So I finished my NaNoWriMo novel on Sunday night, all 50250 words of it. I’ve just been too tired to post anything about it until now.
NaNo has been a draining experience, as always. I did the whole thing by hand again, which is even more draining and tiring methinks.
I will be posting updates on the novel, and how it went in the next few day. Stay tuned.
I just posted this as a guest post over at SA Romance Writers. Don’t worry, it’s not all about romance, so go check it out. 
So it is now nearly two thirds of the way through NaNoWriMo and as I write this I am slightly ahead of schedule (Slightly). This year I went for the slow and sure approach rather than the fast and furious. What I mean is that I am writing the whole novel by hand. Madness? Possibly; But enjoyable madness.
50000 in 30 days is madness and we all need some way to make it fun for us as we do it, as with any writing. For you, that might be wearing a silly hat while you write, or rewarding yourself for every thousand words. For me, the way to make it fun, is to feel the old-fashioned delight of watching word after word appear indelibly on my page. It fills me with a sense of satisfaction like no other, even on the days I only write 50 words. Writing by hand makes me feel more like a writer, and less like a typist. It makes it feel more like creativity, and less like work. It lets me put the book down with a feeling of accomplishment at the end of each day, which I will never get from switching off a computer.
What makes writing fun for you? How do you keep it interesting for the time it takes to struggle through? Why am I asking so many questions?
Okay, so I’ve been a little busy lately with work and writing and what not. If you want a day by day account of my writing, go here.
Suffice it to say; I am still writing by hand, I am still enjoying myself, and I still have no idea what my story is about.
But who cares? This is NANO!!!
BEST ! DAY! EVER!
I thought I was going to do badly, especially since I ended up baby-sitting my two hyperactive nephews last night. But I seemed to get me a second wind, and sailed in to a midnight wordcount of 6512. That’s nearly 3000 word in one day, and a busy one at that.
I am starting to appreciate the value of many small writing sessions. All those 100s and 50s during the day add up.
So day two has come and gone, and I am still ahead of plan. For now.
I had to go to work today of course, but due to the fact that I am writing in a notepad I was able to make good use of some time in a bank queue, and a meeting that started late tonight.
I recently declared war on Grahamstown, which is the next closest writing centre in my province. At the moment all the writers of Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown are getting into out little skirmish in a big way. I have a good feeling about this year for all of us.
So I stayed awake until midnight last night to start writing. I will be writing by hand again this year, since it worked so well for me last year. I did about 120 words and then went to sleep. Bad move. I made it to 500 before church this morning, but have been sleeping for th rest of the day. Hopefully I will do a bit of catch up tonight.
I don’t want to exhaust myself too early. Still a month to go, and not that many vitamins and coffee.
You will be able to see my daily diary on NaNoWrimo 2009 here, or follow me on the NaNoWriMo page.
I will try to blog every day, but I might get bogged down. Stay tuned for updates.
Time is growing short for National Novel Writing Month. We will be starting on 1 November, which is mere days away. In my home town we held a kick-off party last weekend. It was very exciting to see all the writers we had signed up here, and hear the level of enthusiasm and insanity that prevails.
I am feeling very optimistic.
If you still want to come along and try your hand at writing 50,000 words in 30 days, it’s never too late. Click on the link above, and away you got.
For the next month I will probably be doing regular updates of my progress here, but not much else. Every words I blog is one word less that I write in my masterpiece.
Unless one of my characters comes and reads my blog each day, in which case I can multi-task.
Here are a few more prophets for my Biblios Hokku project.
EZEKIEL
Woe unto Israel.
You do not do what is right.
Turn yourself; and live.
DANIEL
Steadfast and constant.
Through fire and beast they stand -
And God stands with them.
HOSEA
Harsh is my judgement.
Oh return to my healing.
Free will be my love.
JOEL
Vale of Decision.
Call on his name and be saved.
His Spirit will pour.
|
||||
| Powered by Ingram Digital |
The book claims to be “Practical instruction for living a confident life in a world filled with chaos and crisis” and contains lessons about re-connecting with God and his message, with particular emphasis on the current worldwide financial crises.
The book did not really do a great deal for me. The theology was sound, if a little cliched, and the ideas were good. I just felt as if it was better suited as a series of sermons than a single written book. Take note as well that while the book is not exclusively for US citizens, the language shows is a definite prejudice that way. All the statistics are based on the US only, and the author refers to “we” as being US citizens.
Read it and see what you think; take out some good ideas; but don’t expect anything groundbreaking, unless you haven’t read many other books of this kind in the last 10 years.
(I reviewed this book as part of the Thomas Nelson : Book Review Bloggers Programme. )
A friend of mine has set up a web site called The Poetry Project, where they are experimenting with a mixture of poetry and photography. It’s just started, but you all know how excited I get about any new project involving poetry. Go and check it out.
Seriously. Go now. There’s nothing to see on this site today.
