Week Two: Dig In!

I’m a NaNoWriMo newbie but most people I have spoken to say Week 2 is the toughest. So how is it going for you?

Are you fully ‘in the zone’ now or do you fear you’re flagging?

I hit fifteen thousand words today which I’m thrilled about – just hope I can keep the up the momentum. I need to get ahead because I know I won't get any writing done this coming weekend.

I topped 11,000 today. We are getting a full week off for Thanksgiving so I'll really put the pedal to the metal then.

Hmmm, I don't know if I find Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 or Week 4 the toughest for me. lol

I finally mapped out my writing strategy today and think I should be able to hit my target on time without much effort during the week, only on the weekends, and not even having to take a day off work. This assumes I will write like a madwoman during the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend that Americans are so fortunate to have every November.

ETA a little test of a word counter

Woo hoo! It worked! Glory be!

ETA except no, it takes forever to load.

Will you guys let me know if the word count widget takes that long to load when you read or post to this thread? If it does, I'll delete it from that post.

I just pulled past 19K. I think later this month work is gonna kill me so I wanted to get a head. Last night, my 1,667 was a bit tough though. I think this week it'll be hard to keep up the energy and commitment. hope we all make it!

I haven't been able to get my 1667 per day in, but my daily word count is rising with every passing day. Also, last week I was forced to devote loads of time to researching and thinking about plot developments (I can't write a scene to completion if I don't know what it is for), because I started out with an initial and a final scene but no idea of what would happen between them. But now that I've got the major plot lines worked out, I'm picking up the pace. I'm actually confident that I can make it through week two, and if I can keep up the current trend, I'll finish ahead of target this week.

The conception of my novel has changed considerably, though. Originally I wanted to write a child-friendly book that combined retold fairytales with retold Greek myths. Right now I'm ankle-deep in twisted Celtic fertility myths, multiple gloomy storylines that parallel and echo each other across twenty years, and anti-patriarchal characters and themes. I just finished writing a ritual rape which I'm planning to open the Prologue with.

This has definitely taken a turn for the unexpected. I guess it's not a young adult book any more.

*still pushing his cart about, offering snacks and any beverage that will inspiring writing* Red Bull, Vault, Decaf Iced Tea? Blueberry, chocolate, or Pumpkin muffin?

Let's go team! Words are piling up without a page to sit on. :>

*gathers trash* Mental note: wrapperless muffins.

I'm definitely hitting a pothole at the moment. For some reason I just cannot get words to page. I'm ahead at the moment (18,000+) but not for too long. I need this buffer though as I have an 8-10 page paper due in a class ten days after the end of Nano).

My novel is another variation/re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. It's set (loosely) in mid 1700s France and "Gaston" (at least as originally conceived he was a pretty close interpretation of the Disney Gaston but not anymore) is a legal secretary and a bit of a dandy. The Prince (like the movie) is a still a little bit of a snob and such. I've expanded the story as much as I can but I'm starting to feel like the padding is becoming a little out there. I haven't really written the climax (although the buildup is definitely there).

I guess today is a day to consider which way to go with things (and try to prevent my inner editor cutting things to smithereens.)

I just discovered the new NaNo Stats feature (last tab to the right at the top of your profile page). It's actually working to make me write more than I otherwise might in any given session. It tells you how many words you have left to make your daily goal, which is nice to see in black & white. Even when I think I'm totally burned out, I've been finding it easy to continue writing when, for instance, I see that I have only 324 words left to make my daily count.

It also tells you how long it will take you to finish your 50k novel if you continue at the pace you are going. At this point, it is telling me that I'll be finished on December 26. *sigh* Getting back to work now.

I'm getting a similar finish date, but to be honest, I'd be delighted if I were to be done with a novel by December 26th. Of course, I won't be at this rate, as my book needs to be much longer than 50K words--more like 100K.

All that aside, I'm finding this year's effort much easier than last year's. I have a much better idea what happens in the middle with this one than I did with that one (still unfinished).

For what it's worth, I'm recommending a free writing program, yWriter5, which has a slew of useful features. It will help you keep track of your characters, scenes, places, and objects; it will give you overall word counts and daily word counts. It has some features I've not yet explored, like storyboards. And it has a feature that will read the book back to you--one way to catch some missing words or awkward phrasing.

*noms on chocolate* I have a half bowl of Halloween chocolates left. Must-Not-Nom-All!

I really don't like the new "you'll finish by" feature, it's very discouraging to see "You will finish by December 20th" or whatever.

However, I've been on a bit of a roll lately. Sunday I wrote 2k, and yesterday I got a smidge over 3k. I have *never* gotten that many words in one day before. I really think it makes a difference that I'm deliberately not "in it to win" like usual, I'm just having fun and not worrying about wordcount. Seems to work in my favor.

I wrote over 2k yesterday on the ethical/legal consequences of my MC2 (who's a nurse) refusing to treat MC1 because she's gay. It's something that has to happen for the storyline, but I kinda veered off into a whole rambling character-debate about it. Wasn't intended, but got me words!

>11 Heather19: Haha, Heather ~ yes, Dec. 20 is a bit discouraging, but it's ENcouraging to note that a few days ago, the date by which I was projected to finish was January 3. lol

>10 ejj1955: Is yWriter5 for PCs or only Macs? When I get a minute, I'll look it up online, if it's good for PCs too. I like the "free."

I'm using One Note by Microsoft (comes packaged with Office). It's like using sectional binders with tabs, except on the computer. You can create as many tabs and subtabs and pages within a section as you want. At this point, I have three sections: Novel Info (Tabs: "Characters" and "Timeline"); Stats, which I was using before I discovered the aforesaid NaNo States; and Research (Tabs: "Ports and Ships," "1773," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Foods & Drinks," "Locations," and "Misc." Keeps everything nice & neat in virtual divided sections. No more rummaging through "My Documents" to find the file where I made notes about what a character looks like or something about a town or timeline or whatever.

yWriter5 works for PCs, don't know about Macs. If you decided you liked it, you probably could cut and paste the notes you already have into it. There are sections for characters, locations, and items so you can keep those straight. You can see a list of your characters or print it out.

It's a heck of a helpful program. I like it better the more I use it.

I hear that Scrivner is out in beta for Windows now as well.

Well, I finally broke the 10k barrier and am feeling more confident, though it's about 3 days too late. Still, once that 10k mark is crossed, especially if it's before the halfway point, 50k always seems more doable to me.

I still don't have a plot.

*taps fingers together under chin like Mr Burns.*
I have plot, plan, and the ability to take over the world.

*looks about* Wait.

You aren't Bubba Bo Bob Brain.

*starts whistling as he pushes the cart away* Never mind...

>15 Storeetllr: 10,000+ words and no plot!!!
I'm over 10,000 and running out of plot!

I transferred my chapters in yWrite. What a great resource. If I can organize a club next year I'll definitely recommend it to the kids. By then I'll have a better handle on its features.

One of my kids is writing on a Mac so I looked into Scrivener for him. They have a special deal for Nano writers if anyone is interested.

Gilroy - thanks for the treats - yum!

Yesterday, six members of our YWP group met in the school library from 10 to 5. We talked, ate, wrote, ate some more, talked some more, took a walk across the street to get something to drink, and wrote some more. I was so proud of how hard they worked and the progress they made. (I made a little progress myself.)

Sounds great mamzel! Be very proud!!