NaNoWrimo days 8 and 9

[acdntlpoet]

Saturday was pretty much a failure all around for me. Wordstock was essentially just a book fair with some authors reading passages from their books. Neither is my cup of tea since I find I am rather annoyed by author readings (there is a reason they are writers, not orators) and shopping for books is only fun for me when I am looking for something particular. Jean brought home a stack of tomes, so she made out well and the day wasn’t a total loss for her.
Back at home, a quick nap turned into a lost afternoon into evening, and the drive to do –anything- had completely vanished. Two dvds later and we called it a night.

Sunday was off to a slow start as well. I sat down around noon to get some writing done and found that some system maintenance had to be done, requiring a reboot. So I addressed those issues before digging into my word doc (so as not to interrupt my work flow for a system restart). Three hours later and I was just opening my draft doc to start writing. Nothing like system maintenance to steal hours from your life.

Luckily I was able to pull out just over 3500 words again within about three hours time, making up for the loss of my Saturday in terms of pure word count and bringing the grand total thus far to 14,886. This puts me just slightly behind track for 50k words by Nov. 30th, which I should be able to recover if I up my daily count to 2k per day instead of the 1600 I have been shooting for. This will also take care of the travel at the end of the month where I doubt any writing will take place at all.

On the actual story side, things are starting to come together and are finding a bit more clarity. I’m starting to see the characters in a bit more dimension and they are pushing the story forward as a result. It seems to be working its way into a techno thriller, but I think it is way too early to really make that call and define the genre. I feel a sense of excitement as well as a sense of fear moving forward. I want to figure out how the story plays itself out, but I’m also wondering how I can pull off another 35,000 words by the end of November. I’m not sure the story has that much in it. I have a feeling towards the end of this little project, I will be going back into what I have written here at the beginning and build out some scenes even further to make the 50k goal.

Comments

[seabird78.livejournal.com]

I'm am continually impressed with your ability to crank so many words in such a short amount of time. I struggle with that kind of volume myself, largely because a lot of my work right now is expanding and revising existing material. At this point I have kind of ruled out my objective of adding 50K additional words to my manuscript, but if I keep reading your updates, I may be able to find the inspiration I need to at least get my total overall word count to that number.

I'm rooting for you as you up your daily word count, and gain even greater insights into your characters and plot!

[acdntlpoet.livejournal.com]

in my defense, I fully expect to throw out at least half of what I am writing. :) My ability to crank out the word count is only testament to my stubbornness and ability to turn off my internal editor for the most part. I still catch myself over thinking a sentence or so, but when I do, I just write what I thought and move on, knowing full well that what I just put down was crap. It is VERY stream of consciousness right now, but I think there is enough structure there to work with later.
That said, I also know that the more I write, the more content I will have to work with when editing. I can deal with too much, but dealing with not enough sucks.
I think what you are doing right now is excellent, given that you are working with an existing piece. You have a harder job than I do right now in the respect that I am building from the ground up and defining as I go, while you are working within an existing structure and need to stay within it. I have no doubt that the closer I get to 50k, the harder it will be to keep the pace of my word counts up.

And thanks for rooting for me. Its nice to have a small group of compatriots who are also working in the same vein, if not directly with the NaNo challenge. Without people like you, and Talekyn, and theJamez, (as well as all the other friends who are watching and pushing me but not writing or editing their own works) I'd have quit already. Or at least resigned myself to not attaining 50k.

[siobhan-genie.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem with Wordstock was that there were workshops, but you had to sign up for them ahead of time. We probably had to plan more in order for you to get more out of it. Although I probably would have done more damage to the wallet if we'd stayed longer :)

[acdntlpoet.livejournal.com]

The problem isn't Wordstock, it is me. I don't want to pay the $80 some odd dollars for a single workshop at this point. Not worth it to me, so all that left was a book fair. I'm not sure what I expected, so the problem is all on my end.

[liadan-giolla-b.livejournal.com]

Wow, you really like to beat yourself up, doncha? Give yourself a break, already.

Liadan

[acdntlpoet.livejournal.com]

Like to? I wouldn't say that... adept at it? yep, I'll agree there ;)
I assume you are referring to my Saturday failures, as my Sunday work seemed to be quite positive. Or, at least that's how I read my posts above.

I do tend to give myself a break, as I understand that 1500-2k words a day is no small feat. And I am indeed happy to see the story coming together. But I do have low self esteem, so it can be difficult for me to be 100 percent positive, that just wouldn't be fair and balanced or true to me, since that isn't what I am.

All that said, I appreciate your sentiment. I had to take pause and not reply immediately, because I would have knee-jerked a negative reply. I wanted to be sure I took what you said to heart and rolled it around a bit. You can be assured it will be in my mind for a while to come as well, as you gave me something to chew on there.

[liadan-giolla-b.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I was too flip. I see you doing so well and accomplishing what I would like to do but haven't the guts to try yet. (I never start anything unless I know I will be a perfect success. Consequently, I do very little for fear of failure.)

I am very proud of you for doing this and doing it well. When you have an off day and beat on yourself, I just want to shake you and say, NO, YOU ARE GREAT!. YOU ARE COUREGOUS.

I think you will make your goal, but so what if you don't? Look how much you have accomplished just by trying. You've written thousands of words, you discovered how to push on despite difficulties, you've met your characters and learning to understand their language. That's BIG.

You've also discovered so much about yourself.

I don't want you to feel now that you can't complain, kevetch, or be distressed by doubt. That's part of the process too. You should feel free to express yourself here and not be worried about boring this audience or upsetting them. You should write what you want without regard to this audience. I worry now that I've inhibited you. I hope that's not the case.

I'm really your cheerleader. I am so proud of you.

Liadan

[acdntlpoet.livejournal.com]

Fear not. I rarely write here for my 'audience'. I write to an audience, and at times about them, but I rarely worry about boring you all. I figure if any of you were bored, you just wouldn't read. And that's fine by mean. Journaling on LJ is an odd balance of public and private writing... but I leave these posts world viewable because I have the small hope that working through the process may help someone else figure out their process or desire. I put it out there and let it stand on its own for people, like you, to stumble upon. Don't worry, you've not inhibited me. What you've done is give me pause to take a look more deeply at what I've accomplished.

(I never start anything unless I know I will be a perfect success. Consequently, I do very little for fear of failure.)

That is the exact sentiment that kept me from writing for the past 10+ years, even though I have had formal training and the desire to do so. NaNoWriMo is SO over the top crazy I figured what the hell. The whole point of it is to write, and that's what I wanted to do; even if my driving desire isn't to produce a fiction novel. I had finally had enough of wanting to do something like this, and I got just the push I needed to dive headlong into it. I wouldn't have done this if I'd actually -thought- about it. Far too daunting.

I didn't have it in me to try either. That is, until I just turned off my brain and gave it a go. You will note that I started this whole thing KNOWING I would fail. As I've pushed forward, I have found that perhaps 50k in 30 day is -actually- doable. The further I get, the greater confidence I have. But I also would have quit earlier on if I didn't have such a great set of friends pushing me like you have. I feel a sense of obligation to give it my all after letting so many people know about this little project.

If you take anything from all this, I hope it is the realization that you have given me things to think about, and that in turn I have done the same for you. Perhaps you may be inspired soon to start your own writing as well...