As explained in a previous post, for the month of November 2013 I undertook a modified version of the NaNoWriMo challenge. Instead of writing a 50,000 word novel in a month, I am aimed to write 50,000 words of fiction (excluding blog posts like this one and other non-story writing, such as introductions and blurbs). I allotted myself 22 days to write these 50,000 words (allowing for travel and conventions), meaning a daily average of 2,273 words per day. Words went towards a couple of novellas, two short stories, and part of a novel—all of which will be finished and published one day. I recorded, every day, the number of words I wrote for each story, the total number of words that day, and how many words I was over or under my daily minimum average. I also kept a running total of how many words I’d written and how many days it took, how many words I’d left to write, and how many days to write them in, as well as a tally of how many words I was over or under the minimum average for the total day.
This post marks the conclusion of that challenge, one which I actually completed last week on the 19th. However, as November wasn’t over yet I saw no reason to stop writing. You can find the results of the last week (November 22-30) below, entries for Week 1 can be found here, Week 2 here, and Week 3 here.
Final results for the month can be found below the daily entries, followed by some notes on my experience and my thoughts about it.
FRIDAY November 22*
0
TOTAL: 0 of 0
0 remaining to minimum average
SATURDAY November 23*
0
TOTAL: 0 of 0
0 remaining to minimum average
SUNDAY November 24*
0
TOTAL: 0 of 0
0 remaining to minimum average
MONDAY November 25*
0
TOTAL: 0 of 0
0 remaining to minimum average
*November 22 through 25 were scheduled inactive days because I was in Chicago attending Midwest FurFest.
TUESDAY November 26
1,082 for Professor Odd 8
TOTAL: 1,082 of 0*
*Since I achieved my goal of 50,000 words the week before, I reset my minimum daily goal to zero for the last week.
Current total: 51,267 in (18) days
11,534 over minimum average (total)
1,267 over month goal
Remaining total: 0 in (4) days
WEDNESDAY November 27
1,668 for Professor Odd 8
TOTAL: 1,668 of 0
Current total: 52,935 in (19) days
11,534 over minimum average (total)
2,935 over month goal
Remaining total: 0 in (3) days
THURSDAY November 28
263 for Professor Odd 8
TOTAL: 263 of 0
Current total: 53,198 in (20) days
11,534 over minimum average (total)
3,198 over month goal
Remaining total: 0 in (2) days
FRIDAY November 29
1,165 for Professor Odd 8
TOTAL: 1,165 of 0
Current total: 54,363 in (21) days
11,534 over minimum average (total)
4,363 over month goal
Remaining total: 0 in (1) days
SATURDAY November 30
2,479 for Professor Odd 8
TOTAL: 2,479 of 0
Current total: 56,842 in (22) days
11,534 over minimum average (total)
6,842 over month goal
Remaining total: 0 in (0) days
TOTAL WORDS FOR WEEK 4: 6,657
(5 Active Days, 0 Bonus Days)
And now…
The Grand Totals:
FINAL WORD COUNT: 56,842
Month goal: 50,000
Daily Minimum goal: 2,273
Final total: 56,842
in 23 days (22 Active Days, 1 Bonus Day)
6,842 over Month goal
Planed daily average: 2,273
Actual daily average: 2,471(.3913)
Planned active days: 22
Actual active days: 23
Planned inactive days: 8
Actual inactive days: 7
Monthly low: 219 on November 9
Monthly high: 4,868 on November 13
NOTES
Daunting at first, but after a few 2,000+ word days I began to have the mental fortitude for it. Got a burst of inspiration from seeing the stories progress so quickly. Extremely helpful to have more than one project going at the same time. Except for a few occasions, wrote in two sessions: one in the morning and one in the evening. Some difficulty getting back into the swing of things after every non-writing day.
Days varied depending on inspiration. Some days I needed to do more thinking than writing. In the normal course of events, I think it’s better to let the word count lag on days like these. I always make up for it once I’ve figured out what happens in the story.
