November Challenge - Write Every Day

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Magnus

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Hello and welcome! This is a thread open for anyone who wants to start, maintain, or reinforce a writing habit.

This is the fourth (!) month I'm doing a Write Every Day thread. I have personally used it to successfully build a stronger writing habit, and others have come along for the ride, finding motivation in the accountability and companionship of the thread!

The basis for the idea is that repeating something daily, even small amounts, will build a habit that becomes stronger over time, to the point where it will come naturally to you.

So introduce yourself, and if you want to, let us know what your goals are for October. I suggest trying to post every day, but it's entirely up to you how much and in what way you participate.

Here are some tips:


  • Set achievable goals – I can't stress enough how important this is. Habits build over time, so look at your current writing habit and set a goal to increase it a little bit, in word count, time, and/or frequency. (For example, I did a lot better with a small daily goal than with a big, looming, monthly one).


  • Write every day – even if it's just a few sentences. It reinforces the habit.


  • Mix it up – Try different types of goals, different times of the day, different tricks to reward or motivate yourself. A good habit is what works for you, not someone else. For example, some people find it works best with a set time. Others – like me – prefer a conditional habit.


  • Be patient – It takes a long time to build a strong habit and you'll always be facing new challenges. Get used to constantly adapting and you'll be better prepared for whatever problem comes up next.


  • Don't give up because you didn't hit your goal – When you fail to hit your target, your job is figuring out why it happened. That way, you can find ways to get around your roadblocks (and don't be scared of lowering the bar - doing something is better than doing nothing). If you share your stumbles in the thread, others might be able to help out with tips and tricks!

Good luck, and see you on the 1st of November!
 

ktzeee

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I'm ktzeee. Going to jump on the bandwagon! I'm doing Nanowrimo, so that'll hopefully force me to write at least 2,000 words a day--we'll see. But definitely going to put words on the paper every day, even if it's not much. Every little bit counts! Hoping to finally write a Chinese fantasy-inspired novel that's been jumbled in my head for a couple of months now. Good luck to everyone else embarking on this challenge!!
 

Pisco Sour

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okay, I'll bite! October was a complete wash for various reasons, but I started another novel back in September and I want to finish it by Christmas. I'm not doing NaNo-too stressful! Good luck all.
 

heykatydid

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I'm back again! I'm definitely doing NaNo, so this thread will (once again!! thank you, Magnus!) keep me accountable for putting those words down. My last novel took 9 months to finish, and I'd really prefer this one not take the same. NaNo's momentum should knock down a ton of words if everything goes to plan. I'm getting a little specific with goals, mostly just for myself, since NaNo is focused on quantity more than anything else.

Goal #1: Write 50,000 words in November (obviously).
Goal #2: This breaks down to about 1,670 words per day, so that's my new daily goal.
Goal #3: If I can't think of the next scene, skip and continue onwards (which I rarely do but need to get better at).

See you all tomorrow for Nov. 1! :)
 

LadyRedRover

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Hey everyone! I dropped off the map in October, but I'm here for the November thread :) After a lot of thought, I've decided not to do NaNoWriMo. It was a tough decision because I've done it for the last 5 years and really love the event, but I have other projects that I want to work on that will help my writing goals a lot more. So then, my goals are--

Write 500 words a day
Read through my first draft of 'The Prince's Champion'
Write up to 5 story ideas in my notebook each day of November

Good luck everyone and thanks again Magnus for hosting this awesome thread! :)
 

spottedgeckgo

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I don't have many issues staying motivated to write, and I plan on writing a ton in November, despite some other things happening in my life at the moment, but perhaps this is what I need to stay more engaged here on AW. I feel like I'm never here, and when I am, it's mostly browsing a very little posting.

Also doing NaNo and my monthly twitter challenge thing (500 per day), so this will give me one more place to keep my accountability logged. :)
 

Magnus

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Right, welcome kzteee, Pisco Sour, and spottedgeckgo to the challenge! And welcome back heykatydid and LadyRedRover! :snoopy:

My goals for November are:


  • Write at least 300 (good) words per day
  • Do something writing-related in the mornings
  • (Finish the first draft of a particular story)

Right, I am keeping it simple, as I've seen some great results from doing just that, so far (and I failed when I tried to raise the bar too fast). So I'm sticking with 300 words per day (I ended up writing over 450 on average in October). But I've added that they should be good words to increase the difficulty somewhat. What constitutes good is entirely up to me -- I know what I mean. I'd say about 70% of my words last month were good ones. Some were just filler to hit my daily goal (which is better than nothing, so I'll take it if that's all I get).

