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Well it’s been a week and I’m still here, which better than last year. And I’ve beaten last years word count of 7651 but only just.

The thing I’m finding hard about writing for NaNo is settling down to do. I’m usually ok when I’m settled and I can crack on for a bit and then I want to get up and get fidgeting. I’m terrible for potching. I’ll read a bit and then I’ll check the internet and I’ll think of something totally different that I need to do.

This explains why I’ve only managed to reach my word count for 4 out of 8 days. My stats, if you’re interested are currently 8,672/13,336, not too bad, and today I’m currently on 1,406/1,667 so I’m hoping to at least reach my word count for today.

It’s been an odd week this week. I was working Saturday and had Thursday off. And instead of writing like a maniac on Thursday I think I just turned into a zombie and did not a lot. This lost me Saturday’s writing time as working Saturday totally confuses me.

Anyway, I’m hoping to do a little better this week.

One way that I am managing to get a chunk of words done is to get up at 6am and write until I’ve done 500 to 600 words – this takes about 40 minutes. This gives me plenty of time to get to the 9-5 job and still feel like I’ve been productive in the morning. That sense of loyalty to NaNo doesn’t seem to be extending to my writing when I’m more compos mentis.

The other thing is that even though I have a plan. It’s not a very good one. Don’t get me wrong I have a beginning middle and an end. But all the points that I thought were good places to join the dots don’t actually work that well as straight-line telegraph poles. They are more like those magic eye pictures where you know that if you just could see it everything would make sense.

I’m trusting my subconscious a lot more the last couple of days that I was in the middle of the week and I’m learning to go with the flow.

As long as I’m roughly on track I should make a semi-coherent story.

I’ve been thinking that I should go back and revise the outline but that’s not going to happen. I can’t pick it apart and put it together again and keep writing. So I’m just going to go with the flow.

How is everyone else going?

Still writing?

November 2 2009 NaNoWriMo: A Pep Talk and a Warning | 43 Folders

link: Big Dumb Object – NaNoWriMo: A Pep Talk and a Warning | 43 Folders

There isn’t a lot more to say – exceeded word counts for both days so far. Not saying they are good words but I’ve written them

I’m doing it again. I have no clue why though. Maybe it’s something to do with ‘If at First You Don’t Succeed,Try, Try Again‘.

So here we are with about one and a half hours before NaNoWriMo 2009 starts. This year is slightly different. I have a plan. Not a complicated plan but a sorry with a beginning middle and ending. And it’s all thanks to:

So, in order to help my fellow NaNoWriMoers (I’ve decided it is now a word, so there!) come to grips with their stories ahead of time, here is a basic structure that you can find in many successful stories today and which might help you plan for the challenge ahead.

link: Story Structure and NaNoWriMo | GENREALITY

And boy has this helped me. I’ve got a structure for a story called The Sleeping Kings.

Tomorrow is all about starting writing.

Will keep you posted on how I’m getting on.

Well, I didn’t make it. I’m blaming it on my laptop dying and my replacement laptop not arriving until last week. All in all I got 7651 words written of my Dresden Files/Doctor Who,/Eddie Drood-esque urban fantasy tale. No where close to the 50,000 word finishing line. It’s not all lost though. I did learn a few things.

I can write (you’ll have to take my word for it). I like writing in the first person. I can make-up some cool things. I can’t write without knowing where I’m aiming for. I’m not very good without a laptop to write on. Seat of your pants writing isn’t me. I do like urban fantasy. I like my main character even if I don’t know a lot about it. I want to explore the world a bit more. I have a strange thing about mirrors.

As this was my first real attempt at NaNoWriMo I am a little sad that I wasn’t able to complete it but glad that I learnt a few things even if I didn’t manage to write that novel before I was 30!

Well to start with the laptop died a couple of days ago. It’s the iBook G4 that I bought for uni and has been a little rock for the last five years, which isn’t bad as laptops go. And it was good up until the end because it let me copy off stuff that was on it before really acting up. As much as I use  my iMac somehow it’s just not the same. It does sound a little whiny as I do have a computer to use – a damn good one too! But it’s strange that writing requires a certain mind space and the little 12” laptop fitted that role perfectly. 

Apart from the technology really messing with my head so is my story. Actually it’s not my story. It’s me. I’m learning lots about my own writing style and it seems that I’m a little sparse with words so events that would take lots and lots of words are actually not taking very long. I’m going to have to lean the art of padding real soon otherwise I’m going to get the end and still have 40000 word to write. It’s not that the story is too small. I’m just a very sparse writer and I think I need to use more description and set some more tone and colour in my writing.

I guess it could partly be the story as well as I’m writing by the seat of my pants and I’m not really convinced that it’s working for me. So the plan of the day is to get some more words written but also to try and come up with some sort of sign posts about where I need to get to so that I’m not just babbling.

How is everyone else doing?

Discovering stuff about themselves?

Maybe I am a Literary Fool?

What have I done? This is must be the maddest idea I’ve ever had! I thought quite sensibly that I’d have an outline and a plan going by today so that I could know exactly where I wanted to go. The trouble is that every time I actually formed more than a few thoughts on what I wanted to write I was coming out with scenes and dialogue and other stuff that actively involved writing the damned thing and if you know anything about NaNoWriMo you’ll know that you’re just not allowed to have pre-written anything before today. I have kinda cheated by writing one partial scene on the back of an envelope and it probably won’t make it to the final thing. But that’s about it apart from a few shower thoughts.

I’m not exactly clueless I know where my inspiration is coming from and I hope that I don’t end up borrowing too much but even if I do it’s unlikely that anybody but me is going to read this. At least until I’ve finished it and have some idea of the monster I’ve created.

The one thing that I have been thinking about it how to actually get the words down somewhere. I have my desktop mac and my old uni iBook G4. I’ll probably end up using both and type sections into either Google Docs or Word before copying them across to Scrivener, which I’ve just installed and using for the first time to help me keep moving. It has a project and daily goal thingy so I have some goal posts.

Now what I’m I writing? I might tell you another day but probably not today.

To anyone else doing NaNoWriMo best of luck and fast fingers!

More later