their novel. They may have their characters already chosen, chapters and scenes mapped out and have sentences of dialogue already to go. They probably have the entire thing outlined before November 1^st. For them, NaNo is probably a piece of cake because they have their novel notes right in front of them while they are writing and can tackle their planned words without too much hesitation.

The Pantsers: These people may have a general idea as to what they want to write about but they don’t do any planning (or hardly any planning) for their novel. Or sometimes, these people have absolutely no idea as to what is going to appear on that blank page until they begin to write. Usually, there is no outlining involved (or just the bare minimum), no chapters laid out, no preplanned scenes and no dialogue worked out. But these people start on November 1^st and discover the beauty of watching their novel unfold right before their eyes. For them, NaNo might be a bit of a struggle because they don’t know where their novel is headed and they have to come up with the plot right on the spot.

There are the Conformers: These people follow the basic rule of NaNoWriMo. They begin a brand new novel on November 1^st and write only that novel during the entire month. At the end of November, they will have written 50,000 words towards a brand, spanking new novel that they can continue to work on in December and the next year.

There are the Rebels: These people do not follow the basic rule of NaNoWriMo. They do not start a brand new novel. They may continue working on an existing novel or maybe even two novels. They may even edit a novel. This does count, as long as they write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November.

This month, I was a Motivated Rebel Pantser. I fell behind and struggled the entire month to catch back up. I rebelled because I continued my NaNo 2012 novel and I was a pantser because, although I had a general idea as to what had to be added, I had no plan except to write and attempt to finish my novel.

How would you describe your NaNo self this month?
 
Until next time ~



 

NaNo 2013 Has Been Validated!

WOW! I finally finished NaNoWriMo 2013 with barely an hour to go!

I am beat, bushed, befuddled, burned out and bone tired. But, I am done!

Woohoo!!!  J

I finished typing my last word at 10:56 pm and then I had to upload my novel into the validation system online. That took a little extra work because my internet was playing connection games and I couldn’t validate my novel until 11:20 pm. Yikes! That was a bit on the scary side. Nothing like trying to validate your novel and watching the seconds furiously tick by as the internet decides to have a little bit of fun with you.

I am wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead right now.

My goal for the month was 51,000 words. I ended up with (drum roll please…) 51,836 words! I am so very excited right now that I am singing and dancing while I am typing this. NaNo 2013 was a tough one for me but I persevered and I accomplished my goal.

Hooray!!!

Now I have my official purple winner’s bar firmly planted on my profile and all is good. Very, very good.

And now it’s time to hit the sack. I’ve got a lot of sleeping to do.  J

 

Until next time ~

 

Halfway to the Finish Line!

Today marks the halfway point of NaNoWriMo. I should have fifteen solid days of writing under my belt. My writing goal should be at approximately 25,000 words today.

But this year, something is wrong. I don’t feel as confident with this writing challenge as I did last year.

Last year, I started writing fast and hard, right out of the gate. I was averaging about 2,000 words a day and nothing could stop me from reaching my goal.

Today, at day fifteen, I have written a whopping grand total of 21,021 words. This is not bad, but I am not on goal. I’m having a hard time with motivation, time and plot ideas. I had better crack the whip soon or I will fall further behind.  L

I hope the rest of you who are working hard on your NaNo novels this year are doing well. Keep writing as fast as you can; we will get there by 11:59 pm on November 30!

 

Until next time ~

 

 

 

I'm a REBEL!!

I’m a REBEL!!

On Sunday, I found out that rebels are allowed to participate in NaNoWriMo and that they are not considered to be cheaters. This decree comes from the NaNoWriMo forums. Specifically, it’s located in: Forums ---> Outside The Box ---> NaNo Rebels. The thread is located under: “Welcome to Rebellion! You are NOT a cheater. Introduce yourself here!”  

Armed with this new information and the panicky feeling that I was not ready for NaNo this year, I have officially decided that I, Ms. Jennifer Lynn Catz will be a NaNo Rebel this year.

That’s right! You heard it here first: Ms. Catz will not play by the rules for NaNoWriMo 2013.

