Is anyone doing NaNo this year? I joined up as a rebel (although to be honest I'm laughing at myself for attempting anything. Not a great starting attitude, but there it is).

If you are, I'd love to commiserate with you!

I'm thinking about it. At the current rate, the novel I've been working on this year (see this thread) will be at the point where I planned to switch from planning to actual writing about November 10 or thereabouts. If I were at this point in my task list a month ago, I would be making definite plans to at least try to intensively write it for November, but I don't think it'll work out.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but let's not commiserate. Let's write!

Ever gone for a walk in the woods? Or on a beach? Some place where you enjoyed being even if the leaves were a bit slippery or the sun just a tad hot? Did you think about how many steps you had to take before you started? Or did you want to be there? To smell and feel and enjoy? To share it with a friend?

Don't write 50,000 words. Write to be in that wonderful place you imagine. Write to share it with us. Don't write perfect words; just one okay word as a gift.

Do that 49,999 more times.

Do that 2,000 times a day and take five days off. "Remember the Sabbath and keep your computer off."

Note that we're not planning which trees to see or what wave to watch; we're just there. Enjoying. The gift to ourselves on December First is a novel; we have done that which we could never do. The first time is a major turning point in a writer's life. It's probably not a great novel, but it exists. Others "want to write", we "have written".

I plan to do NaNo this year. I'll probably be starting off slow since I have some editing to do, but then it should get faster. I'm being a rebel (again) this year, too!

I have never yet been able to succeed at nanowrimo. November is always a busy month for me. But in honor of all ya'll, I'll double my writing efforts!

As long as you get some writing done--even if it ain't 50,000 words--and especially if you write more than you originally planned, that's a success in my book!

I plan to do it as a rebel also, only because I'm working on Peter's Angel, and that's a mix of fresh writing and recycled. I haven't really set a hard goal this year, only because I'm not sure what my school schedule looks like, but as long as I get back into the habit of writing PA consistently, I'll be happy.

I'll second Lady Sparks by doubling my writing efforts through November in honor of all of you! I'm finally coming back to "The Seal of Ventilla" after switching books and trying to figure out all this timeline stuff. Ugh. Characters. I've re-written what I had previously wrote, so I think I'll start a new thread.

I wish all of you well though who are doing NaNo! Write fast and furious!

My NaNo username is "Leam". Send me a buddy request.

Noting that I haven't set my novel for this time, I challenge us all to do so by 5 PM Friday, 20 Oct 2017, in whatever time and planetary zone you happen to be in.

Mine will be "Marine", unless someone has critique to help make it better.

Mine is ladysaotome (an old handle from years and years ago...). Added you as buddy!

Thank you for your response, Domici! It was beautifully written (More poetic than most of my poetry ) While I was being partially facetious, there's always truth behind a joke, and it's good to remember why we write, and to enjoy the process. I'll do my best to take your advice.

Sounds like we have a decent crowd! My name on NaNo is still Gailius, if you wish to add me as a buddy.

Well, call me crazy, but AliasEmber is joining as well! Let the madness begin!

Woohoo!:-D

Against my better judgement, I signed up for NaNoWriMo.
So, I'll be there.

Doing NaNo this year could be either the best or the worst decision I've ever made, if I were to so decide.

How's Nano going for everyone? This is the first Nano I've ever made it more than 3 days in - I haven't missed a day yet though I did only manage 420 words once - so that's already got me pretty excited. And I managed to get all my backstory done and just finished the first of the milestone scenes I've been really looking forward to. I'm a little behind at 14,330 words but very pleased with myself so far!

It really helps that when I hit one of those between scenes that doesn't have me very excited, I just keep my focus on how every word gets me closer to the next exciting scene. And if it feels messy, boring or whatever, I just add a note to myself that I'll need to take a closer look at it later and keep going. When my MC was making a poultice and splinting a broken bone, I just added notes to look up what plants would be used later, etc. And I even found a way to weave my title into the story naturally! (The title was something I came up with that didn't really make sense to the story but I was using it as a placeholder and as I wrote, it just dropped itself in so naturally I was in awe. )

Aww yeah, girl! Keep going!

I've been able to start both my ghostwriting project and finally do some editing on Peter's Angel, so those are both accomplishments for me. I'm lumping all those words together, so it ain't "official," but it's still progress, and that's what counts.

I'm handwriting and estimating word count so I'm not quite official either. But like you said - progress is what's important!

Awesome work!

I'm behind you due to changing the entire concept of the project. My original goal was to take what was already written in game posts and turn it into a readable story. Tossed that idea a few days prior to NaNo start and am writing totally new material that centers around the events in the game. So the story is the same but a totally new writing of it. Fun to write NPCs from the game as major characters. Tiring, too.

You guys are doing fabulously! I'm way behind (I just hit 5,000 words), but I've been adding to my word count every day, and that feels really good after having a story idea for three years and not writing at all. So, I call it a win! It's good to be actually writing instead of just thinking about it.

