First, CONGRATULATIONS to my buddy and two-time Golden Heart finalist, Avery Beck, who just sold her first book to Samhain Publishing! Way to go, Avery. I’m so proud of you!
I’m sure Avery didn’t accomplish her wonderful achievement without losing a bit of sweat (note the clever segue to my previously scheduled blog post?)…
Not cut out for NaNoWriMo? Want to suffer for 70 days instead of one wimpy month? Check out The Seventy Days of Sweat Writing Challenge. Round 4 starts November 10th. Ends January 26th. In the ’09.
No, I’m not sweating with Sven. But I do like the concept of Seventy Days of Sweat better than NaNoWriMo. For NaNo, you’re supposed to just write, write, write. Write whatever dreck comes into your head. Yes, you’re allowed to plan out your novel beforehand, but the idea is to pound 50,000 words of whatever comes out of your fingers and then fix it later.
I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo, and I guess it’s great for first-draft writers. But those of us who edit, revise and polish as we go along? How are we supposed to plan out our NaNo manuscript beforehand and then just write, write, write when we need to plan AS we’re writing?
That’s my excuse, anyway. (Hmmm, what’s Avery’s?)
For Seventy Days of Sweat, the word length goal is between 60,000 – 100,000. MUCH more manageable, IMNSHO. Were I participating, I would be much more likely to succeed. So why not participate? Because. That should be enough explanation for you, my lovelies!
I might participate in the next round of 70 Days. For now, I know what I’m up against in various facets of my life over the next couple of months, and I also know I have less than 60,000 words to write on the WIP, so I’d be participating under false pretenses. I really know that once I’m finished the WIP, I’ll need a break. I call it December. Or at least 2 weeks at Christmas. And I plan to enjoy it.
Not to mention that my birthday falls during the current challenge. What sort of fool wants to sweat on her birthday?
If you want to sweat, you can sign up here. Then drop into my blog every once in a while and brag. I want to hear your achievements!
And, once again, CONGRATULATIONS Avery Beck!!!
I did the 70 Days of Sweat last year and, for me, it was a more realistic exercise than trying to do 50k in one month. However, I got talked into trying NaNo this year in an attempt to finish a wip, so I’m doing a modified version of that now… (umm, well, kind of–I need to get off the Internet and get typing 🙂
Good for you, Marilyn. Good luck!
I do admit, I did get a lot of good scenes out of the one and only time I’ve done NaNoWriMo. But the experience didn’t make the OVERALL writing of the book any faster, which is what I was looking for.
However, having those scenes as a base for the book in question is valuable.
Congratulations to Avery! I’m too busy right now with the PR stuff I have to do for AT. Otherwise I’m good at keeping to 50 pages or more a week and don’t need to join a group. I belong to one of Amy Atwell’s GIAM groups, and that’s perfect for me.
Wow, Edie, that’s great. I am not a 50 page a week writer, unless you count total and complete unusable dreck. I revise as I go, but once I’m done, I’m done.
My excuse for not participating in NaNoWriMo was that I already had two fulls out on submission and a couple of others ready to go. I am allowing myself to take a breath now (although I did first-draft Hot Ghost Man in 30 days, but that was luck, and in February, not November).
Thanks, Edie! And thanks so much Cindy for pimping me. You’re the second announcement I’ve found on blogs in the past ten minutes. How much more excited does that make me?? (Answer: lots.)
Those are excellent excuses, Avery. And you’re welcome on the pimping!
A friend and I are doing 50,000 words by 12/31. We started in mid-October. We knew we couldn’t do NaNo. But now I’m wishing I hadn’t committed to anything because I really want to finish revisions on my current manuscript and with work the way it is, I hardly have time for much revising, let alone new writing!
Congratulations, Avery, that’s WONDERFUL!
I know what NaNo is supposed to be, but of course, none of us need it for its original intent because we know how to finish a book! For me, NaNo is completely different.
1. I wrote my 1st NaNo book without knowing a single thing about it until two days before. I did some editing as I went, and it was my favorite of the 17 books I’ve written.
