I have to admit it, NaNo is kicking my butt. I thought I was going to do so much better this year, but I just couldn't pull it out. I'm so far behind I don't think I can catch up. It's not the story that's becoming too much for me this year, it's all personal things getting in my head while I write (plus the obscene amount of noise in this house from roommate and her boyfriend - for those keeping track, this was number four on the checklist). I'm about a week behind the word count and I'm pretty sure this is where catching up is more a dream than a plan. I'm not giving up on the story, though. I love this story. I just can't finish it before the end of November. The sad part is anything else I would've attempted, wouldn't have gotten this far with me.
I don't really feel like I'm giving up, more like conceding to the inevitable. My muse just hasn't been cooperating. At least, not on this story. I was working on other things (after staring at the word doc in frustration for a few days), I gave up the tea deprivation and that worked for a while. Then my muse gave up working with me altogether. This blog entry is the most I've written in days. I want to keep going. Even though I know I won't make it to 50,000. I just need to kick my roommates out next week when I know nothing will be on TV and I'll have at least two days off work. Maybe I can still get to at least 30,000.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Admitting Defeat
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1 comment:
Of course I know nothing of your situation but, I can symphathize with you frustration.
I usually write poetry and short stories and I was dared into entering NaNoWriMo 2 years ago. I hit that wall twice around 26000 and again around 44000.
At 26K, about 10 days in, I stopped writing for almost a week. Finally at day 5 of nothing but fretting about where to go with the story, I wrote two completely unrelated short stories (about 1500 words each)and that got me going again.
I always write, basically taking dictation from the characters as they tell their tales within my story framework.
The 2nd time, my characters were all hanging around waiting for me to get through a boring transition that was going nowhere, so I dumped the whole thing and instead quickly killed one of them off. It was amazingly effective.
The characters couldn't talk to me fast enough. Now they ALL were talking at once, not wanting to be eliminated from the story and I finished with a day and a half to spare and got my completion certificate, now framed and hanging on the wall. My first and last attempt at NaNo. My simple story of redneck life in Nectar, Alabama went from there to Pennsylvania to Mexico, Texas and St Martins in the Caribbean. It included murder, fraud , embezzlement, a little sci-fi, a little ghost, and of course two different ongoing love stories. But I got it done.
I wish I could say that this might work for you, and help you complete your entry. I almost gave up on mine. And I hated those people who had completed theirs in a week, or bragged about doing 150,000 words or writing two or even three different 50K stories. I hated them all.
The thing is - don't admit defeat. It's so easy to fall into that trap and say it's too hard to do. Nobody is going to read these things. Nobody is going to judge you. They just do a word count and send you the certificate. If you're concerned about proofing or story cohesiveness - don't. Just write, put words down. You've still got over a week. 3000 words a day should put you over the top. 3000 words can be done in 3 to 4 hours if you don't worry about spelling, continuity, or making sense. Just type.
Create a new character, give them a backstory and then integrate into your main theme and you might just take off again and finish with words to spare.
DO NOT GIVE UP - Tell your story
Good luck
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