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 ~