NaNoWriMo nano 2019

Discussion in 'NaNoWriMo' started by A.S.Ford, Mar 12, 2019.

  1. Kinzvlle

    Kinzvlle At the bottom of a pit Contributor

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    Look at all the posts here already...though I guess you guys didn`t all decide on this last minute did you? Just me then? Ok.


    The whole Nano site is just....so differnt then I recall. Made a fresh acount for a fresh start...and because I couldn`t recall the log in.

    Got 1029 words logged atm. Will poke around the new site more tomorrow...it`s late. Here`s to good things and a good Nano however. The new set up does seem more encouraging to a little rebel like me.
     
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  2. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    People in another online writers' group I belong to commented that the site is different this year. I'm on the Stats page over there and I managed to figure out where to post Friday's tally before I turned into a pumpkin, but I have no idea where to click to update anything else.

    I drivelled out all of 573 words today, if you must know. No apologies--- my work on Fridays keeps me away from my keyboard all day and most of the evening. Got home from work at 10:15 PM and couldn't start writing till 10:45.

    For me, Monday through Thursday should be the most productive.
     
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  3. Matt E

    Matt E Ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8 Contributor

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    131 words! Okay, that isn't a sprint, or really a walk, more a crawl. :eek: But it's something, and much better than zero. I'm glad that I'm actually starting on this idea now. This book is growing darker and darker. Let's see what Saturday will give me!
     
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  4. Quixote's Biographer

    Quixote's Biographer Active Member

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    Take good care of yourself and your health! Hope you figure it out and can get writing :)
     
  5. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    I keep telling myself I would do a NaNo. But when i start, i go blank. I just cranked out 2439 words today since 12 (while watching netflix lol), but I'm worried about doing that everyday to keep up with NaNo. Plus, I do research as well. I currently have a book on historic clothings and maritime ships that I'm consult as I go that takes up time because I am also googling what certain vocab words mean in the books.
    The closest thing I've done for NaNo was a "Write-In" where the English Club facilitated a take over of the dining lounge in college for people to come in and work on NaNo stuff. We had a small turn out, as could be expected, but it allowed us to go at our own pace.
    I think I'll do that this year... track how much I write in my journal on here. But signing up on the website creates anxiety for me, like I HAVE to do this or I'll fail at the end of the month.... :(
     
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  6. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Yeah, that's why I didn't sign up for several years. But like you I realized I could crank out a decent number of words in a reasonable time if I knew what I wanted to say. So why not use NNWM as an incentive to make some real progress on a novel I'd been talking about writing the previous two years?

    So whether you sign up on the website or not, think of the month not as a thing in itself that you can "fail," but as a means to an end, getting your novel closer to done.
     
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  7. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Oh, yeah, there's something I should Officially Declare here.

    Starting last February, I've gotten rather addicted to watching YouTube channels featuring stories from Reddit.com. Most of them are not uplifting or edifying in the least: they display the worst of human nature, from the standpoint of the original posters or from that of their antagonists. There's only so much of this I can justify as writing research, and I passed that quota months and months ago.

    But the damn videos are so bloody addictive. "Just one more! Just one more!" And meanwhile, I am not writing.

    So, for this month of November, I am Officially Fasting from Reddit stories. And now that I've made that vow public, I am honor-bound to observe it.

    And write on my novel for NaNoWriMo instead.
     
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  8. Kinzvlle

    Kinzvlle At the bottom of a pit Contributor

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    Maybe I just don`t like new things but the new site seems confusing to me. I updated my word count and feel like that should get me the two day streak badge...but it didn`t? Is there, like a set time? Not that it matters just struck me as odd. Added some people here as buddies, my name there being Kinzdor. Set my home region, despite seeing the words "Hey yinz" making me die inside. Nothing seems to update on the home page ever though. Pep talks section seems like a useful place. I thought I had found a way, to set up two projects at once...now the project section just glitches out. Theres stuff at the stat page that I havent logged yet...and I don`t know where I would.


    The site looks great...just isn`t that smooth just yet. Didn`t even venture to the forums, I was overwhelmed enough. Also may have lost general interest in exploring for the day.
     
  9. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    My two-day badge came in my notifications a little after I updated. You got your first day tally in before midnight last night, didn't you? If so, it's probably just the bot Thinking About It that's keeping you from your 2-day badge.

    I figured out late last night that you deal with the other stuff on the stats page by checking the drop down arrow labelled "Show more options" under the box you enter your word count in.

    I still don't know how to interact with my NaNo buddies on the site, which is why I'm doing it here. That's fine for folks from WF, but leaves out people from other writers' groups I belong to.

    Any of you know how to do the buddy thing over there?
     
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  10. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Interesting reading this thread. Seems to me that NaNo is a bit like Weight Watchers. You're either motivated by doing things as a group ...or you're not. It's a method, not a goal. The goal is to lose weight or write. NaNo and Weight Watchers are just means to an end.

