NaNoWriMo Daily Accountability Journal

[Philip Overby]

Day 19: While I did get about 2,000 words or so, I ended up deleting a lot of them so I actually went backwards a little bit. I'm not counting words I'm not keeping, so my word count is 46,049 words for this day. Kind of sucks, but I'm so close to the 50K I'm not too worried about it. I'm planning for a big night tonight, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to either hit 50 on Day 20 or I'm going to be right on the cusp of it.

Yeah, I should probably still count the words I did write, but screw it. Towards the finish line!

 

[Philip Overby]

Note: Since NaNo always seems to shave off 2,000 words from whatever my count is, I'm going to plow forward and keep writing (which I planned to do anyway) and not officially announce my final word count until it is at least 52,000 according to NaNo's infallible word count validator. So onward I go into the night!

 

[Philip Overby]

Day 20: I wrote well over 50K, but not sure why NaNo's validator is different. Stupid thing.

Anyway...

I made it! 50,014 words!

YES!

Now to continue on my journey to get this novel finished. Altogether it's 71,812 words counting what I wrote before NaNo started. At the rate I'm going, it's going to be a rather large novel. I'm hoping less than 150,000 words if I can manage.

Well, I'll keep up with everyone else and keep posting updates until the 30 days are up. Good luck to everyone else reaching their goals!

 

[Chessie]

Awesome Phil and Butterfly! Congratulations!

I reached 30,030 today. But I still want to write another 1500 words today since I don't work until late.

 

[Graylorne]

1,730 and every word paid in blood. So I'll cheer you, Phil, but in subdued tones Still, don't mind me and be proud of your success; you've earned it.

 

[Philip Overby]

Thanks! I'm not going to update anymore since I reached the 50K, but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread and hope everyone else can make some headway.

I'd love to still do some word wars, but I haven't been able to find anyone to do them with me this week. Any takers?

 

[Graylorne]

I realise I'm not going to make it, this year. I shouldn't have chosen the book I'm working on, for several reasons:
a. it's too complicated to hurry
b. it's a book that must be published (3rd book in trilogy), so it must be done well
c. at the moment I'm spending a lot of time and energy on something that won't be well
So I'm letting it rest until I see my way clear and finish it later when the story is fun again.

I'm switching to Timelost, my Wattpad story, as I should have done from the start. Perhaps, if I get in the flow, I can combine both scores, that's not unheard of in NaNo.
But in the end is it the book that counts and NaNo is a tool, not a goal.
I'll see how it goes.

 

[Chessie]

^^I'm in the same boat. The past couple days I've been doing a lot for my business which has left me drained and writing crap. I hate every single word that I have written this week...and I want none of it in my novel. Sigh. I don't know what to do at this point. I want to finish and I know I can, but why finish something that I won't even use? I'm stumped right now and don't even know how to move forward...I'm just rambling.

I took today off from writing and I don't want to do that tomorrow, or else I won't make it. I will say this: I know more about my story now than I did when I began. Part of me kind of...wants to start over.

 

[Philip Overby]

I started over on my current project after I felt the vibe I was going for didn't work for that particular story. I'd still like to do a similar vibe with a different story and I still have that all in mind. When starting over with something, I feel like it's best to do it when you're very early in the project. However, if it's too late, then you can perhaps still salvage some of it.

I had a moment last week when I wrote some stuff that totally crapped all over what I had wrote up until then. I caught that it was bad for my overall novel and dumped about 2,000 words. That's one thing to consider: just going back to when you felt like your novel went off course and dump that. Then start over from that point. It doesn't necessarily have to mean you have to start all the way over.

Just something to consider. Hope things pull through!

 

[Chessie]

Thanks Phil, but it would be from Chapter 1 I'd start over. Sigh. But I have a game plan set: do more plotting. If anything, NaNoWriMo has proven to me that I'm NOT a pantser. Either way, I'm not going to tank it all just yet. Thanks for the good wishes, I need them!

 

[Philip Overby]

May I recommend the Snowflake Method? I feel like I'm trying to push this on everyone, but I think it really works for people who have problems with plotting and it helps give you a concrete idea of your novel before you start. It could be worth a try if you plan to start over. I personally love it and I know several people who utilize it as well and claim it's worked wonders for them.

You can check out some stuff about it here:

How To Write A Novel Using The Snowflake Method

 

[Chessie]

Its like you read my mind! That's exactly what I'll be spending my time doing tomorrow morning!

 

[Philip Overby]

Well, since this hasn't been updated in a couple of days, I take that to mean this is a good sign I hope?

I'm at 56,151. I've slowed down a lot, but I'm still getting about 2,000 a day, which still feels like a good pace for me.

Just wanted to thank everyone who has participated in this thread so far. I'm sure I don't need to say this, but don't worry if you don't make the 50K. It's never really about that anyway. It's just about continuing to progress on something and to get you writing. I always learn something every year and it's great to have a group of encouraging people to do it with. You all really helped me this year and for that I'm thankful.

Good luck for the future!

 

[Jackarandajam]

Bad week, still at 29,300. Pulling an all-nighter tonight to see if I can make some ground.

 

[Jackarandajam]

34,017, after totally shutting down for a week.

The snowflake method was helpful, thank you. I was already implementing most of it, but i added a sentence by sentence breakdown of each "Day" in my story, or at least the next few days, and that has rehydrated my efforts to an extent. I put in four thousand last night, and am going to push for six today.

This is where it gets dicey, i guess.

 

[Philip Overby]

So about three or four days left. I've petered off honestly. I guess once I reached my goal for the month, I was happy. I plan to do the same thing in December. Another 50K or first draft completion, whichever comes first.

I suppose I have about 5 major scenes left altogether, so I don't imagine it will be too much longer. I keep changing my ending because I want something tangible to work towards. I may get one that makes me go, "Eureka!" sooner or later.

Here's wishing luck to those of you still plugging at it.

 

[Chessie]

Thank you for having this thread for all of us to participate in. Unfortunately, I had to stop. My business is demanding a lot of attention right now and I cannot ignore it (clients clients everywhere!). Next time, I will make sure to take some time off, which is doable for me, so that I can write away. I didn't think I would have to this year but oh, was I so wrong. My story is still thriving though just at less words per day.

Good luck to everyone with your projects! Its been great connecting.

 

[Jackarandajam]

I'm way behind,
But I don't care.
There's a finish line,
And I'll see you there.

43,272

 

[Jackarandajam]

47,801. I hate to put it off to the last day, but I'm incoherent.

2,200 words to victory... after some sleep.

 

[Philip Overby]

You can do it!