I'm also going to aim at writing in the mornings again, but if I can't write at that time, I'll do something else, like edit or read books on the craft (I'm currently going through Strunk & White, and I am quite looking forward to reading Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction).

I also have a secret bonus goal of finishing a draft for a story that I feel has a solid idea which I need to stop putting off.

Let's hit the road running, everyone!
 

technoglobe

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I'll be jumping into this as well. I'm hoping that doing NaNo throws me back into the habit of writing every day.
 

Layla Nahar

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Wheee! Back at it in November!

My goals are to:

write everyday (previously I let 'life' clobber my writing)
I'm not setting a minimum - for me that would still be asking too much of myself.

Continue to do something for my job/increase income project everyday.
Look for a housemate.
^these are both things that I had in previous months, so nothing new.

For the new - I want to start doing more work in digital docs. I write by hand primarily. Transferring it into a digital doc - well, for some reason(s) I have a lot of resistance to doing this. I'm not quite sure what form this will take, the d-doc item, but - it's one my list for this month.

And Welcome, pisco, spotted and techno -
& good to see you, ktz, heykaty, ladyred and - of course, Magnus ;)

Here's to a wordful month!!!
 

spottedgeckgo

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Thanks for the welcomes. It isn't hard for me to get high word counts, as I like to get to the end of a story quickly on the first round. My goal is to add one or two projects to my editing pile, so that I can focus on building my back list next year. I have three waiting, and one being pitched. No harm adding one or two more to the pile to rid myself of excuses not to be editing daily.
 

D.L. Shepherd

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Thanks again for starting a new thread, Magnus...hope you have as productive a month as you did last month! Nice to see you back, Layla and heykatydid, and hope to see you more often, LadyRedRover and ktzeee. Welcome aboard Pisco, spottedgeckgo, and technoglobe...hope you find this thread as useful as I have! Lots of hopes in there, huh? Here are mine:

1. Write six times per week.
2. Write more words than I did last month, which was 11,331 total.

That's it for me! Looking forward to sharing the journey with all of you, new faces and old alike.
 
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ktzeee

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Thank you for all the warm welcomes!! November 1st is only a few hours away, and of course I have my busiest day of the week tomorrow. I'll be lucky to have 3 hours of time away from class/extracurriculars *sigh*. Any advice for writing up a storm in as little time as possible, especially if you're beginning a whole new novel? I usually like to take my time, but alas...that goes against the entire point of Nanowrimo...lol. XD
 

Keithy

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My goals are to do as much hacking at the coal face as possible. At the moment, that's not much because I feel lousy, not sleeping well and the hour change hasn't helped. Yuck, sore throat and swollen glands too.

I've not done much over the last two days with my MS apart from deleting a few words and mulling over what to do next.

Peartree - I note your troubles at the end of the October thread - how is the complaint situation?
 

thereeness

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While I'm not doing NaNo officially, since I'm smack-dab in the middle of my current WIP, I do have writing goals for November:

1. Revise my outline and re-print it since things have changed.
2. Finish typing up world info and print that + character profiles.
3. Finish the first (hand written) draft of my WIP.
4. Write and post a blog post every Tuesday.
5. Start posting novel stuff on blog (maps, character aesthetics, world info, etc)
6. Get going on Secret Project.

Wheeeewww, I'm exhausted just thinking about all that, haha. But I'm bound and determined to make it so!
 

Pisco Sour

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Thanks for the welcome, Magnus! I forgot to write down my goals:

1. Turn around edits from my agent quickly, yet efficiently (not sure how this process will go, since this is our first novel together);
2. Finish first draft of Novel I began a few months ago--around 30K left (But God, those dang words don't seem to want to be written!);
3. Finish final editorial pass of novella under contract for January deadline so it can 'breathe' during December. (This one is a buff and polish, but at 45K it'll take up a lot of my time. I'm slow in editorial passes and tend to want to make sudden changes as I second and third guess my choices!)

All in all, a challenging month. The builders have just left and today I'm painting the bedroom so we can stop sleeping on the sofa bed. Fingers crossed I can get something done after dinner.
 

heykatydid

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Well, it's the end of the day Nov. 1 (my wedding anniversary! <3) and I can happily report that I wrote over my necessary goal for NaNo today at 1,680 words (largely thanks to my commute writing via phone). Am unlikely to be able to keep this up, but did manage that word count on a busy day, as it's 10 PM and we just got back from dinner. Hopefully the slower, less busy days will be even more productive?

