Better planning, better result

After November, Christmas should be a breeze.

Today I’m washing clothes, catching up on paperwork, finishing Christmas shopping, and making long-overdue phone calls because NaNoWriMo is over for another year and work-life balance can be somewhat restored.

My stats for this year's NaNoWriMo.

I hit the 50,000-word target on November 24, and was happy dancing to end the month with 65,437 words – and even more ecstatic that for the first time in three years I stayed on one project and didn’t panic and change after a week.

Learning from experience

Is it NaNoWriMo time again already?!

NaNoWriMo starts in less than a week, and this year I feel more prepared than ever.

But I’ve felt like that every year.

This will be my third attempt at writing 50,000 words in a month. My first year was as successful as my attempts to make WeCoNaMo a thing, but last year I reached the target. I’ve also blogged about my experience, and reading back on those posts now, I laugh and laugh. Then cry a little.

A vital return to reality

There’s a pristine 330-page YA manuscript sitting on my desk and it’s taking all of my willpower to stay away from it.



The first printout. The next edit will be on hard copy. 

It’s my first novel. It’s taken months to write. Over the past fortnight I’ve spent about ten hours a day going through from start to finish, twice. I laughed, I cried, I culled characters and scenes.

Out with the old...

One year ago I posted my writing resolutions for 2014. I freely declare I have not hit those goals.

I celebrated my NaNoWriMo win
by designing my own book cover.
Now all I need is to finish the manuscript
and get it published!

In October, after submitting my final university assignment for the year, I checked in, re-examined those goals and set new ones. I had completed some, was on track for others, and had yet to start a few.

Of those goals, I have not: Submitted two finished PB MS to two or more publishers by the end of the year; written three more PB first drafts; entered one more competition for the year; updated this blog weekly; and only submitted one story to a magazine for publication, not two. I also didn’t print my goals or refer to them as the printer ran out of ink. Then I forgot. I also signed up for PiBoIdMo but didn’t write down a single idea.

So I could make excuses about not reaching these goals, and they’d run along the lines of two months in a neck brace and constant physio after surgery, illness, full-time university study, parenting, etc, but I’d rather take a more positive approach.

Back to 'real' life and ready to keep writing

Today – 1 December – is an auspicious day.

 

It’s when hundreds of thousands of novelists around the world blink their eyes against the sky’s blue brilliance after they stagger outside for the first time in a month, as they have done for the past 16 years.

NaNoWriMoer v Cat: The Showdown

“You have no power over me.” – Labyrinth, 1986

 

Monday, 17 November

Still a way to go
to the 50,000-word mark.

9am: Child at school, with play date afterwards. I have until 5.30pm to push up my NaNoWriMo total. Today is the day. A jug of iced tea is in the fridge, I have no commitments, no excuses.
Limit time to check email, social media, and undertake research before writing to one hour. Set timer on phone accordingly.

NaNo No-No

My NaNoWriMo is not off to a good start.

Unlike 2013, this year I felt I was organised before 1 November. I had characters. I had a plan. I had been reading non-fiction books to fill out areas of information where I was lacking.

Then the trouble began.

On your marks... get set... write!

WeCoNaMo. It’s a thing.

It’s that time of year again, when strings of words are shortened to new conglomerations of letters that mean little to those not in the know. They are the Brangelina, Tomkat or Shamy of the writing and illustration business.

I came across these a year ago – I’d handed in my last university assignment for the year, and suddenly felt like I had a stack of free time. November is fast becoming known (to me at least, and hopefully the world if it catches on) as WeCoNaMo. And what, pray tell, is WeCoNaMo, I hear you ask? Weird Conglomeration Name Month. And here’s why:

One step forwards...

..two steps backwards

 

I'm way behind on my NaNoWriMo word count target. The official website mentions the week two doldrums, and I'm definitely a victim. And I don't even want to think about PiBoIdMo – I've had some picture book ideas, but the motivation to write them down on paper is at about 'meh' level.

The little darlings are so loving and peaceful
when they're not trying to subvert the creative process.

 

Part of the reason my motivation has faltered is that my NaNoWriMo word count went down instead of up. How? I decided to split one chapter into two, copied and pasted, then forgot to delete the duplicate text. So what seemed to be a particularly productive writing session was followed the next day by one in which I literally – and literaturely – went backwards.

 

Mad month

November is going to be a crazy month.

I've signed up to tackle NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. The aim is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words during November. Plots, outlines and characters can be created beforehand, but the actually penning, or typing, of the text must take place in November.

At last check, more that 173,000 writers across the world had signed up. That's a lot of words, coffees, late nights and tortured creative types. So if a writer you know seems particularly stressed in November, cut them a bit of slack.