Some of you might already know (from one of my recent Hashtag posts) that I have decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this time around.
What is it? It is an annual event during which writers challenge themselves to write 50,000 words in the month of November.
Fifty thousand.
FIFTY.
THOUSAND.
In 30 days.
I have never heard of this until last year. I was only about 5 months into blogging when suddenly my Reader became covered with NaNoWriMo posts. Everyone was writing a novel. Back then it was too late for me to start, so I figured I would attempt it the following year.
My plan was to spend the entire year on coming up with an idea, drafting, planning, etc. By the time November rolled around, I would be prepared and ready to write my first book, which would turn into a bestseller. Of course.
Once November 2017 ended, and related posts stopped appearing in my Reader, I forgot about NaNoWriMo. Until October of this year. Mid October to be precise. At that time, I found out that there is something called Preptober, which is meant to serve as hardcore prep to November. NOW you tell me? After finding out that some people spent a whole month outlining every character and every scene for their future book, I felt slightly intimidated and disadvantaged.
Was I too late again?
Would I have to wait until next year to do it properly?
After a brief pity party, I decided to go for it anyway. To do NaNoWriMo. I had a chapter, or so already written (years ago), and I could use that to help me jump start the challenge. So I went home and turned it upside down, looking for that manuscript.
I never found it.
What a start…
But then, I said to myself: “If not now, then, when?”
When most people were celebrating Halloween, I was excited for November 1st – the start of NaNoWriMo.
If I want you to know something about me is that I welcome challenges.
Unlike some more experienced writers, I did not prepare for this challenge. I did not take a month off my full-time job. I did not create a bible containing everything about my upcoming book. I did not create a “kit” for my writing times. I did not re-arrange my house to make it more writing friendly. I did not ask my family, or friends to completely write me off for the next month.
It is a bit intimidating and scary, knowing that I signed up for such a steep challenge. Maybe not stretching ahead of time was a bad idea. Now that I think about it, it probably was. However, if I want you to know something else about me is that once I commit to something, I go for it.
The first of November was spent on me frantically putting words down. It took quite a bit of time to hit the daily average, but I did it. That totally empowered me. If I could do it the first day, I could do it for another day. And then hopefully for the next 28 days as well.
There is no telling how this month will end. Whether I will hit the 50k mark, or not. But what I do know is that I will try my hardest to write at least 1,667 words a day until the end of the month. Having to work full-time on top of this, AND having some sort of a life unrelated to the two, I realized that I might have to sacrifice a thing, or two. While I do not want to abandon my blog for all of November, I might have to accept that time will not allow me to be as active as I would like.
What does that mean? I am not sure. I would like to continue with my 2/week posts + Hashtag week at the end of the month, but I cannot predict how I will feel when it is time to post. Also, because writing that novel takes a lot of time, I might not be as involved on your blogs as I would like to be. I would like you to know that is just temporary. Once December rolls over, I will be back full speed ahead.
This does not mean that I will lock myself out of WP. Maybe I will be able to keep it all up irregardless. I just wanted to write this post, so that you knew what was going on, and maybe inspire YOU to part-take in NaNoWriMo. If not this year, then maybe the next.
To those participating – Good luck! May the inspiration be with you.
To those who do not participate – If you see someone feverishly writing, leave them alone. You might be interrupting a best seller in the works. If you see someone blankly staring at their screen, maybe try chatting them up. Maybe you will end up inspiring the next best seller.
Stay golden,
***
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Good luck Goldie. Keep your nose to the grindstone!!!
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Thanks. That’s the plan!!!
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Get after it. Girl?
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I see what you did there.
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You caught me.
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Good luck! See you in December 😉 x
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Thanks!
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Massive challenge! Good luck and hopefully you’ll post some of it here for us to see!
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It is indeed!
I just might. Who knows.
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Go for it!
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Thanks for the encouragement!
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I thought it was going to be about Nanaimo bars. Imagine my disappointment
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I’ve never heard those. But thanks! Now I crave those.
