NanoWriMo 2009 - Page 2

jaxx6166 · 10-21-2009, 11:03 PM

So, Steve..Are you in or out? Doug is stepping up to the plate and I'm holding MoeJoe to his trilogy in a month

Jeff - if you're still around why don't you kick in too? Aand..Shawn (If he even still browses)

Come on. Let's have a heavyweight competition

I think if we can get the "pros" to write with the "non pros" during Nano, it may be a pleasant surprise. And a little bit of fun.

Filark · 10-22-2009, 08:49 PM

and I say again:

!!

I am thinking of trying this NaNoWriMo thing--been reading about it and jotting ideas for a few days now. My mother (bless her little soul) sent me an article about it saying "wouldn't this be fun??!!"

I immediately wrote back telling her, with very specific excuses, "No way!" (Lol!! Here I am worrying about punctuation in this post--what makes me think I . . . nevermind . . .

)

It stuck. The thought stuck. The gosh-darned thing crept into my brain and latched on.

I will be attempting to write 50,000 words in something vaguely resembling novel form during the month of November.

Fi

P.S. I have approximately 3 billion books on how to write, several binders with notes and handy labels (characters, places, research) untouched for years, a dusty degree in Literature and nothing to show for my ambitions except a few pieces written under classroom deadlines.

P.P.S. My husband keeps reminding me that Raymond Chandler didn't start writing until he was in his mid-fifties.

wyldkit · 10-22-2009, 09:47 PM

I'm in. I have a couple of friends who have done this in recent years, and I thought they were crazy.

I think I can handle the writing; it's the story ideas that always fail me.

jaxx6166 · 10-22-2009, 09:56 PM

Wydkat and Fi,

Congrats on your decision to participate. It's really one of those things that you just kind of have to do. You need to silence your inner editor and tell them to go away on vacation for a month. :-)

Once you can get over the fear you'll be okay.

wyldkit · 10-22-2009, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaxx6166

Wydkat and Fi,

Congrats on your decision to participate. It's really one of those things that you just kind of have to do. You need to silence your inner editor and tell them to go away on vacation for a month. :-)

Once you can get over the fear you'll be okay.

Thanks! My inner editor tends to work overtime, so perhaps she'll be grateful for the vacation.

pking36330 · 10-22-2009, 10:52 PM

As a NaNoWriMo Winner in 2007, I can tell you that you NEED to do this at least once (and then, as they say on the bottle, Rinse, Lather, and Repeat).

If you've opened this thread and read about NaNoWriMo, that means something in you wants...no NEEDS to write during this year's event.

Sign up now. NOW!

Its free and no one will pressure you to do anything you don't want to do, but you will find a ton of support and the deadline lends some urgency to drafting that idea you've been harboring for years.

Go download yWriter5 (free) from Simon Hayne's site and spend October outlining your Great American Novel (or insert your country/state/city). Outlining is acceptable, but no writing before midnight 31 October (what else were you going to do on that Halloween candy sugar rush anyway?). It only takes 1667 words a day to meet the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 during the month of November.

I promise it will teach you something about yourself. It will give you a new appreciation for the craft, talent, and raw determination professional novelists must deliver to create the marvelous novels we all enjoy. It may show you that you have a need and hunger to spend more time writing. It may point out that you need to let go of editing more often and spend much more time being creative without having to constantly edit.

So go to NaNoWriMo right now and write now!

(Hmmm...this entry is about 250 words, or about one-sixth of my daily allotment. I wonder if I can recall what I wrote here and work it into my storyline?)

dadioflex · 10-23-2009, 10:54 AM

Edit.

pking36330 · 10-23-2009, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dadioflex

But once November hits I'm going to block out a proper plot. Tried writing without one last year and it was dire...

You know the 'rules' let you work the plot and outline now, right? Just can't write any content that will be included in the word count.

