Emo!Nano'er Spot

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

So while everyone is off posting their successes and wins (CONGRATS TO ALL OF YOU!), and Mean Mod Mo (alliteration... heh) is still sprinting and writing strong...

This mod has sadly thrown in the towel. Because for the first time in four NaNo years, I literally can not find the time to write, or the energy. And so, with my pitiful 12.5K, I will stand back and pat all of you on the back and be happy for your win while secretly plotting your deaths.

Just kidding. About the whole plotting deaths bit. Yeah.

This post here? Is for those who had to give up. Be it school, work, children, kidnapped by aliens... let's all mourn our loss together, and plot on what we can do differently next year to hit that 50K.

Cause you are all doing NaNo next year, right? You know you signed your souls away when you signed up for this. There's no choice. IT'S AN ADDICTION.

I've put out the cookies and hot chocolate (both with and without milk), and some carrots for you diet people who don't want cookies.

Come chat.

Comments

[octagonal.livejournal.com]

Damn it. Your post makes me really want to go make hot chocolate, but I'm pretty sure I don't have any. How sad.

Also, I gave up at 10,000-something last week. Too busy! No motivation! But hey, at least we tried. I signed up last year and didn't even write anything, so this is an improvement.

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

*stares at Dean and Sam* Sorry, pretty boys distract me...

I'm just mad at myself because I've done NaNo for four years, and it's the first loss for me. *pout* but I had to take a second job, plus I'm writing for a website now and doing graphic work for a few friends... TOO MANY DISTRACTIONS.

plus I can't miss CHUCK or HEROES. I'm a fangirl, damnit!

[asgaja.livejournal.com]

I'll add some brownie-muffins to those cookies.

Currently standing on about 13K right now and not getting anywhere. But with this being my first year and going in too unprepared I'm feeling not too bad about it. At least I got something written.

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

It's 13K words more than what you would have had, had you NOT tried.

And that's nothing to be ashamed of... that's like near 30 pages. That's a good sized short story if anything. *nods*

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna cheat a bit and try to finish anyway for my own conscience. I had to put it on hold after the first few days because SHTF with school, but as soon as my last final is handed in I'm going to count off to the day I knew I wasn't going to work on it anymore (Day 11ish, but far behind where I should've been at the time), divide up the words I've got left and try to finish according to whatever quota I come up with over the 19ish remaining days.

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

That's a wonderful idea. *hugs* good luck, and let us know how it goes :)

[illyria-godking.livejournal.com]

I struggled, screamed, and raved to just over 8K. That's less my initial NaNo effort of 10K last year.

Hopefully the 3rd time will be the charm and FTW.

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

what do you think is holding you back? Might want to illiminate that distraction this year if possible (no murdering children...)

[aliaseverus.livejournal.com]

I'll do it again next year, but work, family and health stresses have just all conspired to keep me from writing as I'd like - and focusing at all. I started and restarted and worked on three different stories for around 15000 combined words.

Next year I'll try again and maybe do the scriptwriting one in the spring. Only then I won't decide with no plan or plot on the day before, knowing this was bound to be an extremely busy and high-stress month.

In good news I did end up going in new and exciting directions with one of my stories just this week thanks to a weird dream about my latest NaNo effort!

I'll take carrots and cookies with my hot chocolate please - I like it all!

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

well that's good! There's nothing saying that you need to stop writing on December 1st. Even if you didn't hit the 50K, keep plugging along with the new direction and stuff.

Your icon hypnotizes me, and I have NO IDEA what it's about...

[caretta.livejournal.com]

I'll add some banana-yogurt smoothies, because I'm on a diet, but I hate carrots and it's much better-tasting.

I gave up a while ago when I stopped feeling like I could write well. It never fails to happen: the self-doubt. And the crushing feeling of defeat came soon after.

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

mmmmm, smoothies. I need to get a smoothie machine for the community next year. Oh yeah.

*hugs* how far did you get? You can always set that as your "to Beat" number for next year.

[scrapette.livejournal.com]

I got sick and my novel sucked. Next year I will plan. :-(

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

Ew. Sick during NaNo is never fun.

