Question for our multi-NaNos

Rose English

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I know we still have one more week to go, but I am beginning to wonder what life after NaNo is like. Will I have withdrawal symptoms? Do I need to buy any special items at the grocery store? Will I ever be the same again? Will I stick to getting up at 5.30am? Any thoughts, advice or tips on this gratefully received!
 

Shady Lane

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Well, this was my first NaNo, but I finished my ms in eight days, so I've been finished for awhile...

I definitely didn't know what to do with myself for the first four days or so. But stuff slowly returned to normal. :)
 

jscribbles

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Anything special from the grocery store?
Champagne, but only after you've finished your 50,000! :D

Will you ever be the same again?

No.

Will you keep getting up at 5:30 a.m.?

Keep doing it for as long as you can! Or figure out some other time that you can write daily.
 

thethinker42

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This is my first NaNo...finished on the 18th...I've been throwing myself into my other WIP's and editing my NaNo book. I'm going to ride this momentum as long as I can before I start getting lazy again, but hopefully that won't happen. :D
 

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Post-NaNo depression last year.
I went slacking for a couple of weeks, and it cost me some time to get back into the groove.
Eventually I did, converted my NaNo novel into my WIP and sent it out to publishers. No publishing deal in the works yet, though.

One thing that's going to be different now: I know I want to be in on next year's NaNo, come what may. My enthusiasm this year is far stronger than last time, maybe because this year I'm going for a 100K and it seems to be working.
 
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Yeshanu

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My enthusiasm this year is also much higher, but I think that's due in part to the fact that I'm participating more in this forum this year.

I'm just afraid that after NaNo, we'll all go off into our separate forums and...

No more word wars. *sniff*

No more kidding around about Leto pron and Chocklit Cate and things like that to keep us going...

But I guess part of the transition I'm hoping to make this year from NaNo to real life is from a sometimes writer to someone who puts out ten thousand or more words weekly, and now that I know that ten thousand words is about six or eight hours steady going, I know I can do it!

I know one thing--as soon as my NaNo novel is done and revised, I'll be back at my regular WIP with a vengeance, and I'm planning to finish it in ten weeks, or about mid-March (with a January start due to work and Christmas commitments.)
 

Jersey Chick

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This was my first NaNo and I finished in 12 days (I think - I don't really remember, but it was early on) and the first few nights I was kind of lost. Now I'm back into routine, but it's weird to not be thinking, "I've gotta have x amount of words written by bedtime."
 

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My first year I couldn't write for four months after NaNo. The first month, granted, I spent editing the NaNo novel, but I just sat down to write my other WIP, and couldn't.

Can't remember what I did the second year, except that there was a long space of time pre-NaNo where I couldn't write, and I spent a lot of time editing before working on the sequel to that year's NaNo novel.

Last year, I finished my NaNo novel and went right back to my other WIP (which I was very close to the end of), and finished it in a week. Then I spent a couple months editing both of them (and another novel). I like editing over my Christmas vacation--printing out the novel(s) and taking it/them with me on the plane to edit.
 

Williebee

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The most important thing I can pass on to first timers is don't stop writing. Not even for a day.

Jamming out 50K words by typing/writing steadily, every day, over 30 days, creates muscle memory. What that means to me is that it gets my fingers out of the way of the process. The brain is cycling and creating. Keep getting it out of your head, if only to make room for the next idea.
 
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The most important thing I can pass on to first timers is don't stop writing. Not even for a day.

Jamming out 50K words by typing/writing steadily, every day, over 30 days, creates muscle memory. What that means to me is that it gets my fingers out of the way of the process. The brain is cycling and creating. Keep getting it out of your head, if only to make room for the next idea.

Quoted for truth.
 

DamaNegra

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There's this forum starting to form, for those of us who can't stand the thought of NaNo withdrawal... NaNo all year long :) I'm not posting the link here, but if anyone's interested, PM me.
 
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If you NaNo all year long, when the heck do you have time to edit previous manuscripts?
 

Soccer Mom

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My enthusiasm this year is also much higher, but I think that's due in part to the fact that I'm participating more in this forum this year.

I'm just afraid that after NaNo, we'll all go off into our separate forums and...

No more word wars. *sniff*

No more kidding around about Leto pron and Chocklit Cate and things like that to keep us going...

But I guess part of the transition I'm hoping to make this year from NaNo to real life is from a sometimes writer to someone who puts out ten thousand or more words weekly, and now that I know that ten thousand words is about six or eight hours steady going, I know I can do it!

I know one thing--as soon as my NaNo novel is done and revised, I'll be back at my regular WIP with a vengeance, and I'm planning to finish it in ten weeks, or about mid-March (with a January start due to work and Christmas commitments.)


