BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?

Subject: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 02 Nov 03 - 02:11 PM

NanoWrimo is a contest to write a novel of 50,000 words in the month of November!

The prize is to have actually done it. Bragging rights, as it were. Any mudcatters doing the challenge?

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 02 Nov 03 - 02:22 PM

Tempting, tempting....

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: okthen
Date: 02 Nov 03 - 02:38 PM

Only another 49,998 to go then Nigel.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 02 Nov 03 - 02:55 PM

No, the FAQ's say you can't repeat the same word 50,000 times!
Actually you'd only need to repeat it 49,999 times

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 08:18 AM

Wow. I'm the only mudcatter stupid enough to do this?

*Waaaaah*

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 19 Oct 04 - 10:08 PM

It's that time of year again! I didn't make it last year, clocked in at only 8000 words. Hopefully this year will be better. I'm trying to get a few ideas in place before starting this time.

Who else is up for it?

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 20 Oct 04 - 12:46 AM

I had no idea! What a hoot! Thank you, thank you for bringing this to our attention.   I'd say more, but I need to hold some words in reserve.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Peace
Date: 20 Oct 04 - 12:48 AM

Not I.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 12:24 PM

Okay, Hesperis, I've thought hard about this, and I'm going to do it. I'm going to make it a trashy romance novel, with a narrator, in the style of the Lemony Snickett books, and an unhappy ending. My principal characters will be modeled on my border collie, (eager to please, rule bound, neurotic,) and on my Anatolian/Pyrenees cross, (a huge, gentle goodnatured lout who pleases himself, for whom rules are a conceptual conundrum.) Other characters will be based on my daughter's dog, (a slightly hyperactive funloving redhead,) my other dog (who is patient and good and sweet and needy and terrified of puppies,) and a whole slew of my other daughter's cats, (skanky males who don't groom themselves very well, sluttishly feral females who frequently abandon their young, a genderbending male we call Uncle Mom...) The rules say we can't start writing yet, so all I can do is plan - can't remember if we're allowed to have a written outline before the start date, do you know?

BTW, I think Bobert should seriously consider putting together 50,000 words about his interesting Wes Ginny relatives and neighbors - why, the story of the fellow and his wife living in the half a doublewide trailer in the "electricuted birds" thread is sidesplittingly funny, and could easily be drawn out to 10,000 words all by itself. Bobert, if you're reading this, I challenge you!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 01:02 PM

"It was a dark & storm night as I sat on top of my doghouse and..."

hmmmm...tough!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 02:27 PM

Building on that..."It was a pitch-black, can't-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face black, the darkest hour, midnight, of a raging, turbulent, wave-tossing night as I teetered atop my doghouse, clutching until my nails turned blue, watery-dead blue from the tight clench..the only thing keeping me from sliding of into the abyss of the dark and story night...":-)

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 02:32 PM

Forgot to say, Hesp, I'll try to do my best!!:-)

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 02:46 PM

Yay! More people!

My nick is serpentgoddess at the site, send me a PM there.

Yes, you're allowed to have an outline and even some notes - but the notes have to be notes, not chunks of the novel.

I and my husband will be splitting a story between us at 50,000 words each so that we end up at more full-novel-length instead of novella-length. We also have a 10,000-word prologue, but we'll be ignoring that in the nanowrimo word count. It's a separate thing all by itself anyway so we can disregard it while writing the novel.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 28 Oct 04 - 12:52 AM

Sorry, haven't had time to check back before now, just want to say, BillD, I think you have what it takes! And thanks to katlaughing, if we find ourselves a few hundred words short here and there, we know what to do - start flinging in adjectives with wild abandon!

Did I say wild abandon? I anticipate that I will become a regular Vesuvius of description, a font, no, a fountain, indeed, a regular gusher of extraneous verbiage. I shall spout, spew and vomit a veritable cornucopia of superfluous words, why, if necessary I shall let loose the sphincter of taste and discretion...well, I may draw the line at loosing the sphincter, but who knows, by Thanksgiving, how desperate I'll be...   

