NaNoWriMo 2013 Update #4

Heading into the Thanksgiving festivities, Killer Of Dragons is at 25,018 words. At this point I have to accept that I won't finish by the deadline. I will keep writing but not try to kill myself trying to cram too many words in not enough days. It made my best effort this time, getting more words than in previous attempts. I'm proud of that accomplishment at least.

I will make one final update at the end of the challenge to let you know how I did. More than likely I'll be around 30 to 35K words but I will provide the final word count that I did during the month of November. I may have some thoughts or might reflect on the process of National Novel Writing Month, but it mostly comes down to scheduling and staying on target with the word counts each and every day.

Even if I am not finishing by the 30th of November I do intend to finish this book as soon as I can. Then I will consider the next book or whether I'll break with some short stories.

NaNoWriMo 2013 Update #3

Hit some roadblocks to writing lately. I've lost days with other business and in taking care of my son. Even the best plans are subject to the demands of reality. I only have about 10 days left in this month and that means 10 days to reach 50,000 words on this novel. The task has grown more difficult because the number of words I need a day keeps growing and the time I have available has been shrinking.

Does this mean I'm giving up again? No. Not yet. I don't like the idea of failing to finish NaNoWriMo another year. If I can reclaim time and if I can work around my other obligations more effectively then yes, it can work out and I can cross the finish line.

Right now Killer Of Dragons is at 13,663 words. Yeah, I know, I have to go a long ways to recover from this. Wish me luck.

NaNoWriMo 2013 Update #2

Well, I'm still writing the novel. Currently, Killer Of Dragons is at 10, 268 words. Given it is the 15th of November, I'm behind by about 15,000 words. It is the halfway point in this challenge and I still believe I will get to the end of the month with 50,000 words written on this book.

I've had gaps in writing this month which has upped the number of words I need to get written each day in order to cross that finish line. At this point, I have to write at least 2,500 words to have a shot at hitting this milestone. A few really good writing days where I could get over 2,500 maybe even double that would help give me more room to work out this book and have it completed ahead of the deadline.

Still, I am happy to be in this race. I've had enough of failure and am committed to seeing this through. I'm trying to see NaNoWriMo as a fun experience and one that can help liberate me. As  a writer I have goals. One of those is to be fast and free with my writing so I can write stories faster and in the white hot heat of the creative flow. And I want to be able to do it repeatedly.

I am trying to regain my footing so I can write every day though life does intrude with other important matters I know that I will make my way back to it. I hope everyone else participating in National Novel Writing Month this year is having fun creating stories and that you all consider publishing your works afterwards. Some of the best stories are written fast and furious.

See you at the finish line.

NaNoWriMo 2013 Update #1

I'm still in the game this time. I've got 4,430 words written on my new novel Killer Of Dragons so far. I need to up the count to get back on track so I can finish 50,000 words by the end of the month. I'm really determined now to finish NaNoWriMo this year. This will be a great milestone for me. Even if the book goes beyond 50K in length, I win if I hit that number by the 30th.

As a writer, one of the terms I've been looking at again lately is prolific. Often, the word is something of a misnomer. Those who think you're a prolific writer consider it in terms of writing very fast and churning out the words at a breakneck pace. I've come to believe that the truly prolific writers are those that just get back to the chair often enough throughout a give day and do so consistently. 

With a full plate of duties, even that can seem like a tall order. But it comes down to knowing a little personal math when it comes to your own writing style. I've been working up to a better word count by it requires being creative and looking for opportunities and taking them with out hesitation. New words written down are the reward.

I come back to this idea of math because if you can figure out how long it takes to write 250 words (the approximate number of words on standard manuscript page) then you can make estimates on how long it will take you to write a full length novel. Seeing as NaNoWriMo defines the length of a  novel as 50,000 words, you can divide that total by 250 to get 200 double-spaced pages. If you can then determine the length of time it takes to write a page you can do some estimates.

For instance, if I can get a page written in 15 minutes that means I can, in theory, write 4 pages in an hour. That's just 1,000 words. The writing challenges sets a 1,667 words a day go in order to reach 50K by November 30th. That means you should write about 7 pages a day to get across the finish line. 

7 pages a day. That's it. Double-spaced pages, no less. It's doable even if you're as busy as I am. Of course, since it is November 6th now,  should probably up it to 1,800 words or even 2,000 just to give myself some leeway in case I miss a day or something else comes up. 

This is a challenge I mean to win and am determined also to do it again. It would be great to write a novel a month. That's a dream and a desire to think about going forward. Thanks for reading along folks. Happy writing.