You know I like blog memes. You also know it’s been a while since I’ve done one on this blog. Today I found a new one, just for NaNoWriMo contestants. If you are reading this and you are signed up for NaNoWriMo this year, than consider yourself tagged, and add this to your own blog, FB note, or MySpace bulletin. Don’t forget to link back to the original creator of the meme and leave a comment on his post (he’s compiling a list of the answers!)
NaNoWriMo Q&AIn preparation for National Novel Writing Month next November, I thought it would be fun to look back at previous NaNo’s and answer some questions about how I take part in the event.
These questions or this meme as you might call it is totally meant for people to use on their own blogs, Livejournals, Facebooks etc. Leave links in the comments section and I might compile a list.
Double points if you post a photo with your answers in some NaNoWriFic action shot like I have so awesomely done.
When and how did you find out about NaNoWriMo? How did you go?
I’m a long time user of The Seventh Sanctum. In fall of 2004 they sent out an announcement about The National Novel Writing Month Contest. I did not check out the link, until a few weeks later, unfortunately the contest was like 3 days from ending by that point. I joined in late November 2004, but did not compete in the contest until the 2005 one. During the 2006 relaunch of the forums, most of the 2004 archive was lost to a server meltdown and nearly every one who signed up in 2004 lost their accounts. So now my account says I joined in 2006, but so does every one else who originally joined in 2004 too. =/
How many times have you done NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo 2009 will be my 5th year at NaNo. So far I’ve had 4 years and 3 wins and this year I’m going for my fourth win.
How many times have you won? If you haven’t won, what was your best result?
I signed up in 2004, but it was 2 days before the end of the contest and too late to write anything. I don’t consider 2004 to be a year I participated, since I only signed up and never actually wrote a single word.
I failed my first year (2005) …did like 2,000 before I got bored with my plot.
I did 183,000 my second year (2006) … kind of to make up for failing the first year, but than never went back to edit it.
I reached 75,000 third year (2007), but I never finished the story!
In 2008, I did the unthinkable and changed my goal from 50k to 200k. YOW! But I did it and finished out the month with my biggest total ever: 238,153 words in 30 days!!!! (spaced out over 5 different books btw – none of which I totally finished, but one of which has since been nearly finished and at the time of this writing had just finished going through it’s 4th draft! YAY!)
Now NaNoWriMo 2009 is bearing down upon us and I’ve decided to try to beat my total last year and try for 250K or more. YIKES! Well, my goal is to do one novel at 75k this year and if I have time, to just keep doing as many more 75k novels as I can before the 30th.
How did you go last year?
I’ve done NaNoWriMo so many times now that 50k also wasn’t really a challenge for me any more! When November rolls around now I look at it and go: “Ho hum, 50k, been there done that – I need a bigger challenge now.” I know I can do 50k in 30 days. I’ve done it several times. I also knew I could reach 150k because I did it during one year already. So this time, for 2008, I decided to give myself a challenge – could I reach 200k in 30 days? That meant I would have to write not 1,667 words per day but instead 6,667 word per day! On day one I wrote 12,000 words and I knew from that moment on, 200k was well within my reach.
So, here’s the thing – 50k was no longer a challenge. I needed a challenge. I gave myself a challenge. And in the end, I wrote 5 NaNoNovels in 30 days instead of one NaNoNovel in 30 days. I also learned something by the end of NaNo 2008 – I’m never again going to try to juggle 5 novels at once! I only finished one of them, the other 4 ended up a scattered mess of non-connected chapters, and after 30 days of 7k to 12k words per day my hands HURT!
I learned a lesson last year – I can do it if I push myself, but my quality of write goes right down the toilet. My goal in everything I write, is always to publish it when I get done. Last year, I had written 5 books, but only one was salvageable and went on to seeking publication. The other 4, I now look at as a waste of my time. They were good ideas, but handled badly because I put reaching word count over writing a novel. I don’t want to repeat that again.
The lesson here: Challenge yourself! NaNoWriMo is all about giving yourself a challenge. If this is your first time, than the 50k is a big challenge. After you’ve done it a few years, you may want to try to up the challenge and shoot for a higher word count. The important thing is that you set goals for yourself – goals that you feel you can meet. But don’t hurt yourself doing it!
So, yeah think about what you are doing BEFORE you start. Know ahead of time that those of us who have done and/or are planning to do again, the huge word counts for NaNoWriMo DID NOT start writing yesterday! We have been writing for years! We write daily or near daily! Most of us are already writing 50k a month anyways, and us NaNo to challenge ourselves to bigger word counts than is normal for us. But doing these big goals is NOT for everyone, so don’t do it unless you have had a lot of practice writing a lot of words on a daily basis for several years! 50k is A LOT for someone who is not used to writing, so don’t push yourself past it unless you are physically able to. You don’t want to end up in the hospital or even lose your ability to write at all! Please consider your health when taking on a big word count!
