# NaNoWriMo and you



## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

So the time is coming up fast and so I thought I'd ask: Are you doing NaNo this year? Done it before? If you're not sure what it is, you can go here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

I'm planning on participating this year. Been gathering notes and thoughts about a story I've had kicking around for about ten years now. Now it's go time.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

I did it last year... I wrote my story in 16 days. I'm hoping to take part again this year, but I don't know. It depends when I start and finish the next novel, and if I get the research for the novel I want to write done.


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2010)

Nanowrimo is a great event. I was still writing my series and had already planned on writing through the month anyway, so I was sort of tangentially doing it. Probably the same thing will happen this year. Everyone should get involved!


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## kcmay (Jul 14, 2010)

I expect to be "done" with Venom by then (last-minute edits aside) and definitely plan to get most (or all) of the first draft of the next story written during NaNoWriMo. It may be cheating, but I've already written about half of it.  (it was a few years ago, so I might want to scrap it and start over)


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## tedboone (Sep 15, 2010)

Done NaNo for the past five years.  I've served as the municipal liaison for my home town for the last two years.  This year will be no different.

NaNo is great for generating a first-pass manuscript.  Now I just need to learn how to edit...


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

I've never done it.  November is just a terrible month for me to go rogue.  Everyone is ordering last minute Christmas rubber stamps so they can make their Christmas cards... the stores are ordering too... then Thanksgiving and no school... nope, just doesn't work for me.

But good luck to everyone else who tries it!

Vicki


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

I like NaNoWriMo, but their rules make it hard for me to really use it to be productive.  (I.e. it's restricted to rough drafts during the month of November.)  So during November, I usually do what I call "NaNoWrongMo" -  more or less the same thing, but suited to whatever I need to work on during that month, and whatever my schedule allows.

(I also treat my blog as an ongoing novel dare - but the goals and intensity fluxuate.  I must, however, report every single day of the year.)

Camille


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

I tried it and had the worse case of writer's block I ever had in my life. I'm usually good for fifteen to twenty thousand words a month, and I don't think I managed a single page of text that November. 

I took that as a sign...


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## 16205 (Jun 8, 2010)

I participated last year and wrote Dréoteth during it.  Got my free proof copy from CS and went on to publish. It was a great learning tool for me to get from point A to point B.

I won't be doing it again this year because I'm already working on a project and it'll take too much time away from that MS.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

I once read something from someone who proposed an unofficial addendum to the rules:  If you have a book you started last year, or something in-process, you work on that instead.  It's not technically "winning" NaNo, but he made the very good point that it doesn't do us any good to have a bunch of half-finished manuscripts sitting around.

In various years that I haven't participated, I still used the momentum from Nano (and the 2-4 who usually do it) to get stuff done.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I always do it so I can't wait for November.  I credit Nano with teaching me how to actually finish a WIP and to stop editing as I write.  I don't think I would have ever let myself write a rough first draft without it.  Not sure what I'm going to do this year but maybe I'll get cracking on a sequel if I don't come up with anything else.


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

I've never done it before. I used to work for an expo show that ran in November, so I was up to my eyeballs with work. When I stopped that, I almost always had publishing deadlines to meet.

This year . . . neither. I'm seriously tempted to do it.


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## WilliamEsmont (May 3, 2010)

I made it about halfway through last year but life got in the way. I did, however manage to get enough of a novel (for me the first 25K words or so) done in that time and I picked it up this spring and finished it. Now it just has to be revised & edited


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

I tried it two years ago, got about a week into it and bailed.  Could that be because I was just winging it  Naaawww.

Meanwhile, my critique group buddy wrote a draft for a whole freaking book.   

This time I have a better idea for a story.  May actually scribble down some plot ideas and do research beforehand.  But it won't be historical fiction - too much detailed research and checking facts required to throw down a high daily word count.  Most likely it'll be contemporary.  I'm looking forward to the switch.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

AnnetteL said:


> I've never done it before. I used to work for an expo show that ran in November, so I was up to my eyeballs with work. When I stopped that, I almost always had publishing deadlines to meet.
> 
> This year . . . neither. I'm seriously tempted to do it.


I kinda feel that it's like jury duty--if you don't have a good enough reason not to, you probably should 

Seriously, though, one good part of it is that you know other people are doing the exact same thing you are.


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## Thea J (Jul 7, 2010)

Since I'm the municipal liaison for my town, yes, I'll be doing it. I love NaNoWriMo, but I'm busier than ever these days, so I'm wondering if I'll make it this time.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Thea J said:


> Since I'm the municipal liaison for my town, yes, I'll be doing it. I love NaNoWriMo, but I'm busier than ever these days, so I'm wondering if I'll make it this time.


A friend of mine has been ML for like 8 years. I'm glad that she's taking a more backseat, co-ML role this year around.


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

I did it last year for the first time, and I'm looking forward to doing it again this year.  It helped me learn to write a first draft that isn't perfect, just to bang out 50,000 words in a month.


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## D.A. Boulter (Jun 11, 2010)

I tried it once, but like D. Nathan, it killed my output.  I, also, took that as a sign.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

I'm really tempted to do it this year. Unless October brings a surprise, I'll actually have a project-less month in November, and I have several ideas brewing in my head. Who knows, by then maybe I'll have settled on one...


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Thumper said:


> I'm really tempted to do it this year. Unless October brings a surprise, I'll actually have a project-less month in November, and I have several ideas brewing in my head. Who knows, by then maybe I'll have settled on one...


That's why I brought it up now. It's about six weeks away, so if people were interested (and especially if they've never heard about it), there's plenty of time to start planning, outlining (or not, you know how that goes) and suchlike.


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## Cate Rowan (Jun 11, 2010)

I plan to do it this year. I "won" in 2005, but that was the last time I was able to participate. Not sure what I'll write yet... I may invoke the Zokutou Clause. (Original linky has vanished from the Intarwebz, but see here and here.)

Either way, I'm definitely going to do some story planning beforehand, unlike last time...


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

I've never done it before. Last year it was over when I found out about it. So I'm thinking of doing it if what ever I'm working on is over. I see heard they give you a free Createspace proof? Is that true? I hope they let you edit it before you print it.

I just found a group already planing events in my area. Signed up for there forum and guess what. The very next day when I try to log in, the forum doesn't recognize my password. Typical, and a bad start to nano...

Cool thing is one the write in events there planning is a train ride from here to Seattle and back. Kinda cool assuming I can afford it.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Sharlow said:


> I've never done it before. Last year it was over when I found out about it. So I'm thinking of doing it if what ever I'm working on is over. I see heard they give you a free Createspace proof? Is that true? I hope they let you edit it before you print it.


I know at some point they had some sort of arrangement worked out with Createspace for the free proof that you're talking about, but I've never looked into the details of it. I think some of the others here have, so I'll let them chat you up about that. Have you checked the Nano site for any news about it?


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## Thea J (Jul 7, 2010)

Every winner, that means every registered NaNo who manages to write 50,000 words by the end of November, gets a free proof copy from Createspace. It's a sweet little perk for those crazy people who can crank out words.


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

This will be the first year since 2005 I won't be participating. I REALLY need to finish my current WIP.
Next year!


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

rcanepa said:


> I kinda feel that it's like jury duty--if you don't have a good enough reason not to, you probably should
> 
> Seriously, though, one good part of it is that you know other people are doing the exact same thing you are.


Exactly! Knowing others are doing it adds support and motivation. And since I don't have a good reason not to, I suppose it's my "jury duty" for the year--but far more enjoyable, I hope.


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## Cathymw (May 27, 2010)

I do my own version.

I just work on writing each day (which I should be doing anyway).  I know NaNo is fantastic for those that struggle with writing because they are fighting their own inner editor. It's a great way to force yourself to write and to breakthrough your writer's block.

But I know too many people who do things like make the main characters name John Wilkes Booth the Third and each time they mention the person, they do the entire name in an attempt to boost their word count.

So I focus more on writing for a good chunk of time, but during that time, I focus on writing what I can, but not scrambling and writing junk just to write.  I've done that before, and ended up with words that took so much time to revise, it wasn't worth rushing through the month to get the words down.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

rjkeller said:


> This will be the first year since 2005 I won't be participating. I REALLY need to finish my current WIP.
> Next year!


You can still participate "unofficially" (and not win).  50k in 30 days will certainly push that WIP along


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Cathymw said:


> But I know too many people who do things like make the main characters name John Wilkes Booth the Third and each time they mention the person, they do the entire name in an attempt to boost their word count.


Yeah, I always avoid doing stuff like that because I feel it's doing me a disservice more than anything else.


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

They do give you a coupon code for a free proof copy from createspace, including free shipping!  They give you a few months to polish it too, after the event.  I don't know if they're still doing that, but that's how it was last year.

The book below my name was started on day 3 of last year's NaNoWriMo, November 3rd, then eventually finished and published at the start of May.  I didn't intend to write the book then...I meant to write a zombie story.  I started out writing the first chapter of the zombie story on day 1, then on day 2 I was struck with crippling writer's block.  I just didn't know what to write next, and had a quota of words to write!  At the start of day 3, I wasn't doing any better, so I scrapped the zombie idea and switched to this other story I had in mind... 50,000 words later, I had the rough draft of the first chapters of my book, and the entire middle segment.  Then, after the event ended, I continued working on the story, going back to fill in the first chapters, then moved on to write the ending over the next few months.  NaNoWriMo really helped kickstart the writing off for me.

This year, I don't know, maybe I'll try to write that zombie story again.  I'm looking forward to the insanity of it all.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Cathymw said:


> I do my own version. ...
> 
> But I know too many people who do things like make the main characters name John Wilkes Booth the Third and each time they mention the person, they do the entire name in an attempt to boost their word count.


Ten years ago (actually slightly more - it was January of 2000) I had just wrestled Real Life into submission and got my life rearranged so that I had more time to write. I don't recall that NaNo had started yet at that time, but Clarion alumni tended to challenge each other to "novel dares" of 2000 words a day for a month. I considered issuing one of those challenges, but then I thought that what I needed was something I could keep up for the rest of my life. Not something extraordinary that could be left behind with relief.

So I set up an ongoing dare of 1000 words a day. It was the best thing I've ever done. Later on Real Life came back at me and I had to stop the daily routine, and I have not quite got back on it (but I'm writing better stuff than I was then, so I consider it a trade off).

If you do this day-in and day-out you are less tempted to cheat. You just form good habits. I do recommend that people do some version of NaNoWriMo - their own or the official one - but I especially recommend trying to make it a part of your life.

Like Cathy, I prefer to do my own (which I mentioned above that I call "NaNoWrongMo") but whatever works for you is what you should do.

Camille


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

I'm a big fan of Nanowrimo. I don't participate every year, but I always encourage people to give it a shot.

My own Nano history is:
2006 - _The Summoning Fire_ - won - completed the novel *
2007 - _Running Waters_ - won - didn't complete the novel
2009 - (a collection of short stories) - only hit about 14K words total

I don't anticipate actually "competing" in Nano this year, but I will be writing. I estimate my November word production at about 25K, if current trends continue. I'm finishing up the collection of stories I started last year...so that's *sorta* participating. Also, I will be donating to Nanowrimo, as I do almost every year.

-David

* I'll be releasing _The Summoning Fire_ in the next few weeks. As an ebook and as a trade paperback. I'm quite excited to (finally) be releasing it.