AgentBEATS · 10-24-2009, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaxx6166

Wydkat and Fi,

Congrats on your decision to participate. It's really one of those things that you just kind of have to do. You need to silence your inner editor and tell them to go away on vacation for a month. :-)

Once you can get over the fear you'll be okay.

I've always had a problem with this. I can never stopping from editing my work, even while writing it. Although this has never hindered my writing process, at least from my point of view. I guess it could slow it down a bit, but I've also never had a problem with writing, at least once I start writing.

I also can't help thinking that when I edit my work during writing, I get some of my best ideas out of it. This has always stopped me from being able to "silence [my] inner editor."

Anyways, the closer it gets the more worried I get, but I think I'll just have fun with it. Finally get to write something for fun rather than the many essays for class I've been writing lately.

Filark · 10-24-2009, 08:54 PM

Thanks everybody! Nice to know we are not alone.

I am feeling less anxious about participating in nanowrimo, and more anxious to get going!!

I came up with something (more than an idea, less than an outline) I think I will have fun with, hope you all can say the same.

Dadio, get that outline going!! As pking says, putting the plot on paper in advance is encouraged!! Besides, it sounds like a good one!! :P

Good luck everyone, see you on the boards (both here and there)!

Cheers!
Fi

dmon65 · 10-24-2009, 11:51 PM

Ok, I have a real question.

I have ideas that have been fermenting for years. Slightly more than general ideas, for a few stories, but I'm an IT guy. No formal training in writing. I write, read and fix code in short concise lines for machines to decipher. Not longer form for the relaxation of the others.

I love a good story, Steven Erikson has me completely consumed at the moment, but know the grammar issues would be monumental in anything done by someone (me) with no training.

I figure something that recreates the time-crunch/deadlines I work with might be the way for me to finally put at least one of these ideas down somewhere. Would this even be worth the try for someone with absolutely no formal training, or would this just be an exorcise in frustration and humiliation? Honestly.

montsnmags · 10-25-2009, 02:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmon65

Ok, I have a real question.

I have ideas that have been fermenting for years. Slightly more than general ideas, for a few stories, but I'm an IT guy. No formal training in writing. I write, read and fix code in short concise lines for machines to decipher. Not longer form for the relaxation of the others.

I love a good story, Steven Erikson has me completely consumed at the moment, but know the grammar issues would be monumental in anything done by someone (me) with no training.

I figure something that recreates the time-crunch/deadlines I work with might be the way for me to finally put at least one of these ideas down somewhere. Would this even be worth the try for someone with absolutely no formal training, or would this just be an exorcise in frustration and humiliation? Honestly.

Umm...dmon65, are you...are you...me?

I have signed up for NaNoWriMo this year...I don't know if I'll complete it. I know the sense of wanting to write, and not doing it because I want everything to be perfect, is stopping me from even starting. I also know that NaNoWriMo's approach of "Just write. You don't have to publish. You don't have to show anyone. It doesn't matter if it's complete crap. JUST WRITE! Get something on "paper"!" means that I can just do it, with the only pressure being the number of words every day.

I know I am going to write crap. There's even a chance I'll bury the result so deep, technically and mentally, that you won't be able to find it with a sophisticated turd-detector or a turn-it-up-to-11-MRI. I'm okay with that. I've lost nothing by trying, and gained a lot by it - broken through that first, real writer's block that stops you even starting.

I'm a 39yo, ex-IT, never-written-anything-before absurdist with delusions that he wants to be a writer when he grows up. I'll admire you for starting, if you admire me for it. That'll surely poke any self-humiliation in the eye with a sharp pen (well, okay, sharpened-edge-of-keyboard). Let's not write the next great novel. Let's try write our own firsts, and be happy that we'd tried (and maybe even completed!).

Cheers,
Marc

nomesque · 10-25-2009, 04:54 AM

W000t!!! Marc & dmon, go for it! Just sitting down and writing is the first step to working out whether you really want to do it fulltime - and it's the first step every writer HAS to take...

