Posted on December 15, 2014
NaNo, GWYO, 2015-oh!
So, I stopped making updates about my NaNo progress last month, and that’s mostly because my progress stopped, too.*whomp whomp*
I ended up with a bit over 15,000 words written on my story, and while I’m bummed I didn’t either hit the 50K goal or finish the novel, there’s a lot I took from the attempt. Mainly, I rediscovered how incredibly good I feel when I’m writing. I’ve always felt that when I’m not writing, it pulls me down into my depression, but it can be hard to “prove” that kind of correlation. Having felt the way I did last month, though? I know that writing makes me happy, and that it’s something I’m meant to be doing with my life.
Unfortunately, NaNo is by design a one-month thing. The rest of the year it’s up to each writer to find some motivation to keep it going. This year, I’m going to do that by going back to a group–which, full-disclosure, I helped to start and ran for five years–that focuses on writing the whole year. I’ve signed up with Get Your Words Out (GYWO), pledging to write 75K in 2015.
That pledge level is actually a new one this year, meant for those with chronic conditions that make meeting one of the normal, higher pledges difficult (such as, for me, my depression and my fibromyalgia). For most writers, the lowest level is a 150K pledge, and you can pledge as high as 500K! If you are a writer who is looking for a group to help motivate and encourage your writing all year long, definitely give GYWO a look!
GetYourWordsOut: Year Seven!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net
Posted on November 6, 2014
NaNoWriMo Update
As we come to about the end of the first week of this year’s NaNoWriMo, I find myself not quiiiite where I wanted to be.
If writing the daily minimum of 1667 words, here’s where I should be.
I missed writing on the 4th and 5th, so while I was at the appropriate minimum of 5,001 words after the 3rd, I was behind today. And while in the grand scheme of the 30-day challenge that isn’t such a big deal, I have a mini-goal of getting to 16,000 words by 11/9 so that I can earn myself a birthday massage. Making up about 3,000 words over 20-some days is easy. Doing it in 6 days–plus an extra thousand–not so easy!
Today I went out with a goal of writing 2,000 words, and I’m very happy to say that I hit over 2,500! So I’m now at 7,540. Still behind, but making up ground. And tomorrow I’m planning a 3,000-word day with Alli. If I manage that, I’ll be at 10,500, and then only about a day of writing behind. Suddenly it looks pretty doable! I mean, okay, it’ll require a couple more big days, but I will have definitely earned my massage, then. ;)
Also, if you’re curious, here is the cover for my novel, with a work-in-progress title:
Thanks very much to Pucks and Pixels for letting me use their image in my cover!
I’ll update again after this weekend to share how I made out! Or, if the suspense is killing you, in my right sidebar here there’s a widget that shows the latest word count I’ve updated on the NaNoWriMo site. :)
Updated on November 6, 2014
NaNoWriMo 2014 (Srsly, Tho)
I have been a sketchy National Novel Writing Month participant since 2006. I won in 2007 & 2008, but since I’ve never really even had a decent attempt. But this year, I’m getting SERIOUS about writing 50,000 words in 30 days again!
I might as well, right? Still hunting for a job, which means I have a lot of free time that I can use for getting myself serious about writing again. Also, with my luck, committing to this challenge will ensure that I get a job that starts in November, leaving me without any of that time anymore. Win-Win!
What am I going to write about this year? Do I have a plan, or am I pantsing*?
I don’t know. I have a bit of an idea. I have a bigger concept: gay hockey players. (Fun fact: I can accurately determine how each of you reading this has known me or come to find my blog by the amount of surprise you have to that sentence.) I have some general characters, I even have one character’s name. But I don’t know how well all of these things are going to combine to make a novel. I’m trying not to worry about that too much, even if it makes me anxious. Hey, maybe this will help me get back to taking my anti-depressant like I’m supposed to. Win-Win-Win!
I’m going to (try to) keep this blog updated through the month, talking about how things are going, maybe sharing some excerpts, possibly crying and whining about how much writing sucks.
If you’re writing this month, too, let me know! Maybe we can be writing buddies on the site–heck, if you’re in the area, maybe we can be writing buddies in a coffee shop. If you’re not writing but you think NaNoWriMo is an awesome idea and want to support it continuing into the future forever, you can make a donation.
No matter what, I hope you will encourage me! I’ll appreciate it!
*Writing by the seat of my pants, no plan, no direction. Not removing people’s pants. Unless they want me to. I’m open to it.