NaNoWriMo Daily Accountability Journal

[Mythopoet]

I did a bit over an hour of writing last night. I write in a notebook first so I won't know my wordcount until I type it up today.

Weekends are tough for me as well because my kids are home and there's absolutely no quiet anywhere in the house until they're all in bed by which time I'm usually exhausted. I expect my productivity to go up on Monday when 3 of them go to school.

I feel like my beginning is floundering a bit but I'm going to force myself to push through rather than try to fix it until it's perfect. I'm hoping NaNo will help me with those perfectionist tendencies.

 

[Philip Overby]

Just a note about perfectionism:

There seem to be basically three schools of thought on first drafts:

1. Get it down no matter how crap it is and worry about editing it later.
2. Get it down as best you can and try not to make it crap if at all possible.
3. Get it down perfect as possible so there is minimal editing later.

Not sure where everyone is on the experience scale, but I find a lot of newer writers get hung up #3. I don't think this is a bad way to write, however it ends up making you spend loads of time trying to tinker with each aspect of your story. It causes you to slow down significantly and increases the chance you may get bored with your story. At least that has always been the case for me.

I'd say I'm more along #2 now. I don't want everything to be crap, but I care a lot less about each sentence being awesome (I use tons and tons of "was" and "had" but I don't care anymore, I'll fix those later). I do, however, care about the plot moving along coherently, which has always been a major problem for me. That's why so many suggest outlining if you're not good at keep things organized and flowing properly.

Anyway, I don't think perfectionism is a bad habit, but it can be crippling for first drafts. It really serves writers well when it comes time to edit though!

 

[Graylorne]

2,125 today. Up to now, plot-technically, everything plays out ok.

NB: Like Phil, I'm with nr 2. While writing, I do plot-adaptions, but I know I will have a lot of adding & expanding to do later. I tend to write scenes rather bare-boned, the first round.

 

[Mythopoet]

I struggle with anxiety and OCD so perfectionism is a strong compulsion for me. And it's what kept me trapped in a non productive cycle for years. That's one reason I've signed up for NaNo. You CAN'T worry about perfection if you want to succeed at the goal so I'm hoping that will help me break through the perfectionist trap.

And it's not even that what I wrote is bad. I don't think it is. I just don't think it's good enough.

 

[Philip Overby]

Yeah, I've wrote a whole novel worth of stuff that's not good enough so far. That's just part of drafting I feel. I imagine a first draft is kind of like the first coat of paint. It looks like crap, so you need to go over it again. It may be a beautiful color you're working in, but until you do enough coats, it's not going to look completely right.

 

[Chessie]

I think I suffered from #3 yesterday...along with a bad case of D.G.A.F. *shrugs* I also do bare bones with minimal world building. I'll add more flesh later.

Normally I fall under #2. I don't like to produce crap but at a certain point, I have to move faster through the story. My tale has started with plenty of tension: the protagonist has been kicked out of alchemy school due to financial reasons. Then tension continues as the other characters are introduced...but the inciting incident happens in the next chapter. I've introduced one of the magical systems and about to introduce the second...but strangely enough I've decided this manuscript will need an editor.

I'm in love with this story but I can smell my mistakes through the computer screen. Sigh. Anyway, I won't get to write until the evening but I have the scene planned out in my mind.

 

[NellaFantasia]

I strive to be #2 on the perfection scale, but often suffer from #3. Although I've been writing for a long time, I still have to remind myself sometimes that it's okay to mess up the first draft. The Writer Gods aren't going to come down and clobber me for my mistakes.

 

[Jackarandajam]

Winding down day three... 4,017. Hoping for another thousand today. I have two more good writing days and hope to push far ahead during that time.

To underline what Phil said-
#2 is, I think, a good place to be. Honesty, before the last few days i was a solid 3, and one of my primary struggles was with plot advancement and "filler," those little interesting details that I was trying to PLAN OUT INDIVIDUALLY.
Writing quickly, but staying immersed in the story and not completely throwing out any attempt to write well, has created a happy medium for me. Backstory, filler, and plot advancement HAPPEN ON THEIR OWN at this speed, but I'm still happy and satisfied when I go back and retread it... Which I try not to do too often.

My biggest problem now? Still don't know how to type. Yep. Index fingers all the way. Maybe I'll take a class. In December. When I've stopped typing for long enough to learn how to type.

 

[NellaFantasia]

Day 3: 2,851 words total

Still creeping along. My current scene is incredibly boring and I'm trying to think of a way to spice it up. Needs more 'splosions.

