First Week Of NaNoWriMo: Momentum
November 8, 2011
Just a quick post to get the creative juices flowing, and to update my progress (19,037 words). Feel free to add me as a writing buddy if you haven’t already.
There’s been only a few times in my life where I’ve genuinely shocked myself. One of those times was when this blog actually reached its one year anniversary. And now I’ve surprised myself again at actually keeping ahead of the NaNoWriMo curve. Pretty much I shock myself whenever I achieve anything that has to do with writing, because that’s usually the first hobby to go out the window when I’m swamped.
Okay, I know November’s not over yet and there’s still many days and many words to go. I foresee a dramatic plummet in my word count starting this Friday, for one — *ahem* Skyrim *cough* — so that’s another reason why I’ve been pushing so hard.
The thing is, I think I might actually be able to do this. Crazy. I thought I would be struggling every day, but so far it hasn’t been so bad, thanks to a couple of things. Unsurprisingly, deadlines are a great motivator. I love telling people I’m going to take your deadline, crush them, and shove it up your ass. I wrote 15,000 words by Sunday because of one such challenge by the NaNoWriMo folks. But I think blogging for the past year and half has also helped. I find the words flow more easily, in a way I’m not sure they would have if I had attempted this, say, three years ago.
It is mostly a matter of pushing myself, though it’s true that other things I do in my spare time have taken a hit, like gaming and reading. But I figure if I have to take an hour out of my free time and not play an MMO in order to write, it’s gotta be worth it. No matter how far ahead I am I still make myself sit down to some quiet time to write every day, even if I only manage a couple hundred words. That’s a piece of invaluable advice I received last week on my NaNo post, along with other comments and suggestions that have been simply phenomenal. So keep the advice coming if you’ve got ’em, it’s always welcome.
Now I’m going to stop procrastinating and get to that sex scene I’ve been struggling with all morning. Happy writing.
MMO Gamer Chick 
Lol, good luck with your project.
o_0 at the last paragraph…
I don’t know what your novel is about, but sex scenes are usually easier to write if you focus on the emotions. It’s less awkward that way, and much easier to describe in a detailed, but still tasteful, manner.
I should know how to do this, I’ve read enough harlequin romances and those smutty short stories you get free from Amazon after all 😛
I suppose yeah, it’s the type of story I’m telling. I’ve established a mood and sex scenes can easily change things if they’re not done properly 😛
Hm, harlequin romances. That’s pretty simple – focus 100% on the emotions and avoid anything too overt. Romance novels are all about the gesture, not the act, no? It’s always more about “the rising tides of lust and passion”, not “they laid down on a bed and did the (add sexual euphemism here).” 🙂
Or you can just totally throw taste out the window and talk about thrusting swords of lust into quivering lady flowers.
Ok. I just lost all desire to stay at work.
And I would, totally! but alas it doesn’t fit my novel. I’m really tempted to go for the erotic fiction category next year though, just to let loose the thrusting swords.
Skyrim? What about the latest iteration of the beta which cannot be talked about? lol!
I’ve been playing! Just a little on the empire side, but it hasn’t really been cooperating.
No! Republic side, dangit. We miss the Steeltoes. 🙂
If I go Rep, it would be trooper anyway, no more steeltoes 😦
Noooooo! Say it ain’t so! I can’t be the only gunslinger!! LOL. Good to see you staying on track with the writing tho!
‘Fraid so. And at launch, I’m going JK for rep. I’ve been keeping away from Jedi this whole beta.
But hey, those playing Smuggler will be in for a treat. Best story ever.
Doing sentinel right now. so-so. Ah well, guess I’ll have to carry the flag. lol. 😀
Way to end your blog on a climax. Now that’s good writing!
Juuuust making sure you’re all awake 😛
I really do have a sex scene to write though. And gawd, it sucks.
End on a climax? LOL
Good luck on writing. 🙂
And I hope we all enjoy Skyrim a ton. 😀
I’m very much looking forward to the game 😀
Good luck, I can tell you’ll be successful, Robin
Thank you for your words of encouragement!
can’t wait for Skyrim too 😀
It’ll be awesome!
So it’s evening. How did the sex scene go?
Well, I wrote it, and I think it’s okay, at least. Though, funny thing — I had a friend tell me, if a sex scene isn’t not boner-inducing, then it’s a failure. Just made me laugh.
Wow! Awesome progress! Only the 8th and already that far? Nice! All I can say is don’t burn out. If that upcoming (no pun intended) scene might prove difficult, just jump ahead to the next bit. Keep the muses flowing, and avoid stalling out. Again, awesome progress. Nearly half way complete just a week or so in.
I ended up jumping right into that scene and had more fun writing it than I expected 😛
Excellent progress! I was curious about your blogging comment though, I noticed last year that fiction writing seemed to use different writing brain cells than blog writing did and it took me quite a while to get the rust knocked off.
The routine part of it is the thing, you gotta have your butt in the chair and text editor open.
You’re right, it is different. Telling the story and describing stuff in a scene feels like a whole different beast. However, I do find conversations and internal dialogues easier to write. Probably due to the casual way I write my blog.
Good job with all that. Just remember that Skyrim will still be waiting for you when you’re done. There has to be at least a hundred hours in that game, so you don’t have to start right now.
I heard up to 200 hours! Between Skyrim and SWTOR this winter, I don’t think I’ll need to buy any more games until at least spring.