National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2020 / November Word Race! - Ready ... Set ... WRITE!

Huzzah, it's November 1st! And what a perfect day to gain an extra hour on, at that! Unleash your muses, fellow writers, and please feel free to share your progress in this thread as you go.

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So, for our next Discussion: what are your ideal writing conditions? Do you do anything special for NaNoWriMo? Do you need silence, music, coffee pumped directly into your veins, or even a moat between you and your family that says do not cross, I am NaNo-ing? I know we kind of touched on this with the subject of going to libraries (so missed!), and virtual write-ins (what an excellent idea!) Are you doing anything special to help inspire your muse this November?

Happy writing, everyone!

 

I must say that it warms my librarian heart to hear people saying how much they miss libraries, because we miss our patrons and all our usual services as well. Hopefully, next year at some point things will be able to go back to normal.

As to my ideal writing conditions, I tend to prefer to write when I have a big chunk of time in which to write (so often on the weekends or in the evenings after work) and can just focus on writing. I don't tend to write that well in complete silence. I usually prefer to have some music playing in the background. What music I like to listen to depends on the mood of whatever I'm writing. If it's romantic, love songs are great. If it's action scenes, something more dramatic might be in order. If it's a sad scene, a tragic song fits the bill.

I also find that I'm sometimes inspired by my walks outside in nature. The beauty of autumn leaves and the crispness in the air give me motivation. And it also gives me a chance to think about my stories.

I often do really need that time to just contemplate my stories before I sit down to write them, and sometimes I have ideas marinating in my head for weeks or even months before I put anything on the page.

My muse is all in all a strange creature, and I can only try to do her bidding in my humble way. In return, she might deign to inspire me to write something.

I am excited for the start of November, though. It is nice to have a set goal to work toward in terms of a word count, and a group of fellow writers who are also all working toward their individual goals in the same time frame as me. Builds a sense of community and collaboration that I appreciate.

Good luck to everyone this November! May we all meet our goals this month!

ETA: Not a bad start for me today. Wrote 1,245 words toward my total.

 

The index has been updated! As always, let us know if anything is off or missing and we'll take care of it.

Gah, so much! We look forward to being back, too!

This was PERFECT, and so very relatable for NaNo writing. We are definitely going to have so much fun regardless!

Amen to this! And so much of what has been said, really!

I'm that dork who makes playlists for all of my stories, and it's usually while I'm listening to those or driving/doing chores/out walking/doing anything but writing that my best ideas percolate and my muse hammers out plot points. Then, I usually try to jot those ideas down in my notebook before I lose them. All of my stories start on paper that way before I actually sit down and type. (So many plot-bunnies, so few actually written words! ) I think that it was Hemingway who said that his sub-conscious was still writing even while he was living day to day, listening to other people and observing them to better inform his stories? (To loosely paraphrase!) But that's definitely how I feel, and I imagine that relates to most of us.

It used to be that I liked some kind of ambient noise while writing, but after working onboard airplanes for the last four years pre-COVID I've really come to value silence. Writing has turned into my time to find a little peace and quiet with just me and my words. I listen to music more when I'm plotting longhand more so than typing. I don't have a specific place where I like to write (I love how perfect your craft rooms sound, though!), I just write wherever and whenever I can plop down with my laptop. But I do love getting up early and writing. I'm the only early bird in my family, so I usually get my best work done before the sun rises while relaxing with my coffee. It's the perfect way to start the day.

Of course you hit your main character with a truck. That sounds like an awesome story already.


As for me, I managed to write 2,787 words over the last two days, which isn't too bad of a start! I'll definitely take it!

Happy writing all, and may the muses be with you!

 

Yay! It's so awesome to see productivity already. Keep up the good work! (And, @Kit', even one word in editing is still a word more than you had! I'm sure your muse will kick in soon enough! ) The index has been updated!

As for myself, I actually had an awesome few days of writing and I'm now up to 6,322 words! Let's see if I can keep my streak going . . .

 

Lovely to see everyone continuing to chip away at their respective goals

It's been a bit of a chaotic week for me so far (I celebrated my thirtieth birthday yesterday, and I don't know how to feel about that) but today I managed to churn out 1,750 words. Hopefully some of those words were quality words. Either way, my total word count is now 2,995.

I'm with @Briannakin in that I think the most important thing for me right now is just focusing on the joy I feel in writing and not really worrying about getting every word perfect. Just getting into the feel and rhythm of writing again is the goal for me right now I think.

 

Keep up the good work, everyone! And it’s all good work, however many digits your number has. Our stories can only get closer to finished!

So, as of today, I currently stand at 739, and yes, that is considerably less than what I should have by now in order to realistically reach my goal of 5000. I had been hoping to try to get my count up a little more before sharing it here, and in particular I’d been hoping to try to do some more writing before turning in tonight, but it’s just not in the cards with the busy month this is turning out to be, so I figured, “what the heck, I’ll just post it now.”

At this point I’m not holding my breath about making my goal. (I don’t suppose we can change our goal number, @Mira_Jade ? ) But I’m still going to soldier on as best I can and continue reporting my numbers, because just doing that helps motivate and encourage me in its own way.

Sending good vibes to all!

 

Took a walk along the beach with my dad yesterday, and it was great for getting my creative juices churning today. I was able to write the first chapter of a story I've been wanting to write since March. I've got 1098 more words done, bringing my grand total to 4,093.

Less than a thousand words left until I reach my goal, which is good since late November will probably get crazy with Thanksgiving here in the US.

 

The index has been updated! As always, please let us know if there's something that needs to be added or changed.

That's honest to goodness the best way to look at it, and sums up writing for our Word Races and NaNo just perfectly.

I honestly laughed out loud to read this, mostly because it's so relatable. We've all been there, and there's nothing more frustrating. Here's all of the encouragement for your muse and good vibes I can muster!

Speaking of encouragement and good vibes for your muse, I have to express that here again! Those few hundred words are still progress, and important steps towards a finished story - just like you said! Even still, it can be irking when every word is hard won and you'd rather write so much more. I'd like to encourage that you still chip away at your original goal as best you can, especially since there's still a fair bit of the month left to go. Your muse may surprise you! Even if you fall short, any words written are still words you may not have gotten down otherwise. But, the entire goal of a Word Race is to encourage and help motivate writing, and if you feel like altering your goal will better do that, then that can be an option too.


Alrighty! As for myself, I didn't get much writing done this weekend - I blinked and somehow it's Sunday night already - but I did manage to sketch out a few scenes, and now I'm at 7,571 words. Which is kinda still on track for my goal, so I'll take it.


Happy writing, all!