2011 Week 1 - Ready GO!

SnakNational Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo)

Bliv bruger af LibraryThing, hvis du vil skrive et indlæg

2011 Week 1 - Ready GO!

Dette emne er markeret som "i hvile"—det seneste indlæg er mere end 90 dage gammel. Du kan vække emnet til live ved at poste et indlæg.

1gilroy
nov 1, 2011, 9:02 am

Okay, so we've started the mad dash. 50,000 words to go...

Cheering section is open for those needing a little umph to get going.
Lots of caffeine, chocolate, and diabetic snacks available.

New this year: Hand massages in case of cramps! Woot!

Anyone start at Midnight? Got something written already?

2majkia
nov 1, 2011, 9:46 am

yay! I stayed up until midnight and started. Got 1199 words done in about an hour. Very happy with progess so far!

3PensiveCat
nov 1, 2011, 10:20 am

Hey all! I'm not going for the challenge this year, but decided to cheer everyone from the sidelines (like I always wanted to do at marathons)...

GO WRITERS GO!!!

4mamzel
nov 1, 2011, 10:30 am

Good luck, everyone!

5brianjungwi
nov 1, 2011, 12:36 pm

2> wow! that's quick, i woke up early to start writing but could only manage 500 for an hour despite having an outline and knowing what i wanted to work on today. Happy to make the daily goal by the end of the day though. already caught myself editing, need to stop that...

6Nickelini
nov 1, 2011, 4:20 pm

I did 1,838 words by noon. However, I was working from a detailed outline, and from now on I will only have some notes to work from, so I don't expect it to be that easier from this point forward.

7mene
nov 1, 2011, 5:31 pm

I'm trying it this year for the first time. I wrote 1870 words today - 1.5 hours maybe? I didn't really keep track of the time. But next week are exams so I want to build up a bit of a buffer today and tomorrow so I'll have time for studying.
No outline, just ideas on where to end the story, as well as some main events.

8majkia
nov 1, 2011, 6:34 pm

good job mene! If you are motivated and have at least a hint of a plan, it won't take that long to write 1,666 words a day, as you can see!

9C_S_McClellan
nov 1, 2011, 9:17 pm

I didn't start until after breakfast. Hauled my butt over the 5k line, by the skin of my teeth. I'm tempted to knock out a few more words before I hit the sack, but I really know better. I'm a slow typist, so 5k is about tops for me if I want to do it without killing myself.

10Storeetllr
Redigeret: nov 1, 2011, 11:30 pm

You guys are so inspiring! I've done nothing yet, but I just got home from work, fed the parrot, and am now eating my dinner while catching up online. I hope to get a bit of writing done today. I'll be happy with 500 words, like Brian (^4) did. Just to get started is a wonderful thing!

ETA I was just on the NaNoWriMo site, and there are almost 81,000 users online! I remember a time when the site would crash if there were more than 40k. lol

11Heather19
nov 2, 2011, 12:52 am

NaNo site is doooown at the moment! *sadface*

Wrote 722 words after midnight, another 720 at work, and some unknown amount in the last few hours. Don't really wanna check total wordcount yet 'cause it tends to make me stressed/competitive.

12mene
nov 2, 2011, 7:18 am

Heather: The site is up again. But when it is down you can write :P I wrote way too much today already (and am probably going to a write-in this afternoon), but I really need a buffer as from tomorrow on I'll be very busy with school work. I'll check my wordcount at the end of the day.
And I created a nano-site-account on which I entered a wordcount from somewhere yesterday XD Because I wrote more already today and didn't know yesterday's final wordcount. Now the stats are weird. I should probably enter it at the end of each day instead of inbetween.

13PensiveCat
nov 2, 2011, 9:39 am

It's actually a good thing when the site goes down, because you can get a little wrapped up in it and forget that (oops!) it's time to write!

Good jobs, everyone!

14Nickelini
nov 2, 2011, 10:25 am

It's actually a good thing when the site goes down, because you can get a little wrapped up in it and forget that (oops!) it's time to write!

Do tell! What do you get wrapped up in? I've poked around the site and I have to admit that I'm scratching my head. I'm not finding much there. I take it I'm missing something.

