NovNoWriMo 2017 - NaNo or Not, Here We Come!

Lucid · Nov 10, 2017

Hello everyone, just checking in.

My writing this month is going well. I'm beyond pleased because of how many times I've tried to write this story before. It's never quite worked out and it finally is and I love it a lot! As I said in my last post, it is nothing like it started as when I first planned it four years ago. That said, it feels surreal to actually be watching it come to life. I'm kind of walking on air.

My word count right now is about 32.5k words. I had the first 5 days off in November and it was easy to hit my goal of 4k, but now that I'm back to working I've had to drop my daily goal to 2k. I am able to meet that (though it's been hard a few days).

So that's me. I'm still hoping to finish the entire story this month, so that I can begin a rewrite in January. I love to draw, so I think I'll spend December doing illustrations and drawings of the characters.

mrsmig · Nov 11, 2017

The show is closed, I'm back home, my second book is out in the world - it's been a crazy week. I didn't anticipate getting a lot of writing done (and I didn't) but at least I'm now writing on a semi-regular basis. However, I torqued my back Wednesday and am uncomfortable sitting, which doesn't help with productivity.

Finished Gavin de Becker's THE GIFT OF FEAR, did my pre-release stuff for FISKUR and got my release date for the third book: February 20, 2018. I made my graphic announcing that date but have decided hold off on creating any others until the promo push for FISKUR is done at the end of November. I also had to edit Goal 5 - I did the two guest blogs that my marketing person asked for, but now she wants three more, which will take another bite out of my NaNo time. I'm going to try to tackle those tomorrow when I have the house to myself.

[ ] 1. NANO! Write 50k words on Book 5 of The Gemeta Stone - 3,150 of 50,000
[ ] 2. Read five books - 1 of 5
[ ] 3. Go for two nature walks - 0 of 2
[x] 4. Complete final pre-release promo push for Book 2 before Nov. 7th release
[x] 5. Nail down release date for Book 3 and start creating graphics
[ ] 6. Write five guest blogs for Book 2 virtual book tour - 2 of 5
[ ] 7. Flog Book 2 through month of November - in progress

bdwilson · Nov 13, 2017

Monday check-in time again

[-] Finish NaNo project.

Still on track.

[-] Get to bed on time more than 80% of the month:

[2] ~~Nov. 1 - 4~~

[6] ~~Nov. 5 - 11~~

Almost made a full week here. Family game night ran long, though. I can't really complain about that

[1] Nov. 12 - 18
[ ] Nov. 19 - 25
[ ] Nov. 26 - 30

[ ] Finish cleaning office:

[x] ~~Sort last stack of items~~
[ ] File stack of papers
[ ] Find permanent places for anything I'm keeping
[ ] Give away the "give away" pile

[ ] Do edits on the E shorty story, whenever they come in.

Constant Goals:

[45] Write 1K words a day (for 52 weeks).

EMaree · Nov 14, 2017

Trimming and changing my goals a bit, recognising that I'm getting overloaded thing month. Also, new showstopper goal, because AGENT EDIT IS INNNN.

[ ] Finish the agent edit.
[17k] Write 50k words.
[ ] Weight: Hit month goal.

Lower Priority:
[ ] September/October recap blog
[ ] Helsinki trip blogging
[ ] Read 1 book (Planning: Anatomy of a Story, Growing Gills)
[ ] Finish playing any video game (Planning: Persona3)
[ ] Finish 1 TV series. (Planning: Strange Things S2, The Office S3 or Digimon Tri)
[X] Finish 1 2 podcast series (Archive81, Steal the Stars)

Tamlyn · Nov 14, 2017

NaNo is ticking along steadily. Not as many words as normal but I think I'll still get there and I'm happy. I've been feeling very poorly, but yesterday I got some of the loose stitches in my eye out and I'm already feeling 200x better (they were causing much troubles). So figure it can only be uphill from here!

I read my first book way back on the 1st and I've been ambling around reading bits and pieces since then.

I have done a bunch of transcribing! It takes me a while (for someone who wasn't capable of finishing things and kept restarting, some of those starts have rather more words than I realised) so will have to dedicate myself to at least one every non-workday with occasional full days.

