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I'm doing a slow Nano this year. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to swing 1600 words a day with a full time job and responsibilities at home. Especially from a long period of no writing at all. Instead, I'm looking to get three 25 minute sessions a day. That's averaging out to about 700 words a day so I'm giving myself permission to spin it out into December.
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Nov 3, 2023 15:58
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 12:09 |
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:And even after spending a lot of time working on it, I cannot shake the feeling like the main plot of the scene is far too slight and uninteresting. [...] It's weak and less intense than the previous scene. I'm likely going to just put a pin in the scene I'm working on, move on to a different scene and see if I can get something usable. I have written many weak scenes. If I had to point to any one thing that has sapped my motivation for writing over the years, its repeatedly finding myself stuck in a bad, seemingly endless scene. It's completely deflating. Especially if you've spent significant time on them. In preparation for this year's, NaNo, I read The Writer's Journey and one passage from that has really stuck with me about what a scene actually is: A scene is a transaction, in which two or more people enter with one kind of deal between them, and negotiate or battle until a new deal has been cut, at which point the scene should end. - Migs Levy, Story Editor I'm on a five day streak (started a day early) and this piece of advice has pulled me back from the edge of writerly calamity more than once. 4,299 words so far.
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Nov 4, 2023 18:29
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Day 6 of an unbroken streak. This may be the longest I've ever maintained the habit. I'm finding that my stamina is increasing. I've been working in 25 minute blocks so far, but today the timer ticked and I kept on going. 5,555 words.
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Nov 5, 2023 18:00
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Going strong with a 7 day streak. Is anyone else using a time management tool to stay focused? I've been using the Pomodoro technique and a Chrome plugin called Marinara. It keeps track of stats, so I'll be interested to see how much focus time I've used at the end of this project and figure out my average words per minute for composition.
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Nov 6, 2023 14:26
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I'm having trouble reading enough to keep my tank full. My writing always becomes false and stilted if I don't read for a while.
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Nov 6, 2023 19:53
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7228 words. Today, my heroine explored a farmhouse. Turns out I had no idea what would typically be in a 19th century farmhouse, so a bunch of my time today was quick research trips into Hay Stoves, Dry Sinks, dutch doors, and other fun stuff. Very happy to have an 8 day streak. I used to think that if I hadn't written by a certain time during the day, I'd basically wasted that day. Typically, this meant writing before noon. During this last week, I've written at just about every waking hour. I feel like I'm slowly breaking down the junk and rationalizations that have kept me from producing.
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Nov 7, 2023 22:24
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Bobby Deluxe posted:
Congratulations! Habit is hard. My brain was playing some mean tricks on me today. Trying to convince me not to write--that I could catch up tomorrow or the next day. That's a trap I've fallen into too many times in my life. I'm finally learning how to avoid the snares I set for myself. 9 day streak. 1109 words today. 8,260 total.
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Nov 9, 2023 02:12
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Tarnop posted:9,527 I'd say it's still very early and excitement about the project is more important that what you've got so far. Can you shift what you've written to be backstory for a new protagonist or new conflict?
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Nov 9, 2023 12:26
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Day 11 for me. 1,134 words today which doesn't account for three long paragraphs I axed. 10,353 words total and incredibly surprised that I'm still in it. I typically flag and quit way before this point. My other unfinished novel is sitting at 11,088 words that that took me months to write. Surpassing that in less than 2 weeks will be satisfying.
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Nov 10, 2023 18:48
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Two week streak. No doubt now that this is the longest I've stuck with the habit. 1297 today. Up to 13,452 words. Just had a pretty terrific moment where a character appeared, unbidden and almost fully formed in my head in his first appearance. Completely unplanned.
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Nov 14, 2023 02:07
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Day 15: 1087 today. 14, 445 total. I realized today that I've surpassed my previous longest fiction attempt today, which I wrote in fits and starts over a series of months and only ever wrangled about 11k words out of. Consistency really is key. My creative engine is ready to roar when I sit down each day. I'm not having those "oh gently caress I've forgotten how to do this" feelings I used to get every time I came back to piece after days or weeks had passed.
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Nov 15, 2023 01:52
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Gnossiennes posted:today: 3727 words Congratulations! I'm amazed.
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Nov 16, 2023 22:24
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1595 today, 17,836 total. Waited until almost 8PM tonight to start writing. Continuing to prove to myself that writing is an anytime activity, that I shouldn't write a day off creatively just because I haven't worked by a certain time. That's one of the tricks the writing monster uses to keep me away from the keyboard. I know I won't hit 50k by the end of the month, but I've taken next week off of work for something I'm picturing as a stay-at-home writer's retreat. Judging by my previous output, I produce between 1000 and 1500 words over the course of three 25-minute blocks. If I move to six blocks on those days, I may be able to squeeze 2000-3000 out. All told, that'd put me at around 36k for the month, which I'll be more than satisfied with. I'm going to try to keep the same schedule into December and hopefully have a finished first draft of around 70k words by the New Year.
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Nov 18, 2023 04:41
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Ither posted:November is halfway over, and I've only written 477 words. Blogger just emailed me about a blog I haven't used or thought about in about 18 years. The first post? About doing NaNo in 2005. I failed it then and I've failed it every year that I've attempted it since then. I'll fail it this year too, if we're using 50k as the standard. But I've done my best to establish a habit. Tomorrow will be 20 days in a row. ---- Big day today--did double my normal sessions: 1,846 today and 19,583 total. Tomorrow I'll break 20k and be thrilled about it.
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Nov 19, 2023 00:14
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Bobby Deluxe posted:
I struggle with this as well. The only thing I'm allowing myself to do is alter a single word here and there, in cases where I've used the word again in a following sentence and the second use is better.
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Nov 19, 2023 20:03
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Bobby Deluxe posted:Day 20: 1,050 We have identical goals! Let's keep rocking into December, writing buddy. I'm realizing that I gave my protagonist a strange power in the first few paragraphs of the story and then haven't let her use it again for 20,000 words. Sort of a pacing problem, though in my defense in that same time she did get kicked out of art school, learned that her brother died, got evicted from the dorms, and got caught in a lie that's made her best friend decide to distance herself. Busy gal! I'll hammer it out in a few months when it comes time to edit. Day 20: 1,423 Total: 21,569
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Nov 21, 2023 02:13
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Today: 1,726 Total: 22,993 Maddeningly close to 23k but I just feel completely drained of words today. I have yet to hit my 2k goal any day this week, which will throw off my entire project calculation if I don't gain some ground. Focusing on the fact that I'm maintaining the habit. I'm still very happy and even more surprised that I'm still here. EDIT: Went back to the well and ended with 2155 for the day. Also, Novlr's Project word count doesn't always update immediately so my total was wrong before. I'm sitting at 25,060 right now. Quote fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Nov 23, 2023 |
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Nov 22, 2023 23:09
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 12:09 |
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Turns out, for me, the NO in Nano stands for NOVEL CORONA VIRUS. Couldn't even lift my head off a pillow yesterday --breaking my streak. Feels loving awful.
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Nov 24, 2023 11:43
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