So there I was, blogging and blethering around here on WordPress, checking out Carocat’s blog; and she was talking about taking part in National Novel Writing Month (aka “NaNoWriMo”), and so I cruised over to their website….and that was the pebble that started the landslide.
The deal with NaNoWriMo is that you start fresh on Nov. 1, and try to write 50,000 words of a new novel by November 30. If you succeed, you get 1) bragging rights, b) a PDF-file certificate suitable for printing, & the right to display a banner similar to this one:
I Won! I Won! I Won!
and iii) a 50,000-word draft of that novel you’ve been meaning to get around to writing one of these days.
Well, I had been meaning to write a novel one of these days – well, about five novels I’ve been meaning to write – so I picked one* and jumped into NaNoWriMo feet-first, and before I knew it the waters had closed over my head.
(*A synopsis and excerpt await your perusal at my page on the NaNoWriMo site.)
I did make 50,0o0 words, and it feels darned good to have accomplished so much; but it was a tough slog and took a lot out of me, and led to my neglecting this blog terribly.
If anyone asks, it’s all Carocat’s fault. :)
- the prodigal Evelyn
Tags: distracted, NaNoWriMo, neglect, novel, November, winner
December 7, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Oh dear, have I turned you into an internet nomad who moves from one site and project to another every few months??
I’m still impressed on how far you got. I think I wrote ~3000 words ultimately but they’re on paper. Ought to type them really..
December 8, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Yup. I was completely unlike that before. Dedicated, consistent follow-though was my middle name (and, boy, is that tough to fit into that little space on your driver’s license :). That’s why I had about five novels I’d been meaning to write one of these days….
If it weren’t for all the semi-finished projects and and half-started-upon ideas around here, I would be surrounded by very darned little of anything.
Do type up your 3000 words (December is officially NaNoFiMo – National Novel Finishing Month – if you want to join in on the NaNoWriMo site). If you add and embellish a little as you type, you might have 4000 words by the time you’re done.
(And, if you decide that instead of going for novel length, you could wrap things up in another couple thousand words, you’ll have a short story.)
And, if all else fails:
When I can’t seem to
Finish anything, I try
To write a haiku.
December 9, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Ah, Nanofimo. A haiku:
half novel undone
completion: a damn mirage
distractions abound
December 10, 2008 at 2:23 am
Hey, D -
Thanks for wandering over here to my blog. :)
As to my haiku – I write a lot of them; not because I’m any good at them, but because I can. When I’m willing to commit to a longer project, I sometimes try for a entire limerick. I’m considering working my way up to a sonnet, but that may just be too much for me.
One of my Works-Not-In-Progress, which will greatly benefit the reading public by never seeing the light of day, is a novel written entierly in haiku – conventionally formatted, but every sentence would have seventeen syllables and could stand independently as haiku.
December 13, 2008 at 5:58 am
Yeah, I just seem to be far to stressed lately to think about it. Damn real life for impacting on my online and other activities! ;)