Nanowrimo finish line

11.30.2009 // writing // jcbrady // 1 Comment

I made the Nanowrimo finish line with about 54,000 words. I’m about 3/4 of the way done with my story so I’ll keep writing into December. I plan to finish up around 70,000 words but we’ll see. Then it’s time to read what I’ve got and start editing.

This was my first experience with Nanowrimo and I must say it was great. I had no idea what it would take to write a novel and now I know. Having a word count that I had to stick to, helped me overcome perfectionism and procrastination. These two P’s are things that can really flatten your tires on the writing road.

Honestly, at the beginning of the month I didn’t think I would make it. I had several 0 word days and they were offset by several 5000 word days. Mostly I stuck to a 2000 word a day schedule and it worked for me.

I’d like to get a marketable book at the end of all this. It’s going to take a lot of editing and revising. If I don’t have a salable novel, at least the experience was fun and educational. Hats off to Nanowrimo!

Mid Nanowrimo Word Count

11.16.2009 // writing // jcbrady // 1 Comment

Nanowrimo 2009 Screenshot

We’ve reached the midpoint on Nanowrimo and at 18,755 words, things are coming along nicely. At this point I’m going to go for the full 50,000 words at the end of the month. However I’ll be happy to reach 30,000 words. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve got to keep writing over 2000 words a day if I’m going to reach the Nanowrimo contest goal. Some day’s that’s not a problem and other days are grueling.

I’ve tried writing on my laptop in public bookstores, restaurants and in different areas of the house. Sometimes the change of scenery is all I need to get the words flowing again. One thing’s for sure, I’ll be pulling every trick I can think of in order to keep the word count high.

By the way, there’s over a hundred and forty words in this post. (Sorry doesn’t count) Got to get back to writing now, bye!

Nanowrimo 2009

11.09.2009 // writing // jcbrady // 2 Comments

This month is Nanowrimo which stands for National Novel Writing Month. I’ve committed to writing a 50,000 word novel. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now.

As of today I need to write 2000 words a day to reach my goal. It’s proving to be a bit more difficult than expected but so far I’m managing to pull it off.

I don’t think I’ll have a very exciting book at the end of the month, but I’ll certainly have a solid start. Something for me to edit and rework into a good story, then submit to an editor.

It’s good to have a program like Nanowrimo that forces you to write. Practice is the only way you get better. The program’s providing me with the motivation I need and that’s a damn good thing!

I’ll post more on this blog when interesting events develop!