Wanna see my first 'sit down and write' attempt? I groaned when I dug it up, which hopefully means I've improved

http://whatbunintheoven.blogspot.com/ (read from the bottom up)

Producing crud at first doesn't mean you'll always produce crud... takes work for most people to learn to express themselves via writing.

Good luck!

vivaldirules · 10-25-2009, 11:20 AM

(doggie tries hard to quietly sit in the corner and keep his furiously wagging tail from distracting the participants)

jaxx6166 · 10-25-2009, 09:03 PM

There you go! Cheers to everyone!! The deadline's getting close. Are your plots ready? :-)
Dmon and Monts:

I know you can do it! I'll give you karma cookies if you do.

10-22-2009, 10:52 PM	#21
pking36330 FT Parent PT Reader Posts: 322 Karma: 187838 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: South Alabama Device: Shocked by how much I've read on an iPod Touch received as a gift!	As a NaNoWriMo Winner in 2007, I can tell you that you NEED to do this at least once (and then, as they say on the bottle, Rinse, Lather, and Repeat). If you've opened this thread and read about NaNoWriMo, that means something in you wants...no NEEDS to write during this year's event. Sign up now. NOW! Its free and no one will pressure you to do anything you don't want to do, but you will find a ton of support and the deadline lends some urgency to drafting that idea you've been harboring for years. Go download yWriter5 (free) from Simon Hayne's site and spend October outlining your Great American Novel (or insert your country/state/city). Outlining is acceptable, but no writing before midnight 31 October (what else were you going to do on that Halloween candy sugar rush anyway?). It only takes 1667 words a day to meet the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 during the month of November. I promise it will teach you something about yourself. It will give you a new appreciation for the craft, talent, and raw determination professional novelists must deliver to create the marvelous novels we all enjoy. It may show you that you have a need and hunger to spend more time writing. It may point out that you need to let go of editing more often and spend much more time being creative without having to constantly edit. So go to NaNoWriMo right now and write now! (Hmmm...this entry is about 250 words, or about one-sixth of my daily allotment. I wonder if I can recall what I wrote here and work it into my storyline?) Last edited by pking36330; 10-22-2009 at 10:56 PM.

10-23-2009, 10:54 AM	#22
dadioflex Dyslexic Count Posts: 526 Karma: 5041991 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Palm TX, Advent Vega, iPad, iPod Touch, Kindle	Edit. Last edited by dadioflex; 12-15-2010 at 06:49 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
NaNoWriMo 2010	jaxx6166	Writers' Corner	115	12-04-2010 07:12 PM
Armistice Walker and the Golden Orb (Nanowrimo)	pshrynk	Writers' Corner	41	11-30-2009 08:41 PM
Novel-planning workbooks from Nanowrimo (free PDF)	ficbot	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	0	10-21-2009 01:04 AM
Anyone participating in NaNoWriMo this year?	khourianya	Lounge	31	11-14-2008 10:49 AM
NaNoWriMo - Kindle formatting special	kindleformatting	Amazon Kindle	0	10-30-2008 02:14 AM

10-21-2009, 11:03 PM	#16
jaxx6166 Wizard Posts: 1,222 Karma: 769316 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Eternal summer Device: 350, iPad, PW	So, Steve..Are you in or out? Doug is stepping up to the plate and I'm holding MoeJoe to his trilogy in a month Jeff - if you're still around why don't you kick in too? Aand..Shawn (If he even still browses) Come on. Let's have a heavyweight competition I think if we can get the "pros" to write with the "non pros" during Nano, it may be a pleasant surprise. And a little bit of fun.