1. Do NaNo. Getting along...
2. Read three books. 1/3
3. Transcribe some. Progress!
4. 500 words or 2 pages edited per day. So far so good.

Dysnomia · Nov 15, 2017

Checking in! :hi:

[X] ~~Finish reading And I Darken~~
[X] ~~Finish reading Flame in the Mist~~
[X] ~~Complete new beta reading ASAP!~~
[ ] Finish reading the two memoirs I found for research for my recently completed MS 1 of 2 done!
[ ] Research, Research, Research!! Doing plenty. Note to self: Sleep is just as important!!

Damoclian · Nov 16, 2017

Welp, I'm doomed.... and thus I have accepted my doom and gone back to what I was doing before I was doomed. The same thing I was doing when I became doomed. DOOOOooOOOOoOOOMed!

mrsmig · Nov 18, 2017

Happy halfway through the month, y'all!

Not a productive week for me at all. I got a couple thousand words written for NaNo, continued with publicity stuff for the release of Book #2 and managed to get out for a two mile nature walk, but otherwise these past few days have been all about MY NEW COMPUTER! Our home computer (a laptop) was about eight years old and really starting to wheeze, so the Hubs and I went out to "just look" at new computers and ended up buying a new desktop. I'm still in the adjustment phase but I must say it's nice to be able to look straight ahead at a monitor after looking down to write for all these years.

I saw a chiropractor for my back. I'd seen this guy once for a knee issue back in September - I'd never been to a chiro before and this guy is very spiritual, in an oddly forceful way. After this second session (which was really intense - I was hollering at times), he sort of loomed over me and informed me that I was a magnificent, talented woman who could do anything, and I shouldn't allow anyone to make me think I wasn't. This may be what he says to everyone but it really struck at the heart of what I struggled with all through my nine months in NYC. I started crying and just lay there on the table with tears running down my face and pooling in my ears. Then he told me to take more Vitamin A, drink more water and go for a long walk. (I think there's a short story lurking somewhere in that experience.)

The weird thing about this week is that I haven't started reading a new book yet. I have done so much reading this year and am only five books short of my goal of 75 for the year, but I just can't decide what to read. Maybe I've hit critical overload. I still feel a bit stressed since getting home. I've been doing a fair amount of purging (main bathroom and my office), but am thinking a little mindless labor may put me right. Plenty of leaves in the yard to be raked plus some weeding to do (thistles have taken over one of my garden plots), so that may be the answer.

How was YOUR week?

[ ] 1. NANO! Write 50k words on Book 5 of The Gemeta Stone - 5,166 of 50,000
[ ] 2. Read five books - 1 of 5
[ ] 3. Go for two nature walks - 1 of 2
[x] 4. Complete final pre-release promo push for Book 2 before Nov. 7th release
[x] 5. Nail down release date for Book 3 and start creating graphics
[x] 6. Write five guest blogs for Book 2 virtual book tour - 2 of 5
[ ] 7. Flog Book 2 through month of November - in progress

Tamlyn · Nov 18, 2017

Yay for new computer! I have my little laptop-tablet thing, but I always prefer to type on my PC if I can. And I hope the chiro also helped with your back.

mrsmig · Nov 18, 2017

Tamlyn said:
Yay for new computer! I have my little laptop-tablet thing, but I always prefer to type on my PC if I can. And I hope the chiro also helped with your back.

It really did, thanks. The chiro said I was all kinked up and I'm not a bit surprised, given the stresses of the last couple of months. I just spent an hour pulling thistles in the garden and it felt surprisingly good.

Velvet27 · Nov 18, 2017

Hey everyone, congrats on your progress so far!

This is my first year doing Nano, and so far I'm having a blast! I was lucky that coincidence worked in my favor. I'd just finished plotting out a novel at the end of October and had no plans at all to Nano. Come Nov 1st, I sat down to start writing said novel and decided I'd also start Nano on a whim. Best decision!

