Made Quota Again

[dr_pretentious]

Apparently, I can do this. During drafting phases (as opposed to revision phases), I used to average about 1000 words/day. It's a push, to aim for twice that and then settle for hitting roughly 1700, but I think I can keep this up without too much agony.

If I had a full-time job or a kid, though, this pace would probably kill me. wayzgoose's solution is to get his wife and kid to sign on for Nanowrimo, too, but I can't imagine how other fully employed parents manage it.

Today's new words: 1725

6,632 / 50,000 (13.3%)

Comments

[jr0124.livejournal.com]

When I tried nano, I had no trouble keeping up, or even over, quota. I would just go 'blah' on the page and let it stand. I'd read the last few bits just to remember where I was, then go on from there.

[jr0124.livejournal.com]

err - and once the story was all 'out', I planned to go back for edits. Since I never finished, I never got to phase 2. =(

[reynaud.livejournal.com]

Go, Sarah! Go, Sarah! It's your birth... uh, well, it actually isn't. But you get the idea.

Mind you, you're still behind schedule, but catching up! (Or shouldn't I have mentioned that?)

[calene.livejournal.com]

Awesome work on the progress! Way to go!

Re fully employed parents -- Good gods, me neither. It's tough enough for me with the part-time job of assisting my mother. Throw in a kid and a full-time job, and it'd kill me. Of course, I'm not one of those people who can write in little moments here and there. Without complete peace and a good chunk of "this is writing" time, I get completely blocked. I can multitask just about anything else, but writing first draft material seems to be too much for that with my brain.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure we can sip Bacardi like it's my birthday. If we were to party like it's my birthday, that would entail throwing a potluck and declaiming the worst poetry we could find. We've done that with mead, merlot, even grappa, but not Bacardi.

[wayzgoose.livejournal.com]

Well, it does help getting the other members of the family to participate, but they all think I'm obsessed and have pretty much written me off for the month. "Oh Dad can't come to the phone, he's writing a book." But, this weekend by some odd miracle I had an overnight spa date with my wife Friday night, went to see Weatherman with her on Saturday night, defrosted the freezer on Sunday, and still came up with 12,000 words for the weekend. It helped that I didn't hit the sack until 1:00 this morning, but I know that as soon as I hit the office today I can kiss all creative thoughts goodbye for another 12 hours.
Last year I was unemployed, wife full time in school and daughter engaged in all the activities of a sixth grader. You'd think that with all that time alone during the day it would have been easy, but I still found myself panicked at 11:30 on the 30th trying to verify that I had 50,024 words and get it sent in. There is really no sense to this writing thing. You just do what you can do and let the story take control.
Happy birthday, Sarah. You're making great progress and a day of planning can make all the difference in the world!