15PensiveCat
nov 2, 2011, 11:23 am

Just based on past experiences. LT is great because we can talk about books we've read or are reading, but it inevitably takes some time away from actual reading. The same goes for any site for writers that contain forums or pep talks. It's encouraging and distracting at the same time - especially if you're like me and get easily - oh look! a squirrel!

16richardderus
nov 2, 2011, 12:28 pm

2017 words yesterday, a little over 1K today so far. Yeeks, I might actually do this! Just found out that our usual big Thanksgiving dinner is off this year *cue cheering multitudes* so five days get added back to November!!

17mamzel
nov 2, 2011, 12:30 pm

Because I'm leading a group of students I usually stay on the YWP side. Not so much chatter in the forums there. LT is my downfall. I got 1300 words done yesterday and was pretty happy. Now if I could keep that up!

18Storeetllr
Redigeret: nov 2, 2011, 6:40 pm

^14 Hi, Nickelini ~ My poking around is done mostly in the forum,where I look at a few groups regularly to see what's up, but mostly like to keep tabs on my regional group (Los Angeles). Other than that and updating my stats, checking my NaNo mail, and seeing what my NaNo buddies are up to, I don't do much on the site.

^16 Nice work, Richard! And oh! I wish I could avoid the obligatory T'giving dinner too. But then I always tell myself, I have to eat anyway, and there's no rule stating that I have to stay too long after we eat (though I usually do).

I finally started writing this morning (yay!) and got 276 words in on my morning commute (about a 20-min. stint).

ETA I wrote another bit at lunch and am now up to 600 words. Painfully slow, I know, but that's my modus operandi ~ slow at first, building up to a race against time by the end of the month.

19Aerrin99
nov 2, 2011, 4:01 pm

I'm giving NaNo a shot for the first time ever this year. I've had friends participate since the second year, but I've never felt the need to dive in.

I have very little idea where I'm going, though, so we'll see if I can sustain it!

20Tootsweet89
nov 2, 2011, 4:35 pm

I'm also here to cheer the rest of you courageous, strong writers who are willing to do this challenge!

My advice: Don't give up! WRITE like your life depended on it. WRITE like you couldn't breathe without the words flowing out of your fingertips. WRITE like there's no tomorrow. WRITE WRITE WRITE!!

http://teacherwritebookaholicohmy.blogspot.com

21Nickelini
nov 2, 2011, 6:54 pm

Can anyone tell me how to update my word count? I know I can erase yesterday's figure and replace it with my new grand total, but doesn't that mess up my stats? And isn't that elementary school level arithmetic that the site should do for me?

22majkia
nov 2, 2011, 7:24 pm

#21 no, it won't mess up your stats. at the top of the sign in dashboard page, just erase what's there and write in the new total. don't forge tto select 'update word count' to the left.

23Nickelini
nov 2, 2011, 7:37 pm

Thanks. I'm stunned that the website doesn't handle this better.

24majkia
nov 2, 2011, 7:40 pm

well, you can also update it on the update your novel info page. not sure what you find odd about how we do it, though.

25Storeetllr
nov 2, 2011, 7:46 pm

Actually, you can update it at the top of the main page. If anyone wants a spreadsheet that calculates day-by-day totals, I can provide one I got from one of our MLs that looks like it is going to work really great. Let me know and I'll figure out how to make it available.

26Nickelini
nov 2, 2011, 9:37 pm

not sure what you find odd about how we do it, though.

What I expect is that each day I will enter my number of words, and the website will track it and total it for me. I expected each day's numbers displayed along with the overall number. The fact that I have to manually add my total each day, and go in and replace the grand total myself makes me think I'm using a website designed by a 10 year old.

I don't see any advantage of using the novel info page--it still doesn't handle the basics. If the spreadsheet is really fabulous, and you feel like sharing, then thank you very much. Otherwise, I'll take 5 minutes and create a basic Excel spreadsheet to track it.

Thank you everyone for answering my questions. I thought I was going crazy that I couldn't figure out how to do this.

27richardderus
nov 2, 2011, 11:36 pm

Over 100K users on the NaNo site every time I've looked in the last 2hrs.

Wow.

28Heather19
nov 3, 2011, 12:27 am

I tend to get really really lost in the NaNo forums in the Dares and Adoptables threads. SO many ideas!! Most of which won't fit with my story-verse unless I go off on a crazy dream-tangent or something, but sooooo fun to get lost in those threads.