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

My problem right now is that I don't know what I'd start working on. I have several partial projects, but those don't count for NaNo. 

I've done marathon writing days in the past, and my record is 14K in one day. But that was with a clear idea of where the story was going and a list of scenes at hand. If I'm going to do NaNo this year, I'll need some clue beforehand what I'm writing. If I have that, it'll be a breeze (as much as it can be!). If not, I'm sunk.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

AnnetteL said:


> My problem right now is that I don't know what I'd start working on. I have several partial projects, but those don't count for NaNo.
> 
> I've done marathon writing days in the past, and my record is 14K in one day. But that was with a clear idea of where the story was going and a list of scenes at hand. If I'm going to do NaNo this year, I'll need some clue beforehand what I'm writing. If I have that, it'll be a breeze (as much as it can be!). If not, I'm sunk.


Well, if you're not worried about officially winning, you can still work on one of those WIPs. I usually care more about finishing something than I do being official. If that's the case with you and you're willing to forgo the winner tally and little badge, then you can benefit from the group momentum and chatter and still get something accomplished. If you still want to work on something officially, brainstorm like heck beforehand, and even if you get nothing, start writing anyways and remember Chris's "No plot? No problem!" rule 

My issue right now is that I'm not sure I want to work on the work I've had planned--I feel like it's too complex to try and tackle during NaNo, especially since I might have to stop and research as I go.

So I'm considering switching to a lighter idea. Hmm.


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## altworld (Mar 11, 2010)

Without NaNoWriMo I don't think I would of ever finished The Tether

And yes I will be participating this time around as well. Looking forward to it, remember it being a long crazy month of enforced writing and you know what it did.

It developed in me the habit of cranking out words every night and that was the biggest thing I can take away from this event. It built a good habit.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

healeyb said:


> I just signed up!


Awesome!

Take a look in the forums and whatnot for your area--you might just have a ML running events in your area.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

Have they already started signing up for Nano 2010? I wasn't planning to head over there until after 1 October.

Besides writing some short stories, I used Nano 2009 to finish a WIP. I had put off writing the last couple chapters for far too long (embarassingly long). I decided Nano 2009 would be a good spur to get that done. I finished the WIP in the first couple days, then spent the a couple weeks doing stories. Then a bit of life (and a bit of self-doubt) got in the way.

You'd think, after "winning" Nano twice, it wouldn't be that hard to do it again. But every time you do it, I think, just like every time you start a new writing project (short or long), you have to face it down all over again. Are you going to "win" (finish it)? Or are you gonna cave like an origami ballon in the rain?

-David


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

DavidRM said:


> Besides writing some short stories, I used Nano 2009 to finish a WIP.


Hmmmm. Maybe I'll use NaNo this year to build up my stock of guest posts and flash fiction this year. I'll be worn out from finishing the current novel at that time, so it probably isn't a good time to start another novel.

(I don't know if I'll do it officially, though.)

Camille


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## Kevin D. (Sep 17, 2010)

I did it in 2004.  Actually wrote a story very different from my usual sword-and-sorcery worlds.  It was fun, although I was unemployed at the time.  Now, having a job, I doubt I'd have enough time to put into it.


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

rcanepa, 
You're right about that partial project thing. In another year, I'd just work on one of those and call it good. But for some reason, I've gotten into a weird writing funk recently, and I'm hoping that NaNo will jolt me out of it. I'm also hoping for some great idea that I can outline like crazy ahead of time, but even if that doesn't happen, there's no going back; I'm signed up now!


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

AnnetteL said:


> rcanepa,
> You're right about that partial project thing. In another year, I'd just work on one of those and call it good. But for some reason, I've gotten into a weird writing funk recently, and I'm hoping that NaNo will jolt me out of it. I'm also hoping for some great idea that I can outline like crazy ahead of time, but even if that doesn't happen, there's no going back; I'm signed up now!


Yep--nowhere to go now but full speed ahead. Mwa ha ha!


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

daringnovelist said:


> Hmmmm. Maybe I'll use NaNo this year to build up my stock of guest posts and flash fiction this year. I'll be worn out from finishing the current novel at that time, so it probably isn't a good time to start another novel.
> 
> (I don't know if I'll do it officially, though.)
> 
> Camille


I was doing a thing for a while where I posted new flash to my site 5x a week. It got a little hectic because I was doing it live. Would have been far easier if I had a stockpile.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

altworld said:


> It developed in me the habit of cranking out words every night and that was the biggest thing I can take away from this event. It built a good habit.


Exact same thing here. It really opened the floodgates on my output and hammered home that getting anything done takes sitting down at the keyboard and getting your wordcount out. Even if you don't feel like it.

_Especially_ if you don't feel like it.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

To be honest, I've never heard of it before, so I'm not sure what it's all about...


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## Thea J (Jul 7, 2010)

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano

This should explain, Craig.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Thea J said:


> http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano
> 
> This should explain, Craig.


Thanks, Thea.

Hmm... I am writing this after looking everything over and it might just be the kick in the pants I need to get SOMETHING done and out on Kindle. I mean, sure, it'll need more work after NaNoWriMo is over... more drafts, beta reader feedback, etc., so it won't be automatic "to print" but having something that's that far done would be good progress and get me that much closer to my goal.

I've joined and decided to take up the challenge. My NaNoWriMo handle is the same as here: CraigInTwinCities.

All my KindleBoards friends are welcome to make me a writing buddy, if they so choose...


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

rcanepa said:


> I was doing a thing for a while where I posted new flash to my site 5x a week. It got a little hectic because I was doing it live. Would have been far easier if I had a stockpile.


I did something like that back in 2006. I called "A Short Story a Day". I wasn't really familiar with the phrase "flash fiction" at the time, but it turned out that's mostly what I was doing.  I did manage a number of non-flash short stories, though, mostly during Nano of that year.

Edit:
I wrote a "post mortem" for my short story a day project here:
http://www.gunsandmagic.com/?p=4

-David


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> I've joined and decided to take up the challenge. My NaNoWriMo handle is the same as here: CraigInTwinCities.


Glad to have you on board.


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

rcanepa said:


> You can still participate "unofficially" (and not win).  50k in 30 days will certainly push that WIP along


After rereading this thread, I've decided to do exactly that. Here's my profile there if any of y'all want to buddy me. (I like verbing nouns.)

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/124267


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Wow... it's nearly impossible to find anyone from here over in NaNoWriMo unless they post a link to their profile here...

Could those participating this year please consider doing that?

I'd like to have my KB buddies around me over there, keeping me accountable....


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

I'm glad to see you joined up, Craig! It gave me a great kickstart last year. Once I'd signed up, telling the world that yes, I could do it, nothing could stop me from finishing. I had to ignore my internal editor and just write write write! I'm so glad I did it, even having to take off nearly a week to visit relatives for Thanksgiving, I worked extra hard to catch up in the end. From what you said earlier, I think you'll benefit the same way I did; a kickstart in getting the words written, then you'll have the rest of the year to edit and make it perfect.

Here's a link to my NaNoWriMo profile page, for anyone who wants to buddy me.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/505014


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Here's mine: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/654080

Thanks to all who've shared theirs so far. I like being part of a group. Too bad all they do is regions and we can't all form a KindleBoards NaNoWriMo group to show off/show up the regional groups.

Now my next challenge over the next 4-5 weeks is choosing a project I haven't already started as my NaNoWriMo project.

I have one that is near the top of my pile of candidates.

It's called EMBER and was something I originally did an outline for as a comic book mini-series or graphic novel; but the artist never showed me more than a couple character sketches, so it fizzled.

But I've never touched it as a novel and since the plot is largely sketched out, it would be an ideal quick-start candidate, perhaps.

The general genre would be paranormal/suspense... the idea is on the fringe of the superhero genre, but is basically a story about a girl who finds out she has some powers she doesn't want to have, and feels like she could get some answers if only she could track down/find her father, who's been absent from her life for pretty much all of her life.

It's the first story I ever conceived of as taking place in my fictional small town/city of Hope, Wisconsin.... so since the comic book/graphic novel's never going to happen, this might be a better way to go...


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## Guest (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm excited!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/582804


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## Thea J (Jul 7, 2010)

Here's my author info. I'm Severa for purposes of NaNo.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/411847


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

ooold user name on mine. 

edit: will friend everyone tomorrow. For now: sleep.

another edit: updated my username so people will know who I am. Here's the new one: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/722319


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Hope more people post their profiles soon...


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm taking part - it's my first year at giving it a go, but I figure it's the best kick-in-the-pants for seeing if I really do want to write novels. I've done a reasonable amount of writing in the past, but not stories (I ran a play-by-email roleplay game for 2.5 years with daily posting, and wrote a few small RPG supplements that I self-published a couple of years ago).

My profile - http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/651497

I'm a bit undecided about what I'm going to write about. I've had a particular idea in my mind for a couple of years, so when I decided I was going to do it I thought I'd work on that idea. Then a second idea hit me out of the blue, and won't get out of my brain. Still, I guess I've got all of October to decide which one I'm going to move forward with! 

Jason


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## Thea J (Jul 7, 2010)

Breaking news from the NaNoWriMo site:

"Hark! The 2010 site launch approaches!

That’s right; by the end of the week the 2010 NaNoWriMo site will go live! The pep talkers will be revealed, your profile will be ready for new novel details, and the forums will be cleared to make way for all-new questions, conversations, and suggestions.

Because the forums are reset in preparation for the event, please be sure to copy and paste any information you’d like to save from the 2009 forums. Any NaNoMail older than one year will also be cleared out of our databases. Save any NaNoMail message older than 12 months that you want to keep to your personal computer. Make these saves by September 30 to be extra sure you don’t lose any important information or correspondence!"


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

So how's everyone doing?  Are you gearing up?  

I'll be deciding this week which of two possible stories I'll pursue.  I also intend to put a link to my profile in my sig.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I made a new account, I do that every year - don't ask. Anyways, if anyone wants to be my fwiend here's my link. http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/659485

Isn't there a way to get a forum set up over there for KBers? Other sites have their own corners on Nano.

Anyone taking part in a World War? I'm planning on writing for Dublin against the provinces as usual and maybe against the UK if people are up for that this year. The friendly competition pretty much goads me into writing so I can update my word count. 

I'm really excited, I absolutely love November because of Nano!


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

I'm trying to finish my WIP by Oct 20 and I don't think I'm going to make it, but I think I will be very close.

I picked that date because it's the anniversary of my blog, which I started for this novel.  It's also the day before the 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much will be playing at our local theater.  This novel happens to be named for that movie. (The Man Who Did Too Much.)

For NaNo I was planning on writing a whole ton of flash fiction and blog post pieces - to get ready for the promo of that book when I release it next year.  I've already started on a few good brainstorming lists to get me started.

Camille


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## Sandra Edwards (May 10, 2010)

Here's mine:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/657525

Sandy


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## Markus_Kane (Sep 10, 2010)

rcanepa said:


> So the time is coming up fast and so I thought I'd ask: Are you doing NaNo this year? Done it before? If you're not sure what it is, you can go here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/
> 
> I'm planning on participating this year. Been gathering notes and thoughts about a story I've had kicking around for about ten years now. Now it's go time.


I've got two stories that are pretty near assembly stage. I think I might give it a shot this year. Not sure yet, though.


