Comments on: NaNoWriMo 2008

NaNoWriMo 2008

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:34:41 -0800

Ah, Fall. The leaves start to turn brilliant shades of red and yellow, stores start to put up the Christmas displays, and our hands start to twist into claws of carpal tunnel syndrome pain. Guess that means another National Novel Writing Writing Month is at ~~claw~~ hand.

So who's in this year? I am. Post your WriMo name/ID here to so can buddy up and onlookers can lay bets on who crosses 50k first. In previous years it was the constant ~~need to beat cortex~~ support by fellow MeFites that helped me cross the 50k finish line. I propose a virtual gathering, hinging on this thread, for all us struggling writers to get together to crow about our victories and complain when words no don't not tell them what we wants them doing done.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:48:52 -0800

I've been wanting to try this for a while, so just signed up. My username is cjorgensen (unsurprisingly).

I also fired up a website somedarkplace.com where I intend to try to do the whole process online, but don't hold me to that.

I haven't figure out the best way yet, but the cms I use allows versioning of posts, so I think I will probably make each writing session be it's own post, with all of the posts being assembled on a main page.

This way, if I go back to an early post, and make changes, it will automatically update on the main "body," and I can track the changes in individual posts.

That's the theory anyway. I'll probably fail.

By: Solon and Thanks

Solon and Thanks — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:53:33 -0800

I wish NaNoWriMo wasn't during finals month, but I'm probably going to go for it anyway.

My username is curmudgeon.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:56:18 -0800

I strongly intend to beat my previous record of 2500 words.

By: Solon and Thanks

Solon and Thanks — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:01:09 -0800

Oh, yeah. This might be a better way to link to my userpage.

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:01:58 -0800

I signed up a few months ago with the best intentions of actually doing it this year. But now that we're nearing November, I'm a bit frightened of the monumental task. Now I'm thinking I just might start out with National Grocery List Writing Writing Month and see how that goes. Good luck robocop and all of you other crazy bastards!

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:05:55 -0800

I keep feeling like I should give this another shot, and I keep not giving it another shot. I need a gimmick to get me into it.

What about a NaNoWriMo microserialization? 50,000 words at 25 words or so a pop = 2000 episodes.

Via twitter. Is what I'm saying.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:10:40 -0800

cortex, you bad person. Now it must be done.

By: Lentrohamsanin

Lentrohamsanin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:18:15 -0800

I won't be doing NaNoWriMo, but maybe knowing it's going on will get me to update my damn fiction/humor blog more often.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:20:29 -0800

Well, I can certainly start in on it. The nice thing is this pretty much makes it impossible to consider editorial issues when I'm writing, which would take care of 90% of my burnt time, based on previous experiences. And I'm a lousy enough editor that that's pretty much a win.

I don't know. It's a terrible idea, but I like it already.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:33:06 -0800

it was a dark and stormy night
posted 10 minutes ago by nanoauth0r

suddenly a shot rang out
posted 6 minutes ago by nanoauth0r

i'm on the shitter :)
posted 4 minutes ago by nanoauth0r

LOL
posted 3 minutes ago by nanoauth0r

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:42:55 -0800

It seems like NaNoWriMo is every other month. Or maybe it's just that people like talking about it more than actually writing their novels.

By: Jofus

Jofus — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:47:03 -0800

I am joethedough and I am filled with good intentions, piss and vinegar.

By: burnmp3s

burnmp3s — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:47:20 -0800

Alright, I'm in. The chances of me actually winning are slim to none, but I guess that's part of the point.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:47:27 -0800

First timer here, trying to overcome a years long creative block. Profile: desjardins

So do these get published on a website somewhere? I can't find the answer in the FAQ.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:52:37 -0800

The only publishing that's been involved in the years I participated was the sort we call self-. You can keep it a secret, put it on your blog, take out an ad in the NYT, whatever. They did excerpt publishing on your nano site profile last time I checked; I don't know if they've expanded that at all in the last year or two.

By: kittyprecious

kittyprecious — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:56:14 -0800

Oh, Christ. I've signed up for the past three years running and never made it past...well, let's not sully it with numbers. THIS TIME IT WILL HAPPEN.

By: nfg

nfg — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:01:04 -0800

It's no BiMonSciFiCon... but I'll give it a try..

By: hellojed

hellojed — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:09:16 -0800

here's mine.

The people that I've talked to about NaNoWiMo are looking at me like I'm crazy. Heck, the guy next to me just confirmed this.

Eh, how hard can it be?

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:12:18 -0800

I signed up, but it's becoming quite daunting as it moves up the calendar... I haven't had any good ideas yet, and am veering between the idea of doing something vaguely autobiographical or some sort of scifi. I am hoping that the mad effort of typing 1600+ words every day will help me break through some mental blockage on a number of levels.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:13:48 -0800

The nano site is really pretty crazy slow this morning.

By: mds35

mds35 — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:20:07 -0800

I'm in.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:25:44 -0800

Do we get to read the novels or do we just use the honor system? Not sure which I prefer honestly. Unedited manuscripts are a lot like raw sausage.

By: nowonmai

nowonmai — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:25:58 -0800

Can anybody recommend a broker who can hook me up with someone to write mine for me? GilloD only does term papers.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:28:17 -0800

Oh bloody hell why not?

By: thoughtless

thoughtless — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:28:34 -0800

I'll have a go. Hopefully my two-dominated user number is some kind of good omen ... I'm not too confident.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:29:27 -0800

Neat! I'm tied with Desjardins and Plutor.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:33:24 -0800

I'm in.

twitanovel looks forward to your follows.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:33:27 -0800

thoughtless, your number is definitely four-two-itous.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:35:07 -0800

(Also, someone had this idea a while ago and snagged the obvious handle, so they better step up.)

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:44:24 -0800

Oh man, I totally forgot this was coming up. I don't even remember what my account was... I've tried this yearly for about three years now. I believe I hit about 20K first year, 5K second, and... yeah....

But sure. Here it is!.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:46:12 -0800

Do we get to read the novels or do we just use the honor system? Not sure which I prefer honestly. Unedited manuscripts are a lot like raw sausage.

I'll likely post whatever I get down to my blog. I mean, if Hodgman became a minor TV celebrity due to just going on TV, I'll become an author of minor repute by posting my generic fantasy story online. Literally fives of dollars will be mine!

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:47:21 -0800

I choked bad on 24 Hour Comics Day, maybe I'll try to redeem myself with this. The Twitter strategy is appealing.

By: Caduceus

Caduceus — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:11:54 -0800

I did NaNoWriMo a couple years back. I even won, as I knocked out about 55,000 words of what is probably a 100,000 novel. Unfortunately, I've never written the other 45,000 words. I'm definitely not doing it this year, as I have way too much work to do. I will be happy to root you guys on, though.

Also if anyone comes up with something they're considering trying to get published, I'd be happy to offer my services as a freelance editor.

By: xorry

xorry — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:11:57 -0800

I'm in with my 5 digit id! I'm so cool. Four years of making it to 1800 words or so.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:32:59 -0800

I did it in '06 and won, but I really feel zero compulsion to redo that fiasco. ~60,000 words, yes, but good/usable ones? < 10,000 at best and not even 10,000 contiguous enough to refashioned as a short story. I'm so disgusted with it I haven't been able to bring myself to fish out the ~10,000 usable ones. Maybe that should be my project this November.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:37:11 -0800

I'm here btw.
<vidgamegeek>...and besides, this is a deep vidgaming season: fable 2, fallout 3, midnight club la, dead space, nhl09 - and that's just stuff out this month!<vidgamegeek/>

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:40:48 -0800

dead space is really good, btw

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:54:56 -0800

So long, 75k account.

