win nanowrimo 2005

In 2005, my goal was simply to get 50,000 words down on the page and not necessarily to have a coherent story. I am primarily a poet and occasionally write short stories. Before NaNo, my longest work of fiction was probably about 4,000 words. What I wrote basically turned into a stress-filled rant about the holiday season and a stressful situation I was encountering with a friend. But, I got the words down and felt like I had really accomplished something just by doing that.

This year, I really wanted to up the ante and try and get a good storyline written. I managed to make the word count, and the framework of the story is all there.

Good luck to everyone who does NaNo in the future! It’s totally worth it!

gearing up to do NaNo 2006! write on, planet earth!

I just don’t think I’m confident enough yet to write a novel that fast. Not sure I’m ever gonna be for that matter …

Be clear in your goals.

Use timed writing. I had many 3,000+word days and I got there using timed writing in 30 minute chunks.

Don’t agonize over the story. Don’t agonize over spelling or grammar. Just write. There’s a reason why Hemingway said, “The first draft is always shit.” NaNoWriMo isn’t a finished product.

If you do want to agonize over the story, outline it well in advance.

Try using continuous speech recognition software to write it.

In the end, there’s no other way to get around it: Ass + Chair = Writing.

What a thrill! I carried notebooks around everywhere during those weeks and lacked any hobbies except writing, but in the end it was worth knowing I could do it.

It wasn’t easy. I realized two weeks in that I had confined myself to too few characters, too few scenes, and too little time (in-novel). I didn’t want to go completely outside of the narrative to increase my word count, which means I wasn’t successful at turning off the inner editor.

However, I finished just a skosh over 50k words with 48 hours to spare.

NaNoWriMo changed my relationship with my writing. I have confidence now and skill that I don’t think can come without the practice. And with the help of NaNoWriMo, I got it all done in just one crazy month!

Yeah… winning rocks!

Kitten got sick, didn’t have time. :( Next year!

This past november I had one of the worst work loads ever and all my preparations for this were futile..
it was disappointing but then again, who says that november is the only month for writing?
I’ll try it on my own!

I only got to about 36K, but I feel like I won according to what I need. Hard to be upset about that!