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You’re welcome. I can keep ‘bad influence’ on my resume a little longer
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Good luck 👍👍👍
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Thanks!
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Aaah, I’ve seen this popping up and I wondered what it was! Good luck!! Can’t wait to hear how you get on!
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Last year it felt so strange seeing something that everyone seemed to know about, but I didn’t know what it was. I felt excluded from the secret club. To prevent others from feeling that way, I decided to come out with it right away.
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Thanks for sharing it, it sounds like a very interesting challenge to take on! I don’t think it’s something I could do, but I hope it goes well 🙂
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It surely is. And I thought the same – “I don’t think I could do that”, but then I realized that I would never find out if I hadn’t tried. I know it’s not for everyone, but so far, I am enjoying it.
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That’s very true – if you don’t try, you don’t know! Good for you for taking it on 🙂
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Good luck. I put my name down for the first time too…as nano rebel aka non fiction, its day 4 and i just havent written a word.
Wish you luck at your first nanowrimo
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I have actually considered writing non-fiction, too, but in the end, I decided against it. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I need more time to develop the other idea in my head?
My first days went great. However, I realized that what I wrote so far has been in my head for a while. NOW comes the real challenge – coming up with completely new (aka never thought of) material.
Good luck to you.
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🌹thank you. I still have to start to write, been so busy.. hopefully i can do some writing
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You can do it!
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All the best! I’ve been learning from so many folks getting ready in October and getting excited for all those participating. I look forward to hearing all about your experience. Good luck!
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There was so much going on in October. I read through some of these post the past couple of days and I cannot but marvel at all that prep people have done.
Thank you. I’m really enjoying the experience so far.
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Things are not progressing well for me at Nano. I have a (sort of) framework. I have hit the day #1 requirement at day 5 (or is it 6?). I have written more words about doing Nano than words ACTUALLY doing Nano.
Is 20,000 words a day a realistic goal? Because I am hoping for a big finish – a 2 day sprint leading into December 1
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My framework says: “Write at least 1667 words a day.” That’s it. All I’ve got.
It’s funny, because my NaNo post turned out longer than I expected. I thought I wouldn’t have the time to blog, but it seems like reading, or writing blogs is on top of my “want to do” things. It’s a great excuse for not writing actual NaNo.
Someone told me that they knew of someone who wrote 50k in 24h. Do I believe it? Not really, but then again, who knows. Maybe they had EVERYTHING planned out, and all they had to do was sit there and type/ dictate. So I guess 20k/ day seems manageable compared to that.
Good luck! I hope I don’t burn out before the middle of the race.
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And good luck to you. I have not written a word in the last 48 hours …. but maybe tonight
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How did it go? I’m really procrastinating today.
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About the same … the gap is widening
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Yesterday I said I would get my act together the next day. Now that it’s “the next day”…
May the force be with us both.
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Yay you!
Last year I knew a number of people doing it. Writing nearly 2000 words a day isn’t what daunts me, it’s writing a novel that does (hey, maybe I’ll find out the challenge for next year, see if it’s only fictional).
Good luck! You’ve got this….. even if you don’t publish the end result you’ll have something well worth it that will be an awesome beginning.
Happy Monday!
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I can definitely understand. Just the other day I was lamenting that I was running out of ideas, but then I started writing, and I met the daily goal. It made me realize that writing is not THAT hard, but putting it all in a cohesive novel… with start, middle and finish…
Have a great week!
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oh yeah. Writing isn’t hard, it’s more getting down to it.
Good luck with putting it together! Although if you read the last paragraphs and just let your pen dictate what’s next…
I always wonder what would be better – a novel that’s thought out, or one that is just written.
Love and light
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That’s a great question to ponder. I think both have been successful.
Have a great rest of the week
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Heck yes for Nanowrimo!
I completely understand working full time and not having the opportunity to take time off to write. I’m in the same boat. There were lots of late nights and loose planning.