By: nkknkk

nkknkk — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:05:50 -0800

I'm here, as wowkate. I had a "victory" back in 2005, but only stalled attempts (1k, 3k) since then. No excuses this year, really.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:14:02 -0800

I gave up on NaNo and started my own, for knitters: NaKniSweMo (knit a 50,000 stitch sweater in a month). We've got a group on Ravelry, too, oh Mefi crafters! From the looks of it, there's a lot of couples doing both (one's doing NaNo, one's doing NaKni...)

By: dhruva

dhruva — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:35:20 -0800

I'm officially hemming and hawing, having done it a couple of years ago, but I have an outline in my head and might as well do it again this year.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:59:29 -0800

cortex: "I'm excited about the terribleness of this idea." (via twitanovel)

First, this is a sucky beginning. Second, you're not supposed to start until November! There's rules to these things! I'm reporting you to the moderators! twit post flagged!

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:23:17 -0800

I'm in. My first NaNo. I chickened out last year but I'm actually pretty stoked about doing it this year.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:24:21 -0800

Anything prior to Nov 1. is clearly uncounted prologue.

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:27:07 -0800

Is there a MeFi group in the NaNo forums? We should have one, hell, even Disney Pass holders have their own board.

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:28:37 -0800

Anything prior to Nov 1. is clearly ~~uncounted prologue~~ very extensive outlining.

By: Lucinda

Lucinda — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:42:19 -0800

Here's my page.

This'll be my eighth attempt and probably my seventh loss.

By: lovermont

lovermont — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:46:33 -0800

Here I am. Third time's a charm, right? Right?

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:04:01 -0800

Why yes, I am in, for the first time ever!

I even have a sort of a plot. And a setting!

You guys mind if I Writing Buddy all of you?

Should I go to write-ins and stuff? I do not write Fantasy.

I've never written a novel before, or like, fiction.

Halp.

By: nkknkk

nkknkk — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:14:22 -0800

PotomacAve, I'm in DC too, and I went to a write-in or two during my first NaNo, it can be awkward-at-first fun if you want to meet new people. Usually a few minutes of jibberjabber, then lots of concentrated clacking. Let me know what you decide, I'd be happy to join you as a friendly MeFi face.

By: zorrine

zorrine — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:17:51 -0800

here's me, but every year i try, i've failed. maybe i'll fail at failing and actually do it this year?

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:23:48 -0800

That's the spirit zorrine. Throw yourself at the ground and miss.

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:29:55 -0800

I don't suppose there are too many MeFi NaNo-ers in the Ottawa/Kingston area of Canada, eh?

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:30:30 -0800

nkknkk: Everyday I thank god for my deep abiding love of awkwardness. It certainly got me though grad school! I'm guessing I'll go to one early on. I may even go to the kickoff party? Or is that pushing the awkward over the edge into masochism?

By: nkknkk

nkknkk — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:41:51 -0800

PotomacAve: I can't attend the kickoff, so much for my offer! Might as well go somewhere where EVERYONE will be dying of awkwardness, right? Go for it!

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:42:54 -0800

Well, I can't honestly say I will follow through, but I signed up this time.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:43:03 -0800

I'M IN FIRST PLACE BITCHES!!!!!!

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:46:22 -0800

The awkwardness of cold NaNo kickoff parties is nothing to miss out on, really. There's a delicious kind of collective fright, of vibrating, poorly-contained energy waiting to escape into hurried prose and bad eating habits. Definitely worth attending.

By: lovermont

lovermont — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:55:34 -0800

MikeMc: It appears the only way to add a MeFi group would be to create a thread on the Writing Groups and Clubs forum.

Has this been done in the past, veteran MeFi NaNos? Would any of you current participants be inclined to use such a thread if it were created? (It'd be nice to have, but damn, those forums can be slooooow!)

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:59:20 -0800

I don't know how much uptake the official forums have had in the past. I dislike 'em for their slowness and forumy-ness, personally, but I don't spend much of my nano months in forums anyway. We've treated the announcement thread (e.g. this'n) as a sort of open thread in past years, which is good enough for me.

By: lovermont

lovermont — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:03:25 -0800

Good to know -- I'll just bookmark this here thread, then. I'm counting on all of you to kick my ass. (If not into finishing, then at least in word count.)

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:25:23 -0800

On these rules and such - I don't have a lot of time to research this right now, so maybe somebody can tell me off the top of their head - can one participate in an official capacity if the novel is a continuation of a previously started but unfinished story? I'm tempted to use this to jump-start and expand on my ill-fated P-Virse story, but if it's frowned upon to include pre-written material, I'll probably pass and pick a more convenient time.

By: peacheater

peacheater — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:30:59 -0800

I just signed up. My username is peacheater there as well.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:33:04 -0800

Flo, the rules such as they exist are an abstract constraint. I'd make the argument that insofar as a rule would prevent you from buckling down and doing some writing next month, the rule is a piece of poop worth being flung bodily from your person without hesitation.

So don't worry about it.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:08:15 -0800

National Novel Writing Writing Month?

Trying to pad your word count already?

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:36:49 -0800

Okay - I signed up as IRFH. To be fair, I'll only count words written in November. Although, I decided to break down and sneak a peak at the FAQ after all, and it specifically says they'll have me killed if I use pre-written material. Why does cortex want me dead? We'll see what happens.

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:47:38 -0800

This November's going to be difficult (there, there's my bet-hedging), but I'm in.

By: SNWidget

SNWidget — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:54:41 -0800

Here I am. This is during my first year of grad work, though, so I'm not sure if I'll actually do it. But hey, signing up and failling is better than never signing up at all, or something.

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:38:51 -0800

I'm still waffling -- I lost a couple of years ago, and was otherwise engaged last year. but I'm considering taking another run at it this year. I'm on there as regis.

By: WPW

WPW — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:14:19 -0800

Last year I didn't do it, and greatly regretted my decision. So I've signed up. I still haven't decided if I will use the month to try to complete my existing magnum opus (which is about 30,000 words off target) or write something different. But it's good to be signed up.

It will be an interesting experience, because I find fiction comes agonisingly slowly to me.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:39:58 -0800

Consider yourselves embuddied.

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:06:24 -0800

DUDE! I have buddies! I should go do that.

Also, yeah, my NaNo this year will be springboarded off my magnum opus (sitting proudly at 4,000 words), and they can pry the epic introduction out of my cold, dead hands.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:10:26 -0800

I'm in , in a fit of post-uni-stress-induced pique

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:26:00 -0800

Three minutes ago I said, "oh, why not?" and signed in as "Empress-on-Clinton."

And for the past two and a half minutes I've been curled into the fetal position on my couch and whimpering, "what did I just do?"

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:34:52 -0800

Three minutes ago I said, "oh, why not?" and signed in as "Empress-on-Clinton."

30 seconds ago I "buddied" you. I'm shooting for the "Double Double Ultimate" 50K words and 50K Writing Buddies. Okay, maybe not 50K buddies. That would probably result in my "knowing" at least 49,000 people with a higher word count than me.

By: ktrey

ktrey — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:08:24 -0800

I failed at WoAdWrimo. I can fail at this too.

By: vespertine

vespertine — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:51:35 -0800

I slogged through 10% of my "novel" last year before throwing in the towel, but... eh, why not? I'm in again.

By: divabat

divabat — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:01:56 -0800

Me!