2. NaNo helps me focus again on the core of writing a book, when I’ve spent a year lost in revision and submission and promotion and all those other -ions.
3. NaNo is a personal challenge for myself, as I try to beat my previous best. First NaNo, I wrote over 88k in 29 day. So last year, I had to write more than that in less time. I did! Obviously, that’s my plan this year, too.
4. Writing so much so fast is excellent exercise, not just for the possible future occasion of being forced into a close deadline with not enough written (life can get in the way, no matter how well we plan), but also for the challenge of revising something complete but rough. It’s not the way I like to do things, but it’s skill-building.
5. I’m a Capricorn, very competitive. I love trying to have higher word counts than my Buddies. 🙂
6. The Internet and local and online chapters give us plenty of camaraderie, but NaNo (and other things like it) enhance that, deepen it, etc. I am having a wonderful time commiserating with new NaNo friends this year. 🙂
I’m not saying you should do it again, just that it can be more than it’s designed for. 🙂
Lexi,
I’m following your progress, and you seem to be doing excellent. So, forge ahead, and you can get to your revisions when you’re done.
That’s the thing with writing challenges – the urge to quit can be huge. Now that you’ve started the challenge with your friend, fight that urge with everything you have. If you’re a first draft writer (unlike myself), you’ll be glad you did.
Go, Lexi!
Hi Natalie,
Excellent points. I would try NaNo’ing again with a project much smaller in scope than the WIP. For a 100K word project, NaNo left me with huge chunks of “missing time” in my manuscript. I admit, I am pleased that the scenes I did write for my first NaNo experience, most of them seem to be fitting into the story – with revisions, of course. My whole beef with NaNo is that I wanted it to shorten my overall time commitment, and it didn’t do that. However, the fact that I had to put away the NaNo story for several months, several times (to work on other projects requested by editors, and to keep Penny’s editors satisfied with her projects), probably had something to do with the “ineffectiveness” that I perceive of my NaNo experience. This book, with 6 POVs and a mystery plot, is my most challenging manuscript to date. Were I writing a 2-POV, shorter novel or a novella, then, yes, NaNo might work for me.
That said, I still like the idea of 70 Days of Sweat better. Yes, they want you to achieve a bit more, but the extra time gives my muse the “thinking” time she needs.
Cindy – as I explained on someone else’s blog earlier, for me NaNo is about giving me a kick to stop RESEARCHING and plotting and actually WRITE the d*** book. It’s also a personal challenge, and I enjoy challenging myself.
If I’m actually back in school next year (hoping to be), not sure how I’ll work NaNo in, but we’ll see. So this year, I’m trying extra hard to win (I’ve never actually “won” – highest wordcount was about 25K in 06).
Oops – also mean to say that 70 days of sweat looks cool too. Do you HAVE to start at the beginning of an ms? Or can you just use it to write as much as you want on a wip? Won’t be able to start this next round, though, not with new job and Christmas to juggle.
Aw, here’s hoping you win NaNo this year, Teresa. I did win NaNo the year I participated. Like Natalie, I’m competitive that way. If 50K was what I needed to win, then I was doing 50K damn it, come hell or high water, or if any of it made sense. 🙂
For 70 Days of Sweat, check their website. I think they’re much more lax about where you can begin/what you need to accomplish. It’s just more time and a longer word count.
I also read on Alison Kent’s blog the other day that eHarlequin is holiding its own version of NaNo this year.
I love that we have so many different options for challenges. Sven seems to offer the flexibility and time that experienced authors want; NaNo pushes people to aim for the end of a book, great for those who flounder in the middle, give up, and move on to something else; the 100 Club encourages momentum and consistency for people who go long periods without writing, who always succumb to the pressures of real life. There’s something for all of us!
Oh, you had to tease me, didn’t you, Natalie? What’s the 100 Club? Are you going to force me to Google?
LOL. Sorry.
The 100 Club is to write 100 words a day, minimum, for 100 days. I did that with a friend. She didn’t make it, but of course I did! 🙂
Ah, yes, I’ve heard about that (not sure why I forgot…) And of course you made it, Natalie! I wouldn’t expect any less 🙂