My NaNo plan is to finally finish this darn NaNo 2012 novel. So far, I have over 100,000 words written but it’s not fully complete. I am missing several scenes, I have some scenes that are unfinished and some scenes to finalize. I’m not sure how many words I need to write but my guess is that it will probably be in the neighborhood of 20-30K words. Then, if I need to write additional words to make it up to 50K, I will start writing continuing scenes that will go towards the sequel.

I WILL GET THIS NOVEL FINISHED!!!

Feel free to leave me any inspiring notes, quotes, pictures, random thoughts, humorous stuff or words of wisdom. Anything to help me get this novel finished in 30 days will be appreciated!   :) 

So, here’s to rebellion and may the next 30 days be filled with plentiful ideas, great dialogue, emotionally charged scenes, powerful imagery and exciting words that will keep the reader flipping the pages well into the night.

Or, if I want to be realistic, may the next 30 days be filled with enough ideas and dialogue to get this darn thing finished.   :)

If you’re participating in NaNo this year, I wish you all the best and I look forward to meeting you at the 50K finish line! 

Until next time ~

It's NANO TIME!!

It’s NaNo time!!

(I have to confess. I really don’t like the new NaNoWriMo 2013 image. I think it’s hideous and worse than last year’s Venn diagram image. Do people really like this??)

I cannot believe that it’s almost November. Where the heck did September and October go? Summer was just yesterday! November 1^st is just five days away and I am not kidding when I tell you that I am not ready for NaNo. Nope. Not in the very least. I thought I had more time. I thought November was eons away. I have no plan, I have no survival kit… I feel like the kid that forgot to study for his final and only has five days to figure out how to get it done.

So, on that note, I will be participating in NaNo 2013 and I need to cram in the next five days so that I have an inkling as to what I’m going to do come Friday. Will NaNo let me call in sick?  Heehee

For those of you who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it’s really called: National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo, or NaNo, is a writing challenge during the month of November where you write your butt off for 30 days. From November 1^st to November 30^th, you have to write 50,000 words of a novel, which averages to about 1,666 or 1,667 words a day. If you write more than that per day, you get yourself ahead and that works out well in case you have to miss a day of writing or something comes up and you can’t meet your daily word count.

I personally like to write more than 1,666 words a day. I like knowing that I’m ahead because I know that I will have a day or two or five that I might not feel like writing or that I might not reach my word count for the day. NaNo may be a struggle at times and not everyone reaches the 50K finish line but I can’t be one of those people. I like the structure and the challenge of trying to reach that 50K word goal in 30 days. And I don’t fill my pages with junk words, random letters or strange things that don’t make a lick of sense to the story.

So, for my second time, I will write those 50,000 words for NaNo and I will win!

Look for my tweets and blogs (if I can find some extra writing time) and I will fill you in on my progress. You can also look for my updated word counts on my blog and on my NaNoWriMo participant page: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/jennifer-lynn-catz.

Let me know if any of you are participating in NaNo. We can commiserate together.  :)

Until next time ~

Camp NaNoWriMo Results

CAMP NaNoWriMo
RESULTS
April and July

Holy Guacamole!

I have been neglecting my blog this summer!

Well, I must give you all an update on my Camp NaNoWriMo challenge. I originally set my goal for 50,000 words and I tried my best to reach that goal. But, somehow I didn’t think I could make it so I reset my goal (the best part about Camo NaNo is that you can set your own goal and change it throughout the month) to 40,000 words.

I actually surpassed that goal and ended the April Camp with 45,631 words. Woo hoo!

Then, I decided to try for the July Camp NaNo. I wasn’t sure how many words I needed to write so I decided on a low number: 10,000 words. Since it was the summer and school went really, really late this year (we got out of school almost at the very end of June), I didn’t want to work that hard. I ended up with 15,408 words (over my goal again!).

So, now it’s August and I’m taking a writing break so I can enjoy the warm sunshine on my face as I leisurely walk around outside, smelling the fragrant flowers wafting through the air. I just love the lazy days of summer.    :)

How about you? Do you take writing breaks during the summer or a certain time during the year?

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Until next time ~