This is, without a doubt, the most thorough plot plan I've ever done (with beats and arcs and all those things) and it is, without a doubt, the easiest first draft I've ever written.

Exciting times!

Good luck with today's writing

bdwilson · Nov 20, 2017

Weekly check-in! Not a whole lot of progress last week, unfortunately.

[-] Finish NaNo project.

Continuing on.

[-] Get to bed on time more than 80% of the month:

[2] ~~Nov. 1 - 4~~

[6] ~~Nov. 5 - 11~~

[5] ~~Nov. 12 - 18~~
More hang-outs family and friends bumping a couple of nights late. Still can't really complain, but I'm almost out of buffer here.
[1] Nov. 19 - 25
[ ] Nov. 26 - 30

[ ] Finish cleaning office:

[x] ~~Sort last stack of items~~
[ ] File stack of papers
[ ] Find permanent places for anything I'm keeping
[ ] Give away the "give away" pile

[ ] Do edits on the E shorty story, whenever they come in.

Constant Goals:

[46] Write 1K words a day (for 52 weeks).

mrsmig · Nov 25, 2017

Heading into the final week of November, and of NaNo. Congratulations to everyone who's participated this year, whether you've won or not. I went in knowing I'd probably fall short (although I didn't imagine it would be quite so short), but I still got Book 5 in my series started, which is what I wanted to do. I'm giving myself a fresh goal of hitting 10k by the end of the month, and if I can do that I'll call it good.

I've also been quite slow on the reading front. I finished a P.D. James anthology this week, am currently working on another anthology, and maybe just need to read something light. I haven't read THE HUNGER GAMES nor seen the movie, so I'm thinking I might tackle that, just for grins. I think I'm just tapped out after doing so much intense reading for the past year. I'd still like to hit my Goodreads Challenge goal of 75 books before the end of the year, and I'm only three books short right now.

I'm sure I'll get out for my second nature walk before the month's out, so besides the NaNo fail, I'm fairly happy with my progress this month. Time to start thinking about next month's goals!

[ ] 1. NANO! Write 50k words on Book 5 of The Gemeta Stone - 6,391 of 50,000
[ ] 2. Read five books - 2 of 5
[ ] 3. Go for two nature walks - 1 of 2
[x] 4. Complete final pre-release promo push for Book 2 before Nov. 7th release
[x] 5. Nail down release date for Book 3 and start creating graphics
[x] 6. Write five guest blogs for Book 2 virtual book tour - 5 of 5
[ ] 7. Flog Book 2 through month of November - in progress

bdwilson · Nov 27, 2017

Getting close to the end of the month here.

[-] Finish NaNo project.

This are looking good here

[-] Get to bed on time more than 80% of the month:

[2] ~~Nov. 1 - 4~~

[6] ~~Nov. 5 - 11~~

[5] ~~Nov. 12 - 18~~
[7] ~~Nov. 19 - 25~~
Succeeded for a full week! I might actually hit this one, though it'll be close.
[ ] Nov. 26 - 30

[ ] Finish cleaning office:

[x] ~~Sort last stack of items~~
[ ] File stack of papers
[ ] Find permanent places for anything I'm keeping
[ ] Give away the "give away" pile

[-] Do edits on the E shorty story, whenever they come in.

In progress! Given the way my week is looking, this will probably carry over into the start of December.

Constant Goals:

[47] Write 1K words a day (for 52 weeks).

Damoclian · Nov 27, 2017

I'mma gonna go ahead and award myself the "Participant" badge early, because I totes participated... I just didn't succeed and am aware of my limits to the point where I know success is no longer within reach, and honestly, probably never will be again. I'm okay with this realisation, too. My quantity of writing numbers has gone down, but my quality of writing has never been better. I still have a ways to go before I conquer the world, though, so y'all are fine.

G'luck to all you's gais with chances remaining in your pockets, rock dem werdz like nobooday's bidness!

Dysnomia · Nov 28, 2017

Final check-in!

[X] ~~Finish reading And I Darken~~
[X] ~~Finish reading Flame in the Mist~~
[X] ~~Complete new beta reading ASAP!~~
[X] ~~Finish reading the two memoirs I found for research for my recently completed MS~~
[ ] Research, Research, Research!!