    I think there are two planets involved here. Guess which one I'm on? :)

    Just like losing weight—which I have done successfully, as I'm 3 stone lighter than I was a year and a half ago—writing is something I do alone. My timetable My method. My speed. I definitely balk at the 'group' thing. And nobody gets to see or comment on my successes or failures till the whole thing is done.

    But whatever gets you there in the end. Whatever works. If NaNo boosts you out of your personal writing doldrums and gives you something concrete and usable at the end of it, that's a fantastic result.

    However, don't get discouraged if it turns out that the NaNo timetable and experience doesn't work for you. November can be a very busy month, and people do have other committments. Maybe that particular word count (50,000 per month) isn't realistic for lots of people, either at this time or any time. That doesn't mean they can't write at their own pace—even if it's just a few paragraphs a week. Or one chapter per month. Or half a novel in a year.

    Find your own pace and keep it up. You'll get there eventually. Just don't give up. Find your own timetable—whatever it is—and keep going.
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2019
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  11. Edward M. Grant

    Edward M. Grant Contributor Contributor

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    Mine's under 'movieman'.
     
  12. Edward M. Grant

    Edward M. Grant Contributor Contributor

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    It's not just that. One of the other benefits is that it's easier to tell everyone else you know 'don't bother me this month, I'm writing' when you're doing it as part of a group event than when you're just doing it for yourself.
     
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  13. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    You're the swaddled-up dude with the plastic snow shovel?
     
  14. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Yeah, I hadn't thought of that aspect. Hey, why not? Mind you, I have trouble with people taking on board, "Don't bother me TODAY. I'm writing." I don't know what they'd do if I told them to go away for a month. :)
     
  15. Edward M. Grant

    Edward M. Grant Contributor Contributor

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    Anyway, broke 7,000 words and hopefully I'll break 8,000 by the end of the night.
     
  16. Edward M. Grant

    Edward M. Grant Contributor Contributor

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    Yes. I think that was my first winter in Canada, and it was about -40 that day.
     
  17. Quixote's Biographer

    Quixote's Biographer Active Member

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    Another tip on how to use NaNo if you're not going for 50K, if you're working on the same thing you worked on before November, if you just want to get into the habit of writing every day or if you're not writing at all but outlining or doing research etc; the NaNo forums fill up with thousands of people with the 'in this together' mentality and you can get a ton of help for whatever you're doing.

    It turns into a ghost town in December though...
     
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  18. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    How is everyone doing?

    I'm producing the word count all right, but something's happened that will cause extra work when it comes to validation time at the end of the month.

    I think I mentioned that my new words so far consist of scenes I'm inserting into last year's NaNo project (yeah, I intend to get to Part 2 of the story this month. Give me time). I'm keeping track of my total word count at the start and end of each day's writing, and noting down the number of words I put out at each session of the day.

    The new portions I do in redline. When I've hit the day's word count goal, or, more often, before I start writing the next morning, I copy and paste the new words into a separate NaNo Novel document. Then I change those same new words in my main file to blue. That way I can tell what I've added and keep track of what I've copied over for validation.

    This was working fine until a couple days ago, when I got lazy and didn't copy the new stuff into the NaNo file until after I'd added more new stuff, and somehow I lost track and--- And now I'm missing a good chunk of what I should have in what is supposed to be my validation file.

    Everything else tracks. Beginning total word count, end total word count, what I've entered on the NaNo site: it all tallies. It just won't validate at the end of November.

    I know how to come up with the missing verbiage (won't bore you with the process), but it will be tedious and will take awhile. All the better reason to finish my 50,000 words early and have time to take care of it.

    EDIT: I think I've identified the problem: a program or computer crash before I had the chance to save the latest additions. Just came up with a backup file that's only 587 words short, instead of over a thousand.

    This will get frizzy by the end.
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2019
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  19. badgerjelly

    badgerjelly Contributor Contributor

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    Total word count is zero :)
     
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  20. Quixote's Biographer

    Quixote's Biographer Active Member

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    Reached 50K on Wednesday night, and apart from one scene I wasn't happy with and will go back and change the outline for later, I'm done with act 1 and I've started act 2. I'm on schedule for 200K (which is this year's challenge) :)
     
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  21. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    Grr. I'm at 11,000 words, which isn't bad, except that those words are the sum total of about five attempts at the beginning of my story. I'm having a really hard time deciding where to begin this time. At this rate, I'll wind up with 50,000 words at the end of the month, all together consisting of a batch of attempts to write Scene One.

    Ah, happy days. Hmph.
     
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  22. Edward M. Grant

    Edward M. Grant Contributor Contributor

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    You can always turn each of them into a different story :).

    Broke 12,000 last night. I'm still trying to get back to being a day ahead of schedule.
     
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  23. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Humorist!
     
  24. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Believe me, I know.

    You can only hope that among all those attempts is that one, magnificent, revelatory scene that makes you go "Aha! That's it!!!"

    Meanwhile, the strikeover tool is your friend.
     
  25. badgerjelly

    badgerjelly Contributor Contributor

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    I wasn’t being funny. My aim is 50,ooo and I’m still at zero. 20 days to go so going to have to write in large chunks whether I like it or not.
     

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