Nice work! I didn't get caught up yesterday because the computer I normally use for this was down (long story), but I'm hoping to get caught up tonight, or at least by the weekend.
National Novel Writing Month
- Thread starter Robert Maxwell
- Start date
Anyone else still keeping up with this? I am up to 31,704 as of tonight. I keep falling behind because of real life, and then I catch up again.
Story-wise, I am about halfway through this.
Story-wise, I am about halfway through this.
I am! Somehow.
Seriously, I have no idea how it is that I'm ONLY 3000 words behind still, with everything that's been going on. It's not been easy to find time to write, but I am still hanging in apparently! I don't know exactly how far into the story I am, but I'm certain I'm nowhere near halfway through it yet.
My friend, the trying-to-get-published one? She attended a writer's "convention" in LA, where there were panels on various subjects for the writers, and a "speed dating" type of thing with some agents. I don't have a lot of info, but evidently these occur a few times a year. She said it was very worthwhile for the panels, the access to agents (she got a card from the one agent she had hoped for), and just talking with other writers.
Evidently, editors are much-needed. The people/writers she met were very interested in who she had as editor and how much she paid. So, this can be profitable for me as I'm not working outside the house anyway. Next year, I'm going to look into doing editing online. Why not make some money doing what I'm good at? Editing, that is. Whew! Left that a bit open, didn't I? lol
Evidently, editors are much-needed. The people/writers she met were very interested in who she had as editor and how much she paid. So, this can be profitable for me as I'm not working outside the house anyway. Next year, I'm going to look into doing editing online. Why not make some money doing what I'm good at? Editing, that is. Whew! Left that a bit open, didn't I? lol
As the Chinese say: add oil, everyone! 
I always find starting the most difficult part of writing. After that's been done, the story starts to roll on on its own.
Good luck, DN! Or "Add oil!"
I decided to begin writing the first draft of my novel, on the reasoning that I had nothing to lose by just diving in and working it out as I go.
I always find starting the most difficult part of writing. After that's been done, the story starts to roll on on its own.
Good luck, DN! Or "Add oil!"
I haven't worked on mine for the past four days, which is about what I expected, given that I was out of town and otherwise indisposed, but I've thought about my story quite a bit and I'm in the "home stretch." I've been gradually massaging the conclusion I had in mind so it can be satisfying and complete. I plan to get back to writing it tonight.
So you actually write a complete, coherent story in November? Not me.
I have trouble thinking of any plot idea I've ever had and attempted to develop with any real effort that would fit within 50,000 words. Nano, for me, is always "the first draft of the first segment of this overarching plotline."But yes, home stretch time! Go go!
So, I am ahead now. I was ahead as of yesterday morning, after attending a write-in and managing almost 2500 words while there.
Then, after I got home, I accidentally copied FROM my USB memory stick, instead of TOO it, overwriting the (newer) version of my novel that was on my hard drive in a moment of carelessness. Erased all the work I had done at the write-in.
After staring at the screen in shock for a few moments, followed by trying to kick down a couple walls, I contemplated just giving up entirely. Nano 2012: called off at 41k on account of rain. But then I decided I'd rather try to get through it, so I wrote down half-assed, typo-ridden synopses of every scene I'd lost, as quickly as I could while they were still somewhat fresh in my mind. From those, I managed to re-write the full scenes, not EXACTLY as they had been before of course, but close enough. Went on a tear and wrote 2600 words in an hour and a half. So I guess the moral of the story is never give up!
I've actually had close calls like that, too. One day I wasn't at my usual computer, but I wanted to work on my story, so I downloaded this program that had a word target feature, so I could at least write to the number of needed words.
When it came time to save, the program crashed. It didn't save. I was lucky that it was, however, keeping backups in a different location every couple minutes, so in the end I only lost a couple paragraphs.
I also use a version control system so I have multiple backups and don't lose any work over time. Worst case, I might lose what I was writing at that moment, but not what I wrote before...
When it came time to save, the program crashed. It didn't save. I was lucky that it was, however, keeping backups in a different location every couple minutes, so in the end I only lost a couple paragraphs.
I also use a version control system so I have multiple backups and don't lose any work over time. Worst case, I might lose what I was writing at that moment, but not what I wrote before...
^ Yeah, that's definitely prudent.
The worst part is that Word has an auto-backup feature. I thought I had turned it on ages ago. But when I looked, the box wasn't checked. I hadn't ever needed it before, so I hadn't noticed that it wasn't doing it.
If you can believe it, I lost some work yesterday evening, as well - not on my Nano novel, but on this map concept I've been working on in Gimp, as part of a fictional city-creation project. I wasn't really paying attention to how long it had been, and for some reason wasn't saving every few minutes like I normally do, and then Gimp crashed. Twice in one day I lost progress! Fortunately, the vast majority of the work I'd been doing in Gimp was experimenting, trying different things on the map to see how they looked, then erasing them and trying something else, etc. So recreating the final map I had right before it crashed only took about twenty minutes.
But still! The entire day was a pointed reminder to SAVE OFTEN when working on anything like this, and be careful when copying and overwriting files!
The worst part is that Word has an auto-backup feature. I thought I had turned it on ages ago. But when I looked, the box wasn't checked. I hadn't ever needed it before, so I hadn't noticed that it wasn't doing it.
If you can believe it, I lost some work yesterday evening, as well - not on my Nano novel, but on this map concept I've been working on in Gimp, as part of a fictional city-creation project. I wasn't really paying attention to how long it had been, and for some reason wasn't saving every few minutes like I normally do, and then Gimp crashed. Twice in one day I lost progress! Fortunately, the vast majority of the work I'd been doing in Gimp was experimenting, trying different things on the map to see how they looked, then erasing them and trying something else, etc. So recreating the final map I had right before it crashed only took about twenty minutes.
But still! The entire day was a pointed reminder to SAVE OFTEN when working on anything like this, and be careful when copying and overwriting files!
Moral of the story: Save, save, and save again!
Hah, man, those are definitely close calls. Good trick on writing the outlines of what you had lost. I'll need to use that the next time it happens to me
Hah, man, those are definitely close calls. Good trick on writing the outlines of what you had lost. I'll need to use that the next time it happens to me
Crossed the finish line!
50,075 words according to MS Word (50,124 according to the validator on the Nano site, but whatever, it's over 50k either way).
Whew, I'm tired! I really like this story, and I enjoy Nano (wouldn't bother otherwise), but it will be nice to not have that "must write X amount before bed" feeling hanging on. Now I can really turn my attention to some other things that I have been neglecting!
50,075 words according to MS Word (50,124 according to the validator on the Nano site, but whatever, it's over 50k either way).
Whew, I'm tired!
I really like this story, and I enjoy Nano (wouldn't bother otherwise), but it will be nice to not have that "must write X amount before bed" feeling hanging on. Now I can really turn my attention to some other things that I have been neglecting!
I forgot to come update here!
Congrats, Saito! I didn't quite hit 50K. I basically didn't write for 8 days out of the month, but still hit about 45K, so I didn't do too badly.
I am still working on my story, though. I plan to finish the first draft this week, and it will be around 50K, maybe a bit more.
Great job, everyone!
Congrats, Saito! I didn't quite hit 50K. I basically didn't write for 8 days out of the month, but still hit about 45K, so I didn't do too badly.
I am still working on my story, though. I plan to finish the first draft this week, and it will be around 50K, maybe a bit more.
Great job, everyone!
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