Happy to see everyone, and good luck to all on day 1!! (We're in the future on this side of the world, so I finish before many people really begin.)
 

Kojiverse

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So not surprisingly I am getting involved in Nanowrimo. I am writing a novel based on urban folk lore I made up for my kid many years ago. It is called The Oni Hunter and I am very excited. This month my goals are simple...

1) Write 50,000 words of my new novel Oni Hunter

2) Post daily video updates of my writing journey on Instagram

3) Seek out another writer each day and tell them they are awesome for writing!
 

peartree

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My goals are to do as much hacking at the coal face as possible. At the moment, that's not much because I feel lousy, not sleeping well and the hour change hasn't helped. Yuck, sore throat and swollen glands too.

I've not done much over the last two days with my MS apart from deleting a few words and mulling over what to do next.

Peartree - I note your troubles at the end of the October thread - how is the complaint situation?

Oh it's fine. The administrator called me on the in-school phone during the class after the complaint was made and talked it over with me, and gave me a few pointers for the future. I'm mostly mad at myself because I was trying to discipline the kids myself instead of getting them detentions on Halloween (I'm sure THAT didn't occur to the little horrors!), but I've learned that lesson, and in future it's "Peartree calls the office and lets them hand detentions all round while I smile like the Cheshire Cat no matter what holiday it is"!!! I talked to a couple teachers after school ended and they reassured me that I was fine, and one said I even demonstrated good classroom management, which was so nice I nearly teared up. My mom has been teaching for 15 years or so as well, and told me not to worry about it. I'm also very peeved that those little so-and-so's are so offended at my using the phrase "shut up" (applied after literally two dozen applications of "Be quiet" or "Hey!" or "You guys are TOO LOUD"), and telling them their behavior disgraces their parents but never seemed to notice THEIR behavior was disrespectful or offensive!

What is the coal face? That's the name of my facial soap so I'm intrigued!

My goals for November:
1) NaNoWriMo
2) ...yeah, that's enough!
 

Magnus

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Oh, an additional note: Day 1-3 I'll be trying to hit my goals, but I'm cutting myself some slack as my home will be invaded by my nephew and mother. A bit of a nightmare for an introvert like me, though a small sacrifice for a very cheap living arrangement. (And no, I don't dislike my family, at all. But when they are up here I have nowhere to hide. It unnerves me, a lot.)
 

peartree

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Oh, an additional note: Day 1-3 I'll be trying to hit my goals, but I'm cutting myself some slack as my home will be invaded by my nephew and mother. A bit of a nightmare for an introvert like me, though a small sacrifice for a very cheap living arrangement. (And no, I don't dislike my family, at all. But when they are up here I have nowhere to hide. It unnerves me, a lot.)

Good luck! I like hiding with a book in my room during big holidays so that I can recharge so I feel a tiny bit of your pain.
 

Magnus

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Day 1
I did read a little in my current writing book in the morning, and I wrote 344 words. Under the current circumstances, that's a solid pass.
 

spottedgeckgo

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Got my first 3000 in this morning for NaNo and the new novel. I have an awesome outline/synopsis prepared so all I really have to do is type and describe the scenes. Hoping to get more in, but I have to mail out another ARC for the novel I'm releasing in December, and my mother just got home from a month-long vacation, so spending some time with her before I get back at it. I feel your pain, Magnus. I just showed up at her house. She's still talking while I'm typing this, and I'm trying to listen and smile for a bit.
 

Disorderly Order

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Hi all! I'm Disorderly and like ktzeee, haykatydid, technoglobe, kojiverse, edutton, and peartree I'll be doing NaNoWriMo. This will be my second year in a row.

My goals are:
1) Write at minimum 18,950 words
2) Write for a total of 30 hours
3) Write every day

I have anxiety with writing and I'm hoping nano will help that. So that I can sit and write for hours like I used to.

Day 1:

I had a small goal to write 100 words and I wrote 578 instead!
 

Keithy

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OK I've finished chapter 26 and will now move on to chapter 34 "the Emperor's Birthday". Now that's an interesting chapter. It's self contained so will not need much tinkering, although I might add a reference or two to other things.
I also need to add more swearing!

350 words today. There's no way I'll be writing 1500 fresh words a day, but it's possible I might do 200/day on average including editing.

Keep on swimming!
 
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