Which is why I usually ban myself from the NaNo site until I've written. .... I was *supposed* to stay away from LT until I'd written, but... uh... Obviously that didn't happen.

29majkia
nov 3, 2011, 7:45 am

#26 have you looked at the stats page under novel info? There it shows number of words you've entered each day, compared with the standard 1666, when you will finish based on your progress and how many words you've written per day, an average etc. I've used a spreadsheet but then the novel info page shows most of what I care about already, as does my novel writing software.

30Nickelini
nov 3, 2011, 10:15 am

29 - yes, I did see that and it's good. I still think it's bizarre how I enter the info though--feels so amateur. What is the name of the novel writing software that you use?

31majkia
nov 3, 2011, 12:18 pm

I use Liquid Story Binders XE found at :
http://www.blackobelisksoftware.com/

32Nickelini
nov 3, 2011, 12:49 pm

Wow, that's really cool. I'll have to take a deeper look.

33NineTiger
nov 3, 2011, 2:19 pm

Just going along every day aiming for 2200 words :) So far, so good.

MGP

34DocWood
nov 3, 2011, 5:47 pm

>21 Nickelini:

Yes! Me, too! I wish I could just write in the new number and it would update itself. I am too fried after an evening of writing to do the math.

35C_S_McClellan
nov 3, 2011, 6:44 pm

I'm not sure I understand why the stats are such a problem. My word processor updates the total as I write. All I have to do is enter that on *any* page of the site, and my complete stats for the day will be updated immediately. Sorry you think it's designed by a 10-year-old, but most of us are happy to have it. There's a limit to how detailed we can expect such things to be and still have the site run smoothly.

36Nickelini
nov 3, 2011, 8:39 pm

35 - Oh, I see what you do. Yes, that would work for you then, wouldn't it. My novel isn't in one file though, I use a new file every day. So I don't have a running total, and I like to see the day-by-day figure. The programing to have the site total this for us is pretty simple, so I don't think it's asking a lot at all.

37gilroy
nov 4, 2011, 7:43 am

#36 -

Well, to validate at the end of the month, you need to have it in one file. So why not, at the end of each day, save your daily file, patch everything into one file, then get your final word count?

38Nickelini
nov 4, 2011, 10:18 am

36 - Because I'm using publishers book building software. I'm not writing the book in the order it will be read. Nov 1st I wrote a part that's close to the end, Nov 2 I wrote something close to the beginning, and yesterday I did something in the middle. Who knows what I'll write next. At the end of the month, I put the files in order and the software does all the book building part. Creating a book every day would be more work than manually adding everything up.

39NineTiger
nov 4, 2011, 10:58 am

36 What a novel approach ;)

MGP

40C_S_McClellan
nov 4, 2011, 11:35 am

#38. In other words, you want to do it your way and have the stats redesigned to suit you. Let's see now, what usual features are missing this year because the software developers are tending to the most important things, like keeping the site running? Signatures. Ability to edit posts. Ability to customize which forums you see. Progress bars on the forum avatars. How about you just do continue doing things your way and set up a spreadsheet for it instead of moaning that the site is designed for 10-year-olds? Most of us are well over ten years old and we have a somewhat more realistic (and less demanding) view of things.

41Nickelini
nov 4, 2011, 11:53 am

In other words, you want to do it your way and have the stats redesigned to suit you.

Nooooo . . . you are reading way more into this than what I've said or thought.

All I'm saying is that I expected to see something very basic, and it's not there. When I make a purchase at a store, I expect the cash register to add up my purchases for me. Can I add them up myself? Yes, but I don't expect that I'll have to. If that's being "demanding" well, I guess I'm just unreasonable.

The functionality I expected to see is very, very basic. It's not a "feature." Yes, I can use a spreadsheet, and I can take a calculator to the store to add up my purchases too.

Have fun and good luck with NaNoWriMo, everyone. I'm going to go spend my time writing now.

42NineTiger
nov 4, 2011, 1:22 pm

@40 A little harsh. I do have to admit it would be nice to be able to edit forum posts in NaNoWriMo. Maybe in the future they will make a little donation circle that is specifically set up to provide funding for forum improvement, neh. With my brain misfirings, I am always editing my posts on other sites for typos and such.