Due to the lead I got in Week 1 (and which I extended in Week 2) I made my 50,000 goal by Day 17—just in time for MFF. After returning it was difficult to get back into writing that much, especially because other projects were demanding my attention. I did not finish Professor Odd 8, but I am roughly halfway through and in good shape. I ended up being comfortably over my goal for the month.
If I ever have a November where I can utilize more days for writing, I think I might up the word goal to 70,000 or even 80,000.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The challenge of writing 50,000 words in 22 days was actually easier than I anticipated—partly because I anticipated it would be very difficult. A few things, I think, helped make it (relatively) easy for me.
1. I am a professional writer. Writing is my job. So is making art and publishing, but I can legitimately spend four hours a day writing and call it “work.” I don’t have to take time off from a day job to make room for writing—I just rearrange my allotment of hours so I do more writing than painting and publishing. For reference: I still did some painting in November (the Planet Horses for the MFF art show) but I hardly did any publishing work at all until this last week—and that is one of the reasons my word count dropped so dramatically: I only had time for one writing session a day because I had so much publishing work to do. Basically what I’m saying is: I am at a huge advantage over amateur writers since this is my job, and it is really in my better interests to do more of it each day. If you are not a professional writer, don’t beat yourself up if you fail to meet NaNoWriMo’s challenge—it’s probably because you had better things to do. And that’s okay. In fact, if you have a day job, but you want to write, I’d recommend not going for the all-out burst of NaNoWriMo, but rather the slow steady trickle. Put aside half an hour every day and just write a little. Every day. It may not be as exciting, but after a year you’ll probably have a real novel. And that’s way more exciting than watching November fly past and not getting anything written.
2. Being in training. I mentioned this in my first journal, but I’ll repeat it here because it totally paid off: I was in training to write. I’ve been writing more or less every day for the past year. If I go a day without writing I feel bad. I want to work on these stories. I’ve trained myself to be able to stick my butt in a chair and write for an hour, no matter what my mood is or how I’m feeling. This particularly shows through on days like the 28th, when I received some seriously distressing news (not important for the sake of the article) that put me in a tailspin. I only wrote a token amount that day—but I did write. I would not have written that if I had not been in training. Inspiration is great, but it won’t take you all the way: there will be days when it’s very difficult to write. Those are the days you train for. Because if you’re in training, you’ll just write anyway.
3. Having a backlog of ideas. I didn’t come into November with a blank mind. I had a laundry list of stories to write, and I started writing those. Along the way I also wrote down any odd story that took my fancy. I got two short stories out of this (Amar and Desta’s Big Day Out and How Riding Got Her Red Hood) that I’d never have written if I stuck purely to my predetermined schedule. So it’s helpful to have lots of ideas in store, but it’s also good to take the ideas that just pop up and run with them—especially if they are short. Which leads me to my last point:
4. Play by your own rules. I did a modified version of NaNoWriMo this month. I didn’t write a novel: I wrote about one and one quarter of two novellas, two short stories, and the first couple of chapters of a novel. These are not throwaway projects: they are all things I will finish and publish. And in total, they make up over 50,000 words (the minimum word count for a NaNoWriMo novel). So I didn’t do NaNoWriMo properly. Honestly I don’t care. Maybe next year I’ll write a novel. Point is, this year this was what worked for me, this is what I wanted to do, and this is what I did. If you want to write, but you don’t want to write a short novel, consider altering the rules of NaNoWriMo to suit your own needs.
Now it is December, and time I got to work getting Apsis Fiction 1.2 out the door! I also have another art show to prepare for—for which I’m dragging my oil paints back out, and delving into the wild world of metal leaf for the first time. Should be exciting!
*
Goldeen Ogawa is a writer, illustrator and cartoonist. She has a history of setting herself daunting tasks—sometimes she even overcomes them. To keep tabs on what she is up to now you can follow her on twitter @GrimbyTweets. If you’d like to chat, send her an email at goldeenogawa@gmail.com.