National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

[Reyna]

Stephen King once said (and I'm going to butcher it since I can't remember it word for word and can't find it online) that "Having a book end the way you thought it would/should when you first started writing would be like dropping a ICBM on a pincushion without a guidance system."

I think the end always writes itself-once you have the characters, the problem, the solution and the climax, all the rest falls into place. I wrote a novel when I was 16 and it ends with the hero and heroine barely surviving a blizzard (after escaping the bad guys and blowing up the bad guy lair) and trying to build a fire before they freeze. Doesn't go on to say if they live or what happens next but it just felt like the perfect ending. *shrug*

[wyeuro]

well, i'm in. must be round the twist but there we go. i'm resisting the temptation to revive an attempt from the past for this exercise - i've got a sort of framework, the setting, main characters, some sense of the themes etc, and i'm fairly sure there's a plot in there somewhere waiting to emerge, but it's all pretty wild and free still now. but there's plenty of awen flowing, so, after resisting for as long as i could, i'm jumping in with both feet, as usual, where angels fear to tread.

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wy

[Tuar_Ceatha]

Oh now, wait just a minute here!

Please point me in the direction of instructions for putting that stamp on my posts!!!!

I've downloaded the little picture from nano, I just need to put it in my posts.

Sorry to be slow on this, but please do point me in the right direction and I'll get myself fixed up.

Thank you!

Tuar Ceatha

[Hairy Woman]

It's nine in the morning! I'm starting! Good luck everyone and don't forget to remove your thinking caps for now!

[Bracken]

Good luck.

[wyeuro]

Oh now, wait just a minute here!

Please point me in the direction of instructions for putting that stamp on my posts!!!!

I've downloaded the little picture from nano, I just need to put it in my posts.

i just saved the image to my desktop and uploaded it to my post using the 'upload attachments' tab below the 'post a reply' box. neat eh?

i've got just over 2000 words done - nothing like i had in mind. i still hadn't decided what to do from among three or four options and i thought i'd made up my mind but when i started it was something completely different. it could be therapeutic - it's the obvious thing to write about and really wants to be written. it's all that stuff i've been repressing and putting aside so that i can get on with 'important' stuff. but i could do the important stuff so much better if i can shift this back-log of unprocessed experience. maybe i'm not just wasting a month.

[Hairy Woman]

Argh! You're ahead of me! You're ahead of me and I'm in an earlier time zone! Git! (I love you, really )

Seriously though, good luck with your story; I find things involving emotional backlogs - the experiences that really hurt - very hard to write, and even harder to share with others.

I was hoping to get more done, but I seem to be very good at distracting myself, hence why I'm here answering your post!

[wyeuro]

well, get to work - it's not hard. just tip yourself up and pour! i'm going to blog mine on wordpress. i might even lash out on their adorable little 'chapters' theme, which i'm already using for another novel, unfinished as yet.

[Hairy Woman]

Made it to 2,000, now I'm going to have a break before I try and write 1,000 - 2,000 more.

Would you be able to send me your writing, wyeuro? I cannot access it on Wordpress since the rulers of this beautiful land of contrasts dislike:

Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, Blogspot, Amazon, possibly ebay (never tried) and now even Grooveshark, which I used a lot, and any other western product for which they have a nationally-made equivalent.

[Reyna]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I still have to wait an hour and 20 minutes!!! *taps foot and stares at watch*

Happy Samhain/Beltaine!!!

[wyeuro]

i've emailed you mine, hairy woman. are you blogging yours or can you email it to me? this could get exciting. maybe we could post them on the writer's grove. i've gotta go off-line now. back to you tomorrow
wy

[Hairy Woman]

I just went for a walk and came back with a dental appointment for an hour and twenty minutes' time.

Wyeuro, I would love to post my writing up on the Writers' Grove (I put up my 2010 NaNoWriMo 'sample'), but these boards don't allow for indents, which makes it very hard to read dialogue and find new paragraphs. Sure, I could put all speech and new paragraphs on a new line, but I don't think I have the time for that (she says, making her third? fourth? comment on the board today).