 

[Zero Angel]

DAY 4!

...at zero words. Almost caught up with day-job work from the last four days though, so HA! NaNo here I come!

There seem to be basically three schools of thought on first drafts:

1. Get it down no matter how crap it is and worry about editing it later.
2. Get it down as best you can and try not to make it crap if at all possible.
3. Get it down perfect as possible so there is minimal editing later.

I definitely think #2 is what I do, and probably the way to go, although if you look at a lot of the NaNo material not done by writers, and specifically targeted at newbies, they seem to recommend #1 all the way.

Aside: I'm a little annoyed with the way NaNo as an organization seems more geared towards new members than old members, when I'm pretty sure every year there are more old members than new, but WHATEVER.

 

[Jackarandajam]

5,117 and still day 3. goal achieved.
shooting for 10,000 by the end of the day after the day it's about to be.

day 5. that is.

 

[Graylorne]

1,042 today (7,022 total score).
After yesterdag's post I managed another 576. Perhaps that will happen today as well, but for now I need thinking-time.

 

[Chilari]

I wrote 1,466 on day 1, 900+ on day 2 and 1,093 on day 3. So I've yet to hit the daily target of 1,667, but I am managing a lot more than I have in the past. I've been leaving my writing sessions to the last possible moment so far - close to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and before Downton Abbey last night, after which it was bed time. That is a problem. Tonight I'm going to trial a two session approach - one when I get home, of 30 minutes, and another at 9pm, before bed time. If I can get 600 words written in the first session and 1,200 in the second I'll exceed the daily target and start catching up towards where I should be. At the moment, a daily average of about 1,200 isn't good enough.

I've found 15 minute timed sessions is effective, as I get about 300 to 400 words written in that time limit, so in theory I'll only need 5 or so 15 minute sessions to hit the 1,667. So two sessions at 6pm and three or four after 9pm should be enough to cover what I need. Now it's all a matter of sticking to these plans, though.

If anyone else is interested in word wars after 9pm GMT (4pm east coast US, 1pm Pacific) then i'm happy to organise them in the chat. A word war, for anyone who doesn't know, is when you set a timer and write as much as you can within the time limit. everyone doing the word war then posts their total for the period, and the winner is the person who wrote the most. And yes, it must be continuous prose. I find competition a great motivator for getting writing done.

 

[Philip Overby]

Day 4: I'm up to 11,353 words now. Still ahead of the game, so to speak, but I had a weaker day than I anticipated at 1,923 words. Still, that's pretty decent so far. I'm hoping to hammer out some more words before midnight (I have about 45 minutes) so I'll save those words for tomorrow.

MC is in a cabin by herself looking for clues as to the nature of her kind of weird hunter host. Sometimes "by myself" scenes can be kind of boring, but she's bashing down doors and stuff, so that's fun!

 

[Butterfly]

Day 4 and I'm up to 12022. Starting to run out of ideas as I've pretty much reached a dead end with my time line. Saying that I can jump ahead and work on the ending.

 

[Philip Overby]

Just worked for about 2 hours, 12 am style and now I'm up to 13,434 words. Not an official number for the day yet, but in two hours I did 2,000 words. Sweet!

Official update later when I wake up.

 

[NellaFantasia]

Day 4: 3,279 words total

Monday was supposed to be my "get caught up" day, but I had a plumber come this morning to take a look at a leak and, long story short, it turned into "watch them tear up my house for several hours" day instead. They're coming back tomorrow to continue putting holes in my ceiling and floor. So maybe Wednesday will be the good day?

 

[Jackarandajam]

Invented a betting game.
Played with matchbox cars.
Pounded two cups of ice cold coffee from this morning.
smoked a pile of cigarettes.
Guild Guitar website... Drool...
OKAY! I'LL WRITE.
One more smoke though.

 

[Philip Overby]

Day 5: Very weird day. I actually got about 2,000 something words from about 12 am to 2:30 am to end up at 13,434 words. I stayed at that number all day even though I had plenty of time to work. So I'm pulling another "late night write" by trying to crank out some big numbers for Day 6. I'm hoping to get another 1,000 words before going to bed and hammer out some more during the day.

 

[Graylorne]

It wasn't much, today. I had to rewrite part of my timetable, so I only managed 662 new words.

I was stupidly trying to fit all those convoluted happenings in a real-time map. That created so many illogicalities, that it didn't work. By omitting a few cities, it all fitted better.