NaNoWriMo 2014 (Week 4): Yeah, I'll take that winner's ribbon thanks.

NaNoWriMo 2014:

WEEK FOUR

THIS. IS. THE. END…

…of NaNo 2014, silly.

Can I say I’m both super glad AND kinda sad that I’m closing this chapter of my year (and no, no there are absolutely no plans for 2015—I’m not that masochistic).

Sure it’s pretty awesome to check off having actually pulled through NaNo. Even when I started 2 days late, but at the same time now that it’s done I’m kinda like “okay, now do I have the motivation to continue my NaNo project”…

Actually, I do.

I mean I’m sure it’s going to be way harder because there isn’t that whole “Darn it I have to write” cloud of doom hanging over me, but I’m also really interested in the plot I’ve got going. I want to see what happens next and I gotta write to do that.

So I found the secret formula. You hear it all the time—if you stalk writer blogs and interviews like I do—an author will credit their desire for a book that they couldn’t find. I wanted to write about teenage sadistic vampires to show my appreciation for the canon game fandom, so I went ahead and did...am, that is, currently in the middle of writing it.

Last week I mentioned some last few things I wanted to do:

Let’s start with the wackiest of those ideas…I don’t know why I do this to myself. I mean I wrote the last blog post for this series a week ago, so I totally just had a foot-in-my-mouth reaction to this: Try at least one 6000-word day...this one is a HUGE maybe. If I do this it will be probably on Thursday or Saturday. We'll see how crazy I'm feeling. (-original source)

WHAT?

What was I sipping (other than peppermint tea) when I typed this???

My goal today is at least 2600 which will be the most I would have written this month: right now the crown word count is 2573 back on the 10^th.

In other word count-related news, I hit my 30K goal!! That happened four days ago. Pretty happy about that because though I’ve done two unofficial novel writing months, the 30K mark was my original goal from CampNaNo April 2013 and I’ve been trying since then—minus NaNo 2013 cuz I didn’t even attempt last year; to busy with school—and failing until now. :)

Speaking of failing, umm, last week I also mentioned I would be attending my local write-in today. So yeah, going to get doing that even though I don’t really want to: as in I’m dreading the noise there, and potential unproductivity and procrastination waiting for me…

-sigh-

My review of the experience is TBA.

No Plot? No Problem! Week 4:

This whole month I’ve been slowly reading the second half of NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty’s how-to text, No Plot? No Problem! And I must say that it was really fascinating. And by that I mean there were some points he (or other NaNo participants) made that were the “hit-the-nail-on-the-head” type, some advice I disagreed with, and some that were new innovations I implemented…sorta.

So this last part sums up everything. There’s a lot of motivation spiel to get you over 50K. And although I enjoyed reading it, I really also kinda found myself shaking my head through the 13 or so pages of the chapter.

There was advice and pep talks in Chapter Four that I really disagreed with.

I mean stuff REALLY: write 50K in a week (or a day!)? Ugh. Yeah, no.

This chapter doesn’t really consider the “what if” you don’t hit 50K. I sure as heck don’t plan to write the 15K I would need to reach that goal all today…hahaha and—

Sorry. I’ve learned what makes me tick and this doesn’t work for me. 1) because I genuinely believe that if I attempted this and whatever actually managed the 15K I would probably take all of December off. And for me I’d rather get into the habit of writing daily at my own pace than working towards what Baty actually admits is an arbitrary word count of 50, 000 words.
And 2) do I really need a second reason? It's just plain loco-ness.

Still like the rest of the text there are some helpful tips:

Although Thanksgiving as come and gone, Christmas is right around the corner and that means, dundundundun, FAMILY TIME!

And family time doesn’t always equal caring and sharing time. For those of you who haven’t finished your NaNo project and are writing away in December, Baty suggests you pre-designate a quiet space in your house you can keep all to yourself. Or if you’re doing the visiting, opt in staying at a hotel. Or using the early morning hours to write when the rest of your host family is sleeping.

Stocking for groceries, and making sure you keep your health in check. NaNo can be pretty grueling for some. I haven’t been writing as much and I actually try to exercise a bit every day, y’know make use of my elliptical, but I also commute to work and take the stairs at school (pesky third floor classes)!

The point here is to take care of yourself! Remember, if you’re sick you’re probably not going to multitask vomiting and writing, cool?

And for those of you who already hit 50K and validated that word count, Baty advises you keep writing. Write through to the end of November at least, AND he adds, write past NaNoWriMo. Write every day until you’re done your started project.

And I know I've been offering motivational quotes, but I didn't like a lot of them in this chapter. So I'll take one I tolerate and add another writerly quote I really love; thus I refer to often:

"Write the ending, regardless of how far away you think you are." - Royce Roeswood, four-time NaNo winner from Denver, CO

[And the writerly quote:]

"I started writing to please myself, a story I would like to read, and that is still true." - Jean M. Auel

All I can say is I hit the 75% mark of only the NaNo 50K goal. But I've only scratched the surface of a great (fanfic) story.  So I'm in it for a longer haul, but tbh, I wouldn't have it any other way. Part of writing is the experience--all of it. The really awesome days and the really crappy days.

Take it for the experience, even if you decide never to write again and especially if you're considering writing as a career.

And go ahead and make yourself a winner's ribbon! (Even if you didn't win.) xD

Here's mine:

Now if only I spent half my energy (and attention) on my writing.

Hehe.

EDIT (like 10 hours later): Just got back from the last of my local write-ins and the only one I attended. I went to the two plan-in events we had in October, and I found it really hard to concentrate around 10+ other people.

So I kinda walked in with dread. I came 30 minutes late cuz I didn't want to stand out in the cold (though it was fairly warm today--really nice weather actually considering it's the end of Nov and all). Anyways, got there and managed to grab a seat. It was fairly empty and people came and went.

In order to do this right I decide to leave my laptop charge wire at home and just work with a little less than 2 hrs of battery.

The plan was to actually stay for an hour--I figured this way I would be a bit more productive. Well, that almost doubled and after nearly 2 hours my battery signaled me at 7% and I shut up and left.

What was the result? So I wanted about 2600 for today--and as I said above 2573 was the number to beat.

I ended up with (and I did an extra 3 hrs at home)...drum roll, please!

6150!
I know, crazy right?
Yeah. What did I say about that 6000/day this month?
Well I did it--and I'm not going to be doing it again anytime soon.
'Nuff said.

And the majority of that was written during the write-in--the very write-in I thought I would sink in procrastination at!
AND AND there was a group who wouldn't stop talking in the back (my ML finally told them, and I paraphrase, "You guys have been talking for the last 20 minutes--are you planning to do any writing?") Of course he ended up validating his 50K like 5 minutes later. Go figure. --.--
Another guy was typing SUPER loud. Like I almost had a giggle fit because it reminded me of a joke between my sister and I: she commented on my loud typing breaking her concentration once and I didn't believe anything like that existed--but MAN oh man this guy typed like he was shooting a rifle or something (and I don't even know what a rifle sounds like IRL)! It was really loud and painfully annoying.

Thank goodness I had the forethought to bring headphones along.
Most of all of this was muted more or less and it helped that I was in full story mode.

So whether you "won" NaNo or not, take whatever you've got and run with it. Straight into December and the New Year if you have to.

Keep perspiring. Keep preserving. Keep writing.