quote:

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I broke 25,000 words. Woohoo!
But I really don't want to see the repair bill.

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Congratulations! I made it too! 25,025 words, and now I'm taking a break. I've got to regroup. The story is still exciting but the writing is not even meeting my purposely low standards.

I'm still waiting for the moment when it all comes together and I can see where I'm going. As of this moment, I have one more scene where I know what I'm going to do. I also know how it ends but there's a HUGE chasm yawning between here and there.

Do I have the courage to step off that cliff?

Okay, enough for melodrama.

Unwritten, you talked about how you've discovered the nature of the first draft being a learning experience. I've just recently come to understand that myself. A few months ago I started to get it and realize that the novel I had written and so lovingly nurtured for years needed a lot of work. I still believe in that story but I am going to approach it from a completely new standpoint and do a lot more world building that I hadn't realized I needed. But now I am working on my NaNo story and I am starting fresh with the new approach I've discovered. I don't know which one I'm going to start editing first come January.

I do like the idea that NaNo presents. I'm thinking that it would be a good way to approach any new novel concept to test it out. That way, if it doesn't work then not too much time has been lost. If one month is too short, maybe make it six or eight weeks, but keep a tight schedule to get the benefits of speed writing. Next time I start a new piece, I'm going to try this. Of course, there's always next year's NaNo.

So I, too, am going to start the other one over and write it quickly so it stays fresher in my head. This one is turning out way better than I expected.

I did stumble a bit tonight, falling into an old habit, which is framing dialogue cinematically. This is probably the one truly great flaw in the way I write. I often get so absorbed in the conversation, I forget everything else and just write enormous blocks of text in quotation marks.

Fortunately, when I realized my mistake, I was able to go back and make some changes, remembering that one segment of chapter 11 of OSC's Characters and Viewpoint that has improved my writing more than anything else ever has: the three pages titled Attitude.

So I owe Mr. Card a thank you, for reminding me there's more to a conversation than just the words being spoken.

And for helping me pad my word count.

[This message has been edited by ArmadonRK (edited November 15, 2009).]

THE SLUMP-O-MATIC.....

OK, I'll stop yelling at you now..... Actually, I found this really bizzarre picture and in a fit of Nano-induced procrastination I did a blog entry about this. It's truly amazing how much I got done this weekend just by procrastinating around Nano.....too funny.

http://www.leslieadow.com/?p=25

I haven't hit a slump yet, but I just wrote a very boring episode that will definitely be changed in the next draft. It just about put me to sleep. The MC is going to have to get more out of it.

I'm up to eighty-one thousand seven hundred words. The trick is write and NEVER LOOK BACK. If you do, just as Leslie said, you lose time.

I'm still on track to finish this puppy this month. I'm flying back to Wash DC for Thanksgiving and hope I can use my laptop on the flight. That's nine hours (battery willing) of writing.

I've seen some of my buddies on track and some haven't started. Keep those fingers pounding the keys!

I have to say though that I haven't hit a true slump. There have been a few slow patches but nothing that made me not want to write.

I have spent the last three Sundays at Starbucks with my netbook for an obnoxious number of hours. But it keeps me from getting distracted. I bought the netbook specifically for NaNo and have to say it was well worth it.

Today I wrote about 4600 words. I am absolutely loving the section I am on and can't wait to get back to it. Lots of great character stuff.

I just topped 30,000 words.

Midway through, she wrote a sentence that pretty much sums up the whole first 25,000 words of my Nano book. "We run and lift things and stretch our muscles." Man, I want to edit. I'm even thinking of changing to first person right here in the middle--which would be ironic considering the first time I did Nanowrimo I made the mistake of starting in first and changing to third mid-way through. I swore I'd never write in first again, but my book is screaming for it.

On the other hand, the thought of writing in present tense makes me shiver like I just heard fingernails scraping down the chalkboard. It worked in Catching Fire though. I never even noticed it.

It's been good/bad day. Writing good/everything else bad, including a vow never to shop at my usual supermarket again. If they won't give me the £72 in vouchers that they own me from august (which I was relying on for Christmas) then I'm not giving them any more of my money. End of story.

Total words for november thus far: 39,000.

Kitti and Rhaythe, hope you're both feeling better soon.

I am learning so much this nano:

There are definitely key things that have been added to my story that wouldn't be there if I didn't feel pressured to write. For example, I had a scene where I needed something to happen, but I didn't know how to go about it. The first time I tried to write the scene it badly derailed and went in a direction that made me very unhappy. I tried again with the same result. It wasn't until we had a "word war" (equivalent of the sprints mentioned earlier by LAJD) at the write-in I attended that the scene managed to come out in a way that made sense for my character.

I LIKE my story. (It seems like a weird thing to learn, but I think it is important if you are going to spend a lot of time on something...)

Well I broke down and edited just a smidgen tonight. Should I ever mention writing in first person again, someone just please knock me on the head.

I'm at 26,705 words and right when everyone else is starting to think about word wars and sprints I'm thinking about slowing down, because I'm not quite sure how to get from here to there now.

Do I want her to stay in the Capitol and use her mother's connections to do some spying?

Does she believe all the horrible things people are saying about Chris/Brandon?

Is the final stage of her journey going to be a major part of this book? It was originally going to be, but I'm just about journeyed out.

Which of the characters she has met are going to stick with her? and why?

Is this book meant to be a stand alone book or am I setting the stage for a sequel?

I'm up to 28,0001 words as of today, which is a smidge ahead. Just a smidge.

Did some fun word sprints in the last day that helped me stay focused. Found that I could even benefit from self-imposed word sprints without a writing partner to compare notes to afterwards. Gives me something to post to facebook at the very least.

