Okay, so I have a confession to make. I’m terrible at NaNoWriMo. I have attempted it every year since 2006, and I’ve won … three times? Possibly four. The point is, I have a bad habit of starting all gung-ho, getting a week in, falling behind, falling more behind, and then giving up halfway through. Sigh.
So, once again, this year I shall attempt NaNo. Do I plan to succeed? Yes. Will I succeed? Probably not. But I’ll try, dammit. And maybe–just maybe!–this time I’ll succeed.
In flagrant violation of the rules, I have decided to write 50k words of an existing project, the whimsically titled, “Teenagers killing each other in space story”. This is not the final title (although several people have suggested it should be). I started at 30k words, so by the end of the month, God willing, I will have an 80k word story. The story definitely won’t be finished by that point (I seem incapable of writing a first draft under 120k words), but a good chunk of it will definitely be done. Huzzah!
What are your NaNo plans? Please feel free to share your stories of past failures with me so I feel a little better about myself. In the meantime, have an amazing week, and stay awesome!
Unrelated media of the day:
Michelle Proulx - Author 
Good luck. I’ve never tried because I’m always working on projects or borderline comatose around this time of year.
Thanks! I need all the luck I can get.
Honestly, you’re not the kind of person who needs to do NaNoWriMo. You’re a writing machine all on your own! Hence your approximately half a billion books published, with more to come 😀
Thanks. I’ll have to remember that excuse when the next person asks. 🙂 Though I am looking forward to a month or two of no big projects.
Best of luck for your nano project! Working from an earlier work, to my mind, isn’t an issue – what counts is the writing!
Exactly! Although it makes keeping track of my daily word count goals difficult, lol. I have a little notepad document set up with all my daily goals and the corresponding actual NaNo words written.
I’ve participated almost every year since 2007 and only won two times. I’m as bad at it as you are. xD I was supposed to start two days ago, but all I do when I get back home from work is crash and I cannot face my laptop. ._. I am planning to get started today… working on a YA novel for which I’ve already written 11k.
So… yeah, good luck to you.. and me! I feel we both need it!
Victory is in the air, my friend. I can feel it! And if you fall really far behind, I think it would be totally legit for you to have your word count start at 11k words and just work your way to 50k from there. No one will ever know …
“In flagrant violation of the rules, I have decided to write 50k words of an existing project”
They changed the rules and even though they still encourage people to start a new project, as of this year it is also considered all right to continue working on an existing project.
My NaNoWriMo start has been slow: 600 words on Sunday and another 250 words on Monday. Oh well.
Oh hey! I didn’t realize that, lol. I knew you could do something like that for Camp NaNo, so good on them for changing it for main NaNo as well. Good luck on your writing! 850 words is nothing to scoff at 🙂
I started the month flat on my back with the flu. So as of day two I have written nothing.
Oh no! I’m sorry, that sucks, being sick is just plain unpleasant. As my mother always says, sleep lots and drink tea. On the plus side, you still have 28 days to go 🙂
Nice! Does not remembering how many times you’ve won have to do with the math issues you mentioned the other day?
For Gondor!
It’s entirely possible. I’ve definitely won at least twice, because that’s how the two Imminent Danger books started out. As for the other times … only the NaNo gods know, and they’re not telling.
Good luck! I will add you to the list of people I am virtually handing out cookies to as they attempt to run that marathon.
Oh – and keep that title. That title demands to be written.
Oooooh can’t go wrong with virtual cookies. Unless you start tossing them. Then it’s not so fun. As for the title … I mean, it’s awesome, no doubt, but the book is sorta hella serious, so I’m concerned people will get the wrong impression, lol.
Oh. Well that’s different. However, I maintain that book needs to be written. Add it to your to-do list. Your fans demand it.
Last week I had no plans to do NaNo this year. Then I thought I could write the sequel to my still unfinished and unpublished (but getting closer every decade!) Rochelle’s Briefcase novel. on 1 Nov, didn’t get a chance to start. On Monday I wrote about 1300 words… and none since. It’s late spring down here, weather’s getting better, more reason to get out and do stuff. I also have plans to produce a short film based on a short story I wrote a while ago over the summer when all the young media studies and drama graduates my daughter hangs out with have nothing to do except volunteer their services…
I have an idea for next year’s NaNo. I’ll do it in June (when the weather here is crap), record the word count every day and enter them into the corresponding days next November. No one will ever know… please don’t tell anyone. 😉
That is a foolproof strategy and I support you 100%. Keep in mind that Camp NaNo happens during the spring/summer, so you could actually enter the wordcount AS YOU WRITE IT whaaaaaaaaaaaaat
Yes, there is camp nano. But it’s not the same as the big major NaNo with the excitement and all that goes with it. I thought I could fake it on my own terms so I could pretend it’s real, just the way I like it! Having said that, I might look into this camp Nano for next April. It would suit my timeline a little better. 🙂
That’s true — the sense of accomplishment you get from November NaNo is way bigger than Camp NaNo. In that case, you should totally fudge the system and “pre-write” your NaNo novel 😀
Hope your writing is going well. Mine is moving a bit slowly, but I am for the most part making my word count, so there’s hope.
I’m currently three days behind, but haven’t given up yet! Glad to hear you’re making your word count 🙂
Three days isn’t so bad. You can make it!