My plan is to reserve the Mudcat Cafe for a reward, so if I'm here in November, it's because I've passed some small or not so small milestone - either that, or I'm procrastinating...good luck, every one!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 31 Oct 04 - 12:55 AM

Steve and I went to our local kickoff party. It was a lot of fun. I'm really excited about this... also rather nervous though. Ah, well, that's part of the fun...

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 02 Nov 04 - 04:04 PM

Got over 2000 words on the first day and am now sick. Brain is mush. 122 words today so far, because most of today has been spent sleeping. ACK!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Nov 04 - 05:30 PM

I forgot! Two days almost gone. Don't know if I can pull this off this year or not. Sorry!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 12:35 PM

Day 6, have almost 7000 now. Was hoping for more like 10000 but oh well. At least I'm feeling better... now I just have to write for 2-3 hours every day and I'll still get there!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 02:37 PM

Hey, kat! Don't be sorry to try. I started a week late last year, only got 8790 words or so, and didn't finish.

This year I've got 12,013 words as of last night. I'm a bit behind but still might get there.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 10:43 PM

16,645 words. Definitely behind, definitely still writing though! I still might make the 50,000, maybe. Worth the try. Steve isn't doing so well in terms of wordcount but his story is awesome.

Excerpt from my story here >

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 12:54 PM

And it's a new nano next month!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Amos
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 01:51 PM

Fifty thousand words is only roughly 100 pages. A real short novel. That's single spaced at a rule-of-thumb of 500/page. Double spaced, 200 pages at 250/page = 50,000. If you are well-oiled a page in four minutes is reasonable, but say an average of ten minutes even -- that would be 2000 minutes or 33.3 hours of typing. If you get in three hours a day, you have 90 hours available in November. DOesn't seem too hard. But that doesn't mean I am going to add it to my schedule! I have rocks to mortar.

A

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 08:21 PM

Mortaring rocks for what?

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 09:38 PM

i researched H Rider Haggard for my degree..

a real old victorian pro novelist..


i'm sure i remember that at his peak

he disciplined himself to churn out 10,000 words per day

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: BaldEagle2
Date: 27 Oct 05 - 11:12 AM

The Squadron Commander eyed his young flock of eager, yet niave, pilots and made his momentous announcement: "Gentlemen, we shall attack the bridges at San Diablo tomorrow night!"

"Why tomorrow, Sir?" asked plucky Tom Snider, battle-hardened leader of Blue Flight.

"Because tomorrow it will be a dark and stormy night."

(und so weiter....)

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 03 Nov 05 - 12:28 PM

Well, going good so far.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 04 Nov 05 - 10:48 AM

Perhaps... every other mudcatter doing nanowrimo has given up mudcat temporarily in order to increase their wordcount?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I am the only truly insane one here!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Oct 06 - 04:57 PM

I have signed up for this year, thanks to CapriUni!! Really excited and ifnally have the energy for it! C'mon folks, come join in the fun!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 29 Oct 06 - 05:25 PM

Heck, I'd give it a shot if it was held in January instead of November, but it's the peak of the outdoor art show season down here in Florida. Must make pottery, not a novel. In fact, I'm beating myself up for taking enough time out to write this message.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Chip2447
Date: 29 Oct 06 - 11:08 PM

Okay, I'm in...

Chip2447

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 05:23 PM

Yeah for you, Chip!

B-dub..understood...but ya can't sell/make pottery 24/7, right? Gotta have an hour, maybe, for a bit of fun, too? Only 1667 words per day. All the same, glad to see you took the time to post.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 07:00 PM

Talk to my Family - I cant even manage letters to them ! 50,000 words
would take me a lifetime !!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 06:51 PM

I'm not really trying this year...