My biggest lesson learned: Next book, don't set it on a spaceship/space station. I'm finding the hallway/common areas structure entirely too limiting. All three of my Nano projects have taken place on space ships or space stations. Hmm...

I've got some interesting questions to answer next session. Is the guy who he spilled his guts to really his friend? Or is his servant a spy for a rival wizard? Just thought of that. Hmmm.

It's good to see a lot of people making progress. Some have fallen by the wayside, but that's the nature of these things.

I'm a little ahead so it's not too detrimental but I keep getting ahead on Sunday and then start slowly losing my word cushion over the week. And I'm having fun with this part too.

I'm farther behind than I would like, and this weekend isn't going to be any better, but I knew that coming in. I'm trying to just soldier through a couple thousand more words this week and have a big push at the end.

It's great to see folks moving from the blue bar to the green on the NaNo meter.

I hit 92,400 tonight. I've averaged a bit over 5,400 words a day. I find it's getting harder, but I've finally circled around and caught up to my outline. I figure another 30K to finish this first book of what became a series in front of my eyes during Nano. I just have to follow the scenes I've sketched out. I figured out the ending. I'm not sure it offers enough closure but, hey this is a first draft.

Keep at it we've got 13 more days to NaNo!

I'm finding that a fairly steady approach is working for me. I certainly have days where I get more done but that's mostly due to time available. Once I hit 30,000 the pressure diminished and I've just really gotten into my characters. There have been some small revelations, but surprisingly no major u-turns. But this is probably an 80,000 word novel so there's still a lot to be discovered.

Doing NaNo is not good for the brain.

Hang in there Kitti. I'm in the mucky mire with you.

Oh, and I still say Owasm is a writing freak.

What a marathon. 97.4K. Tomorrow I will certainly hit 100K. The story's got another 20K left in it before I bleed into the next volume. I will quit when I get the ending right and start on some edits over Thanksgiving weekend.

Meanwhile, one of the things I enjoy about writing is that I get to stick in all kinds of little things that are important to me. Like I just inserted a baby sling into the storyline.

Or maybe I'll break down and go as insane as some of the people on the Nanowrimo forums who try to make their story as weird as possible. No. I don't think I'll do that. It seems like the waste of a perfectly good month.

I always find too that taking a shower helps. I always have good ideas in the shower, where I have no chance of writing them down. A couple of times I've had to say to one or other of my kids while rushing down stairs: Don't talk to me, I need to write down what's in my head before I forget it.

I've not written anything today, because right now, I need to figure out how to get him from where he is, to where he needs to go--his father's ship. There's something on there that he needs to help him bring about the solution, but he doesn't know it's there until he goes there, but unless he has a reason to go there, he won't find it. See what I mean? Since he's about to help someone who's in trouble, he might use it as a hiding place, but I think I need a better reason.

Anyhow, for your block, maybe just have you characters have a quiet moment, chill out or something, it usually works for me. I've also gone through the 'push through the block' approach, but I end up just wandering aimlessly for two or three hundred words and end up thinking, what was that all about?

I think that I'm trying to fit too much into 50,000 words. A lot of my world development has taken place as I'm writing, and so a lot of it is only in my head. So, for at least the next day or two, instead of trying to finish the story, I'm going to go backwards and fill in some of the holes, and see where I am at the end of that. I won't cut anything out, I'll just add.

Hopefully if I stop trying to force myself to figure out the next step I'll just wake up one morning knowing what it ought to be. If not...well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Write whatever you know will happen eventually, even if you don't know how to get to it from where you've already written.

Things are going smoothly. I've been doing a pretty good job of leaving my internal editor locked in the closet. Though sometimes I get stuck when I don't know how the next section is supposed to start. I'm even getting better at dealing with that. I usually just sit and think and can come up with it but I'm also not worrying too much because there's that chance that it'll get cut on the edit anyway. I'll worry about making it right when I'm sure I'm going to keep it.

For everyone who's been sick, I hope you feel better soon. Hang in there.

Should I mention that I did some of my NaNoing at the beach today? I am loving my netbook.

Today (it's 10:13pm MST), I hit my second goal. I'm pretty happy about it. Everything is moving ahead. My MC is about to get the stakes raised against him as he is stripped of his leadership of a small group and swept into a revolution. I've got about 20,000 words to get him to his absolute low point and sorta kinda triumph.

I am on mission today though, got to try to push through to 40K because I hit the road tomorrow and then it's hanging out with the 'rents and my husband's highly dysfunctional sibs next week. (my family is of course perfectly functional or if not, at least thousands of miles away).

I hope to write some but I may end up back home next sunday with pretty much the same wordcount, depends on the drama level.

So, what is everyone else's strategy for Turkey week, those of you in the States that is?

Now I can get back to my writing...

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/511822

(snicker, can't believe I called Owasm a slacker, mister-a-bazillion words)

Update: It's 12:57 Mountain Time and I have finished my NaNo novel. It's complete at 105,000 words. I thought it would go a little longer, but the muse wanted a rip snorting, gut wrenching end.

Now I'm actually going to have to edit it. It will be interesting to see how it holds up.

Thank you all for the advice. A few tears and a couple word sprints later and I'm back in the game. I learned a few new things about my main character via trying to get her to do something out of character. I now realize this is the most virtuous character I've ever written about, and I can't wait to go back and delete those scenes. In December. But at least it got me past the worst of the writer's block.

Need 15,000 words.

Piece of cake.

Although yesterday a piece of cake cracked a temporary crown while I was at work and spun me into a crazy day of dentistry, driving and no time to write. So maybe I'll change that statement.

Easy as pie.