Rule 1: Set a daily word count, and force yourself to write it.
I'm just going to disagree on this one.
*grin*
This is my third year doing NaNo. Right now I have two 50+ word manuscripts sitting on my hard drive and at the end of the month, I know I'll have a third.
However, I have a VASTLY different approach than you. Mine is a bit more, never give up, never surrender.
Right now, on day 8, I only 4,500 words or so. But, even though I have a LOT of words to make up, I'm okay with that. I'm invested in the process and I know -- because I've done it this way each time before -- that as the end of November approaches I will be filled not only with more and more urgency but more and more ideas. Last year I wrote half of my novel in the last four days of November. I had ten thousand word days. It was an amazing roller coaster and it produced some really interesting stuff that I might not have thought of before.
I don't hate my novel either. It may not be my favorite thing ever -- my own words rarely are -- but I can't summon up any passion to work on something that I hate. I've scrapped things before and I've gone through three ideas (just in the idea stage though) already this November.
Going for the gold is awesome and it's cool to share what works for you, but I'm always really careful not to discourage people who ARE behind or who have a different method of approaching things. Right now, I've probably got the lowest word count of anyone in our write-in family and I'm the ML! But the key is to stay energized and find a way that works for you. Often, more often than not, having only 5,000 words by the fifteenth is not a sign of a lack of commitment -- it's a sign that there are a million other things going on and the voices in your head are not louder than the noise of overtime at work and exams at school and deaths in the family and pets throwing up on the carpet, etc, etc.
I'm really just trying to put forth an alternate viewpoint here. Gettting through most of the month with not a huge amount written.... That's not a death knell. Getting to a point where you BELIEVE you will never catch up is the death knell.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 11:56 am (UTC)I'm just going to disagree on this one.
*grin*
This is my third year doing NaNo. Right now I have two 50+ word manuscripts sitting on my hard drive and at the end of the month, I know I'll have a third.
However, I have a VASTLY different approach than you. Mine is a bit more, never give up, never surrender.
Right now, on day 8, I only 4,500 words or so. But, even though I have a LOT of words to make up, I'm okay with that. I'm invested in the process and I know -- because I've done it this way each time before -- that as the end of November approaches I will be filled not only with more and more urgency but more and more ideas. Last year I wrote half of my novel in the last four days of November. I had ten thousand word days. It was an amazing roller coaster and it produced some really interesting stuff that I might not have thought of before.
I don't hate my novel either. It may not be my favorite thing ever -- my own words rarely are -- but I can't summon up any passion to work on something that I hate. I've scrapped things before and I've gone through three ideas (just in the idea stage though) already this November.
Going for the gold is awesome and it's cool to share what works for you, but I'm always really careful not to discourage people who ARE behind or who have a different method of approaching things. Right now, I've probably got the lowest word count of anyone in our write-in family and I'm the ML! But the key is to stay energized and find a way that works for you. Often, more often than not, having only 5,000 words by the fifteenth is not a sign of a lack of commitment -- it's a sign that there are a million other things going on and the voices in your head are not louder than the noise of overtime at work and exams at school and deaths in the family and pets throwing up on the carpet, etc, etc.
I'm really just trying to put forth an alternate viewpoint here. Gettting through most of the month with not a huge amount written.... That's not a death knell. Getting to a point where you BELIEVE you will never catch up is the death knell.