# NaNoWriMo begins tomorrow. Who's doing it this year? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [October 31, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435 "2020-10-31T21:21:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/21 "2020-11-02T00:03:38Z")
Not counting words, but I got some ideas down, corresponded with a friend about some related software, and tried to print but the setup’s not working. I had to write lesson plans and grade this morning. After exercise and dinner, I’ll get back to it. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/22 "2020-11-02T00:10:05Z")
I did about 1700 words in a little over two hours today. I decided to go with the story about the amateur genealogist who uncovers a dreadfully rotten branch in his family tree. The working title is _Much Cry and No Wool_. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/23 "2020-11-02T00:21:50Z")
My goal is to write for an hour a day until I finish my book, and I wrote for an hour today. It’s been ages since I’ve had a regular writing habit so it was painful to force myself to concentrate that long. I did make progress and it impressed upon me how little I actually have left to do. Finishing the book by the end of the month is an absolutely do-able goal. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/24 "2020-11-02T02:17:39Z")
Good work, friends! I spent a few hours organizing. I’m not starting entirely from scratch, so I went through my journal and played with pieces of text and started pulling out prompts I’d recorded earlier. I probably have about 6000 words to muck around with and use as stems. Today I mostly worked on poems, which isn’t going to pop that word count up very quickly! Nor do I really care about word count–journey, not destination, all of that. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/25 "2020-11-02T03:59:41Z")
I only wrote about 900 words and I’m not at all happy with what I wrote. So. This may prove to be challenging. One thing I learned about myself since the last time I attempted this (which Facebook inconveniently reminded this morning was 4 years) was that I should write a scene when the inspiration hits. So I suspect I’ll be writing various bits out of order of the overall narrative and then stitch them together at the end. Hopefully that will be my saving grace. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/26 "2020-11-02T04:05:35Z")
That’s how I write. I just start with the juicy bits and then mash it all together later. I’ve tried to be a plotter, but no, I can’t do it. Every time I try to logically work a problem, I end up paralyzed. It has to “feel” right. The story reveals itself to me as I go. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/27 "2020-11-02T04:10:37Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > The story reveals itself to me as I go. I’m discovering this is really the way my mind works too. What I wrote will either be part of the last chapter, or a sort of prologue that the rest of the story will eventually loop back to, if that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/28 "2020-11-02T04:11:17Z")
It has become clear to me that, even though I wrote a lot of short stories as a kid, and have dipped my toe in other forms of writing at various times in my life, I am very much not a novelist. I just don’t have what it takes. This year I decided to (unofficially) participate by completing unfinished first drafts of screenplays I have laying around. If I work about an hour a day, I should definitely finish one, and hopefully two, and perhaps, before Nov ends, start on a third. That’s because first drafts don’t have to be good to be worth doing, they just have to be completed. And the three I plan to work on are 60-75% done anyway, so not actually all that much work to do on them to get them advanced enough to count as a first draft. First step is to rewrite the treatments so I get back in the zone. 1600 words done on that already. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/29 "2020-11-02T04:26:50Z")
A friend of mine, who has written for decades, encouraged me this past summer to give my inner writer a chance. I have _so much_ to learn! But I have done a very little writing, and have been rather amazed at the way the stories just seem to come gushing out by themselves. I don’t speak to their quality, but it’s quite a fun endeavor! The frustrations come later, I’m sure, as I try to hammer stubborn things into shape. I had signed up for NaNoWriMo, but I think the 50K words is a bit too daunting for this baby scribe. This year. We’ll see where I’m at next year. In the meantime, I’m ‘discovering’ new puzzle pieces of my idea for a novel every day. I haven’t yet brought myself to what seems to be the First Rule of Write Club: write every day. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/30 "2020-11-02T04:28:41Z")
> [@icon](#): > > Maybe your approach is not common but that does not mean it is an incorrect approach. Thanks. The problem (for me) is that I’m a sort of braided narrative that will have to be un-braided near the end of the story, as one character needs to separate from the other and finish the story solo. The easiest way I can think to do that is to write the character that needs to drop from the story told in the first person. I’m not sure how to do that, though. I thought about killing him off but since he’s somewhat autobiographical, I’m not comfortable doing that. But really, if I can hot 50k _words_, I think the rest will fall into place. With that much of the story on paper, editing may prove easier. As usual, I suspect I’m simply overthinking this whole thing. No way through it except to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/31 "2020-11-02T13:34:14Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > This year I decided to (unofficially) participate by completing unfinished first drafts of screenplays I have laying around. If I work about an hour a day, I should definitely finish one, and hopefully two, and perhaps, before Nov ends, start on a third. That’s because first drafts don’t have to be good to be worth doing, they just have to be completed. And the three I plan to work on are 60-75% done anyway, so not actually all that much work to do on them to get them advanced enough to count as a first draft. Welcome! There used to be a Nanowrimo for scripts called Script Frenzy, but it eventually died off…joining to this event seems like a great idea. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/32 "2020-11-02T17:26:35Z")
I tried two years ago, but I picked an idea I’d had for a long time and things stopped up when I wasn’t happy with the quality of what I was producing. I’m going to try again this year, with the goal of powering through and producing 50k words that may or may not be good enough to revise to a real book. It’ll be urban fantasy-y. My title is Nano Rhino. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/33 "2020-11-03T00:26:16Z")
Another 2,000 words or so today. My brain hurts. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/34 "2020-11-03T01:03:12Z")
…But it’s a good kind of hurt, right? Today I worked on organizing and filling in some poems. I wrote prompts so I can wake up and groggily write down ideas in the night, and also continued to pull out prompts for other pieces. I think I’ll try to go with a theme each week of November, then organize more and fill in in December. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/35 "2020-11-03T01:38:16Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Another 2,000 words or so today. My brain hurts. Woohoo! With you on the brain hurting. I did my hour. Parts of it were actually painful. Did I mention I have ADHD? When I get stuck on a scene, my brain immediately launches to other, more interesting subjects and I’ve got a browser window open before I know it. But yes, I did my hour. And I made actual progress. It’s almost as if when I spend time writing, I get things written. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/36 "2020-11-03T02:34:51Z")
Good work! ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/37 "2020-11-03T02:49:12Z")
Nice work, everyone! And yes it’s a good hurt. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/38 "2020-11-03T10:28:01Z")
So, as I mentioned, I’m writing screenplays rather than a novel, but before I get back into it properly I’ve been rewriting the “treatment” which is a ~ten page bullet pointed list of the story beats. I am using it to get me back in the zone, as well as improve what I’ve already written, ready for draft 2 once I get to that. Anyway, I am 75% along with this treatment, 2500 words so far. Very happy, and excited to apply it to the script. Which is a good sign. I might take US election day off, though. I think that’s fair, most other people will be somewhat preoccupied too. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/39 "2020-11-03T16:10:17Z")
I only did few hundred more words yesterday, and so I’m wondering if I should revise my goal a bit: do an hour a day, see how far that gets me. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435/40 "2020-11-03T16:11:41Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I might take US election day off, though. I think that’s fair, most other people will be somewhat preoccupied too. I plan to work tonight anyway. I could use a good distraction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-begins-tomorrow-whos-doing-it-this-year/924435.md?page=3)