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

I feel defeated already, but maybe this will be the kick in the pants that I need! I will have an entire week off school for Thanksgiving this year, so maybe I can use that to my advantage!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/659844


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

This will be my second year of NaNo. I really had a blast last year. I've added everyone above me in this thread who's shared their user link. Here's mine: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/514421


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Markus_Kane said:


> I've got two stories that are pretty near assembly stage. I think I might give it a shot this year. Not sure yet, though.


Dooooooooooooo eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet


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## Maria Hooley (Jul 21, 2009)

I've never done this before so I'll try this year. I did do Scriptfrenzy, the screenplay version one year with a co-writer, and that was a blast.

If you'd like to add me to your buddies, here's my link: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/480373.


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## HL Arledge (Sep 5, 2010)

Considering it.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I now have a dozen of you as my NaNoWriMo buddies over there... which is way cool. Like I said, I wish we could form a KindleBoards group where we could track our productivity AS a group.


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

YES! I did it before, and I can do it again. Of course, being slack, I never register, but I always keep to the spirit of it as much as I can. I have a paranormal YA series I want to start so it'll be a good push.

shall we track each others progress here? I think that would be fun.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

theapatra said:


> shall we track each others progress here? I think that would be fun.


I'm all for that!


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## CoffeeCat (Sep 13, 2010)

I've never done it before, but I've always wanted to. I'm thinking I may just bite the bullet and go for it. Life is quite busy these days, but isn't that always the excuse?


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

CoffeeCat said:


> I've never done it before, but I've always wanted to. I'm thinking I may just bite the bullet and go for it. Life is quite busy these days, but isn't that always the excuse?


Exactly. There's never time that you're just going to find. You have to carve it out of your day. Nano's the perfect excuse for that: you can let things slide around the house just a little if you have to, and sequester yourself in your office or somewhere else and people know that for that month, you are to be left alone. I Guess after that month, you're on your own again  Hehe.

But for myself and others, it was great training for cutting through all the fluff and getting your words out, day after day after day, even (and especially) if you don't want to.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> I now have a dozen of you as my NaNoWriMo buddies over there... which is way cool. Like I said, I wish we could form a KindleBoards group where we could track our productivity AS a group.


I don't think I've ever been part of a group in Nano. Do groups get features beyond just a forum thread?


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

theapatra said:


> shall we track each others progress here? I think that would be fun.


That was my plan.  Mwa ha ha ha--or something.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Since I'm already tracking on my blog, I never sign up for a NaNo account, but I'd be happy to join in here!

As for people who aren't sure....

That's why some of my friends and I invented "NaNoWrongMo."  November is very often the very worst possible month for any of this.  (Especially if you're in academia, or are a student.)  So we set our own goals (which may be a page a day or a haiku a day or something) and participate unofficially.

Because participating at all is GOOD for a writer.  Having to make that daily report, even if it's only on 5 minutes of work, really makes a difference.

Camille


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

daringnovelist said:


> Since I'm already tracking on my blog, I never sign up for a NaNo account, but I'd be happy to join in here!
> 
> As for people who aren't sure....
> 
> ...


HUGE fan of unofficial participation and alternate goals. There's so much motivation and camaraderie going on that it's a shame to miss out.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Anyone know exactly what they're writing on the 1st of November?

I have no clue.  I'm thinking about working on a second in series I've been avoiding.  One year I knew my first paragraph and that was literally it.  I ended up writing something like 80k.  Another year I outlined and struggled through it.  Probably going to end up winging it this year.


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## Guest (Oct 5, 2010)

rcanepa said:


> HUGE fan of unofficial participation and alternate goals. There's so much motivation and camaraderie going on that it's a shame to miss out.


YES! You've both got it right. I'll be going through whatever I've already got going on. The WIP I have now and book 3 revisions. Make it what you want, for sure.


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## SarahBarnard (Jul 28, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> Anyone know exactly what they're writing on the 1st of November?
> 
> I have no clue. I'm thinking about working on a second in series I've been avoiding. One year I knew my first paragraph and that was literally it. I ended up writing something like 80k. Another year I outlined and struggled through it. Probably going to end up winging it this year.


I have a couple of characters, a genre and a rough idea of the beginnings of a plot. A starting point and not much else, but I'll be there on Nov 1st, typing away, just like I have been for the past 5 years.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> Anyone know exactly what they're writing on the 1st of November?


Depends on what you mean "exactly" . I've got my genre, my setting, the main characters, and some scenes I want to cover along the way. So far I'm still struggling with the overall story (ie: sequence of everything), trying to nail down the motivations of the "villain", and work out exactly how I'm going to finish the book.

But I'm fairly excited by what I do have - and I'm sure if need be, I can just make up what I'm missing in November!

Jason


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

I know what I'm doing for my project this year: starting a trilogy, just like last year.   I've got the next four years of NaNo covered at this rate.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

Instead of writing every day in Nano, here's an alternative I've used:

There are 4 Sundays in November, plus Thanksgiving. Allow yourself to take those days off.

That leaves you 25 days where you work to average 2000 words/day.

This gives you some much-needed down days, and makes for much simpler math. 

-David


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

jasonga said:


> Depends on what you mean "exactly" . I've got my genre, my setting, the main characters, and some scenes I want to cover along the way. So far I'm still struggling with the overall story (ie: sequence of everything), trying to nail down the motivations of the "villain", and work out exactly how I'm going to finish the book.
> 
> But I'm fairly excited by what I do have - and I'm sure if need be, I can just make up what I'm missing in November!
> 
> Jason


I kind of meant the very beginning of the story. You sit down to a blank page and need that first sentence to kick things off. If I don't have one then I seem to stare at that blank page for waaaay too long. 

Ooh, I might start a horror/suspense story I've been thinking about this week. I'll still be on a Halloween buzz on the first so that might help! But I really should work on a sequel.


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## Maria Hooley (Jul 21, 2009)

I'm writing a humorous novel.  It's all snowflaked and ready to go once November gets here.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> I kind of meant the very beginning of the story. You sit down to a blank page and need that first sentence to kick things off. If I don't have one then I seem to stare at that blank page for waaaay too long.


Ah! Thankfully I've got my opening scene (and first sentence) in mind. I'm not sure if it's a good idea (it's from the viewpoint of someone who dies at the end of the scene, before we switch to the main character [who knew the person who died - no, it's not a crime/mystery book]), but it's what I'm going to write for the first draft


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

farrellclaire said:


> Anyone know exactly what they're writing on the 1st of November?
> 
> I have no clue. I'm thinking about working on a second in series I've been avoiding. One year I knew my first paragraph and that was literally it. I ended up writing something like 80k. Another year I outlined and struggled through it. Probably going to end up winging it this year.


I've got an outline worked out, and I've been kind of playing out the first chapter in my mind. So, I've got a general idea. Excited!


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

rcanepa said:


> I don't think I've ever been part of a group in Nano. Do groups get features beyond just a forum thread?


I don't know. As far as I know, regions are the only "groups" NaNoWriMo supports, so far as I can tell. But I'm new to NaNoWriMo so what do I know?


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

I'm not quite sure what I'll be writing, but I have two candidates almost ready.  I'll be doing some prep work this month, like character names and backgrounds, so I'm not fumbling too much to get started.  I have a brief plot outline for one sci-fi story that I wrote one night and then put away, thinking this would be good for NaNoWriMo, and another fantasy story idea with some character outlines to use as a backup if I get stuck like last year.  Last year, I started a book on day one, spend day two staring at the monitor, and on day three decided to scrap that idea and just start writing Shard Mountain.  It all went well from there.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

My Nano profile is:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/126491

I will be participating in an alternative manner. 

-David


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## xandy3 (Jun 13, 2010)

Thought about doing it this year...then reconsidered. I simply won't have the time this year...

It seems so "un-me" to not participate though...I've done it every year since 2007. Only won once though....

Incidentally, that's when I wrote the first draft of _WISHFUL THINKING_!


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I have my story lined up and ready...

I did about a sixth of it once as a comic book script, but never as a novel.

The story is called EMBER... and it's... hot! 

It's probably my "Firestarter" with a more Midwestern flavor.


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## wildwitchof (Sep 2, 2010)

I just signed up! My first year.

The past two years I've been cramming to get an entry in RWA's Golden Heart. I'm really looking forward to this.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

I'd originally planned on writing an idea I've had for years.  I've been thinking lately that it's too big in scope and complexity for me to want to tackle it during Nano.  So I'm mulling over my backup idea.

I've been saying "I need to decide which one I'm doing to do" for like two weeks now.  So this weekend I'll decide for sure and start making notes.  It's go time.   November will be here before we know it.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

rcanepa said:


> I've been saying "I need to decide which one I'm doing to do" for like two weeks now. So this weekend I'll decide for sure and start making notes. It's go time.  November will be here before we know it.


I keep saying I should probably write an outline. But I still haven't a clue what I'm going to work on. November 1st is going to be a blank page day, I just know it.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Gretchen Galway said:


> I just signed up! My first year.


Mine too.

Share your profile URL here so all us KBers can buddy you over there.  Strength in numbers!


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## Laurensaga (Sep 29, 2010)

I signed up this year and I'm really nervous about it. I've never done this before an I have so much on my plate already I'm not sure what I'm going to do. But I'm going to at least try.


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

I've thought about doing this before, but the createspace offer got me to finally do it. http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/672795


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## wildwitchof (Sep 2, 2010)

Here's my link, my first year doing NaNo. I have no idea about what I'll be writing--I'd like to be finishing something before Jan 1 2011 to keep to the One Book a Year Plan--but I'd also like to just see what new plotless wonder I can crank out in 30 days.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/662645

My concern is if I devote the month to a "real" book (my current WIP), I won't be learning my lesson: writing fast. Unfettered by expectations, I can fly off into the unknown from page 1. My WIP this year is an older-teen fantasy epic, but I've been writing romance before that. For those romance types, I've written a couple "single title contemporaries," which are a tough sell to NY without blood-suckers or murdering fairies if you're an unknown (thus the beauty of Kindle.) There is a huge market with Harlequin (category or series romance) and I thought about doing NaNO for that. They're 50K, so it would be a perfect fit. Problem is, I'm not a big reader in that subgenre, but some great writers have grown out of it, so perhaps there's a spot there for me. Either as print or through self epub.

OK! Ramble over. I'll look out for all you folks in November. Best of luck to all of you!


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I sat down yesterday and came up with a vague-ish plotline.  Bound to go off on a tangent but at least I know where I'm starting.  I'm excited to get started.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Same here. The first day-week should be the easiest part.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Createspace has an offer too?  

Me, I'm worried about these offers like Smashwords' - where they encourage people to publish these things even as they write them. On the one hand, it is a cool incentive.  On the other, considering the rules, this really is a good way to encourage people to publish before the book is ready. 

More experienced writers will likely resist the temptation, but ooooooooooh the people who haven't learned any perspective yet....

Camille


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2010)

daringnovelist said:


> Createspace has an offer too?
> 
> Me, I'm worried about these offers like Smashwords' - where they encourage people to publish these things even as they write them. On the one hand, it is a cool incentive. On the other, considering the rules, this really is a good way to encourage people to publish before the book is ready.
> 
> ...


This I agree with you about. Last year I didn't hear about anybody doing any kind of instant publication (I was talking to hundreds of people on twitter). I wonder if I'll hear anything different this year.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Two things I don't like to do in public:

1) Be caught wearing only my skivvies.

