NaNoWriMo, kinda

[strangeanimal]

... so I've been seeing mention of NaNoWriMo in people's journals. and had no idea what it meant. but was intrigued.

turns out it stands for NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth, where the idea was to write a 50,000 word novel, from scratch... during November. (one of the short months, to boot!)

so, of course, I end up discovering it in December. but anyway.

considering I'm a journalism graduate... who took a lot of creative writing workshops as well... and I'm unemployed... and rdcf was suggesting yesterday that I should start writing again to keep busy...

(anyone see where I'm going yet?)

... on New Years Day, I'm going to challenge myself to write a 50,000 word novel. in a month. I'll set aside part of each day for job-search type things, and part of each day for attacking the monster.

I haven't found any ongoing NaNoWriMo communities on LJ... they mostly seem to consist of people who did the November novel and are now into edits/rewrites, etc.

and besides, I'm not big on having complete strangers do the first read of what I write.

so... unless I think it's a complete utter piece of crap, I'll upload the novel (or at least an excerpt) somewhere on Groundhog Day, and (grits teeth) you all can have at it.

savageknight, thothmeister, and mindme especially (but of course, all of you)... any advice?

... this is going to be me challenging myself to wring some creativity out of my brain. I like the time limit, because I know that if I don't have the deadline, I'll never finish the project.

and I know a rushed novel isn't exactly going to be "War and Peace"... as long as it has the potential on February 1st to be a lot better, I'll be happy.

... unless of course I find a job that takes up most of my free time during the month of January. in which case, I reserve the right to write haiku instead. :)

wish me luck... :)

Comments

NaNoWriMo

[tbone.livejournal.com]

Thanks for clearing that up! I've seen that in a few places as well, but I felt too stupid to ask what it was all about.

Re: NaNoWriMo

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

my pleasure... just call me acronym-guy. ;)

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I think it's a wonderful idea -- why the heck not? What have you got to lose? :)

I caught the NaNoWriMo announcement too late, too, so I didn't even both trying. But seriously, I'm thinking of doing the same thing. If anything, it'll at least get me writing again!

Re:

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

if you start on 1/1/03, we can compare notes!

Re:

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

have you done one? I ask because the NaNo site recommends the same book... quite the coinkydink.

Re:

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

hrm. may have to check that book out. :)

[rdcf.livejournal.com]

See how great things turn out when you listen to your wife? ;-)

Re:

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

I'd hold off on the use of "great" until we determine that I can string together a paragraph that doesn't make people mod off! :)

Writing tips

[thothmeister.livejournal.com]

Like hockey_ho says, it is a lot of words. I'm currently struggling to get a short story of 3-7 K words done, and finding it challenging!

The best advice I can give (similar to what you've already heard here): just keep writing. Even if you aren't happy with a passage, keep going. This is your first draft, and you'll tighten up the prose in later ones. You have to turn your internal editor off for now so that you can get to the end!

Re: Writing tips

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

that seems to be the concensus in this type of writing... write my ass off.

i'd be struggling with a short story too... I'm hoping that the deadline will light a spark under me, and at very least the 50K will yield something worth improving on. :)

Writing tips

[thothmeister.livejournal.com]

My deadline is a little looser... I have until March 1st. I just want to finish sooner so that all the anthology slots for this story competition aren't taken first.

Re: Writing tips

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

oh, it's for a competition! kick some butt then. :)

[good-enough.livejournal.com]

I really should try and do this too, it would at least get me writing, which I've been meaning to do for a while. I'm afraid I would lose my motivation though. Hrm.

My only advice would be to not set the 50, 000 words as your goal, since it is quite a daunting task. Attacking it in smaller pieces (1-5k instead) might make it seem more achievable.

Good luck!

Re:

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

I did a few creative writing workshop classes in CEGEP and at Concordia... I topped off at about 15K if i remember correctly, so I figure I should be able to manage at least that.

and I think you should start. on january 1st. and let your friends motivate you if you get writer's block. :)

[mindme.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the 3 day novel writing competition at:

http://www.anvilpress.com/3daynov/registr.htm

It takes place over the labor day weekend.

I think Kurt Vonnegut suggested once if you want to write a novel, set a goal to write one page a day. After a year you've got 365 pages. And that's a novel.

Re:

[strangeanimal.livejournal.com]

3 days? oy.

let me survive my January try and I'll get back to you!!

the Vonnegut idea makes sense too...