I wrote so much today, that I swear I don't think I can carry on for another second. My aching fingers, and is barely reached ten thousand words....I actually missed it by five thousand. I wanted to be able to do over ten thousand words a day,,building up until I wrote for NaNoWriMo. I'm actually writing some short stories to release for publication,because I need the exposure, and I could use a decent outreach to the Sci-Fi community. I want to write books,mbut not necessarily genre books. I've always wanted to write to my own discretion, and have others decide how to market my work. I'm okay with marketing my own work,mbut to get people to read your work requires skills that even a lifetime,of courses can't teach. The is no teaching selling a product, there are only guidelines how others have faired in the past.
So I've been writing these short stories,hoping to limber up my fingers,which for the own part have gone without typing a single word. Im thinking of even buying a hand rest, or making one from a towel. NaNoWriMo has become my obsession. I've been building up to it for months,so I'm getting all the extra ideas out of my head, in hopes of becoming a well-organized writer, and my NaNo will be not only successful, but vigilant by the end.
I don't know if a full-length novel within a month is possible. Frankly, the length is not as important as the content, however, I don't find it will be difficult to make the story stretch to a full-length work.
Most other writers will think I'm an overachiever, but if I am set up to succeed, then I will do wonderfully, but if I think I'm going to fail....well, then I will. So instead,,I'm doing some freelance work to keep me on track, and since all of the deadlines are before November, I'll be deadest that on midnight Halloween,mill be settled in, as cool, and as comfortable as can be,and typing my heart out. I want to be able to just sit in a room, and just type, the silence surrounding me, and i will be ready for anything.
My fingers have been typing all day long, and not to mention however long this turns out to be. If I'm not doing at least ten pages a day, then I'm setting myself up for absolute failure. I will be getting up early, staying up late, and practically dedicating myself to the typing process. Sure, many can do speech recognition, which I find would be much harder. Have you ever read an entire book out loud?
If you have, imagine if you have to recall that entire book from memory, which is basically what speaking your novel is like. The hand is quicker than the mouth in that case.
I'm more looking towards my goal of a minimum 80,000 words. I've written a novel that was about 86,000 words once, although it may have been shorter, and that work was about the average length of a marketable book. I've written books that wee too long,too short, and just right. I've written books that needed to be longer, which meant I would not budge, but seeing as I've never published a book, or in this case, manuscript, I've never tried to write a book squarely for the market.
NaNoWriMo brings for me the opportunity to finally write a novel with the intent of selling to the masses. Sure, it could be limited, it could be out of touch,mbut as I'm. It going to know what it's like until I actually jump into it,I'm going to have to take notice of how to survive the NaNoWriMo game.
The most I've ever written in one full day was twenty-thee pages. That was about eight-ten hours of writing, with minimal breaks in-between. That is about twenty-five, to thirty-thousand words. That was painful, and I took a nice long rest after. So that tells you that a steady pace is better than burning out early. Catch-up is always possible. I've learned that if you type ten-to-fifteen thousand words a day, you're doomed to make too much filler. If you type 1,000-1,200 words a day, you'll never see your goal, or barely make the NaNoWriMo minimum, and that's barely a novella.
I'm planning on 5,000-10,000 words a day, because it seems reasonable, and I know after I get a rhythm to how my story should be written,mill simply go on autopilot,and write to my heart's content. For most of you who are doing NaNoWriMo, the best I can offer is to write to the point it starts to feel irritable,mbut not so much that you start to be frustrated with what you're doing. Never hate your work simply because it feels like work...but remember, that it is work.
Write for yourself, because let's face it: this is a personal challenge, it's not some contest where you are about to outdo the world. If it was your book against say, Neil Gaiman's next novel I'm sure we'd both know which book would sell the most copies. Then again, that is without the factors of publishing companies, or marketing strategies, but you catch my drift. This is for you, no one else. Write because you desire to be a writer. Don't look at this as a sure-claim to fame,it's not!
So on the sole purpose of seeing everyone possible be successful, remember to write for the sake of writing, but remember that all books take the time to grow into lifelong stories. You may not be writing the next Water for Elephants,,but you may be writing the next potential ebook breakthrough. You're unknown, and that works far more for you than against. Established writers are expected to be brilliant all the time, they have no luxuries such as mistakes, or poor plotting. If Stephen King screws up so terribly, so horridly as an amateur,,he could be seeing his last sale.