I've been toying with the idea of a Word War thread in the Roundtable and perhaps a Weekly Virtual Write In to keep us all motivated and writing. This wouldn't just be for NaNo refugees of course, but for everyone from short story nuts to freelancers.
 

Yeshanu

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I like the idea of having the word war thread in another forum. I'd thought about WEPG, but it just didn't seem right there.

The Roundtable idea would work for me. Let's do it! :D
 

Captain Howdy

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The most important thing I can pass on to first timers is don't stop writing. Not even for a day.

Jamming out 50K words by typing/writing steadily, every day, over 30 days, creates muscle memory. What that means to me is that it gets my fingers out of the way of the process. The brain is cycling and creating. Keep getting it out of your head, if only to make room for the next idea.

True, so true + my 2 cents worth = I finished my NaNo on the 17th...but actually, that morning when I got up the first thing I did was plug back into a prior WIP and dive right in...then it was hard to tear myself away to finish the NaNo which I was pretty much hating at that point. Like someone else mentioned, it's all about momentum. If you're on a roll, wrap up your NaNo and keep on rolling!

:roll:
 

Captain Howdy

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oh, PS, there is a monthly thread called something like "This Month's 500 Words a Day" thread over in the Mystery Suspense Thriller forum...invites to anyone who enjoys/needs a little friendly competition throughout the year. Genres not restricted to MST. No membership fee required.
 

Bubastes

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I've been toying with the idea of a Word War thread in the Roundtable and perhaps a Weekly Virtual Write In to keep us all motivated and writing. This wouldn't just be for NaNo refugees of course, but for everyone from short story nuts to freelancers.

I like this idea a lot. After NaNo, I want to scale back to 1000 words/day with longer bursts during write-ins. I'd love to see threads like this to help keep the momentum going.
 
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Sophia

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The most important thing I can pass on to first timers is don't stop writing. Not even for a day.

My experience has been different to this. At the start of December, I feel like I need a break from writing. I imagine that I'll need about a month, but in practice, it's always been three days or less. After that, I feel like I've recharged mentally and physically and am eager to get back to it.

This is assuming that people are aiming for the NaNo goal of a finished novel at the end of the month, rather than the first 50 K of it. I would agree with the not stopping part if the draft isn't complete and you've managed to write regularly all month - don't lose the momentum you've built up!
 

GeorgieB

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This is my third NaNo, and I've also done one ScriptFrenzy (NaNo's April script-writing fun month), and completed all of them. My writing habits won't change much, I still get up at 6:00, write for two hours (sometimes more) before breakfast.

Life after is the same as life during, and almost the same as life before. I think I'm like most wannabee's--I have many ideas floating about in my memory, and I pick what I think is the most persistent and run with it. That's the one I develop for NaNo. So,

Life before---getting the NaNo outline done, figuring out where the plot holes will be, character studies. All leading up to:

Life during --- one month of FOKBIC (Fingers on keyboard, butt in chair), typing out 2K words daily.

Life after --- the same FOKBIC, possibly editing what I've written, or writing for one of the two groups I attend, or continue with the on-line class I'm enrolled in (Writer's Digest).

In short, there's nothing that changes much, except for the added adrenalin that flows during November and April.

There was one casualty however, my coffee cup. It's been with me for years. The handle fits my hand, it's stainless steel shiny surface is still clean and bright, but it fell off my desk and now the plastic cap is chipped so badly that coffee dribbles out if I'm not careful. That's the one thing I'll have to replace.

There is one point where I do feel a let-down in intensity, and that's when I print out the certificate, sign my name and frame it. No ceremony for hanging it on the wall, but I look at them each morning and remember the fun it was to do it, and look forward to the next.
 

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A continuing word war thread would be most helpful!!!

I've been dreading the end of NaNo because my experience from doing two very demanding workshops in the past was that after they were over I went into a serious slump each time. I'm hoping though that it'll be different after NaNo. It's been a unique experience and has taught me a lot about what is possible.
 
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I'm trying to decide whether to go for 500 words a day in 2009, or 1000.

500 would be easy and I could get into a routine of writing every day that way. A thousand? Most days I'd be cool with that, but on the occasions I had a migraine, for instance, or spent all day out of the house...
 

Cranky

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I like this idea a lot. After NaNo, I want to scale back to 1000 words/day with longer bursts during write-ins. I'd love to see threads like this to help keep the momentum going.

That would be fantastic. I've been slumping, big time, since I finished. I got 600 words on a new short, and the outline finished for the rewrites, but that's it.

And I really want to keep up the momentum I had.
 

BlueLucario

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December 1st I'd be down in the dumps for not winning and only writing only 8,000 words in a month, anything less than 50 is never good.
 

Soccer Mom

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You do realize the month isn't over, Blue. Turn your 8K into 16 by the end of this week. You can do that. It's 8K more than you had at the start of the month. Kicking yourself is not productive. Kicking your butt into gear is.