The NaNoWriMo Support Thread

Discussion in 'Creative Works' started by WillowtheWhisp, Nov 1, 2013.

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  1. WillowtheWhisp

    WillowtheWhisp Admin admin

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    I think NaNo is driving me crazy. I knew that NaNo would be hard, but I wasn't entirely prepared for the emotional distress that it might cause me. :tpr:
    WillowtheWhisp, Nov 14, 2013
    #21
  2. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    Willow, anyone else who might be doing NaNo but not dare to admit it- REMEMBER TO BACK UP YOUR NOVEL. Used to be, the NaNoSite would remind you of this weekly, but it does no more, and trust me when I say NOTHING is more discouraging than losing 20k words' worth of work.

    Also Willow, emotional distress? I'm mostly stressed because I have to make my daily 2k while juggling all my other responsibilities- and having gone back to support grinding the crap out of Awakening doesn't make it any easier.

    Last year was different though. Have you considered using one of your characters as an emotional punching bag? My male lead Felix did a great job of distracting me from my own trouble last year.
    Blonde Panther, Nov 14, 2013
    #22
  3. WillowtheWhisp

    WillowtheWhisp Admin admin

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    Yeah, I keep an online copy, as well as a copy on each of my computers. Mostly because my laptop is kinda old and might give out on me, haha.

    Well, I suppose my problem is kind of similar. At least, it's school related. For as long as I can remember, my goal has always been to get a medical degree, from as far back as being in kindergarten. When I got to highschool, I slowly started realizing that, while I love the prospect of being a doctor and helping people that way, I just don't find science compelling at all, from a personally academic view point. But due to family expectations, and expectations for myself, I sorta just went through highschool pretending that's what I still wanted, and the same through these first two years of college.

    Now, with NaNo, I'm starting to realize how much more I prefer writing, than I do with almost anything I have done at school. At least, lecture wise (I still enjoy lab a lot). Basically, NaNo has made me start to doubt whether I really want to be a doctor, because now, when I think about it, I cannot honestly say to myself that I would love my job, or even like it. Granted, the same goes for writing because of how unsure of myself I am as a writer, but thinking about being a writer, for the rest of my life, doesn't give me the same trepidation that thinking of being a doctor does.

    Sorry to dump that on you, haha. I really needed to type that all out.
    WillowtheWhisp, Nov 14, 2013
    #23
  4. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    Oh god. That's quite the dilemma you've got going on there... in fairness I've made a serious switch in my imagined future career too (from criminologist to psychologist to translator in the span of three years) but I was never overly emotional about it... I guess I'm kind of a drifter compared to you.

    I have, however, always known that writing was my 'thing.' I just had the problem of being utterly and completely incapable of finishing any lengthy work of fiction, so NaNo to ME was a blessing. And I just like doing it for the hell of it. I'm boring in everyday life, I want to do something crazy every once in a while- and like I said in the other thread, I AM still revising last year's first draft into a publishable revised draft... or at least something I can give to my usual proofreaders without being embarrassed.

    I KNOW I want to write, but in my case the thing holding me back is a different kind of insecurity. Even putting aside that I've never been confident in my writing, I know how bad the odds are of breaking through in the world of creative writing. Let alone keeping a steady income to live off of. That's why I want a steady job and see if I can get anything published on the side.

    *pauses to look up WTH trepidation means*

    Well... I don't want to pretend to be educated, but at the same time I feel bad leaving you hanging with NOTHING to work with. If pressed I'd probably have to say give it time. Wait until after November and then re-assess. NaNoWriMo gives you an injection of pure writing straight into your artery- it can be a little overwhelming, especially for first-timers. (Not sure if you are a first-timer, just saying.) Your judgment may be clouded at the moment.
    Blonde Panther, Nov 14, 2013
    #24
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  5. WillowtheWhisp

    WillowtheWhisp Admin admin

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    Yeah.... This part really sucks, doesn't it :<

    And trepidation is such a good word, lol.

