Friday, November 13, 2009

Progress on NaNoWriMo-No

At the start of the month, I had blogged about why I was not taking up the NaNoWriMo challenge. What I implied, but failed to mention explicitly was the fact that I was going to write as much as I could during the month, and to continue to do so till something was finished.

There had been this vague idea for a chick-lit novel which I was pretty sure I could develop further. One character I was sure about, the rest I started thinking about in the last days of November. Since November 1 was a Sunday, I managed to get about a thousand words written. I wrote on the train while commuting to work, I wrote myself to sleep instead of reading as I normally do. By the end of the week, I had managed to touch the magical 5 k mark (nothing I have written before came anywhere near that).

Geek that I am, I decided to celebrate by treating myself to a couple of graphs that tracked my progress.


I had two PTMs to attend yesterday, so took the day off. Managed to get a fair bit of writing done, and hit the 25% mark. By NaNoWriMo standards, not good at all - half the month gone, and only a quarter of the way to the 50k mark - but it is much more than I ever thought I would write. As per my current projections (current rate of writing, extrapolated to estimated size of work - I did tell you I was a geek, didn't I?) I'll finish between end-December and early-January. I know those projections are meaningless, because if I manage to keep up with my blog posts for the rest of the month, I would be pleasantly surprised.

BUT, finish the novel I am now determined to do, and isn't that wonderful in itself? Once I do, I can finally start calling myself a Writer!

And as of five minutes back, the story even has a tentative name - Lipsticks in the Board Room - takes no imagination to figure out where the story is set.

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9 comments:

Cruella Collett said...

Yay you! Yours is sort of the approach I have to my NaNoWIP as well. I am far behind (but I think moving twice during NaNo is a pretty good excuse to be behind), and I foresee more occasions where I might fall further behind. However, I have managed to write a little bit almost every day, and I haven't neglected my blog too much. Both help me prioritize writing on a regular basis. So, if I don't reach 50K by the end of the month, it's not the end of the world.

*looking forward to reading Lipsticks in the Board Room*

Anonymous said...

Rayna: you are so-o-o brilliant. You have NO-O-O idea how many secret conversations I've had (behind your back) with 'you-know-who' as to whether I should bring up the merest suggestion of NaNo again with you. For the record, I was told by one-wot-knows, that you had so many awful things at work to complete that you were only just keeping your writing head above the parapet. You can now see how pleased I am that you are doing this. But wait, does this 'implication' of which you speak mean that you aren't yet registered as a NaNo participant? Pls do so, if only to help us 2-week-stalled blobs in the back row. And If not, why not? or, as my son says, 'immediately, if not sooner'
Marian
p.s there's no point altering calendar dates to suit your argument. Or pie chart. We are NOT YET (even in the subcontinent) midway thru Nov. x M/Siderealview/Youngbloodblog

Natasha said...

Marian - you made me do it - I just signed up for NaNoWriMo - raynaiyer is the nic.
And that is so very very nice of you - to be trying to conspire with She Who Must Not be Named to get me to join up too. Now I have !!!!
And while it is not halfway down the month anywhere, I am going to be at work from dawn to midnight tomorrow and the day after, so it is practically half way down the month :-)

Mari - I know for a fact that I am just not going to be able to reach the magic figure. But reach the end of the novel, I will. This is absolutely the first time I have been this determined.

Hart Johnson said...

*ears burning*

Natasha-I am THRILLED you have sighned up. And to let you know, there is a certain SketchieScattergood who signed up with no intention to even START until she'd edited a novella she was working on--so I think working toward a December31 end for the super busies is a fantastic Idea. I'd like to keep up the pace because in my dream world I finish the Trilogy in December and mopey miserable January will put on an editing face, as only seems right. (used to be February I hated, but it seems to have migrated)

I'm extremely proud of you for making writing a priority, even in the little time you've had. I still swear by 'get a little in every day and it will get there'. (and I love that you are a geek and graphing... I have my own handy spreadsheet, though not charts yet)

*hugs*

M.J. Nicholls said...

I love using graphs to "chart" my progress (haha), and for general mischief in writing. There's no story that can't be improved with a graph!

My friends Mo, Bo and Jo, who write postmodern fiction, are also not taking part, and are very nonchalant about the whole thing:

NaNoWriMo-NoMoBoJoPoMo-So?

Elspeth Futcher said...

I say do whatever works. I'd find graphs far too depressing; I don't need a pie chart to tell me how far I have to go! I send every good wish for your project; graphs and all!

Elspeth

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Best wishes for your success. I don't use graphs. Just the word count at the bottom of the document. And I'm doing the Nanowrimo thing. I'm just below the daily average abd should finish at 50,000 fairly easily.

Stephen Tremp

Gutsy Living said...

Well done. Do you like what you're writing? I do like your "visual" title. When do revisions come in? Is that allowed after the month is over? Never tried that. I just met Jane Green, a Bestseller, on her 12th novel, and British, living in Connecticut. Have you read her books? She a great person.

Natasha said...

@ Tami - how you managed to get me to start, I don't know, but you did. Even without pestering me to do so. I guess leading by example is the only way to go about it. And I am not sure if I'll finish even by December 31, but finish I will!!!

@ M.J. - just loved the bit about NaNoWriMo-NoMoBoPoJoMo-So? And yes, nothing like a graph to perk up the spirits!

@ Elspeth - I LOVE graphs - my years as a management consultant taught me never to say in words something that could be said by a graph.

@ Sonia - the whole point about NaNoWriMo is to write without worrying too much about quality. And that is perhaps the single most important reason for me to even want to do it. Normally, when I write, the sentence is formed, edited and re-edited in my mind long before I put the words down. Which is why I could only do short pieces all this while. This is liberating!
And no, I haven't heard about Jane Green.

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