We present jdb_educator in his personal story of his participation in the Nano competition. (See Episode 1 below for details):
Episode 3 Wherein.
Yahoo!!! I met the goal! I completed 62, 583 words.
This column will complete this series of updates on the novel writing progress until March, 2004, when I begin National Editiing Month. It was an awesome success to complete over 62, 000 words in less than two weeks of writing time. The final total was: 62,583 words was completed in eight scheduled writing days. I actually completed the process one day ahead of schedule. I was definitely pushed and my desperate "cheat" of copy/pasting worked well. It also sets up the editing process, and will lead to much more original material. This process and experience has also led me to begin to spend money, research, additional time and effort in the planning and preparation of seeking paying publishers for some of what I write.
By the way, for those who know and love her, petlover4life also completed the competition.
The rewards for this effort were personal success with pne web awards provided. Here they are presented for your curiosity and entertainment... and eventually to my personal web pages *grin*.
Click the Winners icon to read part of the storyline.
Episode 2 Wherein... I continue on the pathway to success. Here is my secret-not recommended-and Students of all ages, do NOT do this with your research papers (UNTIL you have carefully edited and documented quotes!)
As I began to write my story, with no planning, on the spur of impulse, I soon found myself deeply involved in research to discover all kinds of things. Everywhere I turned, my story demanded research, more and more research. I did so much, I knew I could not rewrite and edit it into my voice within the time available to me. So-following my conscience, what was possible and how much time I could and chose to spend on this project- I consciously chose copy/pasting the research into the novel.
The current plan is to leave the process of editing and rewriting until next month. Technically *shamefaced, embarrassed look* I'm cheating! *Defensively* but...but..to complete the task in the time I am willing to take I have to copy/paste. Thus when I win my award (all who have verified account of 50k words win) And I will win, my award comes to me, and will be posted by me with an Asterisk >>* My current goal is now 60K, so lol I may create another possibility of failure. Nonetheless it is a blast of an activity and has provided much fun and comment by friends. current count of words today: 37,000+ on November 26th, with 4 days to gather or write 13 to 23,000 words.
Episode 1 Wherein...
Petlover4life has roped CVN Editor jdb_educator into some strange things over the years. This one, we have to share. It is called a competition, and anyone who completes the task wins. Taking the info from the site, here are some details:
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. " Here is the site: http://www.nanowrimo.org/index.php?
In 2002, National Novel Writing Month had about 14,000 participants. Over 2100 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists. This year there are over 26,000!
jdb_educator told us his story of participation in the following:
This has been both fun and effective for this writer. Pet sent me the URL and I joined. This competition even offers possibilities for real life meetings with other writers through locally organized groups who choose to meet.
In brief, here is my plan with both successes and failures listed. I calculated that using the whole month, I would have to write 1,667 words per day to complete a 50, 000 word novel. I got the web address on the twelfth of November. With the Daily News, Weekly news, Cybertown activities, how could I do this? It was a conundrum. There was no way I could write for the contest daily. If I could have I would have to write 2,777.7 words per day! So I decided that a good, fun challenge for me would be to write 50, 000 words on ten scheduled days of writing! That is 5,000 words per day. How am I doing?
I have succeeded in writing on three of the five days I have scheduled so far. Two days I ended up doing those 'other things' that get in the way of having fun. Sixty percent success so far there. Each writing day I exceed my goal, if only slightly. After three days of writing, I have reached 17, 277 words, which came out to 27 pages in ten Point Times, New Roman type on the printout I am sharing with a few online friends, and real life friends who have expressed interest. Tune in next week for an update to this story.
I gots to answer it. lol brewed coffee, long day. The fourth day fell short of 5,000 words, missed by about 2200, but..lol fixed dinner and watched TV with the wife for a special day. it was nice. I quickly went: "zzzzz" lol