And hate to say, but everyone thinks that way about their NaNo. All part of the "write crap as fast as you can" mindset. *nods*

But planning is good.

[hendrikboom.livejournal.com]

I'm at 22000. I don't have a chance of reaching 50000. I'll probably readh 25000, and maybe even 30000. I'm not giving up and am still writing. It's been a good month for productivity, and I'm not sorry. It's what I *have* written that's important, not whether I "win".

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

and THAT right there is the BEST mindset to have. Even if you don't make the mark, the whole thing is just about writing.

Good for you *hugs*

[dreadpirateandi.livejournal.com]

I've been putting the WC into schoolwork instead of a novel, so we won't see if I've failed until I get my degree audit back...

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

my friend took all her schoolwork and made her nano about a student doing all these papers. It worked for her LOL!

[lemmethink-nooo.livejournal.com]

I gave up about a week into NaNo, with 500-some words. I simply have too much schoolwork, and the free time that I do have either goes to theatre or something I'd rather be doing than writing a novel. :\

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

You going to try again next year?

[craobhruadh.livejournal.com]

I will sadly have to join the crew of people who are throwing in the towel. I can make the usual excuses about being ridiculously busy (crunch time at work had to happen this month), but I didn't make the 10k mark. However, I knew this was a possibility when I started.

Oh well, second year, second unsuccessful attempt. I may be pretty busy next year, but I'll still give it my best. Eventually I have to complete a novel.

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

Is that Snowy from Tin-Tin comics in your icon? *peers*

Yeah, like i said above, third times a charm. and if anything, just keep writing every month and build up the writing stamina.

[shetan83.livejournal.com]

T_T

I got to 1,760 words, before life failed me and my writing ambition. And then I had another plot bunny that would probably be much easier to write, because I wasn't as personally invested, and I was going to do that over Thanksgiving break, but then life sucked on me again, and it didn't happen.

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

Next year then. Maybe work on that plot bunny during th year to get into a writing habit so that when next november rolls around, you're ready to go at it.

[nspd.livejournal.com]

I'm at 6,537 words, and definitely not finishing this year. :[ I'm disappointed, but not terribly, because I have had a lot on my plate this month and lost a lot of my motivation early on, so I didn't have my hopes up.

I think my main problem was that I was writing a novel that I've been planning and anticipating for some time. It was hard for me to get into the habit of writing and not worrying about quality, because it was really important to me to tell this story and have it come out good. Next year, I'm going to write something that I don't have so much invested in, so that I'll be okay with letting it take whatever twists and turns it does and possibly end up with scenes that I don't like at the time. I can edit them later or just leave it as it is if it's not a serious story. I was worried about making mistakes with my novel because I might not feel up going through and editing all of them and then I'd be stuck with something I wasn't happy with.

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

I think that's where my first naNo failed on me too... I was writing it for a friend, been promising it for over a year, and used Nano as my excuse to "finally get it done!"

Well, that worked out WONDERFULLY [/sarcasm]

[yaysunshine.livejournal.com]

I got to 9k during the first week, and then had to stop because of keeping up with school--not to mention I ran out of outline and inspiration about that exact same time. Oh well. There's always next year!

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

yup, and you have a "to beat" number is anything with that 9K. Maybe work on what you got during the year and keep yourself inspired and going.

[delazan.livejournal.com]

I gave up on the second because my mother died.
Then my father died on the fourteenth.

No, I am not making this up.
http://www.madison.com/obits/print.php?refDate=2454416&refPage=listing&ad_number=1099385
http://www.madison.com/obits/print.php?refDate=2454420&refPage=listing&ad_number=1101574

Dealing with siblings was worse than dealing with the funeral.
-L.

[jigglypuff.livejournal.com]

...that is... really... *hugs* I'm sorry to hear that

[perfectinpart.livejournal.com]

I gave up too. Well, sort of. I hated my novel and restarted and I just don't have the word count. I have something like 30k total, and don't anticipate getting 20k soon. I'm still writing though. :)

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

that's good. just because nano ends doesn't mean you have to stop writing. good luck getting it finished!

[vichan.livejournal.com]

I started and finished... LAST YEAR.

