NaNoWriMo

[Lacuna]

Hello! I didn't see a topic for this anywhere, so I wanted to start one.

 

Who's participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Post your usernames so we can add each other as writing buddies! I always feel I write better when I have buddies who are a little bit ahead of me in word count because it shows an achievable goal and something to work towards. ^^

 

My name on the NaNo site is Liddi. I'm working on my current story here, Demon Coil, for NaNo, but I know many people don't do any kind of editing during NaNo, and might have projects before unheard of that they want to share and possibly get feedback on, so this is a place to post about those!

[Caz Pedroso]

I'm registered for NaNoWriMo this year although I'm way behind on my word count so far. I'm hoping to catch up this weekend. 

 

I don't really use the buddy system on their site because I end up with so many emails my inbox gets overwhelmed, but feel free to contact me via here/PM anytime. I'm always looking for new people to exchange ideas with and to push each other along. 

 

This year I'm extending an old story I have for republishing. And I'm hoping to make a good dent in a new story for on GA. 

[Thirdly]

Instead of writing out a new topic for it, I figure, I'd just tack my rant onto this one. So...

 

NaNoWriMo. My first serious attempt at NaNoWriMo was last year (2017). I had laid out everything: the world, the characters, the plot...and then a complete writer's block dropped down from space like a massive Moai. I could not decide on the main character out of two different possibilities. Why would that be such an impediment? Because the two characters were so different, they would "tint" the entire story through their perceptions. And I wrote some...five? ten drafts for chapter 1? Different perspectives and different points of views with the two different characters. At one point, I even reversed the genders of the entire cast to see if it would help me at all. Nope. I knew why I failed. In stories, the main character should come first, everything else second. I did everything backwards and that is why I could not decide on the best launching pad...it was like I was at a bus stop when no buses were running. 

 

This year, I packed up 2017's tale and placed it on the shelf to pick it back up at a later point in time. I prepared for 2018's NaNoWriMo for months. Months. For some reason, I felt that I could somehow balance my day job, night courses for my senior year in college, co-writing with @Rambling Robin, and my family life enough to write out this intriguing and new 2018 tale all November long.

 

I was ready. 

 

Then, as of a few weeks ago, I felt this immense deprivation of all things artistic and creative-writing-related. The death of a loved one hit hard. Work and school doubled up in tasks. My bestie was only available for a few minutes a day, if at all. 

 

I couldn't take it anymore. 

 

Instead of starting on refining certain aspects of the tale that was to be my 2018 NaNoWriMo project, I was bitten by a writing bug for an entirely different tale. I fell back to bad habits, but the words flowed and the story formed. I started to theorize. If I really did start the 2018 tale and if I wrote at the same pace that I'm writing for this side tale, I'd go well beyond 80k words. 

 

It's too much for one month. 

 

So, I thought of a compromise...to spread out the writing of my 2018 NaNoWriMo to 2-5 months to fit my hectic schedule. 

 

Does that defeat the purpose of writing nonstop for an entire month for a specific wordcount? Not for me. Even if I only make it to 10k words, so long as the story continues to move forward...that'd be a milestone for me. Something to be proud of. 

 

Eat your heart out, deadlines.

 

I write at my own pace.

Edited October 26, 2018 by Thirdly