NaNoWriMo - anyone up for it?

[Drybird2020]

Would anyone like to join me here for a NaNoWriMo support and encouragement thread? I have just finished my first novel and am submitting it to agents in batches. I think a month focused on something different would do me a lot of good!
I have had a nose around the NaNoWriMo website and am about to start working through the preparation tasks- a bit late according to the official timetable but I already have an idea, rough plot, and characters.
Going to need plenty of ☕🍪🍰 to help it along.
Anyone else having a go?

Nice to see people making progress and a range of speeds and styles described. I should break the 10,000 word mark today, despite having a horribly busy week at work last week. I've always been a night owl and making a start at 10.30 and writing until I get tired seems to be working, but the quality of what I have written is questionable. I do then dream about my characters some nights. As this is my first attempt, I just want to try and write something which could very, very loosely be described as a book. I'll worry about editing (or throwing it away and starting something else from scratch) once it's done.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

Aargh, poor you. Keep them safe, you never know when they might come in handy. Hopefully the replacement words will come out faster to make up.

I got to 9000 by Thursday evening but I have been immobile with childbirth-level fibroid pain for most of the last two days. I can sit up now though so might be able to start catching up today.

That sounds awful.

How's everyone doing?

I've managed to write every day this month, averaging 1,100 words a day according to my NaNo stats. Much less than needed to be on track for 50,000 by the end of the month, but it's a really positive development for me to do some writing every day so I am trying to be pleased about that.

It's fun to just bash something out. Every time I'm tempted to fall down a research sink-hole I just make a note and carry on. And I'm writing a split time narrative, defying advice by flitting between the two, but it helps me to keep moving.

I was just wondering the same thing!

I haven't managed to write every day and my word count is paltry atm, but I have breathed new life into a project that looked really promising earlier in the year and then stalled massively and disappointingly.

I really resisted rewriting in the first person because I thought it would be limiting (and, if I'm honest, baulked at the scale of the task) but neither could I "just get it written" in the third because I obviously knew at some level I was basically drowning it at birth.

So now I've embraced that necessity I'm at least writing again, which is good.

I'm experiencing massive resistance though, which is really unlike me. I find myself killing hours on stupid stuff and then wondering why I don't have an optimal amount of time left for writing. What's that about? Does anyone have any tips? I gave up alcohol and chocolate earlier in the year, so maybe I just don't have sufficient self-discipline left for anything else worthy, lol.

I'm struggling with motivation, too, @Misprit. It's ridiculous because I really want to do it yet cannot get off my arse.

I've had my kids off school sick this week too, which doesn't help. If I don't write very early in the morning it has to be last thing at night, which creates quality issues. 🤨

I am doing some every day just not an awful lot!

I'm finding it a right slog and really having to sit down and write. I'm aiming for 2000 a day but it's not flowing well.
Last year I found it easy. Oh well!

I'm glad it's not just me! I'm persevering but spent today accompanying someone to A&E, so I must say I'm starting to feel my project is a bit cursed.

Tomorrow is a new day, a clean slate, a fresh page. (And breathe.)

I love your name btw @MargaretThursday.

Anyone still writing?

For me it's become all about writing every day, however little. I haven't engaged with any NaNo activities other than this thread, but I do refer to my stats and its encouraging to see my word count creeping up little by little.

For those who have won the month in previous years, how did you feel about the quality of what you wrote? Was it as good as if you'd gone at a slower pace? I find that on the days I do write more, there's quote a lot of guff in there.

I'm still writing, but it's been very bitty. I aim for 2k a day, but it hasn't all been on one project, which isn't what I normally do. But I've been struggling to get my head round one thing.

For those who have won the month in previous years, how did you feel about the quality of what you wrote? Was it as good as if you'd gone at a slower pace? I find that on the days I do write more, there's quote a lot of guff in there.

Good question.
I think I do actually write best when I have an idea and just write. I'm not sure the quality is worse, but maybe that says more about my standard quality than the lack of it with NaNo
I do have times when I'm struggling for what to write and it feels very like filler words. Sometimes when I've been critiqued then those bits that I thought were boring fillers people like, and sometimes there's important information in it.

What I do do, is if I have a bit that I want to change, I add (for the time being) the new bit and don't delete the old bit, which feels a little cheaty, but still counts.

Greetings, I've just joined Mumsnet especially to comment on this thread, give and take moral support, and motivation.

I'm 25,000 words into my draft (5,000 of which were written yesterday while my kids were at their grandparents' house), which is a good feeling.

This self-imposed deadline is a great idea for someone, like me, who needs to do a "word vomit" (ugh but what better phrase?) draft. Looking forward to reading the rest of the thread later.

Good luck, everyone!

It sounds like you're all doing really well! I've bowed out for now. I had a great first week getting about 15,000 words done, then went back to rewriting a part of my 2nd novel, got about the same amount of words done on that which got me to the finish line (again). I've gone back to editing the 2nd novel since then. Still, I feel like I've made a decent start with the 3rd one and look forward to getting back to it, so even if I won't get another word written on this month it wasn't a wasted effort - but then I don't believe writing ever is, even if you end up not using any of what you wrote it's still good practise.

Keep it up everybody, I'll keep checking this thread, it's great to read about your progress!

Word vomit 🤮🤮!! But yes, that's exactly what I've been doing, @cloudmessenger. Welcome and well done on 25,000 words. I wish my kids had been at granny's today - maybe I'd have got there too. I'm short of time but enjoying myself when I do get to write.

@Coucou2021 that's a very productive time you've been having, and I doubt that trying to bash out a first draft of a new novel would have been as valuable or satisfying.

Thank you @Coucou2021 It doesn't sound like any of your writing time this month was wasted - not only the start of novel no.3 but also a rewrite and edit of no.2! You're going great guns. Hope your pink streak lasts.

