FAIL. 3 years running! 4 years ago

Been very busy.

But I did in fact win nano 2008.

But it took me longer than any previous nano. I was okay with that. No need to race the clock and finish in 10 days. I wrote 2000 to 2500 words a day and missed a couple of days. But I didn’t burn out and I also succeeded in posting to my blog everyday AND doing a painting everyday.

And of course, feeding, cleaning, playing with and caring for my kids everyday.

I don’t need to be a superhero, I just need to write and paint and be a mommy. 4 years ago

i haven’t done it! i’m trying to give up! i can’t even give up. gah!

how do you give up these days? i thought it was going to be a subsection of “i’m done”.

anyway, um, well, yes i’m still at 807 words. i don’t know, i think being away for the first day or two of november didn’t help, though that’s no excuse (cf. moose). i think i was trying to run before i can walk. i need a robert ullrey podcast: from couch to 50K words in 30 days.

oh well, ho hum.

i feel such a fraud having a green tick here. 4 years ago

Fri noon, 40k 4 years ago

Wow…writing 50,000 reasonably related words is not easy, and doing it in a month is even tougher. Congratulations to everyone who joined and tried their best. Of course, extra congrats to those who actually made it over the line.

A big thank you to everyone who posted entries here about their experiences, and of course to the MLs and folks who put this craziness together every year. 4 years ago

I’m almost there. I had a couple panics today. I don’t know if the flash drive I’ve been using is dying or what, but I had a couple files get corrupted. The scary thing was that my back up was corrupted to. But I found good copies of the files in my computer trash can. So I was OK. Then I was working on my laptop and tried to save the chapter I was working on but it wouldn’t save. But that one I just emailed to myself. So it looks like I’ll be working on my desktop for the last bit. And look… less than 5000 words to go. About 3 maybe 4 chapters to go. And plenty of time to get it done. 4 years ago

Less than 10,000 words to go. And I get to pull out a deus ex machina and call it literature. If I can get a couple really good days I’ll have a chance of pulling this out before the due date. Better’n last year where I thought I was done, put my words into the validator and it popped back with about 250 words short. So I had to write up a quick extra conclusion. But I made it. 4 years ago

I am hopeful
Now the story is writing itself, just like they say

Warning: a buddy of mine finished yesterday- 50,030 acc to his word count, when he uploaded it this morning: some 500 words short
Do that word count test to be safe

Keep on 4 years ago

Lost a little ground today, but I was expecting it. I actually did better than I was expecting. The trilobites were fun I guess. 4 years ago

I made my goals for the weekend, so I’m only 0.6 days behind now. And now it the time for the down hill slide. I’ve got to stat pulling things together and wrapping things up. But since virtually nothing has happened, I’ve got a bit of a blank before I get to the end. But it looks like I’ll make it again. 4 years ago

Another good day (1703 words). I’m hoping for 3,000 words each day over the weekend. Then It’ll be down to the last week. I’ll be glad when I can get out and do something besides this. But I’ll have my inner editor whining for mercy, and that’s a good thing. I’ve got to keep the editor cowed in the corner, so I can work on all the things I want to do. 4 years ago

I actually did 1922 words today. So I trimmed a bit off my deficit. And I pretty much know what the next chapter will need to include. And not really any concerns about the next few chapters. I’m thinking I’ll get through this again after all. 4 years ago

I did 1515 words today. So only slipped a tiny amount behind. Sill about 2.7 days behind. I also changed the title. This morning I suddenly had a realization of where the story was going. And even some of the “cheats” I’d been doing (chapters where I’d ramble on just to get some words out) would actually fit in. With this realization came a change in the title. It is now titled Now Fades the Glimmering Landscape. 4 years ago

Only a slight slip 2.7 days behind. And I don’t have any obligations (evening) for the rest of the week. So I might actually be able to start catching up BEFORE the weekend. 4 years ago

36,641 words.

I am taking the turtles way. Slow and steady.

Yes, I am ahead, but I do not push myself to hit 5k words a day the way I have in the past. I do not race to beat every one. I do not make myself sit down and keep writing even after I have hit my personal minimum of 2k. This is not a competition. No one really wins by writing more than everyone else. The key for me, for me to be a real writer, is to keep up the energy of November into the rest of the year.

This month, I usually only write once a day for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. And at my pace, I will probably have 70k words by the end of November.

Can you believe it’s possible to write a novel so quickly in only a couple of hours a day???? It’s crazy, right? But it is possible. Of course, that does not count the 3 years of work I have done on outlining, character building, world building, glossaries, brainstorming, map making, sketching, research… and writing and revising the first book.

So if I can write a book in one month without marathon sessions and depriving myself of a life, why would I torture myself?

Just take it easy, and keep going. Step by step. 4 years ago

I couldn’t make it this year. I managed to write almost 16000 words, but then my energy and – more importantly – motivation went out of the window, even though I really, really tried to hold on to it.

The story that I was writing was interesting enough with characters I know and love, but still, it was wearing me down. Maybe the pace was too quick and I felt like I was betraying the characters by writing nonsense just to get words? (Classic Nano-fail, isn’t it..) 4 years ago

I hit my goal of 1000 words for today. Which given that I had a meeting to go to this evening wasn’t to bad. And tomorrow the local writers group meets. So I hope for another thousand tomorrow. Then the rest of the week might actually open up and I can start doing a bit more in the evenings. 4 years ago

Its kinda make it/break it time as I sit at just over 10k
But I am hopeful- 2000 words/day plus a couple marathon days will work
Good for all you on pace- Keep on 4 years ago

Yes I’m still behind. But that is only two days behind. So I’ve caught up pretty good. I’ll be slipping a bit during the week. I’ve seem to be able to add a little over a thousand each day with all the other stuff I have to do. So I’ll be behind again by next weekend. But I’m now close enough that I think I might be able to make it to the end. And I have the Long Thanksgiving weekend coming up. 4 years ago

I had a pretty good day. Over 5000 words. If I can do about the same tomorrow I’ll almost be caught up. Then if I can keep a fair pace this next week I’ll be on track again by the end of the next weekend. 4 years ago

But if I work REALLY HARD this weekend, I think I can get close to being back on track. But I have to get a fair amount done the next two nights. I can’t rely purely on the weekend. I hope next week, I’m only a little behind. 4 years ago

T-T I’m only up to 9,230 words. I’m in a rut. Oh well, I didn’t really plan on making the full 50,000 anyway. sighs4 years ago

Hey, y’know how they say don’t take more than a day off?
Well, they are right
I am hopeful I can get to 25k by 11/15 though because I have some time off 4 years ago

I got very distracted by the election the past few days, and I’m finding myself already behind in the word count. I need to stop reading about politics on the internet and focus on my novel. What I have so far is really good! But seriously, I could sit here all night and read blogs and news and whatnot. I should probably put a daily limit on this until November is over. 4 years ago

I currently have 8,361 words. I need to have 10,000 by 11:59 pm. DX Argh… 4 years ago

I knew the first week was going to be tough. But I’m not as far behind as I could be. I’ve got things going on through the weekend. Then I should be able to concentrate on getting caught up. 4 years ago