People would say he's lost his touch, or it's just about the money for him at that point. Clearly these so-called fans don't know squat about King, as his writing is, and always will be the second love of his life next to Tabitha. You are lucky, because if you make a mistake, it's just another young writer who's inexperience has shown through. You're allowed to fail young, and often, but once you've become a professional, once you start receiving actual paychecks, you are as no longer given such luxuries as fifth chances. Writing should be ingrained in your soul, and NaNoWriMo is a great way to exorcise those procrastinating demons.
Trust me, I've had to soak my wrists in hot water after some serious writing marathons, but I've never to my knowledge done something like NaNoWriMo, and I'm sure many will not go the extra mileage like I plan; but talk is inevitably cheap, I need to prove to myself, and the world, that if I'm going to write, if I'm going to do this, I will do it proper. Thirty-thousand words more is just a few extra hours each day, and that will make for a much more complete story than 50,00 words.
I don't claim I'm any better than tho who have done this event in the past, but I know my limitations, and although the shortest time I've written a full-length novel was in two months, I'm certain I will have a compete novel before the clock strikes midnight on November thirtieth. I plan to complete my work by November twenty-second, perhaps even earlier if I choose not to slack. I'll be quite sick of writing by then, so I'll be doing really short blog posts, as mentioned before, and I think that I'll have a sense of pride and wonder by this experience.
For all of you, just follow the three easy steps: write hard, write often, and never stop until it's done. Push yourself, but love the pain, because your lovong what you're writing. Pick an idea, and stick it through: for better or worse, the idea was good for you to dedicate so much time, you might as well stick with it, because it will be too late for you to turn back after thirty pages typed.
Make sure you organize your time. Even if you're doing nothing but this, you still need to organize your time wisely during NaNoWriMo. Don't slack! Sounds simple, but writers are the worst at procrastinating, or the far more dangerous liaison of working on multiple projects at a given time. I am the worst kind of multitasking writer: I write so many different things at once, I sometimes forget that I need to eventually finish one of them down the road. I also do my be at to finish the most important things first, like novel-length stories take priority over short stories,,even though they are more apt to be published.
I also write a lot in general, and it can feel mundane, repetitive at times. Other times, it feels wonderful, as if I'm writing something for the first time. That feeling is never as often as the former, but I always feel satisfied with writing, I never feel remorse for writing, I never feel like I rather be doing something else. Sometimes I'm very obsessive with writing,,while,other times I'm tearing myself away from something just to finish a paragraph. Writing doesn't just evoke emotion, it is emotion, tied up in fingers tapping on a keyboard, and ideas escaping from someplace deep within the mind that seem som thwarting at the time. I've had some spectacular ideas come to me in dreams, in tranquil sessions of fishing. I've had so many great ideas, but the motivation to write them all is essentially lost whenever you come to the realization: you can't write everything.
Take that into consideration this NaNoWriMo: you can't write everything at once, nor should you! I haven't decided if I will turn whatever I write into a serial, but if I do decide that, it will because it's what best for me, and the story. I have to do right boy my plot, and although my characters are simply puppets on a string,they deserve the same respect as any good friend, because without them, no drama, no emotion is evoked.
Lastly, I'm sure you already know that being a writer has nothing to do with NaNoWriMo. If you fail, that doesn't make you any less of a writer, or if you succeed, that doesn't make you any better a writer. NaNoWriMo is, and should always be to outdo your personal best. The reward should be your success, or your ability to write on such a deadline. Don't worry about whatever comes after NaNoWriMo because you need to earn the respect for yourself, not worry about word counts, or completing a challenge.
NaNoWriMo warrants you to be the better writer, by making an obligation to put aside the internet, the games, the television shows, and simply write. However, and I know I may get a few queries about this, I feel one should continue to read throughout the NaNoWriMo process; because all good writers are inherently solid readers as well.
I believe that's all for now; impish you luck on NaNoWriMo if you are in-fact a participant. Enjoy these precious moments before,the big event. Remember to take your time, this is an endurance race, not a speed race. I still believe it's best to go it about on your own, but if you must, find a writing buddy on the site: nsnowrimo.org, and find a forum for writing buddies, or simply start a thread to find some writing buddies. I actually have three myself, but we're mostly doing some press me talk, but I think the minor encouragement will be mostly on the part of checking in every-so-often to see how the other is doing.
Oh, and you can download,,or save NaNo banners to use on your blog. This year's theme is Victorian steampunk I believe. Either way, enjoy your NaNo, and stay tuned for more updates and topics here at the Malacast Editeorial.
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