I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and a Happy Samhain!
November is upon us once again, which is the days of Nanowrimo. Basically, when anyone with an inkling to write a novel decides to forego any and all leisure time to write a novel in 30 days. In the Before Times, these Nanowrimo participants would be found in their native habitat of the local coffee shop, hunched over their laptop, surrounded by the empty containers of go juice. I would say they turned pale from the lack of sunlight, except that November is already a darkening month anyway.
The irony for Nanowrimo for me is it always falls at a time when I at a point in a writing project I don’t want to set it aside to start a totally new one. One writer friend of mine used Nanowrimo to add 50,000 words to their current WIP. Said writer usually wrote epic tales that had more plotlines than bars in Wisconsin, so that system worked for them. If there was a year I would try that this isn’t it, for the simple reason I am doing major revisions which involve reworking sections, so having a word count goal would actually work against me when I am being honest about “Does this scene drive the story forward?” And need to do some hacking. I am also realizing there are plenty of stuff at the end that wasn’t adequately explained before hand (my character wins a sword fight, yeah, I might need more than one scene talking about using a sword and maybe explain why she has a sword with her at the climax….) In short, I suspect my word count isn’t going to change too radically, but the story will tighten up and become more clear and ultimately better.
I also just completed a weaving class. The Wee Dictator is old enough I feel I can take up weaving as a hobby again. Weaving is a good way to relax to do something with my hands while listening to a podcast, as long as I am not doing a design that is too complicated. I just learned how to do pick up with an inkle heddle loom to do letters, I am so excited! Because yes, I need more ways to procrastinate writing.
For me, it makes more sense to make goals and track time rather than word count. Word count is great when you are in the beginning, generative stage. But not so great when revising. So for the month of November, my pledge is I will:
Work on my WIP every day. I will include as work various journaling and exercises, as well as researching specific questions.
Track how much time I am spending.
Work for at least an hour a day, but I do have the option of splitting my time. (I.E, work on it 15 minutes in the morning, 30 at lunch, 15 at night.)
My end goal for the month is to have worked on it 50 hours. Yes, that is more than 30, but I am hoping to go over an hour– hour is the minimum.
I will post my progress at the mid month WIP check in, and make my final post of how the month went in my December announcements. If I am at 25 mid month, I will reward myself with one prize. If I make it to 50 hours, I will buy myself another prize. (Something handmade I have to order so have been looking for a reason to justify getting. I will post a picture if I end up getting my prize, but ti probably won’t be December announcements.)
For posting this month, I do pledge to do one a week but might do two a couple of weeks. My focus shall be on Nanowrimo. Happy Nonaowrimo everyone!