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My Official Word Count Announcement Thread


thealtruismsociety

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Wrote madly today and broke 15,000 words, which puts me exactly on schedule without a day to spare.

 

The NaNo site is running well, by the way, and there is a cute NaNo Video on the Home Page about silencing you inner editor (one of my biggest problems; I'm going to strangle the guy one of these days).

 

Keep on keeping on.

- Thoth

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I (a.k.a. Edward Jessup) expect to break 20,000 today. Although I expect TAS (philhanson) to still pass me by the end of the day. How do you do it TAS? 'Cause I'm really putting in the hours. You must be typing yourself to death.

 

And speaking of typing yourself to death: NaNoWriMo's 2010 worldwide collective word count has just exceeded One Billion words!

 

WOW. (And I don't mean World Of Warcraft.)

- Thoth

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I (a.k.a. Edward Jessup) expect to break 20,000 today. Although I expect TAS (philhanson) to still pass me by the end of the day. How do you do it TAS? 'Cause I'm really putting in the hours. You must be typing yourself to death.

 

And speaking of typing yourself to death: NaNoWriMo's 2010 worldwide collective word count has just exceeded One Billion words!

 

WOW. (And I don't mean World Of Warcraft.)

- Thoth

 

Yeah I passed 20,000 today.

 

I've been out of work over a year (Since last Nanowrimo actually) so I have a lot of free time. :(

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Yeah I passed 20,000 today.

wOOt wOOt

 

I've been out of work over a year (Since last Nanowrimo actually) so I have a lot of free time. :(

:(:) It's kind of a mixed blessing. Look at all the famous writers (and others) who have been out of work for extended periods of time or had been living out of their car before hitting it big. True, it's rare (a J. K. Rowling or a Stephen King comes along only once in a blue moon) but it happens. And then there is the question of defining success: many writers and artists don't become famous until after they die, and many are quite content never to be make the big bucks just as long as they can make ends meet (i.e., support themselves).

 

So enjoy your free time.

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose,"*

- Thoth

 

*From ME & BOBBY MCGEE written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster.

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Okay, I'm halfway done a day ahead of schedule.

 

I can tell you right now that this thing is going to need a lot of rewriting.

 

- Thoth

I saw that. Congratulations! :(

 

Somewhat under a quarter, myself, with no great expectations of finishing the other 3/4 in 16 days.

 

NaNo, I have decided, does not really fit my style: the daily word count turns what was always fun, even faintly subversive, into an obligation and NOT fun. So I haven't even bothered to update my word count every day.

 

But bliss to those for whom it works.

Best,

M

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Thanks for the bliss, M. And bliss right back at'cha.

 

I was reading The New York Times, Week In Review section, Sunday Opinion Page (Nov. 14, 2010) and at the very bottom, to my surprise, was an opinion about NaNoWriMo in an article called "Word After Word After Word". The author mentions that the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It further says that "novel" in NaNoWriMo-speak means "laughably awful yet lengthy pose."

 

The author has a point. Can anyone really write a structurally and grammatically acceptable novel in 30 days? I know I can't. My attempt last year needed another four months of polish before the editor in me would even let anyone take a peek at it. But that misses the point. It's not supposed to be perfect. It's supposed to be a hot mess. NaNo is my experiment in abandoning meticulousness and powering through. My suggestion to you, M, is to forget about the updating and just dance freestyle for the next 15 days. It's very liberating. (And the sentences that will come out of you will both thrill and repulse you.)

 

NaNo is about indulgence.

Take big bites.

- Thoth

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That phrase, "laughably awful but lengthy prose," comes from Chris Baty, the originator of NaNo. It's quoted in his book (No Plot, No Problem!) and on the site. Also obvious from Baty's book is that NaNo, in its initial formulation, was a pantser's dream: sit down, write whatever comes to mind, don't worry if it makes sense or hangs together, stop at 50,000 words. It's not the way I write anymore.

 

I missed the op ed, though. Thanks for the reference. I'll look for it.

Best,

M

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It's not the way I write anymore.

:(

It's not the way I normally write either. If anything, I tend to be a nit-picker. That's why we outline beforehand and polish afterwards. NaNo gives us a partially fleshed-out frame: a "zombie novel" to which we add flesh and shore up the infrastructure in December (or whenever). But if you feel you can't write that way anymore, I understand. ***sniffle***

 

Those NaNo pep talks do tend to be a bit over the top.

- Thoth

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Those NaNo pep talks do tend to be a bit over the top.

- Thoth

Like the guy who wrote: "The whole species will cease to exist at some point, and there will be no one left to remember that any of us ever did anything: Our creations, all of them, will crumble, and the entire experiment of human consciousness will be filed away, unread, in the Follies folder of the great interstellar hard drive. So why write another word?" Or the one who went on for paragraphs about anthills vs. cereal boxes?

 

The pep talks are hilarious. Thanks for reminding me. Maybe I'll sign up again next year just for the pep talks. :(

Best,

M

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The pep talks are hilarious. Thanks for reminding me. Maybe I'll sign up again next year just for the pep talks. :(

Best,

M

HeeHee. There you go. :(

 

Even the Mighty Steve failed to cross the finish line on time in 2008.

In point of fact, most people don't finish. Just finding the time can be nearly impossible.

Thusly ends my de-motivational lesson.

-T

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:(

 

sweet, sweet music to my writing hands, the collective support keeps them dancing on the keys, even when I'm "behind" (fill in your rear-end jokes here) at the moment with 15,863...

 

I just love that I can tune in here and then go back to the writing a little more buoyed by y'all.

 

Going back in....

see ya soon.

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sweet, sweet music to my writing hands, the collective support keeps them dancing on the keys, even when I'm "behind" (fill in your rear-end jokes here)

Now if you had said, "I'm a little behind", we'd have more to work with.

 

at the moment with 15,863...

Brava! Brava!

 

I just love that I can tune in here and then go back to the writing a little more buoyed by y'all.

That's how I do it too. Write/tune in. Write/tune in.

 

Going back in....

See you there (in a manner of speaking).

- Thoth

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Ok night of day 15, just passed 25,000 words. So I'm on schedule, but I'd rather be a bit more ahead. As it happen I estimate that I'm about halfway done with the book as well.

No way my story can be told in just 50,000 words. I'm guessing twice that, easily.

-T

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just passed 20,000... keeping on keeping on.

 

loved the pep talkhttp://www.nanowrimo.org/node/3890235

 

And got the reusable Venti cold cup from Starbucks that is has 2 layers so my cold drinks don't get condensation and drip on my keyboard nor watercolor paintings.... :(

they usually sell out fast...

 

Yay, no more soggy fingers.... ahhh the small things that are fabulous distractions.... :(

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