    Anyways, yeah, it's hard for me to even consider switching majors, when what I am doing now is basically what I've been planning for, for the course of the majority of my whole life. I think that's why it's making me freak out so bad, and not really NaNo, though it made me realize that I might not be as happy as I had thought, going down this path.

    And yeah, this is my first time for NaNo. I'll definitely be waiting at -least- until the end of december before I consider switching majors, or whatever it is that I want to do, yeah. Hopefully NaNo and what I am currently doing in school will be enough to distract me until then.
    WillowtheWhisp, Nov 14, 2013
    #25
  6. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    May also want to talk to a study counselor. They get paid to help you with this kind of stuff.

    No, I do not know why that didn't come to mind the first time.
    Blonde Panther, Nov 14, 2013
    #26
  7. WillowtheWhisp

    WillowtheWhisp Admin admin

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    So I started using this Tablo thing, since they did this thing for NaNo, I guess. Seems cool. Anyways, it makes it a lot easier for me to share my NaNo with other people. Like so: http://authors.tablo.com.au/nanowrimo/MzUxNQ==

    You may or may not want to check it out, but I thought it was pretty cool. -shrug-
    WillowtheWhisp, Nov 15, 2013
    #27
  8. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    Oh jeez, that looks freaking awesome... Too bad I'm already writing in Scrivener, and, well... quantity over quality is the motto during NaNo. Definitely looks useful to share my revised draft of Journal of an Involuntary Hero though...

    By the way Willow, if you win NaNo and you take a lot of notes for class on your laptop, I seriously recommend getting Scrivener. Winners to my knowledge get a code for a 50% discount on the program and it's super useful. I've gotten it after my second year of NaNo and I've been using it ever since for everything longer than a one-shot.
    Blonde Panther, Nov 15, 2013
    #28
  9. WillowtheWhisp

    WillowtheWhisp Admin admin

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    I'll check it out.I know you've talked about it before, but I never really looked into the program.
    WillowtheWhisp, Nov 15, 2013
    #29
  10. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    Oh god. This is easily my least favourite part of NaNo- coming up with ideas for fics, not being able to work with them because I have to work on the NaNo project, and subsequently having them milling around in my head so much that I can't focus on the NaNo project.

    DAMMIT, WRITER'S BLOCK! LEAVE ME ALONE! I JUST WANT TO WRITE MY 2000 WORDS AND I'LL BE DAMNED IF I LET YOU STOP ME WHEN I'M SO FUCKING CLOSE!
    Blonde Panther, Nov 17, 2013
    #30
  11. WillowtheWhisp

    WillowtheWhisp Admin admin

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    BP! You're already almost at 50k! :O I can't believe how far ahead you are XD Anyways, great job :]
    WillowtheWhisp, Nov 18, 2013
    #31
  12. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    THE BEST PART IS THE STORY ISN'T ANYWHERE NEAR FINISHED FFFFF-

    Also, keep in mind that upon validating, the word count tends to change. Scrivener counts hyphenated words as two words whereas NaNo counts them as one, so I have to keep writing after 50k to get a bit of a buffer to compensate for stuff like that.
    Blonde Panther, Nov 19, 2013
    #32
  13. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    Well, I'm not sure HOW it worked, but I guess I've used a lot less hyphenated words than I thought because I just copy-pasted the entire mess into the NaNo validator. 52253 words; I've won. Now I can relax a little as I rush to the end of the novel, hopefully before the end of the month (there's still quite a bit of ground to cover though...) and get back to my OTHER creative works, such as the revision of my hopefully to-be-published novel...
    Blonde Panther, Nov 25, 2013
    #33
  14. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    Willow, congratulations on bouncing back and hitting those 50,000 words!

    Also, with NaNo now over, I'd like to give a MASSIVE shoutout to Quill. I know he doesn't frequent the forum anymore, but despite everything that's going on, he still gave NaNo a shot and he won! Congratulations Quill!
    Blonde Panther, Dec 1, 2013
    #34
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