I need some cheerleading (NaNo 2016)

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Sage

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Cheering you all on!
I have never been behind in NaNo at this point. One year I did give it up about halfway through because of other obligations, but I have never have this struggle to meet par from day to day past the midway point. There have been times when I've hated my novels, but went on for the win, but those books all made 50K by this week. There have been years where the book looked too long to finish, even after getting to 50K, but I still finished them too (one on December 1 but only by a few minutes because I tried to add an unnecessary chapter).

In 45 minutes, day 23 will be over. I have 36,488 words. I should have 38,333 and am more than a day behind.

Most NaNos, every moment I'm not busy with other things, I am writing. Sometimes I'm writing while busy with other things (writing while eating, for example; plotting while driving; soundtracking while working out; etc.). Now I come home from my job where I'm getting massive amounts of overtime because it's the busy season, and I stare at my screen and can't make myself write. I'm spending a lot of time staring into microscopes at work, so more often than not, I have a headache when I'm done, which makes it hard to stare at a computer screen. I put off other things I need to do (work out, practice for chorus concerts coming up) because I know I need to be at the computer, but once on the computer, I can't concentrate on the book.

I've written dreck for NaNo. This book has it's problems, but it's not as bad as other things I've written. It's just finding the motivation to actually concentrate on the story during the time I actually have to write it.

Anyway, I've been cheerleading my friend to get her to the end of a revision by the end of the month, and so I was looking for a little cheerleading myself. Remind me why it's worth it to finish, to push past the headache, to not just watch some television and then go to bed, knowing that I'll continue sinking under par and will only get 1 day off this holiday weekend to try to catch up. I finished editing another novel just 2 days before NaNo. Remind me why it's worth it to have a second new novel to focus on in the near future, with revisions and querying, when I love the other one more. I just need reasons not to quit right now.
 

Maggie Maxwell

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:e2cheer: Sage, Sage, she's our girl! If she can't do it, I'm gonna hurl!

Yeah okay, it needs work.

But seriously, a day or two behind is nothing, even at this point in the game. You're so close. Why give up now? Even if it's dreck, it's dreck you fought for and toiled over and you deserve to earn that purple bar!
 

Putputt

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You're doing awesome, Sage. Some years are hard. Two years ago, I finished my first draft (50K) in 11 days. Last year, I plodded and plodded and then gave up at around 15K and it wasn't because life got in the way or anything. I just lacked motivation. Keep going. And if you need a reason to keep going, here's one: The world needs your books. You're writing YA SF LBTQA White Christmas. I mean, how fucking awesome does THAT sound?? It sounds like exactly the thing we need more of, especially in light of recent events. So don't give up, Sage!
 

Carrie in PA

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YOU CAN DO IT!! :e2cheer::e2cheer::e2cheer::e2cheer:

Why should you do it? Because you WANT to do it, because you CAN do it, because you WILL do it!

Why is it worth it to have a second novel when you love the other one?? Pssssht, is that really a question? Because the first one will be over and done soon, and you'll have this one to mold and shape and make beautiful instead of having blank pages and vast expanses of nothingness to work with.

Because the world needs your book.

Because your characters deserve to have their story told. Hale needs you!!

Because this: :gaahis just a temporary feeling.

Because if you're at 36,775, that's only 1889 words a day to finish on time. That's less than 1 day behind. Psssht, that's not behind at all! You can knock that out with no problem!

Because you've won TEN TIMES since 2005. TEN!! Holy freaking crap, when you finish this one, that's ELEVEN!!! Eleven manuscripts. :Trophy:Holy crap, Sage, that's fantastic.


Because you're amazing, dammit, and this arbitrary word count will not defeat you! :yessmiley
 

chompers

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If you quit, that unwin will taunt you for all the years coming. Do you really want to mar your streak?
 

SWest

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Undercover

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Keep going, keep going, keep going! You have gotten so far. You do so much besides the writing too. You are doing a ton of things. It's a windwhirl of things. Pat yourself on the back for doing all these things AND writing on top of that. AND you help on the boards. You're fabulous! It's meant to be.

Keep going, keep going, keep going! You'll be so happy when it's through and you'll have another novel to shop around/sell. Everything is going to be okay.
 

EMaree

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YA SF LGBTQA White Christmas! YA SF LGBTQA WHITE CHRISTMAS! Don't you dare give up on me, Sage, I need this book in my life. <3

You've got almost 40k so far and you have lots of folks in this thread who are super excited to read those words. Keep on pushing, you can do it!
 

Matt T.

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You've already written over 36,000 words, so you're nearly three quarters of the way there already. :D You've already done the bulk of the heavy lifting, so you just need to keep pushing ahead in the final stretch.
 

arikdiver

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I'm not that far ahead of you in terms of word count, and I feel your frustration. One thing in your post stood out to me. If you have headaches from looking down microscopes and at a screen, have you tried dictating? You could try the dragon dictation app? Just a suggestion, and you don't have to use it ;)

Good luck, and keep on writing. You can do it. :hooray::partyguy: :Jump::PartySmil
 

Sage

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Thanks, guys! I'm trying to make an effort to catch up today and tomorrow, even though I don't have a full day to work on it either day. I've already done the daily par, and I have a few hours to go.

Sadly, dictation doesn't work for me because I'm not coherent enough while speaking and would completely freeze trying to think of a good sentence.
 

Lillian_Blaire

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Sadly, dictation doesn't work for me because I'm not coherent enough while speaking and would completely freeze trying to think of a good sentence.
I can't do dictation either. I'd just "ummm" a lot, I'm sure.

Sounds like you're making progress! Awesome--keep it up! :hooray: :hooray: :hooray:
 

Jade Rothwell

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You can do it! You're so close! Even if you don't have a full day to write, writing a little every day makes all the difference. When I have a rough day, I write the minimum I need to finish on time, and then just stop. Nothing wrong with that :) Writing 1667 words a day is already a huge accomplishment!
 

Sage

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I have to admit that on Sunday, coming off a 10-hour workday and a 1-day (holiday) weekend, starting the day at par (and at or below every day in the 2nd half of the month) & not having written 1667 yet, and realizing that I would be at chorus rehearsal for "midnight" of the 30th so I couldn't sprint towards the end on the last day if needed, I almost quit for real. I had realized that I would be rewriting this novel from scratch, with a better idea of the characters and plot, and maybe a few lines (or ideas of lines) preserved, but there were no darlings too precious to kill, as often happens when I'm like, "I need to write this better, but I love all of this." I had figured out the plot problems I was having and knew where the novel was going now, so I didn't feel the need to actually write it, and meeting 50K seemed impossible at the pace I had been going. Plus, I had put off these other things with the same deadline because I was always saying "after I catch up" and then spend so long catching up that I never got to them.

But I had this thread, you see. And I felt like I would be letting you all down, since you took the time to cheer me on. And after you did, I had made a big push to catch up, so that I actually was on par on that day, and it seemed like such a waste to have done so, if I was going to not even try with only 3 days left and just over 5K to go.

So, anyway, thanks for cheering me on (here in my very selfish thread) because it really made me keep going, not just on the days you cheered for me, but again when I almost did give up :e2flowers
 
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