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Monday, October 18, 2010

Q4U: NaNo Anyone?

As most of you already know from Twitter, I'm moving in nine weeks. I have sixty-three short days to get the house packed and cleaned, paperwork for the move finalized, new housing found, and school records set in order.

This isn't the best time to start a new project.

I'm behind on editing, 8000 words away from meeting my self-appointed goal of 312k words by November 1st. I'm not sure I have time to write the projects I'm working on let alone start something new.

On the other hand, NaNo is a tradition.

I've been doing NaNo every year since 2007. Writing 50,000 words in a month is fun. My NaNo novel from last year is good enough that I have plans to finish, polish, and query that manuscript.

But am I going to do it this year?

I don't know yet. I don't know if I have the time. I don't know how far into rewrites I'll be.

What about you? Are you doing NaNo this year?

11 comments:

  1. I do plan to do NaNo again this year. Even though I'm still working on getting last year's NaNo novel edited, polished and retyped. I still can't believe I finally have a finished novel!

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  2. Of course! As you say, it's tradition (this will be my 7th year).

    I don't always win, but I always at least start, because the whole reason they chose November in the first place is because it's one of the busiest months of the year. It's supposed to be a challenge, not just for words, but for time management as well. The busier a person is, the more they tend to get done, and sadly, I've found that to be absolutely true.

    Good luck with whatever you decide...everyone has to chose their own path. I'll be NaNoing, for sure. :-)

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  3. I'm planning for NaNo again this year. Even have a basic plot sketched out. Hopefully everything doesn't go bad in November.

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  4. Yeah, I'll somehow manage this year; I'll have to weave in work around my college work though. >.<

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  5. I will if I ever manage to register successfully!!

    I have half a plot outline ... that will have to do to be going on with!

    I've never tried it before so any encouragement would be gratefully received!

    Good luck whatever you decide to do!

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  6. Yep, I'm doing NaNo again this year. Otherwise I would have to entertain myself for a whole month.

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  7. I've never done NaNo but this isn't the year I can start it. School is just too busy for me to manage it. Maybe next year when I'm (hopefully) in a career and not in school anymore.

    Good luck deciding whether to participate. And best of luck with the move!

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  8. Go on, Liana, give it a go. I've done every Nano since 2007 too, and yes I have a zillion other writing things (and real life) to do this November (including getting my Nano2007, fully polished novel in the mail), but I'm hooked on Nano.

    Plus it's only 30 days out of the year, it's a brilliant way to get a good chunk of first draft written, and, oh yeah, I signed up to ML again this year, so I kinda have to.

    If you're not sure about it, you could dare yourself to do a half-nano (25,000) or give yourself permission to do a disposable story this time - one that won't ever have to be fully edited up afterwards - a new genre perhaps?

    Either way, I hope your November goes well,
    Grace (CC member and ML for Ireland NorthEast Nano 2010)

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  9. In the past I've almost always written "out of genre." Last year was a wild departure from my norm, but I love the book and characters. This year...

    I may cheat a teeny-tiny bit if I do NaNo. My current WIP is only at 25k, depending on how crazy this month gets I could finish that.

    Last years NaNo is at 68k, too long to add anything to it.

    And although I have little lost plots bouncing around I don't have anything I really want to write at this minute. Hmmmm....

    I am signed up on the NaNo site as Dangerousmeg, and we'll see how far I get! (A cookie for anyone who knows which Meg I'm talking about ;o))

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  10. I am. I don't think I'd be able to get out of it if I wanted too. Too many guilt monkeys. ;)

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  11. I'm doing NaNo again this year. Every year I say, "Never again!" Every year my husband just nods and smiles. He knows me too well. I'm always back at it in November. It's why I'm pushing so hard to get my rewrite done on the MS I'm working with. I need to be done by November 1 so I can put it aside and start the NaNo project.

    What's even funnier is that the MS I'm working with was actually part of my NaNo project from last year. I did a series of interconnected near-novella length stories and ended up with over 75k words (which was my goal). I'm expanding it and polishing it because the story, to me at least, is interesting enough to warrant a full blown novel.

    Hopefully this year's NaNo will do the same for my sci fi story that I've never gotten written in spite of repeated attempts by the characters to hijack whatever WIP I was working on.

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