At the beginning of this month, having heard about Camp NaNoWriMo--- a version of the National Novel Writing Month which takes place in June and August--- I decided to participate with a novel idea I named Zombie Dawn. To keep me on goal, I designed a chart for the month where I had space to fill in my accomplishments for up to three writing sessions a day, as well as a running total and my daily word count goals.
Now the month is nearly over. I am 91% of the way to the goal. I think I will make 50k for the month with no great problem.
I've learned a few things about myself as a writer. I've found that I'm a pantser--- a seat-of-the-pants writer--- more than a planner/outliner. I've found I do best with a longer writing stint in the morning than other times of day. I've discovered that timed writing stints--- with timed 10 minute breaks--- work very well for me.
So--- moving forward to July. While my word goal for this month will be met, my novel's first draft will not be finished. Especially since I have three chapters of false start that I'll have to throw out at some point. So my main goal is to finish Zombie Dawn. I'll draw up a new monthly chart. My daily writing goal I'll keep at the same NaNo level of 1667 words a day. With timed writing, I don't have much trouble doing 3334 a day--- twice the NaNo minimum.
The last week of July, I'll also be preparing for my August writing project--- participating in the August Camp NaNoWriMo with a novel project called 'The Gumiho's Wife'. It will use the Asian mythological creature known as gumiho in Korean and kitsune in Japanese--- a shape-shifter which can exist as a man/woman or in fox form. I hope to get a few character sketches and plot ideas written out before August 1.
So--- what did you learn during your June writing month? Have you set new goals and met them? Have you surprised yourself? And what about July? Are you going to do JulNoWriMo? Do you have a project in progress? Have you set goals? Discovered ways to chart your progress to the goals that inspire you?
I know a lot of times when I read about goals other writers were setting for themselves, I felt I couldn't compete. I let it get me down. But don't get discouraged. When I started out this June, I had a hard time writing more than a thousand words in a session. A few days, I wrote less than that. I was behind on my word count goal most of the month. But then I discovered timed writing--- I blogged about doing a 3/30/10 writing day--- three sessions of 30 minutes, with ten minutes of break time between each session. I didn't have any luck doing a second 3/30/10 session in a day. So I tried a 5/30/10 morning writing session. Today when I did that, I totalled 3895 words.
You may start out having a hard time doing 500 words a day. You may find that the timed writing sessions that work for me don't work for you. But keep trying. You've got something to say, whether you know it or not, and if you don't give up, you will find better ways to get it out.
I am SO happy for you that you've made this progress! Wonderful that you've found a way write that really works for you. It's also great that you are also able to set goals... Hope does not disappoint! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks. I made it to 50306 words today, making me a NaNo winner. And then I deleted the first 3 chapters since I started over after that point, which brings me back to 30685 words. I'm actually pretty excited about that number.
ReplyDeleteI'm still working on the name, though. 'Esperanza' was one idea, and if there is a sequel, I thought it would be a cool series name. 'Zombie Dawn' is a ripoff of 'Red Dawn'. Since my zombies are commonly called zeks, I've considered 'Zek Dawn' as well.
You are so awesome. I did so little writing in June. I didn't reach my writing goal, because I didn't even have one! :p I serously think your shaming me into setting a July goal. :-}
ReplyDeleteEsperanza? That's... cool! I'm sure you do know what that means in Spanish. :-) (The previous bilingual pun was actually unintentional.)
ReplyDeleteWhatever you decide under divine guidance is just wonderful! And I read/enjoyed the earlier post pointing out the guidance by the Holy Spirit as critical as well. Thanks for reiterating something I needed to hear.
Still so very proud of you, excited by your accomplishment, and inspired!
Amanda, PaperSmyth I may have set a July goal, but I'm not getting much done on it. Kind of a post-NaNo letdown plus the new computer blues--- I'm going to need to get a new printer since the old one is not compatible.
ReplyDeleteI'm spending most of my writing time so far this month writing summaries of already-written scenes with yWriter and trying to fit the story so far into a bigger scheme.
But so far this month I've spent more time working on learning Korean words. Like 한 국. That means 'Korea'. (See, I can type in Korean! Two or three words, anyway.) But it's all research since there are Korean characters in my story.