NaNoWriMo Week #2

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NaNoWriMoWow, it’s the end of week two of NaNoWriMo already. I have been pretty busy writing and haven’t updated this blog in a week. At this point, I have 26,604 words, so I am over halfway done and about three days ahead of par. I am averaging about 2,000 words a day, which is great. As a matter of fact, even though I no longer have a plan and the novel is just sort of going off on its own, I am still mostly happy with it. Some days I really struggle with what I write, but I think that reading [amazon_link id=”0743455967″ target=”_blank” ]On Writing[/amazon_link] right before I began was really helpful. My reading has slowed down quite a lot. Just can’t keep up with everything. It’s really important to me to finish NaNoWriMo this year. I have an idea I’m excited about, and it’s still fun at two weeks in.

I’m going to Chicago this week for an English teacher conference—presenting, even—and I want to keep up the momentum even while I’m traveling. It will be hard, but it will be worth it. At least if I get fairly far ahead, I will be able to write a little less if I find I’m too busy.


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8 thoughts on “NaNoWriMo Week #2

  1. Good Luck keeping up the momentum. I need to get back in the swing of things after taking a trip sans computer! Now, it's transcribing the scribbles from a notebook that I did only on the plane. I have some SERIOUS catch-up to do!

  2. All the best, though it's hard to imagine how you could keep writing a novel while attending a national convention where you have to present yet. Of course, if your fellow presenters help out, then maybe it's NOT so tough. Anyway, good luck with it. Pull it off and we'll call the Chicago trip a Hero's Journey. Watch out, though. November is a slippery month with Thanksgiving and all….

    1. I hear you. I didn't do much writing at NCTE, though I did do some on the plane at at the airport. Also did about 700 words or so on the train ride home from the airport.

  3. Are you going to make it, then? I guess no one's watching over your shoulder, though, if it takes until mid-December. And know that, in January, you can send your ms. off to amazon for their annual "Breakthrough Novelist Award." I got to be a first-round judge for that contest two years in a row, reading the first ten or so pages of 40 randomly-chosen manuscripts (a drop in the bucket from their total entries, I'm sure).

    Also, do you let your students in on this quest? It might intrigue them and serve as a mighty example. I know, for instance, that the Book Whisperer (they were out of horses, apparently) even has her students enter NaNoWriMo. All together now: Really???

    1. I think I will make it. It may be easy to cheat, but I would know I'd done it. I don't imagine I'll be completely done with my story on 11/30, but I think I'll be at 50,000 words. I did not know about this Amazon deal. I knew I could do Kindle Direct Publishing, but this other thing is new to me. The deal with trying it with my students—and the YWP is actually a lower word count—it's a cool idea, but I wouldn't have support for trying something like that. The powers that be don't see much value in teaching creative writing. At any rate, that's a pretty big project. If one of my students had an interest in doing it, I would support him/her, but I don't think I'd ever require students to participate in something like this (some of them have, by the way).

      1. Well, unlike Kindle Direct Publishing (is that free? I know, stupid question), ABNA is a contest. If you win, they handle everything and market it for you. I sent you the link with info on entering via Goodreads mail, but I'm not sure you much go there anymore, so maybe it wasn't such a bright idea. In any event, I'm sure you'll finish because you finish what you start. (End pep talk.) Oh. And T.G.I.M.!

        1. Kindle Direct is indeed free, but you do need to have a properly formatted version of your book. Luckily Scrivener makes that a piece of cake. I did get your message about it on Goodreads. I check in there several times a week, but I haven't read as much this month because of NaNoWriMo. I'm really close to being done now. Less than 3,000 words!

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