Goals and Accountability: Where did NaNo Go?

I have a gorgeous calendar by my computer. Okay, that's misleading. It typically sit under my netbook and is more than many moons outdated. Anyway, it's open to November and has word counts penciled in on it, a relic from a year I almost didn't finish NaNoWriMo, and yes, before you say anything, I do need to clean my desk more often. I know that it is January and NaNo is long over, but let's face it, I'm not done. Sure, I, like you, hit my goal of fifty thousand words, and then some, but that doesn't mean I'm done. Fifty thousand is a good starting point, but for my emotionally-fragile family drama, but before I start shopping it out to agents, it really needs to put on about thirty thousand meaningful words. 

Let's have a moment of math, shall we? 

80,000 - 54,376 = 25,624 words to go. 

Time to get writing!

That's not so bad, really. If I hit they keyboard like it's November, I'm looking at another two weeks of writing. Six weeks of writing? No big. However, that's when the real work starts. The editing. 

Have you already hit the word count zone for the novel you're writing? Yes, there really are word count guidelines for different genres. Then you still need to be editing with the rest of us, and so it's time to set some goals.

It is not November. Try however I might, I can't make it be November now. I can't summon the collective energy of millions of writers struggling to hit their daily word counts, and I can't convince myself I'm racing against a friend's growing word count chart, especially when editing isn't as simply quantifiable as a word count. As a result, it is time to be honest about what kinds of measurable progress I can aim for. 

Word Count

Goal 1: 500 words a day. I'm not going to finish this as quickly as I started it, so the imaginary six weeks is right out. At 500 words a day I have another month and a half ahead of me, and that's manageable. 

Accountability tool: I'm replacing the outdated calendar with a new one to pencil in my word counts. If it's a number I can see with my eyes even when I' not touching a device, I'm far more apt to keep up with it. I keep it simple by updating word counts at bedtime so I don't have a string of numbers confusing me later.

Editing

Goal 1: Read through and correct all glaring errors. There's always a lot more to editing than correcting errors, but it's somewhere to start.

As I get back into the process of writing every day, I'll write about more of my little goals on the way to actually finishing my novel. With any luck, all of us will be finished before November rolls back around.

The Choice to Fail.

Sometimes we set goals and fail to reach them, then with defeated yet defiant fists raised heavenward, we curse our obstacles and vow to overcome them in the future.

This is not that time.

This time I have made a choice to fail at a goal I set for myself, because it is the right thing to do. You see, it is November, and I set out to pwn NaNoWriMo like I do every time I set out to start. I have never begun without finishing.

On November 21st, with over 20,000 words written and a good pace established in a story I love, I made the choice to stop.

Right?

I know.

At the same time, I made the commitment to spend the time my son needs me to spend, in order to help him transition from nursing to not nursing at all any more, with him.

It sounds like a small thing. A few extra hugs, a few extra kisses. It shouldn't be a big deal, but it turns out, it is. He wakes in a panic when I shift away from him in bed at night, he can not sleep unless I am beside him. While he grows ever more independent, he also demands more immediacy of my presence when he wants me. He worries that if I am not nursing him any more, that maybe more than just that aspect of our relationship is changing.

Of course, it is, and it scares us both, but I can not press reset and let us all go back to when he was a baby, and even if I could, the past is a lovely place to visit, but we don't really want to live there.

So I will not be reaching 50,000 words. I know, even now with only six days left, I could pull the nearly 30,000 words out of thin air and make this story come together if I really wanted to. If I was willing to prioritize my novel, I have that in me. But I don't want to. I don't want to snuggle up next to my boy and continuously be testing how deeply he is sleeping in the hopes that at any moment I can pull my arm away and go write. I do not want to be counting the seconds until I can sneak off to write. I want to enjoy the cuddles and be present for him. I want to be available when he needs me.

I have chosen to fail this time, and it's okay. Just this once, I will not finish NaNoWriMo. It really is okay, no, it's better than okay, it's good.

NaNoWriMo, Day 8

I have terrifying news.