2) Put a WIP on display for everyone to read.

NaNoWriMo is about getting a first draft done; that I'm cool with.

I'll show it off after I revise, tighten, beta and polish....


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

daringnovelist said:


> Createspace has an offer too?


Assuming it's the same offer as last year, CreateSpace is simply offering to send you a free proof copy of your completed manuscript (you don't even have to pay postage). The offer lasts a few months past November, so in theory the author has time to edit their book, etc.


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## xandy3 (Jun 13, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Two things I don't like to do in public:
> 
> 2) Put a WIP on display for everyone to read.
> 
> ...


Absofrigginlutely.

It took 2 years for me to revise _Wishful Thinking,_ 10+ revisions,
and that was even before my copy editor got a chance to see it.

But Nano is a good motivator to actually finishing a full-length book.


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

I'm beginning to get a bit nervous as the time grows nearer!  Anyone else?  I keep feeling like I should be doing something to get ready, but then when I start I really don't know *what* to do.  I did have a new idea pop into my head the other day that I think would be great for this...so I've been trying to decide which of the two ideas to pursue.  I'm glad to hear that it's not unforgivable to scrap and start over...I have a fear that I'll have to do that.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Not nervous here... just anxious to get started... anticipation is making it hard to write anything else, so...


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm both nervous about starting, and anxious to get started! 

I've been working a waypoint outline before the start (ie: the list of main scenes I want to pass through, with maybe a note or two about something that I want to have happen in that scene - I assume that there will be other scenes in between as I write). At this stage I've also got a page of notes about the "good" MC, and one or two ideas about his companion and the "evil" MC.

I mentioned a few of my ideas to my wife, and she had a few suggestions that I think will definately make the story better. I just have to remember to try and keep a sense of humour in the manuscript (and Alice in Wonderland humour at that!)

The one thing that's bugging me at the moment is the ending. I'm not 100% sure I like what I've got, and I'm still missing some waypoints in the last third of the book. So.... yeah. That might be "make it up as I go"


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## xandy3 (Jun 13, 2010)

Good Luck, all you Nanos.  I won't be participating this year, but I will be following this thread to see how you all are progressing.  

(Feels like Natalie Wood in that movie...getting ready to wave my scarf.  LOL)


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I see Smashwords are encouraging people to post their Nanowrimo WIP in November.  Anyone here considering that?  I think it's just for November, people can download the updated versions whenever nano participants upload.  I suppose it's a good way to get feedback but I can't see all that many people reading unedited first drafts for fun.  I know people often volunteer at the end of Nanowrimo but that's different.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> I see Smashwords are encouraging people to post their Nanowrimo WIP in November. Anyone here considering that? I think it's just for November, people can download the updated versions whenever nano participants upload. I suppose it's a good way to get feedback but I can't see all that many people reading unedited first drafts for fun. I know people often volunteer at the end of Nanowrimo but that's different.


Not me. I'll use that first draft as a good start, but I don't want to post anything rough.


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## Gabriela Popa (Apr 7, 2010)

Ron,

Hmm...I am tempted.  I will be definitely looking for buddies so let me know if you want to be a buddy (by the way, what's the way to get a buddy, anyone knows?).  

I am not interested in any relationship or offer with Create Space (as it's clear that you give them a license to your work etc which I do not want to do) but I am interested in a challenge.  

Gabriela


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Not me. I'll use that first draft as a good start, but I don't want to post anything rough.


I don't think I could unleash my first draft on the world.  I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of reading other people's efforts though. Compare how rough my 1st drafts are.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Gabriela Popa said:


> Ron,
> 
> Hmm...I am tempted. I will be definitely looking for buddies so let me know if you want to be a buddy (by the way, what's the way to get a buddy, anyone knows?).
> 
> ...


You just go to their profile and add them as a buddy then you can see their progress.


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## Gabriela Popa (Apr 7, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> You just go to their profile and add them as a buddy then you can see their progress.


Thanks Claire.

I am crazy - I signed up.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Gabriela Popa said:


> Thanks Claire.
> 
> I am crazy - I signed up.


Welcome to the madhouse.  Ah, it isn't that crazy. I'm excited about it, it's fun to go through the same thing with so many people.


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## altworld (Mar 11, 2010)

Waiting for it to begin too, NaNoWriMo was the reason why I completed The Tether: None Good. I am going to be running a write in at the White Marsh, Maryland Branch of Barnes & Noble every Tuesday throughout the month of November. This is going to be a blast 
Arigato,
Nick D


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> I don't think I could unleash my first draft on the world.  I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of reading other people's efforts though. Compare how rough my 1st drafts are.


I won't be doing it this year, but in the past years I've participated in Nano (06, 07, & 09) I've posted each day's output to my blog. Of course, I'm also the guy who has posted just about every short story he's ever written to his blogs (and the first drafts of 2 novels and a novella). I have no real issues with "writing in public", even early drafts, though I'm doing it less now. And probably won't do it with a novel again.

-David


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm a prep monster. I'm nearly done with my modified Snowflake, and I've got my enormous map ready. Just a few more minor character plotlines, and a scene list, and then I'll be set. I adore the scene list. With that, I'm golden. I think I love it more than a finished rough draft...fewer errors. 

I've added the last few people who posted links as writing buddies too.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Gabriela Popa said:


> Ron,
> 
> Hmm...I am tempted. I will be definitely looking for buddies so let me know if you want to be a buddy (by the way, what's the way to get a buddy, anyone knows?).
> 
> ...


Go to NaNoWriMo, click on My NaNoWriMo and make sure you're on your profile page... then copy the URL and paste it here. I've buddied everyone from KB who's done that, and I think most of them have done that with me... we're all buddied up all around.

When you go to another participant's profile page, you'll find the option to buddy with them.


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm using Nanowrimo to work on the rewriting for my manuscript, so I won't be officially participating, but will be doing the word count. The only problem I can foresee is that I just thought of an idea for book #3 and I'm going to be SO tempted to start on that.

[Self-control, young Jedi!!!]


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## Gabriela Popa (Apr 7, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Go to NaNoWriMo, click on My NaNoWriMo and make sure you're on your profile page... then copy the URL and paste it here. I've buddied everyone from KB who's done that, and I think most of them have done that with me... we're all buddied up all around.
> 
> When you go to another participant's profile page, you'll find the option to buddy with them.


Hi Craig,
Thanks much: Please let me know if this would work

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/688189

Looking forward to buddying (is this a word?) everyone on KB.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

It worked. I buddied you.


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## Gabriela Popa (Apr 7, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> It worked. I buddied you.


OK, cool, I reciprocated and also buddied Jasonga, clairefarrell, Eyegore, s0nicfreak, Severa.

Cheers.


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## jamesmonaghan (Oct 22, 2010)

Hi all!

Newbie to the Kindle boards (hello again to anyone who said hi over on the introduction thread). I'm doing nano this year and will be writing a novella prequel to my current WIP which I hope to have up on Kindle by the beginning of next year. It's tentatively titled Thief of Souls, and follows my MC, Daniel Therwood, during a murder investigation he is embroiled in just before the beginning of my WIP.

Look forward to following everyone's progress over here, and if anyone wants to buddy me, you can find me as JABrown. http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/38301

James


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

After reading the replies, I'm feeling even more apprehensive...I still haven't done anything to prepare other than having a general idea in mind for a beginning.  Is anyone else going in blind?  Am I doomed to failure?


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## altworld (Mar 11, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Go to NaNoWriMo, click on My NaNoWriMo and make sure you're on your profile page... then copy the URL and paste it here. I've buddied everyone from KB who's done that, and I think most of them have done that with me... we're all buddied up all around.
> 
> When you go to another participant's profile page, you'll find the option to buddy with them.


Race ya...

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/596466

Arigato,
Nick D


----------



## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

ReeseReed said:


> After reading the replies, I'm feeling even more apprehensive...I still haven't done anything to prepare other than having a general idea in mind for a beginning. Is anyone else going in blind? Am I doomed to failure?


I've gone in blind before. It sounds scary and you'll hit a few walls but if you keep going in, you might find that just the habit of sitting down to write frequently will get the ideas going. Just don't be afraid to write crap, remember it's a rough draft and the point is to get words out rather than "good" words out. Whenever I get stuck, I write a few descriptive scenes until I come up with something else. I'm always closer to new ideas when I'm writing something as opposed to sitting there looking at a blank screen. You should follow the Nanowrimo hash tag on Twitter, you might pick up some ideas and the forums themselves on Nano are always good - the support (and even sometimes donation of ideas not used ) helps keep you going.


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2010)

So close to Nanowrimo!


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

Are we ready?
I think I'm ready.
I only lack an airhorn* to blast when the Spouse Thingy interrupts me, which he always manages to do...

*no, really, I wouldn't do that. It would scare the kitties.


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

I've got a general idea of what I'm doing and a couple of vague landmarks, but I'm still feeling pretty darned unprepared. I hope to get more planned out in the next week. If I know where I'm headed (not a strict outline, but at least a road map), I can write quickly. If not, brick wall. But blasting through the brick walls is part of the point of NaNo, right?

I'm here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/653241


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Just signed up for the All Ireland Word War (c'mon the Dubs) so it's really feeling close now.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I did it in 2007 but haven't done it since because November is my busiest month.

I wasn't going to do it this year until reading this thread. I'm between novels and have been vaguely planning/plotting some ideas over the last few weeks so I figure maybe I will use NaNo to get that kick-started.

You've all encouraged me already. Yay for NaNo!

I'm here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/216444


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## D.A. Boulter (Jun 11, 2010)

ReeseReed said:


> After reading the replies, I'm feeling even more apprehensive...I still haven't done anything to prepare other than having a general idea in mind for a beginning. Is anyone else going in blind? Am I doomed to failure?


Nah, not doomed at all. I did a 3-day novel contest that I found out about only 3 days before the deadline. I wrote 22,000 words in the 72 hours with only the basic idea of the work going in. It turned out to be my novella, Pilton's Moon. So, if I can do that in 72 hours with only the basic idea, then you can easily accomplish your goal in 30 days. Have no fear.

I had no intention of doing the NaNoWriMo this year but, if it makes you feel better, I'll go in blind with you. I've been contemplating a sequel to 'Courtesan', or if you wish, I'll start totally blind and decide on the subject of the novel on the 31st or 1st.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

My NaNoWriMo project has been saved!

I've been talking about doing a former comic book/graphic novel project, EMBER, as my NaNoWriMo project.

Over the weekend, I started getting nervous because I realized I'd lost all my notes (basically, my series bible for the project) during one of my many hard drive crashes a while back.

I even searched on Yahoo mail where I thought for sure I had it stored in an archive; nope.

So I emailed my artist I was going to collaborate with... and he had it stored on a drive and recoverable! Sent it to me and even said he still has some "core artwork" available from it.

So, as a way of saying thanks, I told him after I finish EMBER as a prose novel, perhaps we can resurrect the graphic novel project and still do EMBER as a graphic novel adaptation.

We'll see if he still has interest and wants to follow through.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

I found this on the NaNo forums (I think - unless someone posted it earlier in this thread ). It's a spreadsheet that gives writers an easy way to keep track of your wordcount and see how you're going compared to the "expected" wordcount.

http://svenja.atspace.com/wordtracker.html

I hope it useful to someone.


