NaNoWriMo

Stuck in the Middle

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
―Winston Churchill

Chimaerallogograd

Sunday marks the half-way point of NaNoWriMo!

Dear Reader, this is where I wish I could tell you I am at least in sight of the 25,000 words half the month should have netted me. Alas, I can’t. I am closer to a tenth of that number. I expected to be behind – I only had one day so far earmarked for writing only, and I had other projects to finish which would take time out of the remaining days. Also, I knew that writing by hand would hamper productivity.

Still, I hoped to be further along by now.

As fate would have it I lost November 1st (my full day of writing) due to the notebook with my research and outline going missing. It reappeared on the morning of November 2nd, but the lost 12 or so hours I was going to use to get ahead stayed lost. After that, life has seen fit to steal away a great deal of those few hours I had planned to dedicate to writing. Thanks to kicking this old school with pen and paper I have managed to sneak in a few sentences here and there, though – and hopefully life will be kinder during the two remaining weeks.

Will I make it to 50,000? Probably not…

…but I will give it an honest try.

I knew from the start that the goal was unrealistic for me this year.

That doesn’t matter, though. I’m not challenging myself to get a digital badge or a pat on the back. I’m challenging myself because I need the push, and because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if there are 50,000 or 5,000 or a mere 50 words that weren’t there when I started.

What matters is that I am further along than I would otherwise have been.

Reblog: 10 Ingenious Ways to Increase Your Word Count and Win NaNoWriMo!

My reblog for this week comes from Kylie Betzner and summarizes my personal struggle with NaNoWriMo – after a non-existant start on the 1st due to a missing notebook (the day I had set aside to get ahead) I fell severely behind and have only had a few hours to play catch up. This means I’m at about 1/10th of the word count I ‘should’ have by now.

So…if you are in a similar position, read these tips and get inspired!

November…

“When you are writing, you’re conjuring. It’s a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you’re inviting into the room.”
―Tom Waits

EyeSketch

…is just around the corner, Dear Reader, and with it: NaNoWriMo!

If you are unfamiliar with the phenomenon, it’s about writing an entire novel in one month – 50,000 words, to be exact – about the lower limit for what can be called a novel – and the abbreviation stands for “National Novel Writing Month”. This year I plan on making an honest attempt to pen down those 50,000 words before November’s end and the end of my 30s – and I do mean pen! Doing this in long hand will bring both benefits and drawbacks:

  • It will be slower, but I can resist the urge to edit as I go.
  • I can write anywhere without losing continuity, but it will be more difficult to keep an accurate word count.
  • I’ll have to lug two notebooks and at least one pen around all the time, but I’ll be able to use any extra time I get!

The past three years I’ve done increasingly worse at NaNoWriMo. 2012 I fell short by about 12,000 words due to stupidly deleting an entire chapter and then coming down with a high fever the final week. 2013 I made a mistake in research which invalidated three quarters of the first 6-7,000 words, and I spent the rest of the month (and then some) stuck in re-research. 2014 I just said ‘fuck it’ and jumped onto the Movember band wagon instead, producing facial hair instead of words.

This year, I come better prepared and more determined.

I doubt 50K will see me through the entire story, and I’m far from certain my notebook will fit even half the words I need. I’m not even sure I can manage to hand-write 1,667 words a day between my day job and the drawing I need to get done.

But at least I will try.

My aim is to keep you up updated on my progress so you can rejoice in my success or take pity in my failure (or vice versa). Really though, regardless of my exact word count I will be further along in a month than I am today.

So: NaNoWriMo, here I come!