By: Phanx

Phanx — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:36:44 -0800

This is me. First offence. I've set up a dedicated blog to contain my effusions and enhance the shame of failure.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:53:57 -0800

I failed at WoAdWrimo. I can fail at this too.

Aww, I was hoping that was Woad Writing Month. The goal would be to paint at least 30 mighty warriors to bring to the Allthing on November 30th. There, your warriors would battle other participants' hordes on the Fields of Wodin and you would feast on the hearts of the fallen as your prize.

By: banjo_and_the_pork

banjo_and_the_pork — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:48:42 -0800

I am here!

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:42:49 -0800

Aww, I was hoping that was Woad Writing Month.

Let me know when that rolls around, I have the soundtrack for that already loaded in the Zen...

By: WPW

WPW — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 06:26:12 -0800

There, I've buddied all of you. That was hard. I think I might give up now.

By: WPW

WPW — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 06:26:55 -0800

Is there a MeFi group or something I need to join?

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:32:37 -0800

Is there a MeFi group or something I need to join?

This is it. There is no MeFi group in the NaNo forums that I'm aware of. Like someone said above, the NaNo site is sloooow so we're probably better off bookmarking this thread.

By: fuzzbean

fuzzbean — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:25:01 -0800

*waves* Yeah, I've tried it before and now I'm trying it in the midst of grad school and working two jobs. So, you know, THIS'LL BE THE YEAR BY GEORGE.

I'm insane. Please send help.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:24:34 -0800

Is it too late to say "Me too?"

By which I mean: Mean too!

By: erpava

erpava — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:43:00 -0800

I'm going to try my little heart out.

By: jaruwaan

jaruwaan — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:33:50 -0800

I'm hoping for a bit more plot to go with my word count this year...

This is me.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:08:23 -0800

I'm on for this year, since I was able to come up with (well, steal, anyway) a decent concept ahead of time that doesn't require any plot, which has always been my downfall.

Here's me.

By: readery

readery — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:43:11 -0800

I'm in
Kids, two jobs, back in school.... bring it on!
This will be a test of my theory that if you are about 10% overloaded with stuff to do, anything is possible - or as my grandpa used to say "Stick a broom up my ass and I'll sweep the floor, too."

By: desjardins

desjardins — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:33:11 -0800

How do you download these word count widgets when there are no links on the page? What am I missing here?

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:37:31 -0800

Oops, I just realized that I failed to link to my nano profile in my previous comment. Maybe this could be added to the social networking links on our MeFi profile page?

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:48:39 -0800

desjardin, the "widgets" in this case are just dynamically updated single images hosted on the nano server. In most cases, you just copy the <img src=...> html tag for the widget in question and paste it into your blog/website/whatever where you want it to appear—the image served to that will be in theory up-to-date every time the page is viewed.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:08:32 -0800

Thanks. I was thinking there had to be some javascript involved there somehow.

Speaking of java... wanders off to find caffeine

By: OrangeDrink

OrangeDrink — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:45:54 -0800

Ah what the hell. If I'm terrified about unemployement, I might as well be terrifed about the novel I won't finish.

By: dhruva

dhruva — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:08:08 -0800

Damn I wanted to write the thing in longhand, but I guess I can't upload it if I do so.

By: erpava

erpava — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:06:12 -0800

dhruva, you can use lipsum.org to generate your 50,000 words. According to this part of the FAQ right here.

I'm planning on writing parts of mine in longhand when I don't have access to a computer. Also, if I'm not too embarrassed I'm going to try to record my voice and use some software to transcribe the mp3s.

By: gnomeloaf

gnomeloaf — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:19:13 -0800

Here I am. Anyone who wants rah-rah or occasional ~~competition~~ support, just holler.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:54:09 -0800

My god, the NaNoWriMo site is so slooooooooooooow. I can't imagine how bad it will be once November actually arrives.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:08:39 -0800

In past years, I remember it getting a lot better once November kicked in—the furious, anxious spinning of wheels on the site and in the forums gave way to folks either writing or hiding out of guilt that they weren't writing, significantly reducing the load on the server.

By: WPW

WPW — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:36:55 -0800

One day to go. I'm really excited about this, and I can't wait to get started.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:25:00 -0800

With the assistance of some Crystal Head Vodka, I did some brainstorming the other night. I woke up with a hangover, a page and a half of a vague outline, and a bunch of characters named after objects I saw from the living room couch - including Wall, Hue, and Hobbles*.

* I think I stubbed my toe. My foot also hurts.

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:38:34 -0800

I have not yet begun to drink. And I still need to put up my corkboard.

By: hellojed

hellojed — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:47:17 -0800

Good thing I turn 21 on the 2nd of November, otherwise I don't think I'd stand a chance.

By: erpava

erpava — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:50:25 -0800

Good luck, everyone! Go easy on the booze and coffee!

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:26:30 -0800

You aint teh bosh of meh!

By: jaruwaan

jaruwaan — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:07:14 -0800

1,105 this morning! And no coffee yet, either.

The Nano site is slow as molasses.... (go write your novels, everyone).... so I am posting here.

Good luck MeFi Wrimos!

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:13:44 -0800

Yeah, and I can't seem to upload my work for counting yet. Weird.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:40:59 -0800

349 words so far, and it sucks already!

By: Phanx

Phanx — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:47:53 -0800

2,557. Can't get into the site at all.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:48:09 -0800

I lost my character list and family tree, and now I can't remember any of their names.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:00:31 -0800

It was on the coffee table.

By: cortex

cortex — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:04:36 -0800

I haven't actually ironed out the process for going from Twitter to word count yet, so I have no idea how much I've written, but I'm positive it's less than my daily quota.

By: Phire

Phire — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:18:21 -0800

I haven't actually started, as I'm pretty sure NaNoWriMo is not a legit reason for not having written my paper, but I have about 2 days worth of "buffer" work from ... last year.... so. Yeah. *crosses fingers*

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:16:46 -0800

I can't get onto the site at all. I'm at ~400 words and it really does suck so far, so I'm hoping to pull it out of the suckage before the site comes back online. I really had no idea how difficult the beginning was going to be; I'm thinking of teaching my cats to type the next 1000 words, then I'll pick up where they left off.

By: erpava

erpava — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:26:23 -0800

Woo hoo! 2,500 words in two hours! Coffee works in magnificent ways.

But I wonder if I'll even want to go back and read it in a month...

By: fuzzbean

fuzzbean — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:28:48 -0800

Phire, you're not the only one. I just finished working on a review of the Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions for class. Once again, this is less fun than it sounds.

By: Phire

Phire — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:43:15 -0800

It sounds a tad more interesting, at least, than performing a marketing analysis on industrial cleaning products. I get that the case-model of teaching is beneficial and everything, but for the love of god, can't we get some cases that aren't mind-numbingly irrelevant?

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:43:42 -0800

Don't start at the beginning - start at the best part, the most interesting part, the thing you are ready to write this very minute.

By: erpava

erpava — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:25:20 -0800

Every part should be the most interesting part!

By: fuzzbean

fuzzbean — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:38:21 -0800

And if it gets boring, kill someone off and introduce a mysterious stranger.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:27:09 -0800

Meatbomb - that's the way I always wrote papers in school. I could never write one in order. Paragraphs are like puzzle pieces to me, and I either end up with a finished picture of the Eiffel Tower or a jumbled pile of cardboard.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:43:36 -0800

Well, I'm off an running. Got my username (cjorgensen). A domain where I will be writing the thing and hopefully storing versioning (somedarkplace.com). And I have my opening:

Totentanz

I can still remember the first time god spoke to me, "That was stupid," he said, "But you'll live." I don't know how long I lay there after his first words, blood saturating the tawny clay dirt around my head, slaking the thirst of greedy dead earth, slowly expanding like used motor oil staining hot concrete. I don't know how long I lay there after his first words, my ears ringing and leaking warm clear fluid, as I studied a singular cloud formation in an otherwise empty sky. "Cirrus or altostratus?" I asked god, but got no answer. Either way I decided it looked like a duck and lonely.

