Historical NaNoWriMo?

I won't have the time to devote to anything as gruelling as NaNo...but my hat's off to anyone who does so!

I hope to do it this year. I wrote 50,000 words in 2006 but got off track with other things last year. I'll be using the time to work on a novel already in progress. Nano is a great tool to keep me disciplined and focused.

I'll be doing part 2 of my medieval trilogy for NaNo. I have Sept/Oct to revise part one to include the subplot that sets up part 2.

I did NaNo in 06, but only made it to 35K. I'm expecting this to be in the 90-100K range, and doubt I can do it in the month, but "doing NaNo" gives me an extra hour at the computer each day, since The Man will entertain The Boy while I'm writing after dinner.

I've got part 2 mostly plotted; a few stray ends to tie up and one sub-plot (maybe 2) to develop, but I figure those will probably take care of themselves along the way. I hope.

Doogs said:

I won't have the time to devote to anything as gruelling as NaNo...but my hat's off to anyone who does so!

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To succeed in NaNo, it's only 1600 words a day average. That's about 6 ms pages. Not always easy, but doesn't quite seem so daunting if you think of it that way. At least to me.

I don't know if I'll do NaNo or not this year. I need something to kick me back into writing and the next book I want to do is historical, so if I do it, that's what it'll be. I'll make up my mind closer to the date--but I'll certainly hang around to cheer people on.

Still undecided. The first week of Nov I'll be at a conference for work where it's unlikely I'll get any writing done (drinking, yes, but that's another story).

1600 words/day isn't anywhere near as daunting, but still out of the realm of possibility for me at the moment. Between the kiddo and the knowledge that November/December are going to be absolutely insane at work...

I did it last year with a historical and am planning to give another attempt this year. I have a few ideas on the back burner, one of which is NOT a historical, so don't know yet which I'll settle on. Even if I don't "win", it's a ton of fun getting there!

JenNipps said:

NaNo is what taught me that the way for me to finish a novel is to get it down first and then go back and edit it. I've stuck with that ever since then. That was about 4 years ago when I figured that one out. lol

Yeah, sometimes I'm a bit slow.

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That's the same type of thing that I got out of it. Not the part about learning to just get it down, but rather training myself to just get it down.

It's one thing to hear the advice, it's another to learn how to use it. For me, I had/have a brutal internal editor that would not let me get past a paragraph before having to go back and rewrite, then rewrite, then rewrite again until I was so deeply mired in 'getting it right' that I never 'got to write' the rest of the story.

I love NaNo. I've never 'won' either, but I have had a grand time and learned more about myself as a writer through the competition than anywhere else. Which is while I'll probably try it again this year, given half a chance....

What I got out of it is to see how well I can write when I push myself to write faster than I normally do. The result wasn't as bad as I expected, but did require more rewriting--and I detest rewriting pretty much more than anything else demanded of getting a novel finished. It was an interesting trade-off.

It was good thing to learn about the way I work and I think it's an imporant thing for every writer to learn. The two times I've done a challenge like this (NaNo and BIAW), it's been to do something more than just hit a certain number of words. To me, it's more important to learn something about my process than to "finish the book". I've finished multiple novels, so that's not a challenge, so I tie it into something more personal.

Sorry.

I'm well into Tizzie's Tale' and don't need distractions.

I hope to be done with my historical mystery. If I am, I like to let things simmer before editing and I'll dive headfirst into NaNo, hopefully with another historical mystery.

Why November?!? That's what I want to know! January is a much more boring, slow month!

Whine over.

Yeah

Barb D said:

Why November?!? That's what I want to know! January is a much more boring, slow month!

Whine over.

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I concur! January sucks. Up here (like Lewis Black says) you have to slit your wrists just to get some color. So, NaNoWriMo could actually save lives!