It is the eighth day of National Novel Writing Month, and not only have I switched stories entirely (on the 3rd) I am egregiously behind on word count. I really should have over 12k by now, but my word count is languishing at just over 6k.  Did changing story lines hinder my chances of success this year? Is writing this blog post going to keep me from my goal? When all is said and done, this will be some three hundred words or so which could have better been applied to my epic fantasy novel, right?
Of course not. When three days in I had only managed to write a meager 287 words, I knew it was time to say goodbye to that particularly uninspired plot line. I may pick it up when time is not of the essence, but for now, I need something with more fire under it's proverbial posterior. Since then I have vastly improved my word counts daily, and I think this story may just have the momentum I need.
I think part of this momentum comes from my having an idea where I'm going. I can see who the characters are and why they are intertwined. I can see a destination towards which their combined fates seem to be charting a course. I can visualize a story and a backstory for each of them.
In short, I'm taking the easy route. I'm writing something that isn't going to surprise me much, rather than something more serious where every decision is as painstaking as a real world choice.
Sure, when writing epic fantasy I have to make myriad little decisions. How many moons, what's the weather like, any beasts that aren't part of our zoological schema here on Earth? But these are easier choices than whether or not my main character is a vegetarian and how that might affect her interactions with other people Is she computer savvy, or is she a bit of a ludite. Do these things matter? Yes. Everything matters in fiction, but it seems to me that serious fiction, set in the modern day, has more constraints because the author has to address all of the ways in which the characters do or do not fit into the world around the reader, a world on which the reader is somewhat of an expert, having lived their all his or her life.
"What reader? It's NaNoWriMo, I'm not showing this to anyone," you say. Well, good for you, but I can't get beyond the notion of writing as though someone, someday, just may read what I'm writing. Why do we tell stories if not to share them?  No, not every story needs to be shared. But if I were to write every story as though it never were going to be read by anyone at all, then I'd be wasting my time, and I'd be aware of it.
So yes, I'm behind, but I'm going to keep writing as though someone out there may eventually be looking, and I'm going to summon all my whimsy and complicated feelings in order to keep this story moving fast enough to catch up. By this weekend, I shall be ahead.

So say we all.

Letter Soup

Typically, November first means that my keyboard and I are going to get really cordial with one another. NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month, usually keep me pretty busy.

So, as I was logging on to the appropriate sites to register and chronicle the many hours I'd be spending staring down the white spaces on this flickering screen, I remembered something. I don't love Blogher (gasp, I know!) and so I'm not going to be doing NaBloPoMo this time around. This is a good thing, because it clears up time for me to work on costumes for TeslaCon, and by costumes, I entirely mean clothing I'll be actively looking for opportunities to wear in my every day life. You know, a ball gown to go to the grocery store, corset holster for carrying the mail.  It's going to be a lot of fun around here.

Now to get back to my NaNoWriMo project. It won't finish itself.

How are you keeping busy?

NaNo No Go?

So yes, I'm still doing NaNoWriMo, and today I worked up the real world people skills to go to my first NaNoWriMo write in.

It was great. I got my parents to babysit the JabberWalky and set out in the evening for an hour and a half of like minded writerly geekdom. Hosted at an indie local coffee shop, I got about 2k words down and advanced my plot substantially, all while supporting local business.

But here's the thing. I was the only NaNo-er in the building.  The ersatz organizers didn't even show. Sure, I know, these things are kind of informal, and yes, life happens, but it was a bit awkward looking around for anyone else who even knew what NaNoWriMo was and didn't actively have their homework in front of them.

Like I said though, it was great.  I probably got more done in that hour and a half than I would at home. There, I felt like some sort of real author, taking in a quiet nook of humanity and writing amidst the hipsters and the goths.

It was great.
While the write-in was pretty much a no go, I got a lot out of it and I'm glad I went.

So if you're nervous about going to that first write in, afraid you won't know anyone there, afraid you'll be the only one who shows, take it from me- it's okay to be the only one who shows. Who knows, maybe a private-public-write-in is just what your novel needed.

Word count: 37,219

Do You NaNo?