That there'd been an explosion I could remember quite well, as I'd been the one with the bright idea of setting off a pipe bomb. The confusion came when I tried to remember things like: how many bombs had I set off? had I been alone when I was doing it? what went wrong, how did I end up on my ass, and how long ago was that?

It was summer then, the sun was setting, and mom would be pissed.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:21:48 -0800

Ok, so for some reason can't update word count, can't figure out how to add anyone as a buddy, and the site is slow. Maybe that's all my perception. I see some people have made wordcount updates, but that's a grayed out option for me.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:29:27 -0800

Well, I've hit my daily quota with a little to spare: 1726. My protagonist and his friend have just finished a dull and talky brunch at a cafe that was supposed to echo one of my favourite spots but seems to have lost all its charm along the way. Everything feels clunky so far, and it's astonishingly hard to move things along without stultifying exposition -- getting through brunch without spelling out every interaction of diners and server almost killed me. I am hoping this is like riding a bicycle... it's been more than a decade since I last tried my hand at fiction. Anyway, as of tomorrow I'm going to try to shut my inner critic OFF and just pound through this thing. Day 2, here I come!

p.s. I'm using Q10 to write, and so far it seems to be a pretty effective way of shutting out distractions.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:30:43 -0800

Oh, and I really want a cup of that coffee erpava is brewing.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:09:52 -0800

Seconding the helpfulness of Q10.

By: fuzzbean

fuzzbean — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:47:46 -0800

I don't know how many words I've done yet, since I wrote it longhand on index cards. But I've already killed off one person and a goat!

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:48:02 -0800

Thirding the Q10 love. cjorgensen you can update your word count manually on the "Edit Novel Info" page until they get the counting robot up and running. If you can get the page to load that is. Instead of pasting your text into the box just type your word count into the text box above. 816 (It's my younger son's b-day today so no writing until about an hour ago).

By: zorrine

zorrine — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:51:12 -0800

If anyone's in the eastern Montgomery County PA area, come on over to the Starbucks in Maple Glen. I work at the Maple Glen starbucks, so if you stop by and say hi, i'll give you some coffee. (I know this doesn't really help anyone not in this area, so sorry i can't help everyone...)

By: Phire

Phire — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:17:00 -0800

HOKAY. Settling down for a night of writing at 12:16 AM. Expect this thread to be spammed with progress updates. Take THAT, 100 pages of mindnumbing reading.

By: Phire

Phire — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:55:03 -0800

That Q10 is freaking magical, man. (1288)

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:29:07 -0800

Daylight Savings has robbed me of an hour of writing! (5048)

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:43:58 -0800

Q10 only works on barbaric systems. Grrr.

Anyway, I need distractions. I think of some of my best ideas while I'm walking the dogs. I can't write then though. Maybe this is the novel...

Also have any of you posted excerpts? I can't figure out how to read them, if there are any. Me: No. But I hope to get some of this done today.

By: WPW

WPW — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:41:49 -0800

I'm at 1600 words, which is troublesome as we're on day 2 already and I should be busting 3400 by now. But the day isn't over yet.

Trouble is, the NaNoWriMo site isn't even starting to work for me. I have only been able to load the welcome screen once, and when I did the "update" button on the word counter was still greyed out with "starts on 1 Nov" under it, so I think it may have been loading from my cache. It's very frustrating.

But I do have an opening.

By: WPW

WPW — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:45:34 -0800

OK, I was able to upload a wordcount, but not validate it, and the counter in the top right-hand corner of the screen still ain't working.

By: MikeMc

MikeMc — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:53:36 -0800

Also have any of you posted excerpts?

I posted a short excerpt, there is a spot on the "Novel Info" page for you to paste text into. Once again assuming you can get the page to load (good luck with that).

Word on the street was that the mysterious head of Les Mimes du Morte, Midvale's most feared mime syndicate, was in fact a Vichy Mime who had collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War.

1737 according to Q10, the official word count app still isn't up.

By: fuzzbean

fuzzbean — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:11:47 -0800

I threw up an excerpt too. By which I mean, everything I've written so far.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:19:28 -0800

I'll start putting up excerpts once I break 10k. Otherwise, I'll be fiddling with formatting and so on and won't get any more writing done. 8673.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:28:42 -0800

4807. Can't get in to post an excerpt, but then I'm blogging it all anyway.

By: WPW

WPW — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:38:55 -0800

1887 now.

By: erpava

erpava — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:25:55 -0800

I thought I was going to stay on par with you, Robocop, but I don't see how I can break 7500 today. Currently at 5004. Nice job everyone!

By: Phire

Phire — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:04:03 -0800

2844. I will hit par today if I find some more time to write between team meetings 'n whatnot, but man, robocop, you are scary.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:32:49 -0800

I'll slow down once I hit the work week. I'll be lucky to manage 1k a day Monday through Friday. 10899.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:33:37 -0800

Okay, that's it for me today. 13,774.

As promised, I've started posting whatever dreck I've managed to churn out so far. You can find it on my webpage here.

While I've been keeping to my outline fairly well, there's a big change in Chapter 3 that's been giving me many, many extra words despite how, uh, skeevy it might be. I dunno. I blame red wine. Why am I still typing? Type type type. Time for Rock Band.

By: banjo_and_the_pork

banjo_and_the_pork — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:19:00 -0800

Wow, this is harder than I thought it would be. 5460!

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:51:35 -0800

3400 as at the end of yesterday. Aiming for 1700 a day and have found so far (two days of writing! woo!) that about 1700 is about as much as I can squeeze out at the moment.

(Beer helps)

By: OrangeDrink

OrangeDrink — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:56:29 -0800

3683! Hell, I'll take it. Had a fun little breakdown when it. just. wasn't. working but I'm up and running again.

Thansk for the suggestions on q10.

And damn, Robocop, I don't know how you churned out more than 1/4th of your novel in a weekend. Hat's off.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:11:12 -0800

Heh. If you read any of it, you'll see that 'churn' is the operative word.

By: Phire

Phire — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:17:19 -0800

So I've been skimming the University NaNo-ers thread on my regional forum (damn, the site is slow) and it's so endearing to see the people say they will use the two hour gaps between class to write, or else write in slow classes. I've got a 7 hour gap between my morning class, and my evening team meetings (note, plural) but pretty much every minute of those 7 hours is spoken for by various projects whose due dates range from the next day to two weeks from now, and by research for extracurricular endeavours and conferences.

Sometimes I wonder what it's like not to be a keener. I'm told the obsession with extracurriculars is fairly unique to Queen's.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:24:09 -0800

You know the old saying, Phire: if you want Nanowrimo done, ask a busy person ;)

By: Phire

Phire — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:24:18 -0800

Wow, that sounded bitter. Whoops.

By: Phire

Phire — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:05:44 -0800

Ahah, so true. Seeing as I got up at 5 to write.

(3945! And my protagonist is just about ready to properly "start"! Another 5000 words/2 days before he meets the anti-hero, whoot.)

By: nax

nax — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:24:42 -0800

First I have to excavate the first 11,000 words that have been stuck in my 1987 PC since, um 1987

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:09:38 -0800

Seriously robocop, you're making us all look bad.

