Wednesday, October 11, 2006

NaNoWriMo time already? Holy crapoly batman

There's no way that it's almost November. No effing way. I don't know that I'm 100% ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those unfamiliar). But is anyone really ready to buckle down and write at least 50,000 words in a month?

The thing about it is you are supposed to write 50k on a brand new book. Not adding 50k to a current manuscript. But, I don't really care about that. If you are 20k into a single title book and doing NaNoWriMo and suffering through it with millions of people is the only way to get that book done by New Year's - then DO IT!

So what you don't "technically" win. You still have 50k and you were able to take advantage of the forums and other tools made available during that month. The point of this is to buckle down and write. Don't let the "must be a new project" convince you of not joining in the madne...er, fun.

Since I live alone and don't have any children, or hell, a lot of social activities outside of my writing chapters - I think I am going to revise the book I'm working on while starting up a kick booty paranormal idea I've got brewing. If I get stuck on writing, I can switch over to revising. Then back to writing again. On average during the week I think I could devote at least 3 hours to writing, and more on the weekends. I need to get my house in order so I can leave it be for a month :-)

I am issuing a challenge to my blog readers. I challenge each of you to participate in NaNoWriMo. If you are up to the challenge, please leave a comment. I'll contact each of you for an e-mail address, maybe even a snail mail address and I'll send you things to keep you motivated. We can do eeeeet! (could you hear Rob Schneider there?)

You don't have to finish. Hell, if you can't keep going after 20,000 words. So what? You're 20k closer to the end than you were before. Who's with me? (maybe I should give half-time pep talks at football games).

8 comments:

Elisabeth Naughton said...

UGH. You suck. I've never done this before. Don't the forums and tools suck up your writing time? (I find that's my daily problem with writing now - loops and blogs...grrrr...and email, oh yeah, email.)

Lisa Pulliam said...

Yeah, they can for sure. I learned a lot on them last year, but I was also a newbie to romance. This year I don't know that I'll be on them much. As your stage, you'd probably get the most out of locale questions. Like if you have a book taking place in Fresno, you could find the Fresno forum and ask the locals some questions. I found that very handy last year as the book I was working on took place in Scotland.

You in?

Tempest Knight said...

I've done the NaNo challenge for the past two years. It's been a great experience. In my last year I ended up finishing 5 stories. This is year I'm planning to go full gung-ho again like I did in my first year. *wg* It's much more to see what my brain can come up with the pressure of writing 1,667 words per day.

Unknown said...

Okay, I am really thinking about thinking about doing this.

Lisa Pulliam said...

Yay Tempest! I'm glad you're doing NaNo. Five stories last year? That's awesome!

Lillian, you gotta do it :-) And I didn't know that was you! Haha. I'm glad to know where your blog is now :-)

S William, you should work on the one you started earlier in the year for NaNo. I think the rule that it has to be something fresh is stupid. I understand why it's there, but it also eliminates the opportunity for a lot of people who write all year and have schedules to keep up from doing it. Not everyone has the time to start something new on Nov. 1. Okay, off my soapbox :-)

Who else is with me? Come on lurkers. You know you want to do it. Join these brave souls.

Anonymous said...

After much consideration, I've decided to participate this year! (first time)
I'd love to get emails from you to keep me motivated, Lisa!! I'm gonna need all the help I can get.
My user name is Nienke

Lisa Pulliam said...

Yay Amanda, Lara and Nienke! I'll look for y'all and add you to my buddy list on there. I'm listed as (original, I know) Lisa Pulliam.

Anonymous said...

I'm attempting it again, for the third time. At the very least, I came up with some good words in some good ideas.