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NaNoWriMo 2011 Schedule
- Thread starter Gryffin
- Start date
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Shadoe
Sage
My schedule is to write an hour a day during the week and however long I can on the weekends. I don't think I'll have too tough a time, since I've got my story outlined pretty well. It's just trying to write during the week while trying not to be brain dead that will be the challenge.
Kelise
Maester
It's 1,667 words a day to hit the 50k, so I just write until I hit that. If I'm struggling, I head over to write or Die as that usually gets me done within 1/2 an hour. Whenever I'm able, I write double/triple the amount to make up for days I'm too ill to write anything.
Hëradïn
Sage
at least 1667 per day. I've been doing good for the past week writing about 1400 to 1500 per day, so it shouldn't be too hard to pull in an extra 300 or so.
Amanita
Maester
I'll try to do 2000 words a day. That's a nice, even number and a bit more than required, so it can help me get through day where I can't do anything. If I want to or if I'm stuck in the middle of a scene, I'll write more.
Last year at least, this worked quite well for me.
Last year at least, this worked quite well for me.
pskelding
Troubadour
During my training I have been writing 750 words a day or a bit more in about 20 minutes. That is without plotting or outlining or character profiles even. Just cold sitting down and writing everyday picking up where I left off the day before.
For Nano I plan to use about 45 mins to 1 hour a day to write my "nano" novel for which I have already developed an outline, storyline, character profiles and scene list. I am very certain that I can write at least 2000 words per day having done all the development work in advance and having a very firm idea of "where" the story is going.
Your mileage may vary.
For Nano I plan to use about 45 mins to 1 hour a day to write my "nano" novel for which I have already developed an outline, storyline, character profiles and scene list. I am very certain that I can write at least 2000 words per day having done all the development work in advance and having a very firm idea of "where" the story is going.
Your mileage may vary.
I keep a notebook with me at all times, so I'm going to do probably my whole novel long-hand. Sounds pretty crazy, but I'll give it a try. I did most of it last year that way and still finished. I will either do it that way, about 2,000 words a day, or will write it using email. Most of my downtime tends to be on the bus or at work. That's my plan. Hasn't failed me yet!
pskelding
Troubadour
I will be able to keep my planned schedule. My son was born this morning (see Chit Chat for details) which means I will be doing the wake up every 3 hours at night to feed him. Perfect writing time for my 1700 words a day after he falls asleep! I'm going to do my 750 words today because the hospital and midwife pitched me and the grandparents out for the night. 
I honestly don't know. For the last four years, I've done most of my writing at Sunday write-ins, but I've recently moved house and now I'm in an Elsewhere region. There will still be online write-ins twice a week and I expect to take part in those and whatnot, but it's not the same; typically, an online session will help me reach the daily requirement of 1,667 words, or sometimes take me to 2,000 or 2,500 words for that day. More if I'm behind and determined to catch up. On a typical Sunday, at a physical two to three hour long write in at the cafe we'd meet in, we might have three or four fifteen minute word wars, and I'd write 700 or 800 words each time, plus another 500 during the rest of the meeting, and maybe another 1,500 or 2,000 once I get home, for a total of up to about 5,000, because the sense of community and the energy and encouragement that a physical write-in creates. I don't know if I'll be able to do that this year.
But who knows? I'm joining my mum at her monthly writing group tomorrow night, and that's a fairly large group and I'll be telling them about NaNo and maybe organising a local write-in in the library for, I dunno, the first Wednesday in November to see how that works if there is enough local interest, and if that works I'll continue that, but I'm still not exactly sure how well it would work with strangers, because part of what helped me write so many words in word wars was the fact that two of my closest friends, now the new MLs in the region I've left, are very competitive, like me, and none of us would be happy to be beaten by the others. It certainly won't be the same.
But I guess what I'll do is try to write every day, maybe set aside an hour each evening dedicated to writing and a few hours extra at the weekends, and whenever else I have a spare half hour. There will be bi-weekly write-ins, my co-ML is seeing to that and we'll all be organising it. But I guess strict schedules have never quite been my thing. I can't just say, I'm going to sit down at 10pm and write for an hour, because I need to be inspired, I need to be in a mood where writing is contemplatable, I need have eaten and be relaxed and prepared.
What makes it more difficult though is this: I have a job interview on October 31st. I'm fairly certain I'll get it, by virtue of being the only applicant. Which means for most of November I'll most likely be working, and I don't know what hours I'll have to dedicate to that. On paper, it's a 9-5 job, but I am told that in reality deadlines mean I'll have to be flexible working evenings and weekends when there's a deadline looming and catch up on time off after it has passed. And most of the time, I'll be driving to and from work because I live in a place which is not well served by public transport and my dad, who works in the same company, works three days a week from home now. So no writing on the bus like Phil. But all of that is going to play havoc with whatever schedule I make for myself regarding NaNo.
So I guess I'll just write when I can.
And Paul: congratulations and all the best of luck, and may what sleep you have be restful.
But who knows? I'm joining my mum at her monthly writing group tomorrow night, and that's a fairly large group and I'll be telling them about NaNo and maybe organising a local write-in in the library for, I dunno, the first Wednesday in November to see how that works if there is enough local interest, and if that works I'll continue that, but I'm still not exactly sure how well it would work with strangers, because part of what helped me write so many words in word wars was the fact that two of my closest friends, now the new MLs in the region I've left, are very competitive, like me, and none of us would be happy to be beaten by the others. It certainly won't be the same.