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## 4dprefect (Oct 18, 2010)

I'm hoping to get the bulk of a new YA novel done during November, or at the very least make a very solid start. And at the same time I'm aiming to get large chunks of *Evil UnLtd Vol 2* written. But I'm not sure if I'll be signing up officially for NaNo, as I just have this niggling feeling that the work to promote *Evil* will take up sufficient time that I'll only end up doing a DemiNanoWriMo. ;-)

SAF


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## Carolyn J. Rose Mystery Writer (Aug 10, 2010)

Wish I could do it, but can't afford to stop working my three jobs. Curse this economy.


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## 16205 (Jun 8, 2010)

So apparently I *am* doing it after all. It'll mean shuffling current WIPs around, but I really need to write a sequel and the free proof is a nice offer.

Here's my NaNo author info if anyone wants to buddy up: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/445794

Good luck to everyone entering!

Edited to add the link I forgot.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

I was going to be a "Nano Rebel" and continue working on my WIP, a collection of short stories.

But earlier this week I put that project on hold (possibly declaring that I have "enough stories already") and started plotting on a quickie horror novel to write for Nano.

So I'm not rebelling after all. 

-David


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## 4dprefect (Oct 18, 2010)

Carolyn J. Rose said:


> Wish I could do it, but can't afford to stop working my three jobs. Curse this economy.


Give up those three jobs and turn full-time writer. You know it makes economic sense ;-)

SAF


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

D.A. Boulter said:


> Nah, not doomed at all. I did a 3-day novel contest that I found out about only 3 days before the deadline. I wrote 22,000 words in the 72 hours with only the basic idea of the work going in. It turned out to be my novella, Pilton's Moon. So, if I can do that in 72 hours with only the basic idea, then you can easily accomplish your goal in 30 days. Have no fear.
> 
> I had no intention of doing the NaNoWriMo this year but, if it makes you feel better, I'll go in blind with you. I've been contemplating a sequel to 'Courtesan', or if you wish, I'll start totally blind and decide on the subject of the novel on the 31st or 1st.


Hey, I'd love that! Either way...I'm still blind as a bat here  Nothing but a shred of an idea that I'm *really* hoping will start to percolate soon.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

ReeseReed said:


> Hey, I'd love that! Either way...I'm still blind as a bat here  Nothing but a shred of an idea that I'm *really* hoping will start to percolate soon.


Have you tried some of the "adopt a plot" threads on the Nano boards? There might be something in there to give you a starting idea.


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## D.A. Boulter (Jun 11, 2010)

ReeseReed said:


> Hey, I'd love that! Either way...I'm still blind as a bat here  Nothing but a shred of an idea that I'm *really* hoping will start to percolate soon.


Okay. I signed up -- did it two days ago, just in case. So, now, I guess it's time to start thinking about a story, right? Actually, I've contemplated several lines since signing up and have one idea that might make a good novella, though I'm sure I could expand it . . . maybe.

I work Sunday night (get off at midnight) and so I'll probably use the day to ponder my choices and decide on the story and begin when I get home. Or I might just start typing and see what develops.

Good luck to us all.

My page:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/697483


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I'm up to 24 writing buddies so far... 22 from here and the co-chairs of my home region...


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## div (Aug 25, 2010)

I'm ready!!!  Ready to start...not sure if I'll finish but it's my first NaNo so I shall do my best.


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## kcmay (Jul 14, 2010)

Here's my NaNo user profile:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/654155

I welcome all KB buddies!


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

12.5 hours left until midnight.  I'll probably be starting then.


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## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

Someone talk me into doing this.  

I am in the middle of my third round of editing my novel and I have another story that has been taking over my thoughts.  

Do I do this or do I finish the one I'm working on?? 

AHHHHHHHHHHHH.  Decisions!!!


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

Madeline said:


> Someone talk me into doing this.
> 
> I am in the middle of my third round of editing my novel and I have another story that has been taking over my thoughts.
> 
> ...


You could be hardcore and do both!


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Yeah, do both.  

I'm starting at midnight too.  I hope.  Maybe.    It's less than 8 hrs to go for me.


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## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

You guys are baaaaaad.  

I don't think there is a way I can do both - I would go nuts lol    

I'm thinking though, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to set this one aside for a month or so to let it sit, so to speak, and then come back to it with fresh eyes.  So I'm thinking I may go ahead and try it.  

So what happens if you fail to finish the book?


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Madeline said:


> So what happens if you fail to finish the book?


There's a public humiliation ritual we all partake in. 

You just finish it in December and try to beat your word count next year.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

I'm back!  And desperately trying to figure a few things out about my story before tomorrow 

Will get to friending everyone.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

rcanepa said:


> I'm back! And desperately trying to figure a few things out about my story before tomorrow


That makes two of us. I had copious notes ready to go, but hated the direction my story was going, so I scrapped them. Today is going to be one long note-taking endeavor...which gets me out of anything resembling housework.

So. Yay.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Oh, I also created a new account on nanowrimo.org so people here will know who I am. so if you friended me under my "agnor" handle, I'll friend you with the new one and then you can drop "agnor".



http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/722319


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Thumper said:


> That makes two of us. I had copious notes ready to go, but hated the direction my story was going, so I scrapped them. Today is going to be one long note-taking endeavor...which gets me out of anything resembling housework.
> 
> So. Yay.


I didn't even know which idea I was working on until Friday. 

Then I realized I could combine two ideas, which would both fill out my story more and also kill two story ideas with one stone, but it required a bit of tweaking to get them to work together.

Today I'm trying to come up with some major answers to basic questions that will affect everything else (for example, the female lead's job is a huge part of the story, but I need to konw what product her company sells) and names for all my characters. The rest should flow easier once I have the aforementioned figured out.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Madeline said:


> So what happens if you fail to finish the book?


You pat yourself on the back for having the guts to jump in feet-first with zero planning and other WIPs going on and bask in the glory of whatever words you DID write.



farrellclaire said:


> There's a public humiliation ritual we all partake in.


Oh, and that, too.


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## JMcGhee (Oct 31, 2010)

One more day before NaNo starts...whoo, exciting!  This is the first time in five years that I haven't had my story planned out weeks or months in advance. I just came up with the idea this morning in church - but hey, at least I have a solid idea now! Now I need to turn that idea into an outline...

Good luck getting everything to flow together, Rcanepa! Personally I think picking names for characters is one of the most fun parts.



> There's a public humiliation ritual we all partake in.


Yeah, that public humiliation part is not too fun. We'd better all reach 50k then.


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

I think I have enough notes to get me through the first few chapters, after that, I'm winging it.


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## MeganW (Dec 28, 2008)

I just decided to do this the other day, and I haven't had a chance to think about book ideas at all, so I'm going in totally blind. But, I've always wanted to write, and I couldn't think of a better way to get my butt in gear. I've friended everyone I've seen here for support, and I'm here:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/722523

Good luck tomorrow!

Megan


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

MeganW said:


> I just decided to do this the other day, and I haven't had a chance to think about book ideas at all, so I'm going in totally blind. But, I've always wanted to write, and I couldn't think of a better way to get my butt in gear. I've friended everyone I've seen here for support, and I'm here:
> 
> http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/722523
> 
> ...


Glad to have you along. The founder has a slogan (and then a book based on it) called: "No Plot? No problem!"


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

JMcGhee said:


> Good luck getting everything to flow together, Rcanepa! Personally I think picking names for characters is one of the most fun parts.


Thanks  I actually don't like naming characters. Or books/stories/songs. Names are difficult :-/

(Says he who has a cat named "Kitty" [but there's at least a reason for that])


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## MeganW (Dec 28, 2008)

rcanepa said:


> Glad to have you along. The founder has a slogan (and then a book based on it) called: "No Plot? No problem!"


Thanks! I just read about that book, found it on Amazon, and sent a sample to my Kindle. I think I'll have to pick it up.


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## D.A. Boulter (Jun 11, 2010)

JoeMitchell said:


> I think I have enough notes to get me through the first few chapters, after that, I'm winging it.


Notes? We don't need no steenking notes!


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## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

Ok, so uh, I decided to do it.    Been sitting here wracking my brain about putting together what I have rambling in my head.

I may be the vicitim of a public flogging if I can't finish it, but what the heck, it's a challenge and I need a fire lit under my creative butt.  This should do it!! 

Yeeeeee haw! Bring on the blank-page-with-the-flashing-cursor-taunting-me challenge!! 

Uh, wait, I think I need to go register first...


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## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

Yikes, the web site is REALLY slow for me.  There must be a bazillion people trying to register at the last minute...


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## JMcGhee (Oct 31, 2010)

Yeah, the site is SUPER slow for me too.  It usually is the first few days of NaNo as everyone is in a hurry to post and update and comment and do all sorts of fun NaNo things.  But it should slow down soon.

Welcome to the fun!


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## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

Well, it looks like it just went down.  I did get registered though...so I guess I'll work on muddling together an outline until midnight.  I don't have to work tomorrow, so I can stay up all night.


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

Made some rough notes today and have a decent idea to work on, I think.    I'm feeling better about this now.  I just wish the 1st fell on any day other than Monday this year :/  I have bus duty at school this week, so tomorrow will be a challenge to get started, but I'm still looking forward to it!


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## 16205 (Jun 8, 2010)

I'm just too burned out to do NaNo. I tried hard to get past it these past two days and really wanted to have fun with the rest of you, but I can't even type 2 sentences on my other WIPs right now much less add the strain of 50k on something else.

So here's hoping you all succeed and have a great time doing it.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

I've been really lucky for the first day of Nano - I took the day off work (had to go in for an ultrasound in the afternoon on my kidneys, and figured it was easier to just take the whole day off as recreation leave), which meant I had a lot of time to write. Plus I was up last night after midnight, and got a little bit done then. So by the end of day #1 I've managed to hit the 5k mark!

It turned out to be a good place to stop - the MC was just describing an assassin to some other characters, which means I can take some time to figure out what he actually looks like


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## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

I have been up all night  

I got a good start going...have about 3700 words.  Woot!


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I worked over the weekend to get today off.  Did two sessions this morning to get 4,106 words out but then work came back to bite.  Might get a few more words out before day's end.


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

I squeezed in 1,100 words last night after midnight, but I plan to write more today, once I take care of some other things that need to be done.


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2010)

I just wrote a blog post called "How to Turn Your Nanowrimo Novel Into a Bestseller"

It's mostly normal indie preparation stuff, but you might want to check it out anyway: http://powerlessbooks.com/blog/?p=120


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

I clocked my first 2015 words of my Nano novel this morning. I'm looking forward to seeing how many words I can squeeze into November. 

-David


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## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

Can you guys get on the website I still can't get it to work for me...


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## TomMWiseman (Sep 10, 2010)

Between work, college, my own novel and my family (to include our new baby girl born one month ago), I'm not sure I'm going to be able to find the time for NaNo, but I sure am going to try.

Tom


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I wrote 2,087 words or something like that last night between 12:30 AM - 3 AM. And later today I'll be putting some more time in. I'm hoping to achieve at least 5K on day one, maybe more. Really get off to a strong start.


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## kcmay (Jul 14, 2010)

Falling behind already. I wrote 400 words at lunch time. This evening I hope to get another 1000 or so.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

TomMWiseman said:


> Between work, college, my own novel and my family (to include our new baby girl born one month ago), I'm not sure I'm going to be able to find the time for NaNo, but I sure am going to try.
> Tom


Congrats on the baby, my littlest girl is 3 months now and not so little anymore. 