MGP

43gilroy
nov 4, 2011, 1:36 pm

#38

Okay, so you're saying that the publisher's book building software has no way to total the different sections as you write? Weird. Most writing software, even when written out of order, will still have a way to combine the totals of all the various divisions.

Must be an oversight of the software.

Though the functionality you seek is counter to what many other participants seek. I know, of all the people who've done it around me, they use Word, Wordperfect, or some other basic word processor, in one long file. Which is why the site is designed the way it is.

44richardderus
nov 4, 2011, 2:01 pm

I tend towards the daily file, kept separate. but contents pasted into a main .txt file, when working on NaNo.

The NaNo site has over 100K visitors at any given time, and it used to be that the horrors of site outage were frequent. The new site hasn't crashed, at least that I'm aware of. I'll take that over some mod cons like editing messages and forum customization. I admit that I am really, really ready for them to get the forum customization up already.

Everything good happens incrementally in cyberspace. Was a time LT crashed fairly regularly, too. There was a to-do over adding some of the features we now take for granted, like the left nav bar options for organizing how you see the Talk threads. I still can't get anyone to take the idea of a "thumbs-up" function on Talk messages seriously, because some of the data/library/tech snobs don't like it. Things grow organically, and patience is a gardener's best friend.

45zette
nov 4, 2011, 4:22 pm

I think they've done extremely well with the stie. I've been doing NaNo for 11 years, and the site changes have never gone this well before. I do want to see some of the fun stuff back, though, like signatures and the lovely word count bars.

How is everyone doing with their novels?

46NineTiger
nov 4, 2011, 5:25 pm

45 Hitting the keys :) Nano weekends are tougher with a spouse underfoot.

MGP

47zette
nov 4, 2011, 5:43 pm

#46 Hadn't thought of that! Good luck!

48Storeetllr
Redigeret: nov 4, 2011, 5:59 pm

I personally like to see my day to day word count as well as my total word count. I am lucky to have a wonderful ML who gave me an Excel spreadsheet that allows me to do just that: in one column I put in my daily count, and as if by magic Hey Presto the second column updates to the total.

Like zette, I too am waiting with bated breath for the signatures and the lovely word count bars in the forums.

However, to put everything in perspective, I lost about 500 words this morning that I wrote on my Alphasmart during my train commute when it didn't save the file on closing. It was some pretty decent writing, too. I am so bummed. I called Alphasmart and was told it might be a defective or old battery that caused the problem. I have an extra battery I bought last year, *just in case* (thank goodness for my occasional pessimistic outlook), so I should know tonight if that fixes the problem or if I will have to start lugging my laptop (which is about 5 pounds heavier than the Alphasmart) with me wherever I go. Grrrrr.

49Storeetllr
nov 4, 2011, 6:02 pm

^40 I agree with ^42 but raise the "little" to "much too."

50majkia
nov 4, 2011, 6:08 pm

but uh, storeetllr, nano gives you day to day wordcounts in the stats area of novel info. I know I'm not nearly CDO enough for y'all but I'd rather be writing than worrying about spreadsheets. :)

51Storeetllr
nov 4, 2011, 7:06 pm

Hmm, majkia ~ I looked in the stats and didn't see the day-to-day numbers, only the little bars. Maybe I missed it. I'll check again. And who are you calling OCD anyway when you have to alphabetize the acronym for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? lolol (just kidding, please don't throw rotten tomatoes at me)

52majkia
nov 4, 2011, 7:09 pm

if you mouse over the bars they give you the numbers. and LOL.

53Storeetllr
Redigeret: nov 5, 2011, 3:26 am

:) It appears, though, when you mouse over the bars, the number for each bar is the cumulative word count (i.e., Day 1-1000 = total words written, Day 2-2500 = total words written, Day 3-6000 = total words written), as opposed to the word count for that specific day only (i.e., 1000 words written on Day 1, 1500 words written on Day 2, 3500 words written on Day 3, etc.). It's not a huge problem for me, I just thought I'd mention that I like to see each day's word count as well as the cumulative total count. Gives me an idea in general which days of the week are most productive for writing. And it soothes my OCD soul. lol

ETA that I was surprised to learn that The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern came about through her participation in NaNoWriMo! She gave the first pep talk of this November and said in it that the idea for the book came a NaNo novel she wrote. I love to hear success stories like that!

