NaNoWriMo update #4

I did it! I finished with one day to spare. Still pinching myself because I really didn't think I'd do it...but I did!

So what did I learn from this little exercise?

1. I can write intensively when I put my mind to it.
2. Never trust Microsoft Word.
3. Scrivener is a wonderful programme for writers like me who plan and re-plan as they go.
4. Writing fast creates complete rubbish, but it gets a rough idea of the story out there for working on.
5. Never trust Microsoft Word.
6. Writing the death scene of a character you're fond of is difficult. Writing it at breakneck speed is even harder. But it gets done, which it wouldn't have otherwise...I would have procrastinated forever about doing that scene. :(
7. There are some days when writing is simply not going to happen. It doesn't matter.
8. It is possible to write without going back every three minutes to make sure it makes sense.
9. Never trust Microsoft Word.
10. It's a great feeling to get a story out of your head onto paper in such a short time. I'm glad I did it.

Now, back to editing. Is there a NaNoEdMo?

NaNoWriMo Update #3

My pace has really slowed over the past week, mainly due to work and visits to the city which took away all my oomph. One of the trips to Perth was to bring Eldest home from university for the holidays (finished first year already - where did that time go?). The other was to do a course for work, after which I had to write a 500 word reflection. I don't know whether it was because I'm doing NaNoWriMo or not, but those 500 words seemed like 50000 until I'd done them.

Anyway, 6500 words (or so) to go and 5 days to do it. It's looking do-able. I'm still feeling like the story is rubbish, but there's something there that's polishable and I've been taking lots of notes as I go along, so... off I go again!

NaNoWriMo Update #2

Yesterday, 13th November, I officially passed the half -way mark. Actually, I found getting to 10000 words more exciting. Maybe that's because it meant I'd actually got back into the flow of writing and now it's just happening...some days better than others, of course, but flowing along nicely. I can safely say that at least fifty percent of what I've written is absolute rubbish, but I expected that. I mean, for the last three chapters, my characters have been sailing to a mysterious island. All well and good if I knew anything about sailing, but somehow the boat at the beginning of the trip became a ship and I really don't know if it was sailing backwards, but with my knowledge of boating terms, it probably was. They got there though!

After the fiasco of losing all those words last week, I've been using Scrivener a lot more and I have to say, I've been finding it very useful. Here's a screen shot of one page - 

As you can see, the central section is similar to any other word processor, but it's the features down the sides that I'm finding really useful for NaNoWriMo. On the left I had planned my chapters on little cards on the 'pinboard' (that appears up in the right hand top corner), but I've ended up adding extras as the story goes along because I'm useless at planning. Easy to do - just add an extra card in the right place and it slots in down the left hand side. 

Then there's the other great feature down there on the bottom right - a place to remind myself of plot holes that I think of,  but don't have time to go back and fix (there's a lot of those). I'm copying it all into Word, too, just for extra insurance, but I'm liking Scrivener more and more.

Now, on with the writing!

NaNoWriMo update #1

Day 7 of NaNoWriMo, so I thought I'd do a quick update to let you know how it's going. I got off to a good start and by the end of Day 3 I had 9000 words. Then disaster struck. For future reference 'AutoSave' on Word is not infallible and the little blue 'save' button at the top does not always work. So when I went to save the 4000 words I'd written on Saturday, they all sailed happily into oblivion. Needless to say, I spent Sunday rewriting those 4000 words and then saving it
1. as a new document.
2. as a document in Dropbox.
3. as a document on my thumb drive.
4. as a document in Scrivener.

That should do it, I hope.

On the good side, rewriting did give me chance to change the story a bit and get a few extra story threads going, so it wasn't all bad.

I've just gone past 15000 words after a day off work, but I have to go back tomorrow and I have a meeting after work and another in the evening, so tomorrow will be pretty much a write-off (haha...there's a pun if ever I saw one). Still, not too bad for Week 1.

Busy, Busy, Busy

You've probably noticed I've not been here on my blog very much lately. It's not that I've got lazy, honest! In fact, the truth is quite the opposite. I've been making a concerted writing effort and I'm glad to say, I've finally been able to write "The End" at the end (obviously) of "Song of the Jikhoshi", sequel to "Treespeaker". It's been a long, hard slog on this one. I don't know why, because it started out so well, but even now there are plot holes an elephant could waltz through, so it's going to need some rewriting.

I've put it away though, and won't be touching it again until December, because next month, as evidenced by that lovely little light blue widget thingy off to the right there ---> I'm going to be taking part in NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. For those who don't know, it's the month when writers with no sense...er...I mean with oodles of enthusiasm... try to write 50000 words in 30 days.

I don't for a minute expect myself to do the whole 50000 words (I know, that's being defeatist, but it's also being realistic), but if I can make a really good start on "Ellyeth's Harp", the sequel to "Mark of the Dragon Queen", then the space between publications will not be quite so long next time.

I've even written a plan - unprecedented for me. Usually I head straight out in pursuit of a vague idea. Hmmm, maybe that's why Song of the Jikhoshi took so long? My major qualm is that I hope to include some romance in this one and I really don't have the foggiest how I'm going to handle it. Maybe I'll just do what young romantics should do - relax and see what happens. My characters might surprise me with what they come up with. In the meantime, I have a pile of diaries I wrote as a teenager, full of the angst of thwarted romance. That should get me in the right mood!

Keep an eye on that widget and if it doesn't seem to be progressing, feel free to give me a virtual kick!