Many thanks @Drybird2020 Sorry to hear you didn't get all the time you'd have liked this weekend, but it's good that you're enjoying it when you do get down to it. May the new week bring you more time. I suppose lots of elements have to come together to feel like, and be able to, sprint through a draft over 30 consecutive days.

This, from @Misprit is great advice, and so timely. I reached 30,000 late last night, so feel 'caught up'. Now I need to slow down imagine one of my main characters' key scenes.

"My advice is to spend a lot of time with your characters in your head. This can be hard to allow yourself time for because it doesn't feel like "writing" so much as daydreaming, but it's equally vital work, especially in the early stages imo. If you have any kind of sense of your plot, think about how your characters might act/react in a scene from that plot. (If not, just work randomly with a workplace or domestic scenario that might be relevant.) See it in your head like it's something you're watching on TV; hear the lines they say; observe the body language; think about whether - as a viewer - you believe in them, and if not why not; why are they saying and doing the things they are; what might it mean or lead to, etc. If it doesn't ring true, rework it in your head until it does.

When I get stuck on characters, I spend an hour or so before I sleep at night going through that kind of process, and then try to write what I saw the next day. If you do that every evening, you can get a lot written each day and after a while your project will start to take on a life of its own. Those scenes can always be abandoned or reworked later if the plot or characters seem to require it, but they can be a good way of getting to know your characters and asking yourself questions about their motivations. It can also stave off the sense of feeling blocked that quickly sets in if you want to be writing but don't seem to be able to."

What a great board this is. Wish I'd known sooner!

Glad someone is enjoying my approach to writing! I've stalled unfortunately - not on account of the writing, which was going fine, but because of non-writing commitments that can't be ignored. I wish I could borrow a granny to take everything off my hands!

I will get back to it, and when I do I'll post floridly on the thread so as to inspire anyone else who's completely hit a wall for reasons of their own.

Well done those of you who are staying the course and grinding a book out.

Very useful it was, too @Misprit

Today the grind ground to a halt - I think I broke my writing bone over the weekend. Hey ho. Onwards with characterisation.

Anyone else still going, or is everyone’s life getting in the way, as it is wont to do?

Some encouragement: imagine how awesome it will feel to have IRO a 50,000-word draft at the end of the month, when Christmas takes over!

My life is definitely getting in the way. I'm grinding my way to the 25,000 mark and it's hard going.

I have not helped matters by trying to teach myself how to use Scrivener, which has been a detour.

I have friends who swear by Scrivener, but haven’t investigated. I’ve found that having the comment function on Pages for Mac is enough for me to keep track.

Perhaps your learning time will pay dividends @Drybird2020 ? Congrats on 25k words whoop whoop!
I’ve slowed at 32,000, and been pulled onto another MS…argh. Will right the course manyana.

Oh dear. The thread seems dead! Hope I didn't kill it, but that it was wintery fatigue whodunnit.

I haven't ground to a complete halt, but my daily word count is now in the hundreds. Having a flu jab seems to have drained my energies a bit.

Anyone got a second wind they'd care to share??

Still here. Scraped past 25k, so more than halfway. I had no idea what was realistic and no particular expectations so I'm feeling quite pleased.

I'm leaving Scrivener until December and then I will input everything I've written so far . I write in chunks and put it into lots of word documents so I think they will be quite easy to transfer over.

It has been a good focus to take my mind off my poor little manuscript which I submitted but so far has received only rejections.

Hi Cloudmessenger.

I have had worsening health problems so I made a strategic decision to switch to the project I was planning for December, which is a competition with a December 31st deadline. I had been intending to do NaNo on my own stuff then spend December entering the competition, but it looks like I might lose a good chunk of December to worsening symptoms/operation so if I am going to have any chance of hitting the deadline I need to get it done now while I still can.
The competition needs 10-20k words plus full synopsis and I have done the synopsis and am 11.5k in. It’s going really well and performing the vital job of distracting me from pain which is so what I need right now.
The thing is it might only be 20k but it will need to be polished rather than NaNo level so I will need all the time possible to rewrite. It’s historical so it is taking a fair bit of research along the way. So I am working very hard and being reasonably productive.

The hard bit is going to be doing a second draft when I haven’t had time to put it in a drawer and forget about it for a month- maybe a general anaesthetic will serve the same function

It sounds like there is a lot of very healthy productivity on this thread even from people who aren’t aiming for the full 50k.

I have done 50k but it doesn't really feel an achievement this year as it's been such a slog, and didn't really do what I set out to do. Oh well!

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel I'm so sorry about the health problems. I hope that writing has offered an escape. The competition sounds inspiring!

@MargaretThursday well done!! Even if it's not quite what you hoped for, you've written 50k words and that's impressive.

Good on you @drybird2020 doing more creative work while the business side takes care of itself. Who knows - your manuscript might be winning someone over right now…

Oh my @TheCountessofFitzdotterelcountessoffitz
I’m sorry to hear about your health problems. Health first, everything else second. I hope that you cover some ground before your op, that you feel reborn after it, and that you can at least think about your writing while you can’t actually put bum in chair and write. Everything crossed for you! You sound frighteningly productive, in a good way. More power to your elbow.

Wow well done @MargaretThursday !!!! Plans schmans. You hit the target and now get to do the fun bit. Wish I was in that position right now.

@MargaretThursday

I have done 50k but it doesn't really feel an achievement this year as it's been such a slog, and didn't really do what I set out to do. Oh well!

Congratulations MargaretThursday!

It is a huge achievement no matter how it feels. (Possibly you have a slight post adrenaline low after finishing and once you are back to normal you will feel rightly proud of what you have done.)
Keeping going through the slog builds the groundwork for the easy bits that come at other times imo.