I went to a wedding this weekend and wrote like 500 words, then we too hungover last night and set my alarm wrong and woke up late and now I'm not even at 1k.

I keep telling myself I can make it up at the end of the month when I have a week off, but it's not too encouraging.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:16:13 -0800

Well, uh, thanks to the power of averages my rising tide lifts all boats?

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:19:51 -0800

10,187 as of last night.

I've discovered I really like dialogue.

I wish dialogue liked me

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:32:59 -0800

You didn't hear it from me, okay, but dialogue said you're kinda cute.

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:35:36 -0800

The only publishing that's been involved in the years I participated was the sort we call self-. You can keep it a secret, put it on your blog, take out an ad in the NYT, whatever.

Also: self publish on the Kindle.

By: peacheater

peacheater — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:39:48 -0800

3377. My conversations are so stilted and unbelievable. Sigh.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:47:27 -0800

I don't suppose there are too many MeFi NaNo-ers in the Ottawa/Kingston area of Canada, eh?
posted by Phire at 1:29 PM on October 23 [+] [!]

I'm here!

Well, I feel a lot better after reading this thread, having tried this twice before and not yet crossed the finish line. As usual, I didn't give it a thought in October, but have spent the last 2 days plotting madly, and now have an outline I really, really like.

Now to the words.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:52:09 -0800

Wow, Q10 looks incredible. This is huge.

By: nfg

nfg — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:55:35 -0800

Speaking of Q10, for anyone on a mac I'm using writeroom, there's a free trial of it that (iirc) lasts 30 days (handily for nanowrimo!).

By: naju

naju — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:06:47 -0800

I found this thread late, but here's me. I'm ridiculously behind already, which I blame on my lack of discipline and my ability to obsess over a single sentence for 10 minutes. Sigh.

And yeah, I can't recommend writeroom highly enough.

By: FunkyHelix

FunkyHelix — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:37:20 -0800

I'm on the site under ginnytonnick.

By: gnomeloaf

gnomeloaf — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:38:05 -0800

Nthing Q10. I think it's going to be a permanent fixture on all of my PCs.

And there's something about the typing noise that makes it that much more awesome.

By: Phire

Phire — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:58:13 -0800

The typing noise and the return key noise!

Durn Bronzefist: Aw, mainly Ottawa area. There are all of 2 MeFites in Kingston, and I don't hold much hope for either of them being a good write-in buddy.

Now, should I write, or should I work. Hmm.

(Stupid question.)

By: alyxstarr

alyxstarr — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:58:29 -0800

I wasn't sure whether I was going to participate this year until literally 12:00 am on November 1st (thank you, downstairs neighbors and your noisy Halloween party, for providing me with a solid couple hours of extra wakefulness in which to get started). At 3200 words so far, I think I've already beaten most of my prior NaNoWriMo attempts.

(I'm here. As you can see from my relatively low user number, I have been failing at this for years now. I've added a semi-random sampling of all of you as buddies.)

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:03:30 -0800

Woo. Productive lunch hour. 15697.

By: sandraregina

sandraregina — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:04:02 -0800

I'm on the forums as sandraregina. User id 40149.

By: WPW

WPW — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:14:08 -0800

Q10 is excellent, thanks for that suggestion. I'm at 3405 now. So a day behind, technically. But today isn't over yet, and I might be able to fulfil my norm and get to 5100.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:48:18 -0800

someone hack into robocop's computer. he's making us look bad.

By: Phire

Phire — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:56:26 -0800

Productive lunch hour, but an order of magnitude off. 4534.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:10:20 -0800

The secret is avoid prepositions and name your main character The Right Honorable Sir Admiral Dudley Pennington Wallace from Hampton-on-the-Smythe.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:16:00 -0800

Productive Lunch Hour: Crying, burritos.

By: MasonDixon

MasonDixon — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:21:35 -0800

Alright. I'm in again this year. It's the beginning of the month so me and my 3500+ words are feeling brazenly optimistic.

I'm Mason.Dixon on the NanoWrimo site.

By: Cantdosleepy

Cantdosleepy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:09:18 -0800

Hello everyone.

I'm doing it.

I've written 3696. that' not a great deal.

Anyone else still sans plot?

By: jenfullmoon

jenfullmoon — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:12:06 -0800

Same username here as there. At 4001 as of last night.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:44:28 -0800

No plot, no prospects, Cantdosleepy. I really should have put some sort of sketch together before I started. Although in his "No Plot? No problem!" guidebook to Nano, Chris Baty says if you just noodle around with your characters for long enough, eventually they'll start doing something. Fingers crossed.

By: dontoine

dontoine — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:52:58 -0800

I am on board (dontoine there too) with absolutely nothing in mind.

And can't start until tomorrow.

But I have a good feeling about this.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:17:10 -0800

Unexpected, obligatory social plans! Get yer unexpected, obligatory social plans!

Behind in your word count? Too bad!

By: Anizev

Anizev — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:55:46 -0800

Man, I've been saying I was going to do this for years and finally jumped in. I'm at 3393 words, so need to get my 1667 in for today. Damn Robocop, you're torching it - well done.

Also glad to see this thread up since the NaNo site is insufferably slow.

I wonder how the old hands will feel after 50,000 words on an Aspire One...

Good luck everyone!

By: Anizev

Anizev — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:37:40 -0800

Oh, I'm also registered as Vez on NaNo...

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:00:46 -0800

Ok, I'm just being grumbly. I'll report a word count when I don't feel compelled to do so via an anon post through the mods.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:03:12 -0800

Ah, what a shit day. Not only did I get no nanoing done, I pretty much flaked on the writing I'm being paid to do as well. Here's to a big tomorrow.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:16:32 -0800

In related news, Fallout 3 is so awesome.

By: fuzzbean

fuzzbean — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:48:33 -0800

Meffle. I wrote spreadsheets instead of novels, because somebody's got to pay the bills and my teddy bear ain't picking up the slack.

...That sounds kinda dirty. I mean my real teddy bear. The one that's furry.

...I'm not making this any better, am I?

Ah well. Tomorrow is another day. So is the day after it. *headdesk*

By: mai

mai — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:58:42 -0800

I'm at about 2500. But it's starting to come together so maybe I'll step it up in days to come.*

*And by "starting to come together," I mean that the two totally separate ideas I basically started writing about on alternating pages have now found a more-or-less contrived way of being in the same novel. Still no plot though.

By: Phire

Phire — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:13:57 -0800

Well, I just got up for the day after a pathetic 2.5 hour nap, let's see how many words I can cram into an hour of writing before going back to marketing. cry.

By: Phire

Phire — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:07:20 -0800

Hmm, not bad. About a thousand words per hour. I just need another 'shift' of 1000 words... and it's so exciting! He's about to meet my favourite character in the story!

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:05:53 -0800

My characters keep dallying. Great for word count, bad for getting to the rest of the story. It's all Harry and Ron in the forest. 17210.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:52:02 -0800

Booyah, over 2k. First day of waking up early and spewing went really well. Now if only I had a plot, or could keep my narrator from swearing constantly.

By: Cantdosleepy

Cantdosleepy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:58:32 -0800

Good to hear someone else is in the same position, Sevenyearlurk. I had my last one pretty well plotted before I began and with rough deadlines for the different bits. This year is a whole different kettle of fish. Keeping it descriptive and contemporary at the moment because that makes it simpler - no need to worry about historical accuracy and what's supposed to be happening...

By: Cantdosleepy

Cantdosleepy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:02:46 -0800

Also, I'm on a mac and using Scrivener. It's ace, and you can type green words onto a black background for old-school charm....

