About those 50,000 words…(@NaNoWriMo)
You might remember I put my hand up to participate in National Novel Writing Month, where the goal was to write 50,000 words during November.
I thought it would be a great opportunity to churn out a few words for Rephaim #3. I didn’t think 50,000 was realistic for me, so I set out to hopefully manage 25,000 – 30,000, which would’ve really kicked my working draft along.
So…how did I do?
I surprised myself. I didn’t hit 50,000 words but I managed to get down 42,800 or so. So now I have more than 60,000 words in my first draft, and I’m rapt. Book 3 has a lot going on – lots of reveals and plot twists, all to set up for the big finale of Book 4. So getting a rough draft on the page has been top of my list of priorities. Once I have that, I can then pull it apart, play with it and then polish up the writing. And now I’m 42,000 words closer.
Thanks to NaNoWriMo – and the support of my NaNo writing buddies Mia K Rose and Nomes – I’m much further progressed than I thought I’d be at this point. And I’m quietly happy with how the plot developments and story arcs are coming together. LOTS of tweaking to do, and more to write, but I just love having something to work with.
The great thing about having a month dedicated to writing – that you publicly commit to – is that you actually do it. You tell family and friends, you prioritise around it. And you have fun. I really enjoyed the process. Some days the words came easier than others, but I never forced it. At the end of the day, the target was nowhere near as important as getting it right. No point writing 50,000 words I’d just have to re-write because I rushed. But the story started to flow, and that’s a beautiful feeling. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m still pretty chuffed to have passed 40,000 words too).
Thanks particularly to Mia – and our 5,000 word weekend challenges. Mia hit her target – flew past it actually. It definitely helped having writing buddies to chat with about progress, frustrations, small victories.
So, if you’re a writer looking for an excuse to lose yourself in words for a whole month, I recommend NaNoWriMo next year. I’ll be back (working on Rephaim #4!).
50,000 words in a month – are you joking? (Musings about #NaNo)
You’ve possibly heard there’s a little thing happening around the world in November called National Novel Writing Month (referred to in Twitterverse as #NaNoWriMo or just #NaNo).
It’s when writers commit to pumping out 50,000 words in a month. They join up, find buddies, write their butts off and encourage each other. (Here’s the website: http://www.nanowrimo.org) It’s all about getting writers motivated to find time to do what they love: write.
Last year, I joined in the inaugural Queensland Writers’ Centre Rabbit Hole weekend (where the challenge is 30,000 words in three days), which really helped kick along the first draft of Haze (Rephaim #2). I got down 15,000 words and was pretty happy with that. In the last week, I’ve started to really hit my stride with Rephaim #3 and all the chatter online about NaNo got me thinking it could be just the thing to motivate me to get a huge chunk of the first rough draft done.
I mused about this Twitter, thinking 50,000 words was probably unrealistic – for me anyway, if I wanted them to meaningful in the context of my plot and character arcs. And then the lovely Mia, blogger at Mia K Rose, called me on it and pointed out that I didn’t have to write 50,000 words, just as many as I could in the month. It was a fair call.
I should probably point out that edits are progressing nicely with Haze and I have a window of time where I can focus on Rephaim #3 (I finally have a working title I like, I’m just not quite ready to share yet in case I change my mind) so the idea getting down even 25,000 words in a month is hugely appealing.
I’m not saying those 25,000 words will be spun gold, but they’ll help me see if the plot is working and give me time to play with characters and scenes. Like many writers, I find the most satisfying part of writing is actually re-writing, so the sooner I get that first rough draft down, the sooner the “real” work can begin.
So, I’ve signed up, got my buddies (Mia, and the wonderful Nomes from Inkcrush) and already had a couple of productive days. My pace will slow as work for the day job demands – my business partner Heather is a huge supporter of my writing, but I’m sure she’ll still be happy to hear I’ll fit in our projects as well. 🙂 But it will be interesting to see how much I can achieve in a month now I’ve made myself publicly accountable.
There have been some great blogs giving advice on how to get the most out of NaNo, one my favourites being from Charmaine Clancy (My Zombie Dog) over at Wagging Tales (although I’ve sort of broke rule #7 by writing this post…).
Right then. Time to get to the day job, so I can then get back to Gaby and Rafa and boost that word count.
To all my fellow NaNo writers: may the muse be with you!