This year, my car was stolen at the end of October, I realized my debt was out of control, they FOUND my car (!!) in horrible condition, I dropped $1600 just to get it drivable again due to my stupidity of dropping comprehensive on my insurance. (Damn Ohio laws that let us carry federal minimum insurance.) Said $1600 came directly out of what I had been saving to go back to college. I have a boss who screams and swears at me, and I'm trapped at a job I hate because I need the money they pay me. Ex-boyfriend issues, friend issues, and people keep double booking me without ASKING me first. I'm now supposed to be in Erie, PA and Detroit, MI on the same night. This isn't just two different cities, but two different STATES... in opposite directions.

I don't even know what my word count ended up at. I gave up after about three days because my head was all over the place.

Should of just written about my soap-opera of a life. :P

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

Should of just written about my soap-opera of a life. :P

Wow! Next year you should try a 50,000 diary - it sounds like you've got enough going on to fill it twice over!

[alanahikarichan.livejournal.com]

I was devoured by my birthday presents on the third day, and never caught up. Seriously; I was given a new, 20 hour+ video game on the actual third day, and then (a few days later) got a new gaming system, along with about 200 hours worth of games to play...

Which is a horrible, shallow excuse for not writing, but also the real one. Having college three days a week didn't help, either, nor did my other running projects, and by the time I was ready to start writing NaNo again, I was hopelessly far behind and had lost interest in my plotline.

*Sigh*

[pauldigiovanni.livejournal.com]

ahhh I stopped because I went on vacation for a week and had no access to a computer.
andd my laptop died the day before the vacation where everything was, so i was going to have search through my myspace "Sent" messages to get it back. yea i know, backing it up would of been a good idea but oh well.
i stopped at 31k.

[bonelesspuppy.livejournal.com]

I managed a few thousand words this year and then got eaten alive by work. And when I did have time to write, I kept wandering into other projects, instead. My mistake, I think, was picking an idea I actually really liked--I wanted to do it justice and never got over my fear of messing it up. Woe.

Oh, well. On the bright side, I seem to be falling into a cycle of winning one year and losing the next, so I'm due to succeed next November.

[alanahikarichan.livejournal.com]

My mistake, I think, was picking an idea I actually really liked--I wanted to do it justice and never got over my fear of messing it up.

... that actually makes a lot of sense. Huh. I never thought of it that way, but it does explain why all those really neat ideas I get tend to die out two or three chapters in...

Anyway, good luck next year!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_starkiss/]

This was my first year, and unfortunately this November was also the busiest month I've experienced in quite some time. University sucks. :( I'll be back next year to try again, though.

[shiruartist.livejournal.com]

T-T
...
Well at least this year I didn't completely forget until the last day or start on the third....

Word count: 14759
:(
I had to give up because I had pneumonia and college.
*grabs cookies and milk and hot chocolate*

OF COURSE I'll do it next year! ^^
Already have plans to do just that~

But the question is- are you still going to work on your story after this?
*emos in corner*

[nondisbeliever.livejournal.com]

Busy first two weeks of the month due to work, social obligations etc (I'm trying not to say "it's tough being this popular" ;)) meant that I got approximately jack squat done. This was my first Nano, but I don't intend it to be the last!

Am up to roughly 25k words now, but I aim to continue writing the story until it's finished. Plus, I figured since I really like the story I've written so far, might as well try to do it some justice, eh? Hence I'm in no rush to get it completed, nor am I going to constrain it to 50k.

Feels great to be free of the pressure to be honest, but hopefully by the beginning of next year's Nano I'll be comfortable enough with the rest of my writing to knuckle down and just get this done. Plus, I'm going to have to practice hard on the "quantity over quality" mantra... my inner editor hates that!

[nwc-orca.livejournal.com]

One of these years I'll finish! I had to quit this year because I suddenly developed carpal tunnel in my right wrist (not directly Nano related, but coincidental anyway!) So I've only been using my computer casually. Oh well!

*shrug*

[greenschmoodle.livejournal.com]

I'm at about 12 myself and there is just no way it's gonna happen this year. But I hope that everyone who started a story at least finishes it, whether it be on deadline or not. ;)

Be well!