54richardderus
nov 5, 2011, 11:15 am

>53 Storeetllr: Don't forget Sara Gruen wrote Water for Elephants in NaNo, too!

55majkia
nov 5, 2011, 12:14 pm

#53 you're right! I'm not sure why they are so slow with the api and widgets this year, but they will give you detailed info whenever they show up, including daily totals.

56Storeetllr
Redigeret: nov 5, 2011, 12:17 pm

Oh, cool! Then I'll be able to find every kind of stat I could ever want in a couple of different places. And then, with my stml (short term memory loss), I'll no doubt forget to look. lol

ETA I heard that, Richard, but then someone else told me she heard that wasn't true. One of these days maybe I'll check it out for myself.

57mamzel
nov 6, 2011, 11:57 am

Ahhh! I have the house all to myself today. I sat down at my computer and try to open Pandora for some soothing bland music and found I need to update my browser. It only took half an hour (my guru, Monsieur, usually does this for me but he is working today) but I did it! Soothing mellow jazz in the background, I am stopping by to say a quick Hiya! and then on to work.

I'm always glad to hear of a bestseller arising from a NaNo project. It gives me added incentive and bait for more students to try, too.

58NineTiger
Redigeret: nov 6, 2011, 4:52 pm

Ok. Got a cold, but still did my week 2 video. Have a laugh at my expense ;)

http://youtu.be/Xs0_r5DiLtc

MGP

59mamzel
nov 6, 2011, 6:31 pm

Those pesky plots sure can evade detection, can't they? Hope you feel better, N.T.

60Storeetllr
nov 6, 2011, 7:41 pm

Week 2. Eeek! indeed. While you are searching for your plot, if you happen to see mine, would you send my way? Anyway, hope you feel better soon N.T. I just got back from the store where I picked up some EmergenC for the little tickle in the back of my throat. Something's going around.

Went to a write-in this morning where, in about 2 hours, I wrote around 1,500 words. More than I managed in 8 hours yesterday (but my kitchen is really clean). *sigh*

61NineTiger
Redigeret: nov 7, 2011, 6:51 am

@59 and 60 Thanks! I did managed to find the little bugger ;) So this morning, I can get cracking early.
The cold is an annoyance, but I am one of those people that is really, "better call the priest!" sick for a day and then more or less normal the next day or soon after. :) Besides, the cold gave me plenty of excuse to indulge in hot chocolate.

MGP

62richardderus
nov 7, 2011, 9:50 am

Would anyone like to adopt some sex scenes? I've got like thirty of 'em in only ~10K words. These characters! It's like "Sex and the City" set in 1730s Vienna.

63mamzel
nov 7, 2011, 12:12 pm

Thanks but I'm writing a YA novel. They would probably be too racy.

Looking forward to a three-day weekend.

64majkia
nov 7, 2011, 3:49 pm

mine appears to think itself a YA novel. sadly...

65DocWood
nov 7, 2011, 6:56 pm

>62 richardderus:

I'll take them. I've been telling myself I'm going to sit down and write a pivotal sex scene for a week. Have I done it yet? No.

66Heather19
nov 7, 2011, 7:37 pm

62: *giggles* For once I'm 12k into my NaNo and haven't written one sex scene. .... I think that's a first for me.

67mene
Redigeret: nov 9, 2011, 9:12 am

I just found out that OpenOffice counts a curly quote as 1 word, and the normal straight quotes (") not!
Luckily only my first four chapters have th curly quotes (as I wrote them in another program and copypasted), but I will have to go back and change them if I want to have my wordcount correct... The validator on the site doesn't count those quotes as separate words and I don't want to think I've reached 50000 or something while in fact that's only because of those curly quotes...
//update: When reading the first four chapters I also added quite some words, so the total is +89 words instead of a negative number :)

I thought I'd post it in case there are also other people who use OpenOffice and did not use the site validator yet!

68majkia
nov 9, 2011, 11:29 am

From personal experience, the site validator seems to always get numbers different from any other program. I've used word and open office and a plain text file and my writing software. I just figure I don't attempt to validate until I have a couple of hundred words over 50K.

And you can validate more than once if you discover you are short, so just, you know, go flowery to add a few words if necessary!