Be paaaatient, Reyna! The time will come! I was going to start writing at midnight last night, but instead did some meditation and divination. I don't regret it, but I would like to know what the importance of a crab apple is, since it featured memorably in a dream where I felt I was being taught. Is there also a sweet-tasting apple that looks like a pear, or a pear that looks like an apple? Or is that still a crab apple?

How're the rest of you doing?

[Tuar_Ceatha]

Well last night was all Samhain. I woke up this a.m. and lit candles to my ancestors and the Muses and got to writing.

Just 925 words this morning... not bad! About an hour's work.

Now I need to feed my furry beasts, dress and go to work. More tonight.

Thank you all for your companionship on this journey!!

(thanks for the tip on the file!!)(Edited: I don't think Im doing that right it looks terrible. Ah well, off to work!)

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[Reyna]

Asian pears look like apples (round and yellow) and are sweet and very crisp.

I was going to mediatate but fell asleep-does that count as meditating? No dreams, just wonderful deep sleep. Woke up to a puddle of drool, so I must have slept hard, lol!

Just realized I have TWO school assignments due tomorrow so will be writing, but nothing that can count toward NaNo....GRRRRR! One paper has to be 3k words so I'll just call that a warm-up exercise. Yes, yes, I know, I got carried away with Samhain and then messed up dates and now I gotta churn something out. Silly school, getting in the way of holidays!

[Bracken]

I'm just a few words short of my first thousand. And I'm enjoying it. Let's hope it all goes as smoothly and steadily. Now, all I have to do is repeat today's output another 49 times and I'm done.

[Bracken]

Tuar_Ceatha,

are you saying you want the stamp image in your sig next to your bardic blue image? If so...
click on 'user control panel'
then 'profile'
then 'edit signature'
then in the box you type [img]and[/img] with the url of your stamp picture in between.

Does that make sense? You need to type the url in between [img]and[/img]
Aarrgghh! It's so hard to describe. What a great writer I make.

If you have a problem come back to me and I'll try and help you.

Can you tell I'm procrastinating?

[Tuar_Ceatha]

<snicker> yes!

Can you tell I'm posting from my phone at work? LOL at least it's my lunch break.

Can't wait to get back to the writing!!

[wyeuro]

well i'm at 4735. i've set myself a minimum of 2000 words a day, which takes me from 7.30 am to 11.30, with two half hour breaks for breakfast and feeding the animals. i've started blogging mine at http://howisavedtheworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/6/ it's nothing like i had in mind, but might be cathartic if nothing else!!!!

i'm enjoying hairy woman's - lovely to read, just the right amount of tension - and i'm finding it makes an enormous difference to how i write if i have people reading as i go. i feel as if i am addressing real people instead of just spruiking out into the faceless void for a change. it's a great feeling!
is anyone else blogging? i'd love to look at what you're doing.
wy

[Hairy Woman]

I looked at getting a wordpress account, but don't know how feasible it is considering that it's blocked in this country. I don't know: there's a software download, isn't there? Maybe I can register for an account and upload my stuff, but never view it?

Wyeuro, thanks for giving mine a read. I'm about to do my marathon since I made it to my cafe, and once I'm done I'll give yours a proper read all the way through. Aiming again for 3,000 words today, since yesterday and today are my days off (having days off in the week makes such a difference with crowds!).

I can't access the NaNo boards at the moment: won't log me in, won't let me search because it's too slow. Too much of a demand from too many midnight writers!

Bracken, 'procrastination' is my favourite activity and word at the moment... along with 'p(l)otholes', according to my story so far. Good luck with your assignments, Reyna. Remember, you can always make up for a few days off later: that's what I did my first NaNoWriMo and I managed to get over 50,000 done. Ori Whitedeer, are you still here? Are you writing during this event? Julia, Dream_Soul and Kima, how goes it?

[Willowen]

Hello Everyone
I made it to 1740 last night before I fell asleep. I read what I have to my husband and he actually likes it! Now I am off to find the stamp thingy so I can upload it. Everyone have an excellent day!