What's In a Number

Just to give everyone a heads up, the word count on your computer might not end up being the same one reflected when you drop your manuscript into the trusty NaNoWriMo word counter. My computer word count reads 49,254 words, but when I put the manuscript into the word counter over at NaNo the final world tally was 49,198. Not a huge difference, but if anyone is hovering just around the 50,000 word count, you might want to give that extra push to build in a bit of a cushion, just in case the difference puts you under the 50K instead of over.

Day 17: The Mob Mentality

I can't write in noisy places. I can't write with people around me. I don't do well in crowds.

These are the words I've always told myself. Usually when anyone else had the nerve to tell me I couldn't do something, my response was, 'Oh yeah? Watch this."

I seem to have told myself that too. Because after two write-ins at Starbucks under my belt I've discovered I can write in noisy places, I can write with other people around me and I couldn't care less about a crowd.

All I need is a few other writers (aka - the mob) and Nikki the Drillmaster with her 30 minute timer (setting up the write as fast as you can mentality) and an incredibly unhealthy amount of sugar and caffeine.

4,100 sugar and caffeinated words later and I've proven the mob mentality works even for those of us who were certain it wouldn't.

The End of Week 1

Well this is it, Day 7. By the end of today we will have completed our first full week of NaNoWriMo 2007! So let’s do a little check in:

Are you happy with the story you selected?

Has it shaped up as you expected or have you already taken some unexpected twists and turns?

Has NaNo taught you anything about your writing style you didn’t already know?

For myself, I’m thrilled to be writing a western again and I love these poor, pathetic, damaged souls who showed up and let me tell their story. I had done an outline beforehand but my characters have minds of their own and I find story elements already getting changed or dropped or newly created. That’s what I love about a first draft. And going at this rate of speed means there’s no time to second guess yourself. You just barrel ahead and hope for the best. As for what NaNo has taught me? It’s proven I really can buckle down and write a first draft fast, which means I can probably do a book in six months like I hoped. And that the internal editor isn’t nearly as loud or as pushy as I gave it credit for being. In fact...I’m starting to think it’s a bit of a sloth, more than happy to kick back and slack off on the couch watching re-runs of Oprah.

So how about the rest of you?

NaNo - Day 6: Questions to Ask

I just read Chris Baty's post on the NaNo site and he said he sat his characters down and asked each of them, what do they want more than anything else in the world, an exercise he's never done before. Interesting. I think that question is pretty standard in romance, but I always seem to be halfway through draft two before I ask it to my characters. Think I might try doing that a bit earlier this time. Like maybe today. But later today, because right now I have to go put a dent in my word count.