I think I'm going to spend THIS Nano editing previous Nanos...because my writing muse has gone on indefinite vacay and I need to be productive. So that's what I'm planning on doing and maybe NEXT year I'll be able to write again. <3333
I must admit, I'm fascinated by NaNo! I'm also wildly curious. :) I've got some questions, if you don't mind my asking. How do you make the time for NaNo? What are some techniques for making certain you start your novel and finish within this time frame?
Those are great questions, Kari. I think the best way to answer them, is to try NaNo. It's one of those learn-by-doing things. :)
That said, here's what I find works for me:
The key is to keep up with the daily words. If you take 50,000 and divide it by 30 (which is the number of days in November), you get 1,667. That's about 4 pages double-spaced type. I set a timer on my phone for 30 minutes, turn off my wifi and turn by back on any clocks (and sometimes, if I'm really gerbil-brained, I'll turn the clock display off on my computer. Then I write.
The trick is to let the story come out in whatever form it does - and that includes bad grammar, side-trips and detours. The editing process starts December 1. The inner critic is our worst enemy, and NaNo teaches us to write a rough draft - even a bad rough draft.
If you're interested, look me up on the www.nanowrimo.org site; my username is a.catherine.noon. There's a bunch of support for first-timers, and I'm happy to mentor anybody that needs it. If you're near Chicago,
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Thank you very much for all your answers, Catherine! (Do I call you Catherine? ) I'm sorry it's taken me so long to thank you, but I've had some troubles with my LJ account. I'm really sorry I couldn't go to any of your Chicago events, since I would have loved to have met you in person, but I really appreciate the support you've offered everyone involved in National Novel Writing Month over the internet. Thank you very much for taking the time to help us all along!
Hi, Kari! You're very welcome. We still have events in Chicago, if you're around; I'll be at the Geek Bar this Sunday and there's a ton of other stuff going on. I won't be at Geek Bar at the write-in on the 29th, but our TGIO party is 12/5 at Geek Bar and should be a ton of fun. (Plus, their food is scrumptious.)
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That said, here's what I find works for me:
The key is to keep up with the daily words. If you take 50,000 and divide it by 30 (which is the number of days in November), you get 1,667. That's about 4 pages double-spaced type. I set a timer on my phone for 30 minutes, turn off my wifi and turn by back on any clocks (and sometimes, if I'm really gerbil-brained, I'll turn the clock display off on my computer. Then I write.
The trick is to let the story come out in whatever form it does - and that includes bad grammar, side-trips and detours. The editing process starts December 1. The inner critic is our worst enemy, and NaNo teaches us to write a rough draft - even a bad rough draft.
If you're interested, look me up on the www.nanowrimo.org site; my username is a.catherine.noon. There's a bunch of support for first-timers, and I'm happy to mentor anybody that needs it. If you're near Chicago, ( ... )
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How is your writing going?
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