Done-o-wrimo, day (minus) five

Here's my Nanowrimo wrap-up: Word count, 82,808 on my existing manuscript, lots of editing/rewrites done. This was a great month to keep on track, and I've broken through the place that was hanging me up a bit. A stuck place often means you want the novel to go in a certain direction but the novel wants to go in another. You have to listen to the novel. The novel is in charge.

The total word count for all Nanowrimo participants was 3,288,976,325.

Next year -- gonna try a genuine Nano & write 50K from scratch. How about you?

Camp-o-wrimo, Day 21

T-shirt arrived in time for the last big weekend push! Woot.

Distracto-Nano, Day 18

Crikey, it's coming toward the end, and I'm not even close, or that's the way it seems. I'm in a stuck place and all day I wanted to go for a long walk in the woods to clear my head, but I couldn't because I might get it blown off. Effing deer season. Yesterday when it was nearly dark (at 4:30 p.m., mind you) there were still several trucks tilted along the grassy shoulder of our road. Of course the vast majority of hunters know what they're doing, but we also know people whose houses have been shot. So there you have it.

The good news is I'm in a place where I need to start creating a few new scenes, so it will feel like genuine Nano writing for the next week or so. If I can get myself out of editing mode. Which is what Nano is designed for...

And I've realized I've been thinking about the whole social media thing the wrong way (Sssiiiiiiigh.....! You mean I have to do ANOTHER thing besides actually writing???) Today I looked up the hashtag #amprocrastinating on Twitter and found a bunch of other writers who were also procrastinating and it made me feel so much better! It was like a 30-second support group. I followed them all. A bunch of them followed me back. It was awesome! Go, procrastinating writers!

Edit-o-wrimo, Day 11

It's like I thought -- word count is declining. Today the manuscript is at 80,837, which is good, because it means I'm getting rid of the fluff and duplication. I'm about halfway through the manuscript as it stands, with a few early scenes that still need a superficial edit & a few later ones to add in. It's so much better to work on editing every day because it's far easier to notice things that have already been said, or to see the words that get repeated and overused. More tomorrow.

NanoFake-o, Day 10

I'm on track, possibly closer than I think. A lot of rearranging and chopping and adding. Today's word count (so far) is 82,480. Will probably drop by the end of the day once I edit. Now, need to spend a little time building my social media platform, or whatever it is we're supposed to do...

Fake-o-nano, Day 8

I'm at 80,708 today on edits/revisions to my new novel. Slow going this morning; running myself down. Down time is at a minimum overall -- I need to take a breather, a cabin-in-the-woods getaway (not the Joss Whedon sort). Overloaded, drained, distracted...

Beginnings, Nano Day 2

Yesterday morning and evening I spent editing the opening of my novel -- one that I had worked on quite a bit and was kind of married to, then decided it really didn't reflect my character's voice throughout the rest of the story. I worried about letting go of certain aspects that I really liked, only to find that it worked much better without them, and it works to incorporate the information into the story later on. The beginning is the most difficult (for me, at least) because it must strike that delicate balance of giving the reader enough information to be interested and not bombarding the reader with too many facts. It's the most important part in terms of engaging a reader. Doesn't matter if the rest of the book is stellar; no one's going to know it if they can't get into the book.

Couldn't sleep this morning -- yay! More writing time! Massaged the first chapter some more.

Since I'm doing a pseudo-nano (editing a near-complete novel instead of starting a new novel from scratch) I anticipate my word count will decline or remain about the same throughout the month. Today my word count is 76,361.

Good morning, sunshine

It's time to start writing. Happy Nanowrimo.