Anyway, I've gotten about 1k so far, going to write a bit more tonight. I usually plough through the first day so not the best start so far - I got a bit of editing done on something else so I'm happy enough. Feeling good about this year actually.


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

I'm feeling behind already!  Had to work the day job today, so I haven't started yet.  I'll have to get kids fed/bathed/in bed before I can start tonight.  I'm taking the tortoise-route I suppose...hopefully slow and steady will win the race


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Looooooong day today, so I'm just now setting in (at 6:50 PM EST) to get my words.  Er, to hurry up and make some decisions about the story and THEN get my words.


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## MeganW (Dec 28, 2008)

I just knocked out my first 1,730 words while scaring the crap out of myself.  Probably not a good idea to allow myself to be inspired by my favorite radio show's annual Halloween show, but it's too late now.


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## WilliamEsmont (May 3, 2010)

I got 3320 in on day one of NaNo.. I'll take it.. Work is crazy.. just bought a new house and having it renovated/moving this month.. This should be fun 

In case anyone is interested in extending the KB connection into NaNo-space, my NaNo handle is GSRider.


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## Kippoe (Jan 17, 2010)

I'm taking part in it this year also first night i came up with 1164 words hope to get more than that tomorrow 
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/725503


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Can't get onto the site to buddy up or update word count.  I hate the first few days and the last few days, nightmare trying to get online.

Loving NaNo so far btw!


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Well, not too bad. I fell short of my 5K goal, but I just logged in (15 minutes prior to midnight) to NaNoWriMo to update my totals and I finished day one with...

3,799 words written! I'll probably continue writing after midnight so the next total I log will count for Day Two...

but I'm in the middle of a chapter and don't really want to leave it hanging overnight, if I can help it. And tonight, at least, I can. I think. Depends on how much longer the chapter goes.

I've also decided that any night where I meet minimum productivity, I'll let myself stop by here AFTER I've completed my day's-worth of writing. Not before.

Any day I don't do the minimum amount of writing on EMBER, I won't drop by at all.

This way, I don't lose touch, but I also have a reason to keep plugging away.

I have a feeling Ember will be longer than the 50,000 words needed for NaNoWriMo...We'll see how things progress. But right now, I'm feeling better than I have writing a creative WIP than I have in a long time. Highly motivated, excited, and most importantly, priorities straight and undistracted.

So far, so good.

Also, out of my 26 writing buddies, it appears only four wrote more than I did on day one... congrats to any and all who wrote anything, though!


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

Stellar first day! 8,507 words. I'm so stoked. I'm even currently top of my writing buddies (though that'll probably change by morning), and I have a few dozen of them.

I didn't intend to write so hard, but I had an awesome day with plenty of time to write, and the scenes were just flowing like water. Really excited to write again tomorrow. Hope my wrist holds up this year.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

Well I buddied everyone on this list that I could. This is going to be an interesting month. Looking forward to it. Turns out I missed a nano kick off in my town at midnight. Then they had another one on the first at 7pm. Missed both.    Hopefully I'll make one of there later write in meetings.

2834 is what I wrote so far. Now I need to go figure out how to put that on the site. Good luck everyone.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Jasmine Giacomo said:


> Stellar first day! 8,507 words. I'm so stoked. I'm even currently top of my writing buddies (though that'll probably change by morning), and I have a few dozen of them.
> 
> I didn't intend to write so hard, but I had an awesome day with plenty of time to write, and the scenes were just flowing like water. Really excited to write again tomorrow. Hope my wrist holds up this year.


Well done, Jas!


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

Jasmine Giacomo said:


> Stellar first day! 8,507 words. I'm so stoked. I'm even currently top of my writing buddies (though that'll probably change by morning), and I have a few dozen of them.


Wow, that's really impressive!

After a great first day I'm really struggling with day two - hopefully that's not a sign of things to come!


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

pretty inspiring stuff! I'm unofficially participating and only have 1500. slow start, but I'll get there.
keep it up folks. this is a fun and inspiring thread to read


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## jamesmonaghan (Oct 22, 2010)

Just under 5000 words so far, going well. 

some amazing wordcounts on here, though!!! woah!


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## div (Aug 25, 2010)

I had an issue with my log in and had to reset my account. Here is my page...I have added all of you to my buddy list again.

Thanks.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/746370


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I couldn't get onto the site to update my word count before midnight so now my stats show a failed day.


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

2349 for me last night.  I didn't even think about updating on the site.  Oops!  I was so tired when I finished I couldn't think of anything else, lol!  Today I'm home with a sick child, so maybe I'll be able to get more done.


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## D.A. Boulter (Jun 11, 2010)

Coming into this cold, I've done 1300 words.  But now I'm getting a feeling for where the story will go and I hope to make better progress.  Unfortunately, I'm going to need to do a lot of world building and that will take time.  Ah, well, onwards and upwards . . . with an occasional step back and to the side.


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

The computer I use to write has a bad habit of randomly shutting down.  I thought it had stopped, but it happened again last night, and I can't trust it anymore.  I'm a little delayed while I work on building a new writing computer today from my old computers pile.


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## Judi Coltman (Aug 23, 2010)

Tried to sign up yesterday but encountered cyber demons.  I am up today though and am not shaking in my boots at the daunting task that lies ahead!!


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## Greenkeeper (Mar 16, 2010)

What the heck, why not? I've been busy for a while now on the next Tales from the Green book but this sounds too interesting to pass up. I've never worked with a hard deadline before, especially one so short. Hopefully it'll help with my edit-as-I-go approach that keeps me writing only 1 novel per year.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I didn't get any additional words done yesterday unfortunately but I managed to squeeze some out today.  It's funny how NaNoWriMo makes you push for imaginary targets.  I wasn't going to break off today until I'd crawled over 10,000 in total.  Normally wordcount has nothing to do with my writing.

So now I'm at 10,380 and looking good.  The characters are beginning to come to life (although some are a little slower than others right now).


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

Wow, I was coming over to post that I'd gotten 1100 done today...I can't even come close to touching some of you, though.  I'm amazed!

I must say, writing, just writing to get it down and quieting my inner editor, is incredibly freeing.  My story is rolling right along, and today I actually figured out how the characters are going to meet each other.  Pretty big, considering up until now I had no idea.


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## Dee_DeTarsio (Oct 26, 2010)

Three of my friends are doing NaNoWriMo...but alas, NaNoNotMe... I wish everyone the best of luck!! My friends swear by its magical powers of creativity!


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I had a bit of a session during the night then got an idea for a short story and had to break off for a bit to do that. I haven't had any short story inspiration in ages, can't let it go. LOL

Then I got into a round of editing and couldn't stop so near the end so kept going until I was done.

_Then _ I realised I've lost the plot a bit on the NaNo story so have spent a good chunk of this evening rewriting the outline and figuring out how to rein it back in.

So basically, it's day 2 and I've pretty much done everything I can to avoid actually writing my NaNo WIP.


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## MeganW (Dec 28, 2008)

I just knocked out another 1711 words.  I'm definitely writing more of a murder mystery of some type, and it's really creepy, so I've decided to write only while it's light out.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

I wrote a little over 3,000 words, so I'm up to 5,900 at the moment. This is doing wonders for lighting a fire under my butt. I'm actually starting to like this.


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

I spent another hour tonight at it, although I haven't stopped to count words (I'm writing longhand).  Loving this...so glad I decided to give it a try!


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## Judi Coltman (Aug 23, 2010)

8029 words so far but feel like I am floundering. . .guess I'll keep flapping my fins until I can swim out of the quagmire.


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

4425 words so far, and feeling GREAT!  Loving this!!


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

I had a good day today as well, but nothing compared to that blast I started with yesterday. Right now I'm a couple hundred shy of 12K--my wrist did indeed give out for a few hours this morning. I'll try to pound out the next scene before I go to bed tonight; it's a new POV in the plot, and it's always fun seeing how characters turn out the very first time I write them.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Well, for pre-midnight number reporting, my individual day was only 800-some words, so the day was a bit off-pace, but my total overall was still ahead of pace at 4,600-some words.

But after obsessing over election results for about an hour, I wrote another 800-some words (that'll count toward Day 3) and currently stand at 5,419 words so far, with all of Day Three still basically in front of me.

Today, in addition to voting and obsessing over the results of the election, it was my wife and my day to take my Dad out to eat, so we were gone most of the day after I got back from work. So I count 1600 words (half before midnight, half after) as somewhat of a win under the circumstances....

And tomorrow I won't have either distraction so I'm setting as my goal the desire to reach 7,500 words or more... That's another 2,081 words on top of the 800-plus I've already written on Day 3... that'd be sweet.

Only six of my 28 writing buddies are ahead of me right now, so I can't be doing too bad...  Especially as a first-time NaNoWriMo participant!


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

I've hit 8469 at the end of day 3. I'd hoped to be well over 10k today (I had a second day off work, and was hoping for another 5k day), but lots of errands and then a lack of focus saw me fritter the day away.

But as they say, tomorrow is another day!


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I've had a good third day and slowly improved on yesterday.  Odd how the best words come when you want to finish for the day so you just can't stop.  Total now up to 16,675.  

Looks like I'm going to hit my personal 20K target before the weekend (before Sunday, actually).  Think I might be too busy for more than a token writing session tomorrow, though.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Closing in on goal as I close in on midnight locally. I'm starting to "feel the burn," LOL...


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I didn't do so good on the 3rd.  I'm not really liking what I'm doing.  The big finish wants to arrive early and I'm trying to hold out.  Maybe I need a bigger finish to just get on with it already.  Actually, that might be it . . . .


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

OK, I reported my numbers virtually seconds before the midnight deadline... but I got them to take it before Day 4 began.

I'm at 6,336 words, a 2,112-word-a-day average over three days.

That's not bad, but it looks like it'll be Day 4 before I reach my 7.5K goal I'd set for myself.

But the story's rolling out well, so I can't complain. I'm just not as fast as some people, I guess. And I'm OK with that. Because I'm still ahead of schedule, which means I'm on track.

EMBER's feeling more like a 75,000-word project, minimum, so I'll either report whatever I have by the end of the month in order to win, then keep on writing, or maybe I'll even finish in November if the novel is about that long and I keep up my current pace, with really strong Sunday and Monday production days.

Right now, I'm on pace to reach 63K by the end of November.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> I didn't do so good on the 3rd. I'm not really liking what I'm doing. The big finish wants to arrive early and I'm trying to hold out. Maybe I need a bigger finish to just get on with it already. Actually, that might be it . . . .


Now that I've figured out what was wrong and am letting the story do what it wants, I'm up to 10k, boo-ya! *Fist pumping like I'm on Jersey Shore*


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Well, I'm at 7,903 as of pre-midnight reporting.

That's about 100 words shy of my daily goal, but for the month I'm still about 1,260 words ahead of schedule. Roughly.

So I'm on pace but I usually take Shabbat off (sundown Friday-sundown Saturday)... I may or may not write tomorrow night, as a result. I have to decide if it's "regular work" or not.

It's not like I'm under contract right now and getting paid to write. So it's technically not work.

