Nanowrimo 2007

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

For the first time in 5 years, I'm really see-sawing as to wether to try, simply because I NEVER FINISH :(

I have no idea why I'm thinking of doing this again (or rather, trying), but I think I've talked yet another person into it, so if I bail I'm going to look bad.

This year's a definite no for me. Too much on. I'll try and do '08. Shame, I've completed the last three.

I've actually decided for this year to intentionally not complete the story; rather, the 50,000 word limit, which I will hit, will be what I can complete of something that's long been building in my head as something to try. This has been a year of trying out new things and pushing forward with them and this is one of these steps. More on what this all is later! But it has to do with a family story some generations back I've long been intrigued by, and will take some preparation.

HI DERE. yes I will be doing this agaane.

I found the words for my project sooner than I thought.

Ned you scare me sometimes I swear.

Er?

I think she's talking about your capacity to produce text, Ned.

Okay then.

Or possibly she's addressing your habit of showing up at night, wearing a mask and carrying an axe.

Of course I can't be sure.

C'mon, that happens every night at your place too.

I carry a hatchet, Ned, keep it straight.

While you're out there, John, next time you might do me a favor and trim some of the shrubbery.

JJ was right, though I think I like Sara's theory! ;P

*flees*

This is for wussies. Real toughies do 24 Hour Comics Day on Actober 20th. Or both, I guess.

Actober is like October, but with more ACTION!

I'll be on vacation then so you can do my brilliant comic idea for me. Thanks!

This is a scarier Nanowrimo thread than usual. It has weapons!

I was waffling on the idea of doing a novel this year just a few months ago, but then I managed to come up with the basis for a story somehow. It's very minimal so far so I'm going to be relying on the excitement of November to make a whole story out of it (probably not a great idea).

Man, I made what ended up being a really halfhearted attempt at it last year, so did my friend Kevin. And yet I feel like I want to make another earnest attempt this year... who knows what will become of it!

I am so DOING IT this year! My first time. Have no idea what I'm going to write about. My creative writing is usually just pooping whatever comes out and then looking at it eight years later and rewriting 75% of it. Longest thing I've ever written was 3k words or so, so we'll see how this goes!

I'm excited! :D

I'm in this year again too.

I am definitely doing this again. I was going to finish last year's novel before I started another one, but I think I'm better off starting a new project with a less ambitious narrative for the purposes of this frenzied creative process.

FB's story: "He Drank It: Bibulousness In 50,000 Words"

I'd totally read that. Especially if it got me off the 50,000 word hook.

I can't back down now, though!

I will shuffle my posts from the drink it/watch it/am drunk/labor day threads and bury you all the first day.

It's easier to just use John's "at least 7 swear words per sentence" method.

Actually, if you combine those two methods, you can probably finish in 3 days instead of 30.

So, just shy of Ned, then?

Eh I might as well give this a go this year. Though I have a new housemate moving in on Nov 10th so I'm going to get majorly distracted (heh) once he's there and probably wont finish, as per.

This site is never working for me! It's been trying to connect to the signup page for four minutes now, the fuckah! Is there even a point to signing up on the site or can I just sit around and feel pleased without connecting to a server?

You can more or less do this on your own. I didn't get any help from the forums, go to any meetups, or hook up with any friends on the site. On the other hand, they do have nifty word counter hoonja doonjas and so forth, and there is a nice feeling to being part of a big project.

I'm slightly concerned, though, by the fact that they've dropped their sponsorship of libraries and so on in developing countries. I kind of don't really feel like it's my job to get kids in America interested in becoming professional writers (and you do feel it's your job to help build libraries for kids in Vietnam? Yes, I do).

Hello, you are correct.

My initial scheming, part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Username is igotabeefpastry, hit up my big ole head, y'all.

Okay, can *anyone* figure out how to search for other users at the NaNoWriMo site? I'd be happy to add you as a buddy, but apparently I'm too clueless to get the how of it this year!

(I'm SaraRC at the site - if you add me as a buddy I can figure out how to add you - I just can't figure out how to search for a person...)

i'm in too – this year i might even start

I came SO CLOSE to doing it this year, but am too knackered from the degree I finished two weeks ago.

I'm celebrating the first day of nanowrimo by not writing and seeing gogol bordello.

is it just me or is the site retardedly slow?

It's been running pretty poorly for me too. I really only use it to update the word count.

No Nanowrimo for me this year. Moving to a new house in two weeks and planning a wedding make this an incredibly bad time to attempt this again. I still have the glory of making it last year though!

Third time trying for me. Maybe this one will be the charm.

I'm doing a NaNoWri2Mo. Its my own challenge, a throwdown by a friend. I got til Dec 31st and I will *not* be allowed to get away with failing.

The hell have I done!?

I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that this starts on Thursday. I hope I can get a few sentences done the first day at least... the first couple of weeks are going to be hard to squeeze in writing due to homework and class conflicts. And yet I still want to do it...

I have no idea what the shit I'm writing about, just gonna twist it all off, all those logs of something.

Okay, can *anyone* figure out how to search for other users at the NaNoWriMo site? I'd be happy to add you as a buddy, but apparently I'm too clueless to get the how of it this year!

(I'm SaraRC at the site - if you add me as a buddy I can figure out how to add you - I just can't figure out how to search for a person...)

You can't at the moment - they've disabled the search functions for speed reasons. And cunningly not put any message on the site indicating that they've done so (grumble). Until they enable the searches again, the way to add your friends is to obtain their profile ID (which is the number on the end of the url when you are on your profile page), swap their profile ID in for yours in the url, and click the 'add to buddies' link on the profile page.

first 1500, and just mentioned the protag for the first time.

Ya punk. (I need to get started here in a bit but I'm still waking up and taking care of actual work.)

