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1774 in the first two days and my laptop crapped out yesterday. Stuck between trying to type on an iPhone or handwriting I went with the latter and did a grueling 508 words by hand. It’s been ages since I’ve written that much of anything and I got super cramps BUT it’s very helpful for not editing/fixing every bit of dialogue. Once it’s down it’s down
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Nov 4, 2018 16:18
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^^^^^^ Fountain pens really help with cramps. Need less pressure than a ballpoint so you tend to hold the pen lighter, less death-grip causing cramps. They are also fun  As for me... I was super stoked to hit the ground running November 1st: Outline done, reasonable amount of worldbuilding, character lists and a plot that I didn't completely hate. Then work got crazy busy plus some critical pre-winter chores...and I missed the first four days  Just banged out 1400 words this evening, looks like I need to hit 1800 daily from now on. Gonna be fun! Here's my profile so that folks can publicly flay me when I fail to win at the end of the month: https://nanowrimo.org/participants/polyfractal/
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Nov 5, 2018 04:47
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Pikestaff posted:Ooh what program is that? Writometer on my smartphone. I use it year round for project work. Set a total--any total--and how many days you have to write it, and it gives you wordcounts. I even have it set to alarm me every day at set times to get the words in, and it'll say how many words for the day you have left. Nethilia fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Nov 5, 2018 |
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Nov 5, 2018 08:00
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FYI, for anyone struggling (i.e. for anyone) I can't recommend 4thewords.com enough. It's writing and word counts finally gamified in a way that doesn't suck. The website is still kind of a mess but it's legitimately fun to level up and get gear and complete quests and stuff.
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Nov 5, 2018 18:48
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12663 words total now. Pounded out 3k words and my 4th chapter today. I gotta say, this is working wonders for me, I've now officially written more words for a novel than I ever have before. I'm still glad I did outlining, and it does hurt a bit to go update it and my character bios, but writing to discover who they are and how they get to the major beats instead of trying to force it to fit a plan in my head is working way better. Shut up and write indeed.
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Nov 7, 2018 02:10
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TaintedBalance posted:12663 words total now. Pounded out 3k words and my 4th chapter today. I gotta say, this is working wonders for me, I've now officially written more words for a novel than I ever have before. I'm still glad I did outlining, and it does hurt a bit to go update it and my character bios, but writing to discover who they are and how they get to the major beats instead of trying to force it to fit a plan in my head is working way better. Shut up and write indeed. Congrats, that has always been the really helpful thing about NaNo for me. It really does force you to shut up and write and just learning how to do that is really important.
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Nov 7, 2018 04:02
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I'm glad I was able to stick to 2k a day, because thanks to politics I couldn't focus for anything today. I'm posting now to promise that tomorrow, when I should be able to focus, I will write 2.5k.* *With allowance for things like disasters and such.
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Nov 7, 2018 04:08
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I can't believe this isn't as easy as I thought it would be! Going to shut up and write until I'm caught up today, I think i'm something like 4k in the hole
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Nov 7, 2018 16:48
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I've managed to stay on par so far, but I really feel like I'm falling behind and it's awful. I'm planning on going to a local write-in tonight, so we'll see how that goes. If I'm lucky, I'll manage to get a buffer back.
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Nov 7, 2018 19:18
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I've fallen way behind after a good first few days - came down with an annoying sickness so writings not been on my agenda. We'll all be fine, just need to get a good hit of inspiration for the words to flow again 
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Nov 7, 2018 20:27
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As promised! 2.5k words, all fresh today, and I'm still on track to destroy this month. Pantsing continues to work for me, as I've got several separate plot threads that are running and adding the depth and interest to the story I want. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Nov 7, 2018 |
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Nov 7, 2018 22:03
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I'm a ways behind but feeling it coming on. At work but I've got a notepad beside me with several plot threads I want to riff on- once kiddo goes to bed tonight I'm gonna get all up in my ideas
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Nov 7, 2018 22:22
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Spokes posted:I can't believe this isn't as easy as I thought it would be! managed 3400ish so far today to get me to ~11200 total, still a bit to go to be on pace but tonight's pretty free
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Nov 8, 2018 00:19
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I've been struggling this year more than most years, I have a new job this year and I'm still trying to figure out how to balance that schedule + all the other things I need to do + writing. The upside is that I have a pretty strong sense of where the story and characters are going so once I can actually sit down at the computer for a while (this weekend, hopefully) I should be able to catch up.
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Nov 8, 2018 14:18
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Ugh all prelude and worldbuilding can suck a dick, I just want to get to my fantasy battle already. Got a thousand words about hammering someone's guts out ready to roll
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Nov 8, 2018 19:20
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Checking in here, because I feel motivation slipping a bit. But must push on! I'm on par, but only just. I'm telling myself that finishing the story is more important than 50k, but finding I check my word count and when I get to my daily total, I'm done. Wanted to ask - is anyone writing out of sequence. I figured I would start at page one and just keep going, but now finding I want to put things in place later in the story. Any experienced nanowrimo people any advice on whether this is a v. bad idea?
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Nov 9, 2018 10:43
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HorseHeadBed posted:
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Nov 9, 2018 12:29
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At this point only about 1/3 of my stuff isd actually linear chapter 1-4 and everything else is just me skipping ahead of cooler poo poo than local cuisine.
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Nov 9, 2018 13:14
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yeah I've written out of sequence before. Usually I do it if I'm not having any motivation with my current chapter but I've still got to hit wordcount, so I'll just start a new page in Scrivener and start writing out an action scene I've been planning or something. It's all good.