If you don't already know, it's National Novel Writing Month!
Worldwide, thousands upon thousands of ersatz authors and wordmavens are flexing their frontal lobes, and fingertips, in a full on writing whilrwind- 50,000 (or more) words, in just 30 days.  Of course, we're four days in, but that doesn't mean it's too late to start.  The second year I participated, I didn't start until ten days from the finish, and I still managed to win, so if you haven't already signed up, now would be a great time to do so.

It's a fun thing for the whole family to do.  This year, our household is going multi-generational.  My parents are both giving it a go, and even the tween is getting involved with the Young Writers Program.  That's a great way to NaNo for anyone under 17, because it allows them to set their own word limit. In her case, she's aiming for 10,000 words this month.

So far, I'm way behind with my word count, but that's okay.  If you want to follow what I'm up to, add me as a buddy, I'm Fentonslee.  Don't get too excited about my profile though, my synopsis is a bit silly right now, since I'm not entirely sure where this story is going as of yet.  It reads:
"girl has adventure. things go wrong. it gets interesting. shenanigans and near misses ensue. she gets over foolish things and grows as a person.  or maybe not. you never know."

So hop on in, and join in the fun. Create a little. Write like nobody's reading.  I dare you.

NaNoWriMo - Full In.

I did NaNoWriMo in 2006 and 2007.  In 2007 I didn't start until after November 20th, and still managed somehow to finish.  Then in 2008 something happened. The economy soured, we couldn't afford to stay in our home anymore, and we moved in with my husband's mother.

It turns out, she's not a big fan of watching people sit a computer if it isn't "work" related.  She kind of has this notion that if you're not outside of the home with a typical job, then you're not doing anything worthwhile.  So I said "this year, I think I'll skip NaNo." Besides, I argued, my computer had died shortly before moving and it was all just too complicated. I was pregnant and depressed, and it was easy not to do it.

A year later, 2009, I was busily nursing a baby, changing diapers, and dealing with life coming far too fast for me to handle. Good reason to skip it, right?

2010. Baby is walking. Baby is talking. Baby is hard to keep up with. Delightful new computer, but still, not a good year for me.

2011. This is it. I do it this year or forget that I used to write. So I'm going all in.  This is me, doing NaNo this year.  These fingers learned to type so that they can write, and write I'm going to do.  Sure we're sort-of moving that month, but no more excuses.

Want to join me? Sign up at NaNoWriMo for a thirty day whirlwind of writing and fun starting November 1st, and GET WRITING.

If I were to NaNo

I love NaNoWriMo. I've done it two years and found both experiences extremely rewarding.  I don't feel I can do it this year for a lot of reasons, including toddlers needing time with mommy more than they need mommy to write a story.  This year it's more like NaNoNoMo. So, in brief, if I were going to be writing a story for NaNoWriMo this year, it'd be best summed up as the following-

Time traveling single mom takes on the powers that be to restore the broken time line which killed her spouse, only to realize that though she and her kidlets  got the bad guys, saved daddy, and the timeline, that her family really was okay on their own.

Why?  Because A. I like time travel.  I just do. And yes, it would be totally steampunk-tastic. B. I think there are few motivators more powerful than love, and that when someone is lost, we'd all change space and time to get them back. However, C. Sometimes the person you become in fighting to get back what you lost leaves you changed enough that if you do get it back, sometimes it isn't what you need anymore.

So yeah, that's what I'd write. Anyone else want to write it for me? I'd love reading it too.

Are you going to NaNo? What are you writing about?

EEK! It's Nano Time!

November has rolled around and here I am trying, to decide just which of my plot ideas I want to see turned into a full 50k word amateurpiece.
That's write, it's time for National Novel Writing Month.
You can learn more about it at NaNoWriMo.org

I am going to set up another blog for the writing of my NaNoNovel, since I'll be writing it mostly from my phone and I need a decent way to save my content.

So, stop on by and sign on up. I've done it in two weeks, so missing the first day won't kill you.

50k words in 30 days. You can do it.

Of this I am certain. This will be my third foray into NaNoWriMo, and I hope to be able to keep my word count up, even with the tiny tiny crackberry keyboard. So come on and join in. All the {insert group you are easily swayed by here} kids are doing it.

Besides, being able to say "I've written a novel" just feels good. You just might surprise yourself.