But I guess what I'll do is try to write every day, maybe set aside an hour each evening dedicated to writing and a few hours extra at the weekends, and whenever else I have a spare half hour. There will be bi-weekly write-ins, my co-ML is seeing to that and we'll all be organising it. But I guess strict schedules have never quite been my thing. I can't just say, I'm going to sit down at 10pm and write for an hour, because I need to be inspired, I need to be in a mood where writing is contemplatable, I need have eaten and be relaxed and prepared.
What makes it more difficult though is this: I have a job interview on October 31st. I'm fairly certain I'll get it, by virtue of being the only applicant. Which means for most of November I'll most likely be working, and I don't know what hours I'll have to dedicate to that. On paper, it's a 9-5 job, but I am told that in reality deadlines mean I'll have to be flexible working evenings and weekends when there's a deadline looming and catch up on time off after it has passed. And most of the time, I'll be driving to and from work because I live in a place which is not well served by public transport and my dad, who works in the same company, works three days a week from home now. So no writing on the bus like Phil. But all of that is going to play havoc with whatever schedule I make for myself regarding NaNo.
So I guess I'll just write when I can.
And Paul: congratulations and all the best of luck, and may what sleep you have be restful.
Benjamin Clayborne
Auror
Since I'm not writing full-time (in the sense that I have a non-writing day job that occupies me 8 hours a day), I only typically can find 2-3 hours a day to write. Some days, I get no time to write at all (family obligations, got to go to the gym, etc.). I've done NNWM a couple of times, and mostly managed to keep up, but I just realized that the "1,667 words per day" meme is actually kind of demoralizing, because as soon as you miss a day, you're behind, and it can be hard to catch up with that inexorably climbing count.
I just finished the first draft of my novel and averaged 1,889 words per day over the 87 days it took. I didn't have any idea that I was averaging 1,889 words per day until I calculated it last night, but now that I do, that's reinforcements that in the long run, I can easily handle the pace of NaNoWriMo. But I'd rather direct that time toward completing something publishable, rather than going for the arbitrary target of 50,000 words.
I just finished the first draft of my novel and averaged 1,889 words per day over the 87 days it took. I didn't have any idea that I was averaging 1,889 words per day until I calculated it last night, but now that I do, that's reinforcements that in the long run, I can easily handle the pace of NaNoWriMo. But I'd rather direct that time toward completing something publishable, rather than going for the arbitrary target of 50,000 words.
- Thread starter
- #12
I understand what you're saying. I kind of think that NaNoWriMo isn't going to lead to something I can publish. It will push me to write every day and give me a writing goal that I feel motivated to finish because I won't feel that I'm in it alone, I guess. Even if the story isn't complete, I'll have something at least. I do also agree that the pace sounds like it can be tough if you get behind even just one day.
Benjamin Clayborne
Auror
I can totally understand that, although I'm beginning to think that true motivation only comes from within. An external force, like this, can help, but it is a poor shadow of the real thing. (Although there certainly are the benefits of community and camaraderie.)
Three things conspired this summer to finally give me the internal motivation necessary to complete a novel:
1) I went to the Japanese-American National Museum, where they had a show going celebrating the works of Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo. It was inspiring to see the life's work of someone who essentially worked completely alone, but he'd been doing it non-stop for 26 years. He just went and did it, no excuses, no waiting, no putting it off in favor of other things.
2) I had a long conversation with my wife about what things make us truly feel happy and fulfilled. I realized that for me, writing is what truly gives me that feeling.
3) I finally came to terms with the fact that some day, I will die. This is depressing, I know, but it finally hit home that there's a finite number of hours left to me, so I'd better get cracking. This was catalyzed by this article from the New Yorker, specifically the poem fragment by Lucretius about two-thirds of the way through, and the paragraph immediately following it.
These were not bolts from the blue; I've spent years soul-searching, trying to figure out who I want to be, what I want to do, what's the meaning of life, what can we do about death? But as Lucretius says, given that we are all going to die, spending your life worrying about it is a pointless waste of time. All these things culminated in what I consider the central epiphany of my life, and that's what gave me the motivation to start writing, and never, ever stop.
Argentum
Troubadour
I've decided to go crazy and go for a 101,000 this year instead of 50, though I will try to get at least that if my 101,000 goal fails. It brings me to about 3,367 words a day. I will be writing every free moment I have for a whole month. So I'm hoping to be able to reach that daily goal and keep it. But with taekwondo, planning to move, and work, I probably will end up more like: work, sleep, clean, tkd, and then write like a monkey on saturday. We'll see how this goes.
- Thread starter
- #15
Wow, that's quite ambitious. Are you on any type of writing schedule each day now or are you going to be starting with this? Do you have a lot of your story, characters, and settings planned out already?
Kevin O. McLaughlin
Sage
For my schedule this year, I just want to NOT do what I did last year... At midnight on November 29th, I had about 24,800 words done.
Never one to give up, I wrote until 2am. Went to sleep for six hours. Got up and wrote through the day.
Yes, I completed just over 25,000 words on November 30th.
No, I don't really want to ever do that again.
But on the plus side, the novel is selling pretty well now...! So maybe there's something to be said for that sort of intensive creative exercise.
Never one to give up, I wrote until 2am. Went to sleep for six hours. Got up and wrote through the day.
Yes, I completed just over 25,000 words on November 30th.
No, I don't really want to ever do that again.
But on the plus side, the novel is selling pretty well now...! So maybe there's something to be said for that sort of intensive creative exercise.
That's great! I've got a goal to write the story that's been blowing in my head like a hurricane out, and not care if I have to skip scenes (I'll make a note in red) as long as I can get this itching creation in writing I'll be happy. I hope it's over 50,000 words, because the character profiles, and basic plot shorthand is longer then that!
myrddin173
Maester
My plan is to write at least two scenes per day, since my goal is to make each scene at least a thousand words I should be set.