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Nov 9, 2018 14:11
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NaNo is 100% "whatever works." Write in sequence, out of sequence, shift into an alternate universe every other paragraph, whatever. "Okay, everybody is a bird now. Go!"
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Nov 9, 2018 16:03
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Thanks all - good common sense. I'm getting paralysis and I just need to get some words on the page, no matter where they actually fall in the final ms.
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Nov 9, 2018 18:39
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HorseHeadBed posted:Thanks all - good common sense. I'm getting paralysis and I just need to get some words on the page, no matter where they actually fall in the final ms. Get to the discord and use the sprint bot, it's one of the best I've ever seen Also I need to take my own advice - I'm behind thanks to pervasive depression + family problems.
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Nov 9, 2018 18:43
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 Welp, I've done it again. Second fastest time I've won Nano.
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Nov 12, 2018 03:21
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Hot drat, congrats.
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Nov 12, 2018 04:29
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What a machine. Great job, Nethilia. I cracked 20k last night so even if i just sit around staring at my hands today I'm on pace to finish, but we'll see how the rest of the month goes.
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Nov 12, 2018 15:50
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I'm no juggernaut like Neth, but halfway there 
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Nov 12, 2018 23:24
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I'm miserably far behind due to work getting crazy, but the goal is still in reach as long as I vomit out a mighty stream of nonsense over the next three days off. I need to finish this so that I have two consecutive years of victory and instead of my win last year being a total fluke.
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Nov 12, 2018 23:50
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24.6k, I'll probably sprint a little before bed to hit the halfway mark. Haven't written anything interesting, but that's okay!
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Nov 13, 2018 01:49
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I kinda feel like I'm finally hitting my NaNo groove again. Still behind, but I'm pretty sure I can catch up by the end of the week. As someone else mentioned a little while back, that 4thewords site is really helpful. Mostly because it breaks everything down into easily manageable chunks and helps you visualize it. "I have to write 1600 words today" feels so much more difficult than "I have to write four chunks of 400 words", especially once you realize how quickly 400 words usually goes.
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Nov 13, 2018 14:10
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Update to anyone still in this and still in the thread: it looks like today is the first day that you can validate your word count on the official site and confirm your official win.
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Nov 21, 2018 04:01
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Finished. For all the prep I did it's embarrassing it took me this long.
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Nov 21, 2018 09:17
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Down to the last 7,000 words. Not expecting to get much done over the holiday (have my daughter until Sunday, and I try not to write while she's with me), but I have no doubts I'll finish the 50K by the end of the month. Then I just have to finish the manuscript! 
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Nov 21, 2018 15:39
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I fell off the wagon way early this year. But you, YOU must carry on! Finish NaNo! Finisshhhhhh ... :rattle, croak:
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Nov 21, 2018 16:03
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I got 13K left. It's nice writing a constant 1.5K every day, though I am starting to feel the burn out. Got myself a nice one day buffer, so gonna take a day off.
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Nov 21, 2018 17:08
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I'm at 39.5k total written so far and it's been a total blast so far. It turns out "just loving write" is 100% the correct speed for me. It's been hell not going back and editing stuff, especially since I know some of what was written earlier is now contradictory with where the story went. However, I now fully "get" the importance of hammering out a first draft and feeling your way through the story completely - at least for what is working for me. Outlining has helped and I've definitely had to stop and spend some time mapping out what's happening to get to where I want the story to get to, but I'm no longer getting hung up on what the primary exports of a city are or how many siblings the main character has, because the answer is "what the story needs to be told". Also, how in the hell did some of you crank that poo poo out in 10 days? That's 5k+ a day, craziness! I was excited when I dunked down 7k words over a weekend and then had to take a complete day off because I'd completely tapped myself. I'm guessing the answer is just "Consistent practice", but drat, that is amazing to me. Go you!
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Nov 21, 2018 18:08
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I'm on par for getting to 50k by the end of the month, but I think my story will end before then. I didn't plan anything and really just want to get to the end so I can rewrite this poo poo from page 1. Agree that writing a consistent 1.5k a day has been good, though. If I do it again, I'm definitely going in with a plan. It was all a bit half-cocked this time round.
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Nov 21, 2018 23:13
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TaintedBalance posted:
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Nov 22, 2018 02:11
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At 40k. The short story idea really worked for me this year. Allowed me to write an epilogue to my first D&D character, a prologue for my new one. Some background stuff for my web serial and even some more racier stuff.
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Nov 23, 2018 18:19
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Approaching that 50k number (46k and counting as of writing this) and I don't think the novel is actually going to be close to done at 50k. Probably closer to 80k at current pace which feels kind of crazy but on a casual lookup, the first entry in the Dresden Files is 87k and the average book in the series is now 130k, so maybe that's not that bad? On a different note, what does the post NaNoWriMo period look like? I assume its recommended to take a break and step away from it, then come back at it for a second draft? Do we have any good links on that I can read while fretting about my next chapter instead of just writing it? Edit: I win! Now over 50k! TaintedBalance fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Nov 26, 2018 |
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Nov 25, 2018 21:34
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 21:30 |
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As predicted, my story ended before the month did. Final count was 42k. Plan to carry on writing at least 1500 words per day from now on, either on rewrites or another unfinished story. It's been nice checking in here - a low key watchdog, if you will. Thanks for the advice/support. Good luck to those pushing on. (I ended up just going from beginning to end after all.)
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Nov 27, 2018 11:47
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