By: WPW

WPW — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:50:01 -0800

Q10 really is the business. I think I will be using it almost permanently from this point on, for writing where formatting isn't a pressing concern.

Some findings now that we're on day four. I'm still behind, currently around the 4100 mark, but making steady progress. At first, I thought I might use Nanowrimo to advance my existing novel manuscript, which is about 50,000 words long already but has taken me four agonising years to get to that stage. Then I read the organisers' advice about not using the month in that way (it makes for a very unpleasant month), and those words made a lot of sense to me, so I thought I'd just sketch out some ideas I've had in the hopper for the next book. My real aim, though, is to give my inner critic a savage beating, so that he doesn't slow down the Proper Novel so Much, and I have a hope of finishing fairly soon.

So, today I had a three-hour train journey and worked feverishly on the Nanobook until my laptop battery packed in about two hours later. I felt extremely virtuous, but immediately went to the notebook in which the Proper Novel main manuscript is kept and blurted out something like 500 words of that as well.

Admittedly, this structure of work was forced on me by the train and the battery. But I am now home, energised, feeling ready to work on both manuscripts. It seems the process is working.

I might post an excerpt this evening while watching some of the early US election coverage.

Is Metafilter slow today, or is it my internet?

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:30:35 -0800

Ted Stevens is using all the tubes to get out the vote.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:21:44 -0800

I'm so distracted by the election that I can't write at all today. I'm stuck around 1050 words. Oh well, if (when!!) Obama wins I'll be able to concentrate again, after the adrenaline fades. If he loses, I'll be too depressed to write.

So, voters, my novel hinges on YOU!

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:51:16 -0800

Things sort of went off track after Saturday's 550 words. Tomorrow, I begin the regimen:

1) Up at seven-thirty.
2) Write from eight to noon.
3) Repeat as necessary.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:44:49 -0800

Yay, now I can get drunk and watch election results! 20,030.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:48:51 -0800

ROBOCOP IS BLEEDING'S NOVEL FOR PRESIDENT

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:51:37 -0800

7972 at 10.00pm last night.

Grinding that inner critic into the ground -- much of what I've written is so badly constructed it's embarassing and I can barely bring myself to reread any of it, but the words are there and apparently that's all that matters!

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:53:02 -0800

I'm so distracted by the election that I can't write at all today.

You're not the only one.

Fortunately, my internet connection is down at home, so I have all this week without the siren call of email to distract me -- plus, my parents have decided to gather the clan for "Thanksgiving" on Saturday the weekend before, so that leaves me all alone on Thanksgiving proper with friends out of town and a free day off work. I've decided to spend the whole day in one massive writing orgy.

...I may or may not also eat an entire pie. I haven't decided.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:48:59 -0800

It's a quarter to six, the polls are almost closed, and I'm not writing for the rest of the night. 15,351.

By: thoughtless

thoughtless — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:22:10 -0800

3,531, still way behind, but accelerating now I've embraced the panacea that is terrible dialogue. I haven't much chance of making 50,000, though.

For now I'm off to bed; I hope that by the time I wake up, you chaps have elected a president worthy of the title.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:54:29 -0800

4700; I've now caught up to where I should have been yesterday, and I just killed my protagonist's dad (in a flashback). Did not see that coming.

By: Phire

Phire — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:44:10 -0800

Ugh, 5942, about 700 words off quota for the day. Am tired like rarely before, so I think I'll just aim for a 3k surge tomorrow, or something.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:45:01 -0800

Yeah, making my 2k minimum is going to be a slog. So tired.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:24:18 -0800

Ok, Q10 rocks my socks, but what's the deal with only being able to have one document open at one time. Do I have this wrong? I can't open a new document, or start one, without the previous one being closed, it appears.

Which kinda sucks, since I want a page of notes open at the same time and using another program for that seems kind of dumb. I suppose I could use the "notes" function in Q10 if it keeps the notes out of the word count...

Oh, and not letting myself fall behind this year with vows to catch up. Not because I wouldn't (thought that is a distinct possibility) but because everything I've heard about the (completed) 50k journey suggests that some profound things happen slogging through the story day by day, week by week. Like training for a marathon, you could just skip the training and run your guts out, but your incremental progress is (at least) half the point.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:40:28 -0800

23314. After a run I had high hopes of breaking 25k, but somehow ended up beached out in front of a few episodes of Midsomer Murders.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:05:07 -0800

55. Wow.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:44:30 -0800

11849. I can't believe I'm doing this.

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:41:13 -0800

On one hand: Yay, slept all day and applied for job! On the other: Damn, my wordcount is going to be so behind....

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:36:12 -0800

Everyone make sure to bust out the booze when they break into 5 digits today!

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:18:46 -0800

Everyone make sure to bust out the booze when they break into 5 digits today!
Shut up shut up shut up :)

7100 as of last night, still a little behind but catching up. An unplanned trip to visit a very sick relative this weekend might help or hinder my count. I am verging on an actual plot, and like many others I have finally realized that dialogue boosts word count like crazy.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:56:28 -0800

Shut up shut up shut up :)

So is this a bad time to mention I crossed 25k?

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:06:41 -0800

I'm going to bust out the booze if I break into 4.

I'm probably going to bust out the booze either way, though.

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:32:20 -0800

I vote that we nationalize robocop's wordcount and spread the wealth around.

(7033, up 1200 from my lack of writing yesterday.)

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:56:49 -0800

Heh. I actually just worked 'spreading the wealth' into my story.

And it a non-porno way!

By: Phanx

Phanx — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:19:57 -0800

12,000 as of today (will be the same tomorrow). Just about on schedule.

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:19:35 -0800

My character is drunk for the first time in his young life and babbling his life story to a complete stranger. Needless to say, I am amused.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:41:36 -0800

I have just decided that my main character will, at some point later in the novel assuming I ever get back on track and reach that point, tell his mom to get a fucking blog.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:44:19 -0800

30009.

By: banjo_and_the_pork

banjo_and_the_pork — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:51:48 -0800

It could be demoralizing to be writing one room away from robocop with his many words, but so far it's been rather encouraging. 12,519!

By: Phire

Phire — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:01:31 -0800

9106! Aiming for 12000 by tonight, if all goes well.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:53:26 -0800

Phire, I swiped your idea and started getting my characters drunk so they could talk about themselves more.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:02:47 -0800

Heh. I started out getting my characters drunk. The speed with which my word count increases varies inversely with the average blood alcohol level of all the characters.

By: WPW

WPW — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:24:10 -0800

I'm badly behind. Fighting away at it, though, and today the wordcount is at 8300ish, and I hope to bust 10,000 by bedtime. Then all I need to do is 3000 a day over the weekend and I'll be back on target.

NB 8300 words of fiction in seven days is breathtakingly prolific by my standards.

I am churning out dialogue, drunken dialogue, stream of consciousness and free association, and it's making the slide from merely not very good to unambiguously bad. Which is kind of liberating. I gues that's what it's all about.

Since we're not meant to be editing, I might put some bigger chunks up on the site.

By: WPW

WPW — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:39:02 -0800

10,011. Late, but making it into five figures feels very good.

How's everyone else doing? Robocop, you must be finished by now ...

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 08:10:26 -0800

I wish. Hitting some inspiration block (read: hangover) this morning. 35276. I've got another hour or until I hit 37k to go.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 09:21:10 -0800

Woo. 37k. I've finally found may way back to my outline, but am finding that writing stuff I've planned out is a bit trickier than just winging it and making up shit as I go along.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:33:46 -0800

Ugh. 24507, and I'm only just got to the part where a character gets her tattoos ripped out in an MRI scanner. But I'm not relying on dialog now so much that things are,you know, actually happening.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:11:45 -0800

It only just occurred to me that there might be a group of MeFites doing this.
It's my first NaNoWriMo. Hi, everyone.
I only just came up with a plot last night.
And I just broke 10,000 words.