Then again, it's the Sabbath and I'm writing every other day... it's probably work. Especially since I hope to eventually publish the novel, post-NNWM, after doing all the revisions, editing, etc. that is necessary to get it into shape. So even though publication could come several months from now at least, yeah, it's still Shabbat by the time I get home tomorrow. I'll just have to make up the difference Saturday night through Monday.

Even during NNWM, some things have to take precedence.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

Man, 4 days in and I'm already behind... hard to argue with abundant sunshine and a motorcycle begging to be taken for a ride, though.
It's supposed to rain on Sunday, I'll catch up then.
Really, I will.
STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> I usually take Shabbat off (sundown Friday-sundown Saturday)


Me too, though I'm Adventist, not Jewish. I'm very comfortable both with my pace and with my level of interest in continuing, so I'm going to enjoy my day off (and rest my arm!), then power back in Saturday night after we feed some starving college kids and send them back to their homework. 

The first 15K or so were really not evenly interesting to write; I had a hard day 2 and 3 because of it, and I kept leaving out important details through several scenes (oh well, more word count later, right?) Now that my MC has arrived at the location he'll be spending most of the rest of the book at, things are really picking up. I did a lot of prep for this setting, and it's paying off. I hit 22,500 late last night, and I'm aiming to finish the rough draft at around 80-90K this month.


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## Madeline (Jun 5, 2010)

Thumper said:


> Man, 4 days in and I'm already behind... hard to argue with abundant sunshine and a motorcycle begging to be taken for a ride, though.
> It's supposed to rain on Sunday, I'll catch up then.
> Really, I will.
> STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!


   

I'm behind too - planning on doing 48 hours of writing over the weekend though to catch up. It's been a looooong week at work and when I get home I just haven't had the energy to be creative on top of everything else.

I will catch up.

Really, I will.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I took the day off.  Partly because my family missed me    I changed my storyline again and I couldn't face trying to fix it today so that's mostly why I slacked off.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

OK, I'm at 9,866, so about 134 words shy of 10K. That's a nice benchmark, but I took the Sabbath off and then, following date night with my wife last night, I was too tired to get anything done before midnight, so.. I'm still playing catch-up to get back on-pace.

I have five chapters complete so far, though, so that's not bad.

I'm taking a break now and will get back to it later tonight.

I've done around 2K words today but I have about a 5K goal today and a 3-5K goal for Monday. That'll get me back to where I need to be to stay ahead of the game.


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## Judi Coltman (Aug 23, 2010)

Oh yeah . . .about NaNoWriMo.  I did what I always do.  A start and then nada.  Good thing I can still catch up.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

I'm now just a bit over 14K words. I set the goal this year to write 2K words every day in November (even Thanksgiving). So far, so good. 

-David


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I took the whole weekend off but I was ahead anyway.  Today, I'm planning on going through the whole thing and rearranging some stuff then plough through it as much as possible until Friday.  If I stay ahead during the week then I'm taking every weekend off from NaNo to do something else.  I'm still not sure if the story will make it to 50k so I don't know if I'll "win" this year.  Still, I'm enjoying it and it's nice to focus properly on something again.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

I'm a little behind at around 13,000 words...I fully intended to spend this evening writing, but then my son sent me a text message, which spurred me into an online search, and made me want to enroll him in Pimp College. Now, if I could make myself get offline and back to work, I could catch up and get ahead, but I also kinda want to search for Pimp Job Opportunities...


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

I had a great Saturday night Nano run, and a stellar day yesterday. Still holding to my daily average of ~5K, though I've only got about 2K done today amid a flurry of distractions. Still, about a third of the way through the whole thing, give or take. From here, everything picks up the pace! Squeeee!


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I ticked over 30K before the end of the first week (30,41, and I'm pretty chuffed with that.  When I did NaNo for the first (and only) time back in 2007, I struggled to finish before the end of the month (I made it to 55K at the last minute).

This time I seem to be doing better - I think it's because I've become comfortable with my writing method in the last three years.  I've taken two days off with no-writing so far (one last week and one today).  Not including those days, I'm averaging 5K a day, which is low enough to give me some thinking time.

I'm aiming for 50K by the end of the weekend, but I won't panic if I don't hit it.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

So I started my NaNo a little late (7 p.m. on November 1), but through nine days, I'm at 16,837. I'm 1,500 away from the 11-day minimum. I got myself caught up on Sunday thanks to a relatively busy day Saturday.

And the story is picking up speed. That's what I love about writing.


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

So, the time change messed up my word count average last night. Apparently the NaNo site doesn't automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time, and the day clock rolled over at 11 pm local time. So when I updated around 11:30, it put my 2K-odd word addition onto Wednesday, ruining my 5K+/day word count I'd worked so hard on.   By the time I noticed, checked the forums, and realized how to remedy the situation, it was after midnight, and the word count stuck.

On the up side, I'm cruising past 47K at the moment, and my bar should be purple by the end of the day. W00t! Halfway done!


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

The time change thing messed me up too but you can change your time zone to account for it.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I took two days off from writing, but I managed about 5K today to get me over 35K words.



Jasmine Giacomo said:


> On the up side, I'm cruising past 47K at the moment, and my bar should be purple by the end of the day. W00t! Halfway done!


I don't think the bar goes purple until the end of the month. If you hit 50K earlier, it goes green.


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## Gabriela Popa (Apr 7, 2010)

Sorry but I found nanowri extremely boring and I quit after 1000 words.  I could not identify any value it brings...and the website is ...well...very active on the fund rising side (which I do not like)

But good luck to everyone else, it may work for some or many.

Gabriela


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Sorry to hear it didn't help you, Gab.

I don't get caught up in much of the activities... I use the widgets to keep myself accountable on my writer's blog/Web site (www.craig-hansen.com) and I like NaNoWriMo as a tool to motivate me to produce....

However, the local activities like write-ins and such just don't appeal... I'm a solitary writer; I can't even write when my wife and I are both on our laptops in the living room. I need to be in a room all by myself, focusing on my story. It's the only way I can do it.

The fund-raising doesn't bug me, but I can see how it might bug others. I just don't let it bother me. But that's me.

For me, NaNoWriMo provides some tools and some public accountability to produce and a deadline... but the real motivation for me to write is that I have a project I'm juiced about. EMBER's gonna be a fun novel and I can see doing sequels to it.

So I guess it all depends on what one is looking for, going in. I'm getting what I went in looking for... but I wasn't looking for much, other than the productivity widgets for my site, and the public accountability.


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

JSRinUK said:


> I don't think the bar goes purple until the end of the month. If you hit 50K earlier, it goes green.


You are right; it's green. 

I don't see the fundraising stuff (they have fundraising stuff? ). My NaNo bookmark is on my own page; I go to update my word count, stare at my stats and look at how well all my writing buddies are doing, and that's all. Then it's back to pounding the keys some more, or a break to do something practical like a load of laundry.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I'm of the same mind as Craig.  I'm more of a solitary writer and I don't get wrapped up in the social activities beyond using the widgets, browsing the forums, and posting if there's something I'm interested in.  I don't do meet-ups and I don't engage in activities to increase my word count.  I use NaNoWriMo to see if I can work to a deadline (I can't) and to a schedule (I can't).  In short, I use it as an addition to my writing.  I would have written the words whether it was NaNo or not.

I've read a few posts on the NaNo forum from people saying that NaNoWriMo's "not for them" or "fundamentally flawed" and they've scrapped what they've written.  NaNo's not for everyone, I get that - each to their own and all that, but I don't understand why the words need scrapping.  That's like me saying that I'd written a thousand words but I'm scrapping them because I don't like November.  The only reason I would scrap words is if I was dissatisfied with what I'd written, but that would be my fault and would have nothing to do with NaNo.

In short, I get out of NaNo exactly what I thought I'd get out of it.  A vague sense of community, a sense of doing something that millions of other people around the world are doing at the exact same time.  NaNoWriMo gives me an "excuse to write" when I should be using my time for other things.

On the fund-raising side, I don't find that they push that at all.  I've bookmarked my profile page to keep track of word count and only spend time on the forum.  I did donate $10 because I felt that, despite finances being tight, I could afford that.  It's not like they don't invest in good causes.  They have people donating $2,500 so I don't think my $10 is going to rock anyone's world but I see it as a token of my appreciation for what they do.  I'd only have spent that $10 on junk food anyway (so at least my belt approves!)...


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

Jasmine Giacomo said:


> You are right; it's green.


Well done for getting there so soon! I hope to join you and the other greenies by Sunday.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Didn't do any writing yesterday; took the day off. I felt I could, since I was a day ahead. Now I'm on level terms, and it's back to work.

I want to hit 20,000 sometime tomorrow.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Nowhere near 20,000 yet... maybe this weekend, after Shabbat...


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## Kevin D. (Sep 17, 2010)

I haven't been here on the boards much or anywhere else for that matter because the few precious free minutes I get have been dedicated to writing.  I'm 17,000 words into my novel, so I guess I'm close to being on track. 

Hope to be able to spend more time around the boards once I'm done.  Maybe even go outside for reasons other than my job! *gasp*  lol


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

Today was my best day so far for this month - almost 7,500 words over three writing sessions.  That brings me up to 46K and well back on course to hit the 50K before mid-month if I don't work too much over the weekend.

It's surprising how much quicker you write when it all starts coming together.  It's been a bit slow up until today, but it's all speeding up quite nicely now.


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## CoffeeCat (Sep 13, 2010)

JSRinUK said:


> Today was my best day so far for this month - almost 7,500 words over three writing sessions. That brings me up to 46K and well back on course to hit the 50K before mid-month if I don't work too much over the weekend.
> 
> It's surprising how much quicker you write when it all starts coming together. It's been a bit slow up until today, but it's all speeding up quite nicely now.


Congrats that's awesome! I totally forgot about this thread. I've been doing what I can to meet the 1,676 minimum word crunch each day, but I've had some off days (my LO is still in her unpredictable stage). Still, I agree that it's a lot easier to write more when things start to come together. Initially, I started out just winging it because I didn't want to get too self conscious about whatever outline I might come up with. That worked for about six days. I took one writing session to "outline" things and banged out 2,000 words. It's been much easier since then.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

CoffeeCat said:


> Congrats that's awesome!


Thanks! I managed to get to almost 56K today. I won't be doing any writing tomorrow or Tuesday, though, I think.



CoffeeCat said:


> I've been doing what I can to meet the 1,676 minimum word crunch each day, but I've had some off days (my LO is still in her unpredictable stage). Still, I agree that it's a lot easier to write more when things start to come together. Initially, I started out just winging it because I didn't want to get too self conscious about whatever outline I might come up with. That worked for about six days. I took one writing session to "outline" things and banged out 2,000 words. It's been much easier since then.


Well done for keeping up with the word count. Some people say "write something every day" but I've tried to work to a set number of words per day and I just can't do it. I prefer to write in "splurges" (if that's even a word!). If I don't have enough time for a "splurge" (2-3 hours), then I tend not to write on that day. I know I should because even one hour is enough time for a good few words, but that's not the way I work.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I'm soooo far behind.  LOL.  I got a critique back from T.L. Haddix on the first book (using Nano for the sequel) so have been working on that instead.  Last time I wrote 30k in the last week so I'm not worried - yet.  

Well done to the 50kers!


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm currently sitting just over 24k - ahead of the target word count, but not by much. I'm hoping I might build up more of a buffer this week, as the last few days have all been pretty good in the writing department. I guess we'll see


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

JSRinUK said:


> Well done for getting there so soon! I hope to join you and the other greenies by Sunday.