Part seven.

And part eight.

Finally past 3,000 words. At this rate, I should finish sometime before Christmas of 2011...

I've done 8,500 words so far, but I'm still way behind schedule.

This Ned fellow is making us look bad.

Way to go Matthew!

If we could just take Ned out, everything would be so much easier. I'll distract him; you superglue his fingers together.

Am I the only person who is not writing things sequentially?

x-post -- Ahem.

Shhhhh - he's here.

HI NED! I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU OVER HERE IN THE CORNER!!!

Oh indeed.

Part nine.

Sara, you were too late!

Tonight I increased the length of my story by 2/3 and finally finished that first pirate attack (yeah...that's how much I procrastinated, it took all week), so I am incredibly proud! But I am still behind and thinking of leaving town next weekend, so I would like to double it this weekend. Very unlikely, since I haven't planned out anything beyond this!

Dammit, I almost had him cornered. ;_;

Way to go, Maria! I am hoping to find some time this weekend to write. My nutrition prof seems to have other ideas. (TS: sleeping vs. noveling)

Part ten

Part eleven

argh i have hit the point where it's painful and i have no good ideas

I hate you all. Why did I decide to do this with a new baby and a new job ugh.

I'm with you Dimension 5ive; I'm still at 3,000 words, due to multiple classes and time constraints. I am hoping to get into a massive groove on Thursday, after clinicals are over, but right now that sounds unrealistically optimistic. I'm still planning on trying, though.

Part twelve.

A seventh-grader with two sticks and a drum pad will sit for hours learning to paradiddle. You nanowrimo writers have much, much more interesting things to do with your seat time than bang at a drum pad over and over and over. Don't be outshone in concentration by a mere child! Now, go hit those keys and mashup some words, yo!

(This inspirational message has been brought to you courtesy of the Aimless Cheerleading Service.)

Heh. I am ENTHUSED. And nearly 16,000 words in - woo!

Part thirteen

I'm presently at 22,000 words. I'm surprised by how easy this has been thus far, never having attempted anything on this scale previously. The last couple of days I've been getting kinda bored with where the story is taking me, though, so I may have to take a radical turn soon.

I'd love to read Ned's and other peoples' stuff, but I've been too busy doing other crap (and writing, of course).

Part fourteen.

Part fifteen.

Part sixteen.

Seventeen and eighteen.

Nineteen...how's everyone else doing, BTW?

I'm still way back at 3,000 words. My super time-consuming class is over, so I think I'll probably try to get further (even if 50,000 words is totally unrealistic). It would help if I wasn't having problems with every one of the last steps I have to take to start nursing classes. (Hello clinic that didn't transfer my vaccination records when they went to a computerized system!)

Gotta love bureaucracy...

Part twenty.

Just over 30,000 words here. I have hope, I have faith...

.. I'm going to Berlin for three days on Friday, then moving house next week.

Rats.

Hmmm. Scribble as you go.

Part twenty-one.

Parts twenty-two and twenty-three.

I've just hit halfway!

(Yes, I do realize that that gives me under a week to write the other half. I'm hoping to have a marathon this weekend in which I shut myself in the kitchen with the space heater, music, and lots of tea and chocolates, but it's off to a slow start. )

Also I just wrote a dialogue in Latin, which is historically unrealistic but was fun to do. Not like anybody's going to read this anyway :)

GO MARIA GO!!!!

(also your marathon writing plan sounds completely awesome, with a perfect menu)

Very awesome! You'll get it done, Maria.

Parts twenty-four and twenty-five, and I am done at 50,000+ words. (The story is, intentionally, far from complete.) More thoughts tomorrow.

Wow, congratulations, Ned! Are you going to finish? How far in do you think you are?

The marathon is going well in that I wrote 12,000 words so far and can probably do another 2,000 tonight. That's 2,000 short of my weekend goal, set in order to make this week manageable, so I guess the rush is going to continue.

I hope to finish at some point though I want to pause and heavily revise what I have on a variety of levels. I consider myself having reached the halfway point of the overall story.

Enjoy the rush! It can get addictive.

By the way I hate you all, still.

Ned you slacker, last year you did this in a week.

You'll pardon me if I actually wanted to think this one through a bit more.

Just over 35,000 words here, and I have no time to call my own this week.

Still, not bad, I s'pose.

Very good indeed, I'd say.

A final summation, review and reflection post

Whoa, Ned, I can't read your blog. I get an error message in English and Turkish, and the English version says, "Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance." I guess that means you are unacceptable to the state! This is too bad, because I wanted to read.

Also, writer's block in week 4 when you're already behind is the worst :(

Aw man. I suspect it's more because it's a WordPress site but you never know...anyway, I will e-mail you a copy if you'd like.

That's probably it, the only other site where I've come across that message was also WordPress. And yes, please send a copy! (Shall I ask again when you've finished the whole novel?)

Well, who knows when that will be -- I plan to spend a lot of next year in research and revision on what I have already.

I finished with 5 hours and 20 minutes to spare :D

Now I have a short novel I will never show anyone! I like the characters, and the setting, but the plot didn't wind up going where I planned and I don't like how it turned out, in terms of actual events and general content and themes. Maybe I'll write something good and recycle ideas from it someday? Whatever, it was fun!

Hooray! That's wonderful to hear, Maria. :-) And there's nothing wrong with recycling ideas that way. Great to hear you finished it!

That's AWESOME, Maria! Congratulations!!!!

I have gotten no further; still at 3,000 words, thanks to a super-ridiculous nutrition project - which is about 40 or 50 pages long. I'm half-considering trying to integrate it into what I already have, making it the diary of my (now) obsessive compulsive, anorexic-wannabe character. Seeing as how today is the last day of November, though, I'm not sure I can manage. :(