I'm eatingwords over there.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:36:29 -0800

16045 as at yesterday afternoon. Took a break Saturday and discovered that taking a break is not worth the added pain of trying to getting started again the next day.

By: Phire

Phire — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:08:26 -0800

Ugh, note to self, debating tournaments are not conducive to advancing your word count. Nor are sociology papers. Or marketing case studies.

Why must I still be a lowly student?

That said, 13400. So I'm only one day behind, and in all fairness a good chunk of my work will be done about a week before the end of November, so I'm sure I could catch up somehow, still. And it looks like the plot's starting to rear its ugly head and most of the characters are nicely settled in, so I'm actually fairly okay with my progress.

Though the 600 words an hour thing has got to speed up.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:54:28 -0800

Crossed 40k this morning after taking a day off yesterday. I've got today and tomorrow off, so hopefully I'll finish my 50k by then. The story will not be finished, though. Main character is just now getting his damn quest.

By: MasonDixon

MasonDixon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:26:55 -0800

Arg. Just crossed 10,500.

But I've barely touched most of the points on my outline so I've got that going for me -- at least.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:09:10 -0800

I am SO behind. I think I'm only at 3000.

I'm still not too far behind my original daily goal of 2000 a day (it's 2200 now), so I'm not too worried...

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:07:20 -0800

Hit 30k last night, and now I have to slow way down while I do some re-plotting and, well, work work. Feh.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:09:00 -0800

My characters keep getting into these arguments that I haven't planned and can't quite see the point of. I'm hoping that some purpose comes out of them.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:52:00 -0800

16, 095. The pace faltered a bit at the weekend, but I aim to be back on schedule by the end of the day.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:49:28 -0800

Up in the northwest corner of the shattered wasteland that is the post-WWIII D.C. landscape there's a series of satellite communication dishes, standing like Titans over the broken rubble of the one-time political nerve-center of America. The first one I came to was itself mangled, a wry scavenger/trader living in the makeshift shelter of its fallen dish structure.

The next was empty except for a few cockroaches; I climbed to the top, past still-humming machinery, and took in the view from the edge of the dish itself.

There were more, in the distance.

I've been to one of them since; some half-crazy raider punk nearly took off my arm with a missle launcher before I made it safely to the door and shot my way through the unfriendly folks inside. Last was a self-styled scientist, a ghoul with a ruined face who wouldn't talk but, given her plans to bring down nuclear hell with the satcom array, too dangerous to let live.

I've got her nuke codes now, though, and I can see the dim silhouette of two more towers a few miles off.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:53:20 -0800

It's a really, really good game.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:32:25 -0800

Get behind me, Satan.

50032 at long last. Now I can shave!

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:16:41 -0800

congrats, r i b. That was jaw-droppingly quick - I gave up trying to catch you last Tuesday.

I'm hoping to finish next week during ~40 hours of cross-country train rides.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:10:40 -0800

The trick being that while the word count has been met, the story is not finished. I may try for the 100k. My main character has accidentally fallen in love with the girl that lives in his head (that lived 500 years ago, that he lived as as recently as last week) and that storyline took me through the last 10k. He still needs to get to the city of Mercy, find out how he can defeat the Spiderden so that Tatterbones can resume its Dominion of the land, and find time to end up with the female lead he's supposed to end up with.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:38:40 -0800

Ha, cortex. Judging from your twitanovel activity level, you should have gone with a fallout 3 fanfiction/adventure journal.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:41:11 -0800

...and yes (unless you're a crazed nma diehard) it really is a very good game.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:36:42 -0800

I have so far not written a single word for NaNoWriMo. Not one. I have excuses, but I won't be spending them here. I'm saving them up to trade in for X-Ray Specs.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:37:54 -0800

Whew. I lost a little time to some mass chaos with my computer, but I'm now back on track -- 4867 words, and back down to a rate where 2150 words per day will get me there.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:45:11 -0800

grinding to a halt. mananged to squeeze out an astounding 450-odd words (and they were odd words indeed) last night and the tally now sits at 20973.

By: Phire

Phire — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:09:01 -0800

I have literally not written anything since Sunday. Who knows, if I finish my report by 4AM I may spend the remaining three hours of the mornign writing.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:17:22 -0800

*cough* Novel re-start.

So I decide I'll give write-ins another shot. Who seems like they're gonna show up? Oh, one person with 38/50k done. Another: 77/50k.

These people are killing me.

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:32:30 -0800

I hope you read that pep talk by Meg Cabot, Durn. Restarting is bad for your sou.

By: OrangeDrink

OrangeDrink — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:56:46 -0800

I'm beginning to realize I hate this. Oh character who is the mother of the protagonist, why are you having drinks with his nemesis? WHY??

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:16:31 -0800

Okay, next week I begin the regimen, no fooling this time.
Honest. For reals.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:48:07 -0800

Half-way mark today.

I've posted 26,185 words and have a few hundred more waiting to be included in a chapter.

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:13:01 -0800

22953 so far. at least i finally figured out what the story is about. kind of.

in the evenings, booze helps, but not too much booze. there's a delicate balance to be maintained.

but right now it's morning, so it's time for tea. perhaps i should have a character talk about tea for a while to get some more words down.

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:14:27 -0800

also, robocop is bleeding, you are MASTER OF THE MAD WRITING SPEEDZ.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:52:48 -0800

24,091. I am determined to reach the halfway point today, even though I have almost no time. At least I've gotten my character out of Shanghai, where she was drifting aimlessly and taking my plot with her.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:52:25 -0800

62,604. If I want to actually end this story and avoid a "rocks fall, everybody dies" ending, I'm probably going to hit 85k at least. The main character just survived a possible poisoning and is fleeing back north to help put an end to a newly birthed blight upon the land.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:02:40 -0800

25,839. I'm aiming to get to 30,000 tonight so I can relax tomorrow. This is HARD and it's possible I'm all written out.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:37:54 -0800

35,790. Cross-country train rides are not the muse I was looking for.

By: Xurando

Xurando — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:45:41 -0800

10,255. Way, way behind. I can only write after ten at nite and have to get get up at 6. My delete key is out on my computer, I'm a frigging zombie but still cranking.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:34:54 -0800

I jumped from 10004 to 14098 in one day, and I'm not done for the day yet. W00T!

By: bassjump

bassjump — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:16:17 -0800

I'm halfway! 26,521 at the moment. I really need sleep. I'm really, really looking forward to my time off next week (yay for American Thanksgiving) so I can spend hours every day working on this baby. And so that those hours can start before 7pm.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:16:59 -0800

30,077 Argh, now I'm morally forced to complete it.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:31:13 -0800

Hah. I'm finding it hard to keep going. Not just because I crossed 50k, but because I'm mentally charted out the rest of the book, so it feels 'done' to me.

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:45:55 -0800

okay! i have passed 30K. way more than i managed the last time i wrimo'd.

THIS 'NOVEL' IS SO MUCH CRAP.

also, i'm still figuring out what the hell the plot is. i mean, i know some stuff. but there's other stuff, um, i have no clue.

i should figure it out i guess.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:18:21 -0800

Jinx, Phanx, I hit 30,077 last night. FINALLY broke 30K and I couldn't be happier (still can't bring myself to read what I've written, though).