Thanks, and congrats on your own green bar.  I'm aiming for 75K by the time Castle starts tonight. It feels odd to be writing the dramatic build up to the climax of the novel two weeks after I wrote the prologue. But in a good way. It's hard to edit and polish a manuscript I haven't finished. And boy does it need it!


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

I'm at 30,429 at the moment. So I'm not doing too badly. I'm going to write at least another 2-3k before I go to bed sometime in the wee morning. I had been hoping to go to some of the meet ups around here, but no. I just either haven't had the time, or had some disaster pop up. 

So at this moment, I've kinda given up on meeting some of the local nano writers. I should finish this thing within time limit as I'm slightly ahead at the moment, assuming I don't take to many days off.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I reached 25k today. I hadn't written for a good few days - bad, Claire, bad.

I hit a wall but I had a bit of inspiration today so was able to work around it.

If anyone is interested in writing goal challenges throughout the year then check out A Round of Words in 80 Days. PnR indie Kait Nolan is organising it. She's also looking for more writer sponsors, I believe.

http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com


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## Greenkeeper (Mar 16, 2010)

Crashed and burned here at around 18k, and that's combining word count from two different projects. While writing my NaNo novel I kept getting too many ideas for my current WIP that I had already started and kept going back to that. I did get one benefit from the furious week of writing, though; I have really stopped hyper-editing and outlining as I write, which has led to much more organic plot progression and broken through a lot of writer's block I had been dealing with. I just type and see where the story leads me, which is pretty much how I wrote my first novel.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

So I finally passed the 40k mark last night. I'm still ahead of the target count (just!), but I could have been so much further. I've had quite a few good days (one 5k day, five or six 2k days), but then I've had a few where I haven't even made 1k. Oh well, I guess it's all part of the experience 

One thing I do know though is that I definitely want to continue writing after this. I was using this as a bit of a test to see if writing fiction was for me, and I'm really enjoying it immensely. I guess I've been bitten by the writing bug


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

It's great to see that purple bar and get the winner's certificate!  Loved the little video clip, too.

I'm still aiming for 100,000 by the end of the month but this week hasn't given me any free time with which to do it.

Congrats to everyone else who participated, whether you make it to 50K or not.  Just trying makes you a winner!


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

I call it nanowrimo nogo.

sigh. too many things for me this month, but it sure is inspiring to see you all making such progress


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

So.
Far.
Behind...


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

Huzzah and yippee, I finished my rough draft today! just over my estimate (on my word count ticker) of 110K, too. Now I can enjoy my snowed-in Thanksgiving in peace.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Made it to 50k last night and now want to drop the thing and run a mile.  

This year was a struggle for me - I wasn't sure if I would make it but over the last week I got back into my stride which was nice and part of the reason I wanted to do it this year.  It's probably my worst NaNo story (that says a lot  ) but I'm back in the writing habit and I'm happy about it.


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## rcanepa (Jul 1, 2010)

Hey everyone,

Sorry to crank up the topic and then be gone for most of the month :-/  Changes at work... aieeee.  I realized early on that it'd be silly for me to try.  Seems like I mostly work and sleep lately.  I feel alright, though;  finished 2 novellas-bordering-on-novels this year.

Hope that everyone's still on schedule to win.

If not, there's still time


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## Kevin D. (Sep 17, 2010)

For the moment, still on schedule.  Actually had a really good day yesterday.  But with so few days left, it won't take much to fall behind! 

I don't intend to lose, though!


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## Judi Coltman (Aug 23, 2010)

rcanepa said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> Sorry to crank up the topic and then be gone for most of the month :-/ Changes at work... aieeee. I realized early on that it'd be silly for me to try. Seems like I mostly work and sleep lately. I feel alright, though; finished 2 novellas-bordering-on-novels this year.
> 
> ...


Nano -whaaaaaa? I lasted 3 days. My worst enemy is life. It keeps getting in my way.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

Same here.  I've not been able to find time to write a single word all week.  I need to write about 9K each day of Saturday and Sunday if I want to hit my own target of 100K.

It'll be a struggle.


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## JMcGhee (Oct 31, 2010)

I've done super well with NaNoWriMo for the past four years--but this fifth year is a definite challenge.  I'm at about 39k after having written 10k in two days, so I know I can hit 50 if I really try.  But being a full-time student and a scrambling NaNoer is not easy.  Especially with all the forums to distract me.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

31000...can I make it?
Can I?

Not if I keep playing online...


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## Judi Coltman (Aug 23, 2010)

Thumper said:


> 31000...can I make it?
> Can I?
> 
> Not if I keep playing online...


I'll tell you what. I'll put my cheerleader outfit and cute white go go boots and sheer for all of you writing to the deadline.

Type that word! Hone that plot! Type, type, type.

mmmk, I'm a little winded here.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

I think I'm going to make it. I only need 600 words to make 50k for the month. Should be done with the challenge sometime tonight. Of course the book will be longer then that, so the challenge kind of keeps going.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

Sharlow said:


> I think I'm going to make it. I only need 600 words to make 50k for the month. Should be done with the challenge sometime tonight. Of course the book will be longer then that, so the challenge kind of keeps going.


That's my challenge too - I'll reach 50k, but I'm not near the end of my book (and I've got a large section to add as it is that I've skipped over). Oh well, I guess December can be NaNoWriMo as well


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

I am almost done with NaNo 2010 and Destination 50K. I'm sitting 1,123 words away from the Promised Land. 

Going to watch Arsenal at 7:45 a.m., then write. I hope to have crossed that finish line by noon, and then I'm taking the rest of the weekend off. Back to work on the second half of the book Monday or Tuesday.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

Betsala said:


> Type that word! Hone that plot! Type, type, type.
> 
> mmmk, I'm a little winded here.


No honing, takes too much time.
typetypetypetypetype

:::hands the cheerleader some icy cold liquidy stuff to wet her whistle:::


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I surprised myself today and managed 10,222 words - leaving me just 7,500 to reach my goal of 100K.  I hope to get those all done tomorrow.

The funny thing is that I outlined 16 scenes to write over the weekend so that I could achieve all of the words I needed, but the 10K I did today only covered two and two half scenes.  This project might end up longer than I thought.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Just won!


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

So did I. Do we just put all that we wrote into the validation box? What if the story's not finished, but still past 50k words?


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

I've just crawled over the 100K line to complete a "double-NaNo".  I hadn't been able to write anything all week, so I thought I wouldn't hit my target.

But I'm there.  Exhausted, but there.

Almost 18K in two days?  I think I could sleep for a week now.    

Well done to everyone else who won, and to all those who took part - even if you didn't quite make it.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

39,100... I don't mind not "winning" because I've got the bones for the book, but if I hit 49,000 and that's it, I and going to be so ticked at myself...


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

I didn't think I would manage it, but I won too


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

Made it! No thanks to the wordcount in OpenOffice disagreeing with the wordcount on the NaNoWriMo site though - I thought I had passed 50k, pasted it in the NaNo site, and discovered that it thought I'd only written 48k. After comparing with Word and running a couple of experiments, it seems the OpenOffice wordcount tool is stupid (technical term there  ), and counts some forms of puncuation as words. Grrr!  

So it was a mad rush to write another 2000 words. Thankfully I "finished" the first time early in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to correct the problem.

Now to keep writing and finish the actual novel


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I won't get there. I expect to be about half-way there, by the time the clock strikes midnight tomorrow.

But that's OK. I wrote more in November by doing this than I might have otherwise. Time well spent!


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

My eyes are bleary, my head hurts, I'm pretty sure I'm stuttering every time O open my mouth, and my asterisk hurts from sitting her for the past 3 days pretty much nonstop. But.










I squeaked it out at 50,054 tonight.

Granted, 75% of it sucks donkey nads, but I have the structure of the story in my head and I know the directions I want to take it. 
My suckitude will not suck so much in a few months, so, yay!


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## opuscroakus (Aug 7, 2010)

jasonga said:


> Made it! No thanks to the wordcount in OpenOffice disagreeing with the wordcount on the NaNoWriMo site though - I thought I had passed 50k, pasted it in the NaNo site, and discovered that it thought I'd only written 48k. After comparing with Word and running a couple of experiments, it seems the OpenOffice wordcount tool is stupid (technical term there  ), and counts some forms of puncuation as words. Grrr!
> 
> So it was a mad rush to write another 2000 words. Thankfully I "finished" the first time early in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to correct the problem.
> 
> Now to keep writing and finish the actual novel


I think it more accurate to say that the word count tool for NaNo is faulty. I was writing in RoughDraft and every time I tried to verify, it shorted me 500 words EXACTLY.

But, I made it night before last with 50,230 words. Yippee! Another 20,000 to go to complete and then begin edits. Publication date: Valentine's Day!


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## Luke King (Nov 4, 2010)

I feel like I've missed out now. I have been writing, but if I'd pushed myself, I could have another novel under my belt.

I think I'll have a decent crack at it next year.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

opuscroakus said:


> I think it more accurate to say that the word count tool for NaNo is faulty. I was writing in RoughDraft and every time I tried to verify, it shorted me 500 words EXACTLY.


I can't say if the NaNo word count tool is faulty or not, but the difference was definately due to OpenOffice being "generous" with it's word count. I did some tests, and it was counting endashes (or are they emdashes? Whatever  ) as words. The NaNo tool also agreed with Words word count (well, there was one word difference), so OpenOffice was the cause of my annoyance. I'm just glad I had enough time to write the extra words!



opuscroakus said:


> But, I made it night before last with 50,230 words. Yippee! Another 20,000 to go to complete and then begin edits. Publication date: Valentine's Day!


My plan is finish the novel off, let it sit for a month, then start my second draft. Once I'm happy with that, I'll start bringing in alpha readers, etc etc. I'm hoping to have mine ready for publication some time in the last half of next year.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Luke King said:


> I feel like I've missed out now. I have been writing, but if I'd pushed myself, I could have another novel under my belt.
> 
> I think I'll have a decent crack at it next year.


Why not try the ROW80 in January?

That's scary about the word counts, I would hate to miss out at the last minute over a word count difference.

I'm going to let mine sit for a month too then maybe replot it in January and see what can be salvaged. It's probably my crappiest NaNo work yet but it helped me figure out a few more details in the first book (this was the sequel) so not a loss at all.

Still . . . I'm so glad it's all over.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

farrellclaire said:


> That's scary about the word counts, I would hate to miss out at the last minute over a word count difference.


For anyone who KNOWS they hit 50K, it's the last minute, and they want to be sure...cut and paste a thousand words as padding. It's not cheating since you DID hit 50K, but yeah, the NaNo word counter differs from both Open Office and Word--by over 150 words on mine... NaNo said I had 50,054, but both OO and Word had me at over 50,200.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

I'm hoping to get my project finished in December. Hopefully I'm not that sick and just need a little rest.


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## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

Thumper said:


> NaNo said I had 50,054, but both OO and Word had me at over 50,200.


It's interesting you had OO and Word agree, but NaNo different - I had NaNo and Word agree, but OO different!


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

Congrats to everyone who finished!


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

Posting here a week late, but I won! It was my first year doing NaNo. The book isn't finished (no surprise), but it was a blast to do.

In celebration, I bought myself a NaNo hoodie.


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