Every year there are members who try to reach 100k, 200k, 300k, 500k, or even more in 30 days. Some of them can and do, do it, but remember – these people are professional writers with years of practice. If you are not a professional writer or do not have the practice – DO NOT ATTEMPT the huge word count goals! This can not be over stated! There are people who have pushed themselves too far doing NaNoWriMo and ended up with Carpel Tunnel Syndrome and in some cases needed surgery to be able to use their hands again. I too have had surgery (on my right hand) as a result of too much writing. Sadly as an artist, this had a terrible affect on my ability to continue my formerly life-like drawings, forcing me to change my art style. (This was many years before NaNoWriMo btw – I had surgery at age 17 because of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome- I always did write more than was good for me.)
This year, I’ve come back to my senses. I reached 238k last year, so I proved to myself I COULD do it if I tried, but I also proved to myself that I don’t really LIKE writing that much all at once. So, this year, I’m sticking with a goal in my own comfort zone – 75k. I know I can do 75k. It’s a good size which most publishers like to see and I won’t have to hurt my hands again, like I did last year.
Where do you write and with what do you write?
I do most of my plotting and planning outdoors in my garden, in the forest, or on the beach, and as such have tons of (several hundred) notebooks filled with illegible hand written scrawlings that only I can interpret.
The actual novels themselves have each been different. In 2006, thanks to first a flood in May and than a fire in October, I found myself by November, homeless, computerless, internetless, and living under a tarp on the streets. My entire 183k novel was written in long hand and the words counted manually. It was the last volume of The Twighlight Manor series in which I killed off the main character Etiole Swanzen, and has, to this date, yet to be typed up, and due to it’s nature, has no plans to be published any time soon, as I continue to write other stories for The Twighlight Manor series, in which Etiole is still alive. (Info about the real Etiole on whom the fictional one was based can be found here.)
In 2007, the first half of my novel was typed on the computer, but a winter storm ripped though and left us with no electricity for the last half of the month (this is Maine after all), so the book stopped at 75k and was never finished.
2008 saw me typing up 5 novels simultaneously. Only one: For Fear of Little Men (a non-fiction memoir) made it to the end.
How do you find time to write?
I am a professional writer. I wrote my first book in 1978. Writing is my career. If I don’t write, I don’t get paid. Writing is a 9 to 5 job. I write every day, all day, stopping for lunch. I do this 5 days a week and have done so for 31 years now. I have time to write because I MAKE time to write. Writing is my life. I don’t do anything else.
Are your partners, friends and family allies or enemies?
I have none of the above.
What are you strengths and what do you use to help you get to the end?
Honestly, I’m a damn good writer. I enjoy writing. I love my stories. I love my characters. I don’t use anything to motivate me or keep me going until the end – I don’t need it. I just plan like to write. As for my actual writing methods and tools I use to write, well click the links to see what I do, step by step.
What are you weaknesses, obstacles and challenges that hinder you from finishing?
I have Autism, it has all sorts of weird affects on my writing.
Do you plot/outline/plan or do you write by the seat of your pants? How much do you plot or how unprepared are you?
I outline, but not in the traditional sense of the word. Here is my online outline for my 2009 NaNoWriMo Novel, which will show you just exactly what I mean when I say my outlines are not your typical outlines.
Do you participate in the real life community, go to write ins and meet ups in your area?
I’m on the NaNoWriMo forums year round. My region is the Saco Bay Region of the Maine District. I attend all the Saco parties, write-ins, etc. and get to met face to face the people I spend so much of my time talking with online.
What are your writing aids? Special snacks, music, totems, rewards or punishments?
Music? Why Liberace of course! Would you expect anything else from his ever devoted, over obsessed, #1 screaming fangirl? I have a NaNoWriMo playlist which also includes System of a Down, Serj Tankian, David Bowie, DropKick Murphies, Alice Cooper, and Nightwish along side Liberace – wow what a messed up mix! You got everything from kilts & bagpipers to glittering classical concert pianist to emo goth heavy metal opera to head banging grass roots screamo metal to space age British glam to death metal. Yep – that’s me for you – all over the place. 
And rewards have never worked for me in anything, writing or otherwise – I’m not motivated by gifts, money, or anything else. If I want to do something, I’ll do it, if not, not amount of rewards will move me.
Find Out More About My 2009 NaNoWriMo Project
What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!
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Editing and Drafts
Create a Fantasy Realm
Advice For NaNoWriters!
Creating Character Profiles
Are You A Renegade A Writer?
How To Become a Better Writer
The Top 5 Tools For NaNoWriMo
What Genre Is My Vampire Story?
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Improving your writing with what you read.
Have You Written Your Author’s Interview Yet?
How I Reached 50,000 in 30 Days and You Can Too!
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