I have attempted many times in the past and not finished successfully. This year I made sure to meet up with local writers from the Nanowrimo regional page and we did some plotting exercises. The plot skeleton, save the cat, and the bridge outline method are three simple exercise I’d recommend if you need to figure out where your story is going and the main events/motivations to help get you there!
I wish you all the success in your writing endeavors, whether inside Nanowrimo, or elsewhere.
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Thank you so much.
I’m totally pantsing it, but realized that if I was to do it again, I would do Preptober (and research if April camp would be useful, too).
I think I need to dedicate a day to plotting. Your pointers are of great help.
Good luck to you as well!
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ME TOO! I started putting words on my processor yesterday. Tuesdays and Fridays are my writing days…rest of my week goes into playing with my settings and characters and such. I’m Subversive 1. Good Luck! I’m anxious to read what you’re writing!
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That’s awesome to hear. Sounds like you have it all figured out. I’ve been just writing every day since day 1, but I think I need a day to plan things out.
Best of luck!
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Reblogged this on IdeasBecomeWords and commented:
This sounds so like me 🤗💫
Great post.
Great site.
I’m quiet coz I’m typing for NaNo!
(PS.. my wordcount to date is
10,000 this month…
Which added to my WIP brings
the total to 42,000 😱🥂
This first draft thing
could actually happen!!!!
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Thank you for reblogging.
CongratZ on your progress thus far! Well done. Keep on going.
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Thank you .. I’m excited that I’m over half way to a 70,000 word manuscript 💫
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And you should be. That’s awesome.
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Fabulous post .. I’ve re blogged 🥂x
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Awesome. Thank you. Good luck with NaNo!
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Wow! Good luck!❤
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Thank you!
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Do you really know folks who take time off from their jobs to NaNo prep? What commitment! I’m stealing seconds from days to get anything done. 🙂
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Yes, I think at least 2 bloggers have admitted to me to taking time (a week) off in November for NaNo.
I wonder if taking time off would motivate me, or actually make me lazier.
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Wow! That’s total commitment!
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Totally!
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Go for it!!!!!
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Thanks for the encouragement!!!!!
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Wow! 50,000 is a lot of words! Good luck. Can’t wait to see what you come up with! 🙂
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It sure is!
Thanks you for your encouragement.
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This is my first time doing NaNoWriMo, too! I just hit the 10,000 word mark and am admittedly not super close to the target word count per day, but I’m going to keep going and treat every writing day as a new day. I didn’t do a ton of prep work last month, but I’ve been developing my current novel over the past two years so that kinda made up for it. The best of luck to you with your novel and NaNoWriMo journey!
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I never thought I would get to 10k in such a short amount of time, so I think that’s a great achievement. 25k is my next goal.
The fact that you’ve been deveoping it for so long will definitely help.
Like my blog’s tag line says: “One day at a time”.
Best of luck!
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Thank you! And I love the tag line 🙂
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I know exactly what you mean about feeling behind for NaNoWriMo, and I promised myself for the past three years that NEXT year would be the one. I finally started my novel, and I’ve been posting it on my blog to keep myself accountable. Still didn’t stop me from getting about 6 days behind. Sigh! Let us know how November goes. Good luck to you!
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CongratZ to you for starting, and coming up with an accountability plan. Smart.
We still have 18 days to go. Anything can happen…
Good luck to you as well!
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Thank you! And I see you stopped by my blog. That means a lot, thanks so much 🙂
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My pleasure.
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Good luck. I only started yesterday, I doubt I’ll write fifty thousand words by the end of this month, but I want to get at least twenty chapters written.
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I think that not reaching 50k at the end isn’t a failure. It’s totally appropriate to modify it to your own needs and goals. Good luck! It’s better to start late than never.
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The secret to writing is to write, some people are unable to prepare some people are unable to avoid preparation but at the end of the day, just write and things will be alright.
ECHO ECHO
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You definitely aren’t wrong about that.
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