I'm about about 13,000 words. Should be more like 20,000. I'm disappointed that I probably won't make the 50k mark by the end of the month, but shooting for 1,600 words a day is enabling me to write 1,000 words or more most days and if I can train myself to do that regularly I will be very happy.
I'm not sure I have the constitution for Nano. Spilling words with no thought, even in a 1st draft, makes me anxious. I want to feel like I have some idea about what I'm writing. And while I'm not editing, I do go back and add and make changes. But making an existing sentence or scene better is too satisfying to turn away from...even if it means I'm falling behind schedule.
Don't get me wrong. My 10k words are still part of a big, messy draft with lots of notes to self and unfinished thoughts and scenes and huge questions unanswered (like I'm not sure how old my MC is). And I'm still trying to keep my mind more focused on going forward rather than tidying up. But it's hard! I'm really starting to like my characters and this story and have hopes for its publication.
Writers, if you're doing Nano, what's your challenge? Or what's your challenge on a first draft?
5 comments:
I go back and add to make my scenes better as well. I sort of clean as I go, but for the most part I write in hopes that I will have a workable first draft to turn into something readable.
Don't worry about not making it to the 50K mark. Just know you did your best and wrote almost if not every day.
I'm kind of using nanowrimo as inspiration to revise my manuscript in a month. I need all of the motivation I can get b/c it's a story I wrote two years ago and i feel very far away from the story. plus, I HATE REVISING I much prefer the messy first draft. As a non-fiction writer, I feel like I Know when the revisions are done because the information is all on the page, but with fiction, Yikes, it's hard to know when to stop.
Good luck to you.
lori
I love the idea of NaNoWriMo, for the way it encourages brainstorming and completion without the usual self-constraints.
BUT, I've concluded that my method isn't conducive to that approach. I'm perpetually revising as I go, thinking and re-thinking each character and plot point. The end result is a very solid first draft--which saves me a lot of time and aggravation come the editing stage.
I always struggle, initially, with determining POV. I'm doing better with my latest, though--only threw out a dozen or so pages before deciding, as opposed to some 75 last time!
i have the same contribution as everyone else im afraid, in fact i have been writing with a pen and paper instead of a computer because when i do that the first thing i do when i do when i boot up is to re-read last nights pages and despair, self-hate, groan etc.
I have to be marginally happy with where is it going it least, and how it looks before i allow myself to move on.
but i do agree that its working wonders for my discipline.
im hoping that i will be a more disciplined person when this is over
I just stopped by to say I really enjoyed reading Orange Mint & Honey. The mother and daughter relationship touched me and I look forward to reading other books by you.
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