Sounds like you're already winning; high word count is just icing on the cake!

I don't know about WAY behind. I am at 5457 words. Which is only an issue if the goal of 50,000 words by November 30 is what matters to me (it is not). At 418 words a day, I can still reach 50,000 words by February 28, 2018.

... but I don't think this will be a 50,000 word book. When it is finished, I stop writing and it is, however many words it is. Let's face it, just writing is fun.

This. <3 My hubby is rather baffled but that's ok. I'm a bit baffled at how much time he spends pokemoning. To each his own!

Oh - and the best thing happened. I had an epiphany yesterday for making my story a bit more unique. And I was running over the synopsis with my sister, who's one of my best brainstorming partners. My 13-year-old daughter came through the room, overheard and interrupted to ask, "What book is this you're reading? I want to read it too!" And now she's champing at the bit for me to finish it. Quite a contrast to last weeks reaction of, "Mom's writing again... "

I love this! I'm so happy for y'all.

Writing is fun. A lot of work, too. But it is amazing when these ideas that have been in your head who knows how long are finally there on the page (or in my case screen) in front of you. It's one of the most satisfying things I know. Why did it take me this long to find that out?



That is fantastic, truly the best! Way to go!

Math and work load suggest I'm not going to make 50,000 since the story I'm writing isn't exactly the one that was written. Kinda bummed, kinda happy. Not sure.

As of Wednesday, my nano has been completely derailed. My kiddo got her first case ever of head lice. It's been days of laundry and combing and treatments ever since. I had no idea how difficult it is to get rid of this stuff and she can't go back to school if the nurse can find 3 nits. I'm hoping we're almost through it and I'll be able to start trying to catch up in the next day or two.

Been there, done that.

Our daughter was getting lice from her school so often that we started to become concerned about the frequency of chemical treatments. Research turned up Cetaphil Moisturizer as a safe lice treatment. (You can google it). It works as well as the other treatments. We also found Teatree oil added to the shampoo bottle worked well at keeping lice from returning from any other students at school.

Long thick hair, lots of combing and piles of blankets and sheets and pillows to wash was no fun. You have my sympathy.

We found something called Licefreee! that's a bit more natural than some of the other products. And the whole family is using a shampoo called Fairy Tales Rosemary Rid with teatree oil and some other oils. Plus OGX Tea Tree Mint Shampoo. (double shampoos to be extra cautious) I think we're through the worst of it but I'll have to re-treat Wednesday or Friday since they say to redo it 7-10 days later.

On the plus side, she got inspired by all my talk about nanowrimo and all the writing I was doing. So guess how she's been passing the time every time I sit her down to be combed? Writing her own story! It's in the first person and told in alternating viewpoints between 4 best friends (who are all boys). And it's a scifi dystopian about the government shutting down all the schools and turning them into labs to create hybrid creatures like turtle alligators and dandelion hedgehogs.

This is only my third year doing NaNo, but so far it's been the hardest.

I think it's getting better, though. I'm rewriting scenes (but not cutting out the others, to keep the words), so it's working better now, but some days I'm still struggling to squeeze out words.

BUT, I'm loving it. This story has been on my mind for a long time, and I'm enjoying it. It's fun to make my MCs squirm and be entirely out their elements.

To all y'all struggling too (and to those who might not): You got this. Even if you do 10 words or 1,000 or all the way the 50k, those words weren't there before, but now they are. And THAT is awesome.

In the homestretch, people! We can do it!

A creative mind will always invent a silver lining. I got head lice once, as a child. It is literally the worst!

Dandelion hedgehogs! Very tame for a scifi dystopian government; I like it.

So, Nano is over, but the writing continues! I wrote 15,000 words, and I consider that a huge success (Shh... I know the goal is 50,000), but more than the word count, doing Nano has given me a huge enthusiasm for writing my story! And I'm super excited for when I can share it with you all! (February 8th, here we come!) Thanks, guys, for roping me in to this!

Way to go Alias Ember! Looking forward to reading it.

I managed about 19,000 because of "the incident." But it's been a lot of fun and very freeing to just chug along and not worry about making sure things are perfect. To give vague descriptions and say, I'll go back and add better descriptions later or, I'll need to develop the secondary characters and side plots better later, and just keep going. I'm hoping to resume things now that things have settled a little and hopefully have my first rough draft done by Christmas.

I like the *idea* of NaNo, but prefer to write a little bit slower. The pace of "Ought Five and One Two Three" was just about right. Tinny and Marine might go slower as I'm doing both at the same time.

It's funny that when I was writing and updating my word count, NaNo kept telling me that at this rate I would reach 'my goal' by February something 2018. I wasn't aiming for 50,000 words, so it wasn't "MY goal" in any sense, but I remember thinking ... "What's wrong with finishing before March 1, 2018? Was there any particular reason it neeeded to be done sooner?"

To quote Dory: "Just keep swimming."
[That's what life is all about.]