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Nov 06 - 08:12 PM

Hope all is well for you, sirepseh.:-)

I am finding this very freeing...my inner editor is OFF and it is teaching me a new discipline, this writing when I have time, as it comes and, letting it go without thinking on whether it is a finished piece of writing or not. I love the email pep talks. Thanks for letting us know about this in earlier years.

kat@20,150wordsandcounting

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 12 Nov 06 - 10:16 PM

Whooo! Go kat!

I've been sick and in school, so whenever I'm not sick or at the doctor's trying to get documentation on why I'm sick... I'm doing homework.

So, nanowrimo's not going well at all. *wry grin*

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Nov 06 - 03:32 PM

Sorry to hear that, hesperis. I hope this coming year brings you an bug improvement in health and other circumstances; you deserve that and much more. Thansk for your support and for your initial thread about this moth, way back when.

I have finished it! 50,580 words and it is done!!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 25 Nov 06 - 10:14 PM

Wooohooo, go kat!!!!!!!!!!!!! *does the nanocomplete dance*

I've given up on nanowrimo but am doing a lot of journaling. Well, a lot for me. Heh.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Nov 06 - 10:28 PM

Good for you, hesperis! That's a good way to not get all bottled up with waht's oging on, stuffing it down. When you journal, at least you have an outlet for a lot of it.

Two years ago I was dying; there was no way I could even muster the strength to do much living, let alone writing. Things can change in wondrous ways. You hang in there and keep coming back to keep in touch, okay?

Capri-Uni, how're you doing with your NaNo, this year?

kat

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 10:18 AM

This begins to make sense. I visited Kat's link in the other thread and all I got was a site that had links to lots of book selling sites and book clubs. Not that I have time to write a novel in a month, let alone a year, but I wish I'd seen this thread earlier, I have a couple of folks I'd have sent the link to. I'll keep this in mind for next year (for them, not for me!)

So now that these novels are written, what will you do with them?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 11:34 AM

SRS, sorry about the links. They tell me the NaNoWriye (NaNoWriMoYear) is where the writers help one through the whole process of editing, finding a publisher/agent, etc. I will be looking at it and see how it goes.

After the holidays, I plan to edit mine and probably publish it through my publishing company. I've got nine more ISBN numbers to use.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Drumshanty
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 12:08 PM

Hello (waving from the back)

I didn't see this thread until today. I have about 4k words to go. Me and a friend are neck and neck and planning to paint Edinburgh red (well, a watery shade of pink) on Friday night if we both get done.

It's been a great experience. I have always hankered to write and this switching the editor off and just writing has been, as Kat says, very liberating. I have no intentions of letting anyone see what I have done, but I do intend to edit it next month and perhaps look into taking writing a bit more seriously for a while.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 12:11 PM

"bug improvement in health"...

I like that. It could make for a whole new book...

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 12:32 PM

I never counted before. Is 50,000 a typical murder mystery paperback less than an inch thick?

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 12:34 PM

Won't most people just dust off the novels they did years ago?

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 12:41 PM

LOL, McGrath! maybe that'll be my next plot!

You can do it Drumshanty! Congrats!

Donuel, the whole thing is on the honour system. I think most people who are really into it, the whole boilerplate thing, etc. do abide by the *rules*. The only one they have to answer to is themselves, really, so it's their loss if they cheat.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Bee
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 12:49 PM

I've only just had a look at this thread. Interesting! I hope SueB really wrote her novel, her animal personalities would be hilarious - and a damn good way to devise a character, I would think...hmmm... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Drumshanty
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 07:28 PM

Done. And it has to be said, I'm mighty pleased with myself...

Now for some sleep.

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 07:36 PM

Whoo-hoo. Goodonya!!!

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 12:14 AM

Dickens would have loved this arrangement (as long as he could still get paid by the word).

Subject: RE: BS: NanoWriMo - Anyone up for it?
From: hesperis
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 09:03 PM

Congrats, Drumshanty!

I've over 14k now. Not going to make it to 50k by the end of tomorrow, but am just happy to not have 0.