I say this with absolute genuine praise: If you met your November wordcount goals, if you got your badge, CONGRATULATIONS! I don't care if you got to 50kw or 220kw (as did my publisher, all written from the madhouse here in Dallas). If you set goals and met goals, writing, editing, reviewing, blogging, whatever, I offer you a congratulations for doing what you said you'd do.
Despite the disruptions this month -- and yes, I just called the birth of my son a "disruption" -- I managed to hack out about 20kw on my current WIP.
I have daily goals of 1000-2500 wpd (words per day), and I average 1500 wpd most days. I met those goals on the days I wrote, which tells you I wrote approx 15 days out of 30 this month. The only day I recall starting and not meeting that goal was the day my wife was induced for labor. I managed to get 500 words while we waited for the oxytocin to kick in and I kept getting distracted by the television in the delivery room (I hate television, but my wife loves it).
Anyway.
Don't stop writing just because November passed, and don't spend the next 11 months on your NaNo book. Rest a little if you need it. Write a few shorts just for fun, or some poetry. Edit a couple of months on your NaNo and send it off.
And then ON TO THE NEXT! Don't wait for NaNo 2011 to write your next masterpiece!
If you ask me, May should be the other NaNoWriMo month, but nobody asked me.
- Eric
17 comments:
I failed NaNo, which is fine by me. As a slow writer I feel greatly accomplished by what progress I did make. At my current rate, I'm expecting this draft to be done by the end of the year. My goal is to begin querying in Spring 2011 after my critique partners rip it to shreds.
Congratz on the 20k! That's wonderful. :)
Wait. They're giving Oxy to women delivering now? What happened to epidurals (please forgive my ignorance, we haven't had a kid for 9 years)?
I faired ok with my nano project. Your right it's important to move on from the project and try other things as well.
Matt--oxytocin, not oxycontin/oxycodone
The first induces labor, the second induces coma.
Why not work on it the next 11 months? That's what I did.
I don't plan to this time but I don't see anything wrong with that.
BTW congrats on the baby thing, forgot to mention that in my last comment.
Matt: Andrew nailed the oxytocin thing. Oxy was for the labor. She did, of course, get an epidural.
Andrew: Yeah, I know your style. You're a meticulous writer, and I don't mean to pick on your style. My posts should almost be disclaimed with this statement: Meant for Eric's personal use only. Most of the stuff I post is note-to-self. Which really, if you think about it, is all you can do.
Summer: Yep, keep writing!
Steph: I'd love to see some of your work, if you want an extra critique. One chapter is about all I can handle in one gulp, but feel free to ping me when you get it ready.
- Eric
I completely flaked on Nano...had to take down my button on November 1st. I just didn't want to stop working on what I had going to write something new.
I did make it to the mid-way mark on my WIP though. Woo Hoo! Hacked out a fun chase scene with egrets and metal pipes and mud!
Any hoo, A year spent editing is a bit longer than I'm used to, but to each their own. I'm trying to complete this novel by December 31st.
Come New Year's day I'm starting on a historical come what may.
i've got to actually finish up the novel first (hopefully this week) but because i spent time editing as i went, it's much cleaner than it would have been otherwise.
Yay NaNo!
Considering your wife just had a baby, I think you did really good!
500 words while your wife is in labor? I would be incensed, if it weren't for the fact she herself was watching TV. Reminds me of my husband deciding that drive through McDonalds was a good idea on the way to the hospital. Harumph! Incensed.
20k is still 20k. Congratulations on what you got accomplished. I'm taking December off from writing and editing and in January I'm going to start again.
labor is pretty boring.
I was watching Monday Night Football.
Wife wasn't happy.
Then when the baby was crowing, I was all like "dude, you gotta come down here and see this!"
She really didn't like that one either. :(
Maybe we need to go back to the days when the men hung in the lobby.
Andrew: LMAO, man, that's funny stuff. I told her the same thing when our son was crowning, went and got a mirror, even.
Mine has a good sense of humor, though. I told her she looked like beer-can chicken with her legs spread and that big-ol thing coming out from down there.
Raquel: Nothing wrong with keeping up with an ongoing piece. In fact, my NaNo -- if you call it that (I was going to write anyway) -- was a re-write of a piece I did in 2006. A complete re-write, though I recycled the characters and the world I built.
Sarah: Slow and steady is a great way to write it. I have a tough time "editing" a piece. I have to get it right, or nearly, the first time. Otherwise I nuke it and completely re-write (see my comment to Raquel, it's what I'm doing now).
Diane: Thanks!
Annie: She's hard to incense. Read my response to Andrew regarding beer can chicken.
Melissa: Damn straight 20k is still 20k. Enjoy your month off.
- Eric
I've been buried in work, life and nano. I've missed out on a lot of blog news - including the birth of your son! Congratulations!!!! :) Enjoy those wonderful new baby moments. Even enjoy the not-so wonderful ones - they become such treasured memories!
Eric,
Conrats on the boy, that is wonderful news!! Yay for Novemeber babies!! (though mine just turned 6 the day before your son was born) ;D
Like Jemi I was also buried in work, life, and NaNo...
I am like you in the aspect of finding the TV distracting. I prefer to keep it as far from me as possible. But getting that much written with that distraction (alone) is way more than I could have mushed out. :)
I am looking forward to getting back to my normal writing and my semi-normal routine.
Hopefully I will be back to blogging too!
Again Congrats to you and your family!
~hugs~
Jemi: I am so behind on blogging... can you be ~behind~ on something like this? I dunno. I need to get back in the groove though, like so many of us. THANKS for stopping by, though. I'll be sure to hit your site soon and say something inappropriate.
Michelle: Thanks for the congrats and the hug. I'm trying to get back into a routine, though it won't be anything like the one from the "time before." Embracing change is part of life, you know.
- Eric
*giggle*
Only think, years from now when your new son is an adult you can tell nostalgic stories at Thanksgiving and Christmas about how you wrote your novel while he was being born. You can tell him he was your inspiration. He'll carry that happiness inside him forever.
Jai
I'm new to your blog, but first off, congratulations on your new baby boy!! :)
And 20K is an amazing accomplishment, you should be very proud! :)
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