By: bassjump

bassjump — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:46:40 -0800

I just got home and I have to be at work in less than eight hours, but I am determined to reach 30,000 words tonight before I go to bed. This really *has* taken over my life.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:20:28 -0800

24,151. So close to halfway I'm probably going to apply myself to write more tonight just so I can say I got there.

Heh.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:52:59 -0800

Yeah, don't stop to look back, prettypretty!

38,489.

By: cortex

cortex — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:19:55 -0800

So I totally beat Fallout 3, btw.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:15:27 -0800

45,090. Hopefully this weekend I'll be done with this.

And I'm way behind cortex on NaFaOu3Mo.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:46:52 -0800

40,647

By: Xurando

Xurando — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:35:27 -0800

22,201. Way behind, could use a pep talk of sorts, but am determined to finish.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:14:15 -0800

oh god no looking back: that would probably stop me in my tracks from the sheer mortification!

34,467 as at Saturday night. Plan is 4000 today, 5000 tomorrow and squeeze the rest in somehow before next Sunday.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:10:28 -0800

50,064. And I'm probably only 1/3 done with the story. But it feels good to have finally gotten this far with one.

By: banjo_and_the_pork

banjo_and_the_pork — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:18:05 -0800

41,404, but it's getting epically harder to churn out words now. Almost there!

By: hellojed

hellojed — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:09:45 -0800

39,949. I couldn't believe it.

This, after forgetting it the first week. Thankfully I shattered the space/time continuum in the first act, which means I can have my characters warp to a totally different setting whenever the current situation gets stale.

Also, David Bowie has made a cameo.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:19:27 -0800

36,665. I'm falling behind and need to get back on track the next couple of days.
It's amazing how fast time fills up with non-writing things even when I'm not in the office.

Xurando, keep going! Let's finish these suckers.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:47:30 -0800

28000 and change. I've been losing time to lameness.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:55:32 -0800

44,871 posted. I am going to get there. I am going to get there.

I may get there.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:14:58 -0800

43392. I think I may be running out of ideas.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:59:41 -0800

47,221. SO close.

By: hellojed

hellojed — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:35:57 -0800

I basically had a bunch of my freinds tell me I'm cheating by having charachters warp in and out at random. Another person from this group already has > 50K.

So yeah, this thing just got harder to write.

By: Cantdosleepy

Cantdosleepy — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:51:01 -0800

Oh no. Still on 35600. Time is running out...

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:12:36 -0800

I'm on a roll! I'm now up to 34,669 -- just 3 thousand words a day for the next 5 days and I'm there! I can so totally do this!

(I do have the advantage of a solo thanksgiving -- I was already planning on holing up all day and futzing around the house, why not try to knock out a couple chapters while I'm at it?)

By: bassjump

bassjump — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:28:15 -0800

I've had a ridiculously productive day: I've written over 4,000 words to bring my total to 41,569. Finally, I feel like I might actually make it.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:38:47 -0800

I'm cheating by having charachters warp in and out at random

Not the way I understand the rules. It might make you a trendy avant garde kind of a writer, but I can't see that it disqualifies you in any way.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:51:09 -0800

I've started to revise, so locked down my wordcount for the PDF win.

Also, so I can buy Fallout 3.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:27:44 -0800

I am still at 0, but Fallout 3 is excellent.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:45:04 -0800

Left 4 Dead is also excellent novel material, as it turns out.

By: Phire

Phire — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:54:32 -0800

Marketing is done! Finally! After three weeks of nonstop meeting and writing and revising and sleeping three hours a day, it is finally over.

Which means I have precisely 4.5 days to write 37 words.

Hmm.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:00:16 -0800

44,181. It's like squeezing blood from a stone at this point, but hey, almost there!

By: bassjump

bassjump — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:28:40 -0800

46,393. I wrote over a thousand words in the car on the way to and from Thanksgiving dinner. (No, I was not driving.) So excited that I'm actually going to finish this thing. Or at least have enough words to call it finished, in a way.

By: hellojed

hellojed — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:39:37 -0800

Left 4 Dead is also excellent novel material, as it turns out.

There's my final act! David Bowie, a talking cat, a hipster named Sven and my main charachter, shootin' zombies.

This has been a strange novel.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:57:44 -0800

Final official word count 53,547. Now available as a pdf. Never again.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:58:57 -0800

Sorry. 53,623, as if it matters.The Nanowrimo counter credits me with more words than I thought I had.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:23:06 -0800

41,125. Three days to go. My God, I can do this.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:30:51 -0800

Woah, it's 41245. Even better!

By: bassjump

bassjump — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:42:39 -0800

The good: I'm at 47,398.
The bad: I've just discovered some ridiculous inconsistencies in my plot.
Somehow a crucial conversation got written into the wrong place, and now a whole string of scenes makes no sense. I'm going to have to fix this.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:23:52 -0800

46051. Going for the big finish tonight so I can catch up on sleep tomorrow. It doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense, but hey, it's almost (almost!) written.

By: hellojed

hellojed — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:16:03 -0800

49643

almost...there...

By: bassjump

bassjump — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:42:58 -0800

50,138! Yay yay yay.
Except for that part about it not actually being a finished draft yet, but I've got two days left.

By: Xurando

Xurando — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:48:04 -0800

43786. 1 AM and I'm fried. How can I shorten the plot? Off to bed. More suffering tomorrow.

By: prettypretty

prettypretty — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:12:21 -0800

Done. Can't quite believe it....let me just get my hands on some more of that celebratory red wine...(forgive the gush, it's my first 50,000).

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 06:50:38 -0800

woohoo! i won!

i won with absolute utter crap that failed to have a coherent narrative plot, or characterization, or other things that one associates with "novels", but it's over 50K words.

*next* time, i'll go for some kind of actual narrative structure.

By: banjo_and_the_pork

banjo_and_the_pork — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:52:03 -0800

50,143! Wooooo! Still have a couple thousand more words needed to wrap everything up, but aiming to be totally finished by tomorrow. I had way more fun doing this than I thought I would.

By: hellojed

hellojed — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:53:53 -0800

50,097. Yay

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:43:47 -0800

Congratulations to everyone who won already, and good luck to those who are close (even more luck to those who are not-so-close)!

I bowed out a while back after about 10K; a death in the family greatly overshadowed everything else for week 2 and then I never got back into it. I'll try again next year.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:07:33 -0800

51710.

bloody hell, I wrote a book.

By: Xurando

Xurando — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:47:45 -0800

50940. Now what?

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:59:21 -0800

Are we all winners?

I say we are, dammit!

Even poor little cortex, but that's just because he was right - Fallout 3 is an awesome game.

By: WPW

WPW — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:39:35 -0800

At about 11,000, I stalled for a week, and by 20.11, when I went to the Middle East on business and had zero time for writing for another five days, I conidered myself surrendered. Still, I will certainly participate again next year - looking forward to it already - and I have 11,000 words for the bottom drawer, plus a working outline for a long story and a couple of short story ideas that appeared as byproducts. And The Proper Novel wasn't held back by participation. So I consider it a relative success.

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:20:55 -0800

I think I have written something approaching a novel's worth of text in Diplomacy press in the last week, actually. So that's something.

Great work all of you. To the finishers, congrats; to the first time finishers, doubly so. It's an absurd task that generally yields bizarre and unusable output, but it's an immense accomplishment of will and effort regardless and something to be proud to say you have done.

To the folks who haven't finished: fuck the finishers, I never liked those guys anyway. And take heart: you did better than me. I'm pretty sure I stopped in mid-sentence about four weeks ago.