10-22-2009, 08:49 PM	#17
Filark Armed with a smile :) Posts: 1,421 Karma: 2463560 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: California, USA Device: enTourage eDGe & Pocket eDGe, Samsung Galaxy Note II	and I say again: !! I am thinking of trying this NaNoWriMo thing--been reading about it and jotting ideas for a few days now. My mother (bless her little soul) sent me an article about it saying "wouldn't this be fun??!!" I immediately wrote back telling her, with very specific excuses, "No way!" (Lol!! Here I am worrying about punctuation in this post--what makes me think I . . . nevermind . . . ) It stuck. The thought stuck. The gosh-darned thing crept into my brain and latched on. I will be attempting to write 50,000 words in something vaguely resembling novel form during the month of November. Fi P.S. I have approximately 3 billion books on how to write, several binders with notes and handy labels (characters, places, research) untouched for years, a dusty degree in Literature and nothing to show for my ambitions except a few pieces written under classroom deadlines. P.P.S. My husband keeps reminding me that Raymond Chandler didn't start writing until he was in his mid-fifties.

10-22-2009, 09:47 PM	#18
wyldkit Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 2162 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Sony PRS-500 (until I have enough Sony Rewards points for the PRS-300)	I'm in. I have a couple of friends who have done this in recent years, and I thought they were crazy. I think I can handle the writing; it's the story ideas that always fail me.

10-22-2009, 09:56 PM	#19
jaxx6166 Wizard Posts: 1,222 Karma: 769316 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Eternal summer Device: 350, iPad, PW	Wydkat and Fi, Congrats on your decision to participate. It's really one of those things that you just kind of have to do. You need to silence your inner editor and tell them to go away on vacation for a month. :-) Once you can get over the fear you'll be okay.

10-24-2009, 08:54 PM	#25
Filark Armed with a smile :) Posts: 1,421 Karma: 2463560 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: California, USA Device: enTourage eDGe & Pocket eDGe, Samsung Galaxy Note II	Thanks everybody! Nice to know we are not alone. I am feeling less anxious about participating in nanowrimo, and more anxious to get going!! I came up with something (more than an idea, less than an outline) I think I will have fun with, hope you all can say the same. Dadio, get that outline going!! As pking says, putting the plot on paper in advance is encouraged!! Besides, it sounds like a good one!! :P Good luck everyone, see you on the boards (both here and there)! Cheers! Fi

10-24-2009, 11:51 PM	#26
dmon65 Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 562 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Outer suburbs of St Louis Device: SmartQ7, a 1st gen Nook and a Kobo Glo and Aura H2O	Ok, I have a real question. I have ideas that have been fermenting for years. Slightly more than general ideas, for a few stories, but I'm an IT guy. No formal training in writing. I write, read and fix code in short concise lines for machines to decipher. Not longer form for the relaxation of the others. I love a good story, Steven Erikson has me completely consumed at the moment, but know the grammar issues would be monumental in anything done by someone (me) with no training. I figure something that recreates the time-crunch/deadlines I work with might be the way for me to finally put at least one of these ideas down somewhere. Would this even be worth the try for someone with absolutely no formal training, or would this just be an exorcise in frustration and humiliation? Honestly.

10-25-2009, 04:54 AM	#28
nomesque Snooty Bestselling Author Posts: 1,485 Karma: 1000000 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ipswich, QLD, Australia Device: PRS-650	W000t!!! Marc & dmon, go for it! Just sitting down and writing is the first step to working out whether you really want to do it fulltime - and it's the first step every writer HAS to take... Wanna see my first 'sit down and write' attempt? I groaned when I dug it up, which hopefully means I've improved http://whatbunintheoven.blogspot.com/ (read from the bottom up) Producing crud at first doesn't mean you'll always produce crud... takes work for most people to learn to express themselves via writing. Good luck!

10-25-2009, 11:20 AM	#29
vivaldirules When's Doughnut Day? Posts: 10,059 Karma: 13675475 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Houston, TX, US Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad	(doggie tries hard to quietly sit in the corner and keep his furiously wagging tail from distracting the participants)

10-25-2009, 09:03 PM	#30
jaxx6166 Wizard Posts: 1,222 Karma: 769316 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Eternal summer Device: 350, iPad, PW	There you go! Cheers to everyone!! The deadline's getting close. Are your plots ready? :-) Dmon and Monts: I know you can do it! I'll give you karma cookies if you do.