Last time I did NaNoWriMo, back in '08, I got to eight thousand words and change by the middle of the month and threw in the towel. It just wasn't working, and constantly failing to find the groove was stressing me out horribly. In '09 I was working on wrapping A Hidden Magic and skipped NaNo to focus on that, and in '10 I was... I don't even know, working on something else again. Or maybe I was just afraid of another crash-and-burn?
This year it's awesome. Even the first year -- '06, the only time I've tried and actually won -- didn't go this well. Someone passing by me in a crowd obviously whacked my writing throttle with their elbow somewhere in late October, and it's been open ever since. :) As of midnight last night, I'd done over 36,000 words on my NaNo project (Book 3 of the Sentinel series -- Hidden Magic is Book 1) which is 11,000 words over par to hit 50,000 by the end of the month. On top of that, I've written almost 6000 words on Book 2, which I also want to finish this month; it's currently just a few hundred words short of 80K. That's about 42,000 words all together, in fifteen days. O_O
I know I keep saying this, but I wish I could do this all the time. I've slown down a little in the last few days -- I'm hitting a part of Book 3 where I had only a vague idea of what was going to happen when I started -- but I'm still doing well and I have plenty of margin. I'd pretty much have to get hit by a bus tomorrow to not make my 50K by the end of the 30th. (Of course, I've probably just jinxed myself -- I'll have to make sure I stay home tomorrow, LOL!)
Anyway, the writing's going great and hopefully it'll stay throttled up. I hope things are going well for everyone else, too! [crossed fingers]
Angie
4 comments:
I suspect Nano would end up decreasing my output, hard as that is to imagine. I just don't think I could write under those circumstances. I've got a routine that's too well established.
Charles -- that makes sense. I know a lot of writers who've never done NaNo, and that's actually one of the better reasons.
In my case, I really don't have a routine that always works. Sometimes NaNo gives me enough of a shot of confidence and excitement to trigger a high, which is like catching a big wave -- you can't live there, but it's awesome while it lasts.
I guess my basic strategy is to take advantage of whatever comes by, and sometimes NaNo can help.
Angie
Keep that throttle open, girl!! We'll have a quart of milk waiting for you at the finish line.
Suzan -- thanks hon! :D I slowed down to do some housekeeping, making sure my time lines lined up between the two books, since they're happening at the same time and the guys talk to each other from one book to the other occasionally, but yesterday I was back up at around 3500 words, so looks like I haven't lost it yet. [crossed fingers]
By the time I'm done, the milk will definitely be welcome, hee!
Angie
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