Not crossing off the last one because I slacked off on it this past week (the short story turned novelette and now turned novella distracted me...completion of it shall be next month's goal!). On the whole though, glad to see it's been more or less a successful month writing-related-wise

With two more days of the month, here's to hoping everyone gets most of their goals in!

mrsmig · Nov 30, 2017

Here we are with only hours to go before the end of NaNo and of November! Time to review our goals for the month and see how we did.

My big disappointment was not doing better with NaNo, even with my revised goal of 10k words. My planned morning of writing got blown out of the water by a last-minute audition, and I only have a couple of hours before I have to be somewhere this evening. I may get a few more words knocked out before midnight, but I think I'm still going to fall well short. I'm not beating myself up over it, though - I knew it was going to be a tough month, and I did at least get back in the habit of writing something every day, even if it was only a couple hundred words.

Never got out for my second nature walk, and barely made my reading goal. Halfway through that second anthology I lost steam, and gave myself a break from it by FINALLY reading The Hunger Games. Liked it so well that I blew through Catching Fire yesterday and will probably finish Mockingjay tonight before bed.

I crushed my promo goal for Book 2, although there's still another week before the end of the virtual blog tour. I'll get about a month to breathe before it starts all over again in January for the February release of Book 3. Writing and editing is a walk in the park compared to doing promo - it's right up down there with query letters as far as I'm concerned.

[ ] 1. NANO! Write 50k words on Book 5 of The Gemeta Stone - 7,646 of 50,000
[x] 2. Read five books - 5 of 5
[ ] 3. Go for two nature walks - 1 of 2
[x] 4. Complete final pre-release promo push for Book 2 before Nov. 7th release
[x] 5. Nail down release date for Book 3 and start creating graphics
[x] 6. Write five guest blogs for Book 2 virtual book tour - 5 of 5
[x] 7. Flog Book 2 through month of November - in progress

I'll see you guys in the December thread. Only one more month left in 2017! Where does the time go?

Tamlyn · Nov 30, 2017

I did my 50k. I did not finish the book, but damn, my month was busy. Between surgery recovery, packing, sorting, and cleaning for the interstate move, and NaNo, I'm really happy with how I went. The only part I'm disappointed with is not completed my book goal. The second book was Pride and Prejudice. I know I only read it a few months back, but this time it was actually for research as much as anything (since the NaNo book is a fae-influenced regency).

Time to sleep now. Possibly for a month...

1. Do NaNo. Yay!
2. Read three books. 2/3
3. Transcribe some. Progress!
4. 500 words or 2 pages edited per day. Yay!

bdwilson · Dec 1, 2017

Right, time to close this out!

[x] ~~Finish NaNo project.~~

[x] ~~Get to bed on time more than 80% of the month~~

[ ] Finish cleaning office:

[x] ~~Sort last stack of items~~
[ ] File stack of papers
[ ] Find permanent places for anything I'm keeping
[ ] Give away the "give away" pile

[-] Do edits on the E shorty story, whenever they come in.

Constant Goals:

[47] Write 1K words a day (for 52 weeks).

Okay, so not too bad. I wish I'd done more work on the office, but since it's mostly finishing off the stuff that's already out of the way, it just didn't feel like a pressing matter.
I'm more pleased with reaching the sleep goal. I think I can actually take that off my list now, since it's more maintaining the habit that hitting a particular goal :snoopy:

NovNoWriMo 2017 - NaNo or Not, Here We Come!

Lucid

'ello beastie

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

bdwilson

Dedicated Lurker

EMaree

a demon for tea

Tamlyn

fish skeleton

Dysnomia

Drowning in the depthless sea

Damoclian

Fragile Bunny

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Tamlyn

fish skeleton

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Velvet27

bdwilson

Dedicated Lurker

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

bdwilson

Dedicated Lurker

Damoclian

Fragile Bunny

Dysnomia

Drowning in the depthless sea

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Tamlyn

fish skeleton

bdwilson

Dedicated Lurker