NaNo Sidelines

I am not going to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Writing Month) this year because:

-Last year I tried and failed miserably, writing about 12,000 words that almost all had to be deleted.

-I'm kind of busy this month what with

--my baby who is still way too tiny to sleep more than 3 hours at a time (which means I never sleep more than 3 hours at a time)

--Laundry

--Thanksgiving with 20+ family members at my house

-I'm finally ALMOST done with the manuscript I've been working on for a year and if I just buckle down I might be able to finish it in November.

Still NaNo is tempting because:

-I have a new idea that is WAY different from the project I'm working on and it sounds like more fun.

-Revising my current project is hard work

-I like to make my life as crazy as possible

But don't worry. I'm not going to give in. Maybe I'll try NaNo again next year. This year I'll be doing NaNoReviseMo and *hopefully* finishing this sucker.

Are you doing NaNo this year?

On Trying to Quit and Failing

Last week I decided to trunk my NaNoWriMo manuscript and work on something else. Quitting was the smart thing to do. I struggled to put words on the page. I didn't love it anymore (or so I thought).

On Monday I didn't write anything. On Tuesday I tried to start something new. I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday snuggling on the couch with sick kids (actually I spent most of Monday and Tuesday doing this too). And then Friday I opened up my week-old NaNo manuscript and guess what...

It was funny. I loved the characters. The writing was terrible (of course), but I could see potential, so I sat down and wrote 1000 words.

I have given up on trying to "win" NaNoWriMo--50,000 words in a month just doesn't work for me--but I've decided to keep going with the story.

I think I quit because I got discouraged with the middle. The middle is the hardest part for me to write. The beginning is easy (at least the first draft) and the end is fun, but the middle is hard. Stuff has to happen to propel the story from point A to point Z, but that stuff isn't always clear (or if it is clear it isn't always interesting).

Do you have a hard time with middles? Do you have any tricks to keep things moving forward?

(I've been a bad blogger lately. In an effort to regain consistency, I'm planning to post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

NaNo Killed My Story

Not really. My story is dead, but I don't think I can blame NaNo completely. I came to a realization over the weekend, while I was contemplating writing 12,500 more words this week, that perhaps this writing style just doesn't work for me. The breakneck pace made me dread writing, and my writing time is supposed to be fun (it's my outlet).

Writing-dread combined with my need to plan ahead and my outline that failed miserably (more about this in a later post), made me doubt my sanity in continuing on the NaNo journey. My daughter came down with the flu today (don't worry, it's the pukey kind--not the swine flu), my house is in shambles, and I have an new story idea that doesn't make me cringe when I think about writing it.

So this is the deal: I am not quitting, I am shifting my focus from one project to another, and I'm loosening my self-inflicted word count requirements so I can write less now and more when I have healthy children and a moderately clean house. I'm still going to shoot for 50,000 words this month (I'm at 13,000 now), but I'm not going to feel bad if life gets in the way and I only get 13,500.

Last week was interesting. I think I could continue writing at that pace if I had a project I believed in, but this one just wasn't it. It's possible that it will be "the one" in the future, but not right now. So, I'll chalk this little adventure up as an enlightening experiment and move on to bigger and better things. To all you NaNoers who are still going strong with your original projects: I salute you. May your stories be wonderful, and may all your wildest dreams come true. To the rest of you: I'm sure your sanity is in better shape than mine.

Have you ever quit a manuscript ten thousand words in? Have you ever gone back and made it fun again? (Please say yes!)

Quality or Quantity?

I went to a NaNo event for my region last night. It was... interesting.

One of the most eye opening exercises for me was this thing they do called a "Word War." Everyone was supposed to write as many words as they could in 10 minutes. I thought I wrote pretty fast--I put down 271 words in the allotted time. Those 271 words were not as good as my normal first draft words (which if you'll recall, aren't very good to start with)--they were rushed. I didn't have time to think through what I was going to write or how the dialogue should flow and apparently I really need that time to think things through.

So get this--almost every other person at the write in did over 700 words (700 words in 10 minutes!) and one woman did over 1000! While I am in awe of these people's typing skills, the exercise made me realize why agents plead with authors not to submit NaNo novels. What kind of quality does this sort of writing encourage?

It takes me about 3 hours to write my daily 2500 words, and those are pretty crumby first draft words. I can't imagine how much more they would stink if I wrote them in 25 minutes.

Sure, there's revision, but how much can revision help if the first draft is terrible--if the story isn't well thought out? Is this NaNo business really a good thing? Maybe there should be a month where we encourage people to write good stuff instead of 50,000 words of crap?

Wow, that was quite the little rant. I really don't have a problem with NaNo if it gives people the push they need to get a novel done. I've been having fun with my own manuscript, despite the daily word goal. But I don't like the idea of writing a lot of words just so I can say I "won." I'll feel like a winner if I get a usable first draft out of the experience--something I can revise (for 3-6 months) and be proud of, even if I don't make it to 50,000.

Does this quantity over quality style of writing worry any of the rest of you? Am I crazy? Anyone planning to query novels in December along with thousands of rushed NaNo manuscripts? Thoughts?

Greetings from the NaNo Trenches

I really shouldn't be blogging today, but I've made a few discoveries during my first few days of NaNoWriMo that I wanted to share with you.

1. First drafts are not good.

You probably all realize this, but it's been a while since I've written more than a few chapters of a first draft (and those few chapters I've edited to death so they aren't as stinky as a real first draft).

2. This first draft (though terrible) is better than my previous first drafts.

I've actually learned some things in the last year. YAY! I'm using more active verbs and fewer dialogue tags, the dialogue is better, and even the voice feels stronger and fresher.

3. It hasn't been that hard to meet my writing goals everyday.

Granted we're only on the third day (and I'm only writing on weekdays--2500 words a day--so it's technically only day 2 for me) but I'm starting to think that my "I don't have enough time to write" complaint doesn't hold much water. I may not have enough time to blog, read blogs, AND write everyday, but I definitely have time to write ten pages and read a few blogs (and mow the lawn, do laundry, feed and clothe my children, run to the library, wash dishes, clean the kitchen, and read 80 pages of Scott Westerfeld's LEVIATHAN--which is so good by the way). I don't know where all this time was before, but I'm glad it showed up for November.

It's been an interesting couple of days. I just hope I can keep this pace up throughout the month.

Have you discovered anything interesting about your writing lately?

NaNo Progress: 5112 words

TTFN and Happy Halloween!

I just wanted to let you know that I will be taking a blogging break during the month of November so I can focus on writing during National Novel Writing Month! I think I'll still post once a week (maybe Fridays?), and I'll try to catch up on a few of your blogs once a week too, but mostly I'll be absent from the blogging world. (I imagine many of you will be too.) I will miss you, but I'm really excited to be immersed in writing again!

So, until next week. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

"This is so humiliating," thinks the dog.

Oh and I'd love it if any of you doing NaNo would leave your usernames in the comments so I can add you as friends. My username is NBB. GOOD LUCK!

I'm going to WriMo

That's right. I decided I'm going to participate in National Novel Writing Month. All the girls in my writing group are doing it, and I don't want to feel left out. :)

I planned to participate unofficially, and start on my manuscript now instead of in three weeks, but I decided it would be better to wait a few weeks and have the support and camaraderie of thousands of other writers. I was checking out my region on the NaNoWriMo website and there are a lot of writers close by. There are events to get everyone together, and I think it might be fun to meet some writers face-to-face.

I'm going to outline a few scenes before November 1 and possibly work on one of my other projects for the rest of October. When November comes I'm going to work hard, blog little, and finish a novel!

Any of you doing NaNoWriMo?