So we're not even forty-eight hours into this thing and already I've learned a lesson or two about cranking out 50K in 30 days.
1. It isn't going to be easy.
2. The amount of time your family will suddenly want to spend with you is in direct proportion to the amount of time you have planned to devote to writing.
3. Editing at this stage of the game is Not Good. One of the reasons that I worked so long with so little to show for it today is because I kept sneaking back into yesterday's work to add a thing or two here, to tweak a little there. This is bad. Wrong. Don't do it! Not until December 1, at least.
4. I need more sleep.
That last one should be easy to fix. I'm going to bed! I'll deal with the rest tomorrow.
What's the biggest lesson you've learned so far?
7 comments:
I've done Nano for the last three years, and for me, the biggest thing I remember is this month is about me - and everybody around me knows this. For once, I focus on something that means a lot to me, and I take care of other things as they "need" to be taken care of.
You can never write when you want to. Also I should have gone with the zombie story... not the romantic teen story.
LOL, Linda!
I've learned to just keep my butt in the chair until I've at least met my goal. A thousand times today I just wanted to get up and do something else - even laundry - but I made myself stay put. Then at some point everything clicked in and wild horses couldn't have dragged me away!
I think the biggest thing to remember is GO AT YOUR OWN PACE. Those people with double-digit numbers next to their names already aren't any better than us, they're just on a different path. :-)
CLG, I *wish* I could make this month about me... the kids have other ideas. Plus we have visitors coming for Thanksgiving in a few weeks and I have school visits coming up and... Yeah, I need to learn to say no.
Oooh, Sara, what about a romantic teen zombie story? : )
Nicole, yeah, I need to remember not to compare my word count with anyone else's. But as far as Butt in Chair - that's easy when the kids aren't home, but on weekends there always seems to be something they NEED. *sigh* (I love 'em though, so I haven't strangled any of them. Yet.)
Yeah, I know about those things we HAVE to do. I agree with Nicole - keeping the butt IN the chair is great and keeping yourself focused on the story and not Twitter or MySpace or Facebook or .... you get the picture, LOL
Great list, Linda.
I've learned that not even a typo is worth scanning back for. If I look back, I'm not forging forward.
I've also learned that I really should have banged out a scene list. Really and truly. DOH! Maybe will knock this out on the soccer fields?
And...typing excessively with a sore wrist only makes the wrist sorer? Wonder what I did to it?
Finally...it might be considered cheating if I drink copious amounts of water just so I can have extra potty breaks. *s*
I hear you on the challenge to find--or defend--writing time, Gerb. It's been a crazy week for me, with snippets of writing time stolen here and there between other tasks. It sure didn't feel as if they were adding up to anything. I was very proud of myself when I posted my weeks totals this morning (6035). Although it wasn't as high as I wanted it to be, it was about 6000 more words than I would have written without NaNo nipping at my heels.
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