It’s that time of year again!
This is my first year participating and I’m dedicating the month to my second novel (My first, A Ransom of Flames, is going through the copy edit phase). Those of you who subscribe to the newsletter know that my next book has dragons in it because, you know, dragons are awesome.
Working Title: Midnight Ashes
After three days I can say, unequivocally, I’m behind schedule. The math on this says that one must write at least 1,672 words per day to reach the 50,000 word goal. Accordingly, I should have 5,016 words by now. How many do I actually have?
Yeah, 3,201. Granted, today’s work is an uptick in numbers from the dismal word counts of day 1 and 2. Is there a grid that takes into account a full time job and three kids under five that require food, baths, clean clothing and the occasional show of affection from their mother?
Complaints aside, it’s still an exciting challenge. I’m also following NaNoWriMo on Twitter. If you’re on Twitter and participating, think about following it. Their community offers great support and fun “word sprints” during the day to keep momentum going. I’ll be posting on NaNoWriMo throughout the month, putting up an encouraging word along with tips & tricks to keep the words flowing and the enthusiasm fueled (an important component to success).
Speaking of momentum, I better quit blogging and get back to it. What have I learned from NaNoWriMo so far? Well, sometimes you can enjoy the artistry of the written word, other times you just have to put your nose to the grindstone and hustle. This is one of those times, because while it may be about the journey, I still want to win this thing, dammit!
Anyone else out there participating in the November challenge this year? How has your progress been so far? Any tips for first-timers like me?
Author of speculative fiction 
Yes! I’m a newbie to nanowrimo and plodding along at 4,038 words as of this moment. It’s taken me a while to figure out how to navigate the program, and to understand it’s objective. (to write 50,000 words by end month.) It seems these words might not even need to all be written for a particular novel, but can be switched to another if one hits a wall with the first! Also, the concept of “winning” still eludes me… (I’m not a ‘gamer’ at heart anyway) so I expect I will figure it out by the end of the month. I’m just doing it to keep momentum going on the book I finished first draft last month on BIAM. And that book is undergoing a major revision so that it may actually morph into a different book anyway! Go figure… writing is a mystical process. Cheers! I don’t twitter or tweet… but will look forward to hearing how you are doing here. ~Karin E Weiss
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Yes, it takes a moment to figure out the site. I went in as soon as they opened it for registration just to make sure I knew what I was doing. I’m going to need all my minutes this month to make the goal so I don’t want to waste any on navigation. If you have any questions on it, let me know and maybe I can help.
I believe you are correct on that it’s about reaching the 50,000 word count, whether it’s on one story or more than one. I’ve got my heart set on a finishing the rough draft of my second book though.
Haha, yes, the “winning” can seem odd but I enjoy the sentiment of it. Good luck with the challenge and thanks for stopping by!
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