NaNoWriMo 2007 - November 1, 2007
NaNoWriMo kicks off today. After months of telling myself that I wasn't going to do it this year I decided that I'm going to go ahead and once again try and write 50k words in 30 days. Mostly I'm doing this because I found that in the last month I haven't really been writing and there's no better way to force myself to write everyday then invent an artificial deadline that I can sweat nervously over.
If you're at all interested in writing NaNoWriMo is a great exercise. As Hotgrits says:
Not only is it a great exercise in novel writing, it is also an effective way to force you into the habit of writing every day. Writing a little over 1600 words a day in 30 days, you will encounter (and hopefully overcome) all the major roadblocks novelists face day in and out: writer's block, plotting pitfalls and exhaustion. It's difficult but at the end of the month you will have completed a novel.
The last time I did NaNoWriMo I finished the 50k words as well as finishing the novel (which is often two very different things). The novel I wrote is awful but it taught me everything above and most importantly it taught me how to finish a project, something that I had struggled with since I'd starting writing.
Anyway, it's almost nine on day one and my word count sits at a big fat zero. I'm going to get started.
Posted by Ben Corman at 8:57 PM
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Hey Ben,
I'm in the middle of Nanowrimo 2007. It's definitely not as easy as I thought it would be. What was the most difficult aspect of completing the novel for you?
Posted by: Eric Ogunbase at November 14, 2007 01:30 PM
Hey Eric,
Keeping myself motivated is probably the biggest problem right now. I like to do a lot of editing while I write, I spend a lot of time writing and rewriting each scene and conversation. When I don't do that because I'm focused on word count it's almost impossible for me to move forward with the next scene because it bugs me that the previous one isn't perfect (or as perfect as it's going to get).
I'm not sure I'm going to "win" NaNoWriMo this year. I really want to use the project I'm working on now in the future so I might slow down so I don't lose my focus instead of aiming strictly for numbers.
Posted by: Ben Corman at November 14, 2007 02:15 PM
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