What Have You Learned from NaNo 2012?

moreferarum

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That Pacemaker site looks excellent! I bookmarked it too!
I've learnt that I'm a lot more determined than I think - I didn't think I'd get 50,000 words
Also learnt that I work really hard for what I want, I've juggled learning with NaNo and on a good day can complete nearly 4,000 words.. on an average day I try and do 2,000. It's funny because all my friends are tweeting that they have a 2k essay due in this week and another one the week after that and they're struggling, I'm putting 2,000 words down on paper a day whereas before NaNo I never would have - it's got me into the habit.
People closest to me know I'm writing, if I did the challenge alone I would have probably failed but I don't want to lose face and drop out leaving people making remarks at whatever happened to my book. Letting people know is one of the biggest motivations!

Finally I'd have to say I've learnt that you shouldn't put off what you can do today to tomorrow (in terms of writing that is, everything else can wait!)
 

moreferarum

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That Pacemaker site looks excellent! I bookmarked it too!
I've learnt that I'm a lot more determined than I think - I didn't think I'd get 50,000 words
Also learnt that I work really hard for what I want, I've juggled learning with NaNo and on a good day can complete nearly 4,000 words.. on an average day I try and do 2,000. It's funny because all my friends are tweeting that they have a 2k essay due in this week and another one the week after that and they're struggling, I'm putting 2,000 words down on paper a day whereas before NaNo I never would have - it's got me into the habit.
People closest to me know I'm writing, if I did the challenge alone I would have probably failed but I don't want to lose face and drop out leaving people making remarks at whatever happened to my book. Letting people know is one of the biggest motivations!

Finally I'd have to say I've learnt that you shouldn't put off what you can do today to tomorrow (in terms of writing that is, everything else can wait!)
 

Sunwords

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Speaking of those stats and projected finish times... I wonder if there're any programs online that will do the same thing, only you can enter in your own aimed-for word count, start date and finish date?

It might help a lot of people stay on track in non-NaNo months. :)
In my first NaNo three years ago someone postet an excel-sheet that gives a lot of possibilities to follow your word-count. The main page, where you enter your wordcount tells you also how much you need to write every day if you want to finish on time - much like the stats on the NaNo-website.
I dont know how to attach this here - but if anyone is seriously interested, I think we could manage.
 

Caitlin Black

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I think I'll stick with Pacemaker for now... Not a big fan of Excel. I mean, it's fine if it's ready-made, but if I want to change anything about *how* it works, I'm completely lost.

I know I *can* change that stuff - I did a computing course once and we used equations in Excel - but I can't remember how, and don't really feel like learning again.

Thanks for the offer though. Maybe someone else here will come along asking for it? :)
 

kendallina

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I learned that my story isn't even half way done at 30,000 words. I had no idea that I had it in me to write that much.

I learned that my husband is sooo much more supportive than I previously gave him credit for.

I learned that I don't need to 'feel inspired' to write. I really can just sit down and put words on the page and it's not all that bad.

I have definitely turned off my inner editor.

I may or may not finish this month (4 days left and need to write 5,000 words/night, but I can do it!)

I really can do this!
 

Wilde_at_heart

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I learned that I spend a good chunk of time fiddling with sentences and trying to make everything "perfect" in the first draft. Having to meet such a word count in a month is helping me kick that habit.

Yes Yes Yes!

Especially when half the time I wind up deleting the paragraph it was in at some later point, or even the entire chapter sometimes.

This time I just wrote the damn thing first, then went back to fiddle.

Stopping right now. Need to take a break for distance, re-read for overall story structure and plot holes, etc.
 

LilliCray

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I learned many, many things this month. My self-esteem took... the most amazing jump it has ever taken. In my life. Maybe I'll feel different once the ecstasy of actually hitting 50k for the first time in any work in my life *ever* wears off, I'll be back to the self-loathing, but for now...

1. I can write 50k. I can write 50k. I can write fifty FREAKING thousand words on one single project!!!

2. I can write something that is full novel-length. This is because my story is maybe halfway finished, if that, and it's 50k. That's been a major roadblock of mine--I can't write this long enough, I can't do anything with a novella, I should do something that will be longer. But I don't have that worry now.

3. I can write, period. My biggest hurdle is not writer's block, it's sitting down and starting. That starting sentence, or paragraphs, or even the first few hundred words, is horrible; I hate it; it's fun, because it's writing, but it's a horrible barrier a thousand feet high. NaNo got me to sit down and *write*. I sat down, I said "I'm not sleeping until I write this many words," I had a little red-to-green bar that told me how close I was to that goal--and best of all, that little bar grew in leaps and bounds and I never seemed to realize just how much I'd accomplished.

B. It is okay to be crazy in your writing. It is okay to write notes to yourself and yell at your characters and everything, because you can edit it out. Always. And because if it gets you to the next bit, it's worth it.

$&. After you start, it's hard to stop. On a bad day, I wrote very late, and wrote a paragraph about 50 words long. I looked at the words and was like, "This is not going to happen. I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Then I wrote another two hundred ish words, and I was like, "Okay, I'm tired, this isn't happening, I'm going to bed." Then I got to five hundred words. Then a thousand. Then twelve hundred. Then I was like, "I have four hundred words to go. I wrote twelve hundred. I'm not going to bed, I'm going to finish." And no matter how bad those words turned out, I wrote them. I will have a draft. I will have a draft.

{Eleventy}. I can do it. I can write. I am a freaking writer. HEAR ME ROAR.

And, finally... I can ignore my roommate's constant complaints about a mysterious odor I can't smell, and ignore the fact that the windows are wide open and it's twenty degrees outside, because I freaking won NaNo, and nothing is ever going to bother me again, because I can do it, and more, and I am capable, and I am a writer.

That's the most important: I am a writer. I am a real writer.

I think everyone who wants to write should try NaNo at least once. It won't work for everyone--but when it works, it can literally change your life.

...I feel really melodramatic right now, but I think I'm justified, because I'm figuratively high on this ridiculously amazing success that I never really believed I could ever achieve.
 

itsmary

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1.) That I can write 50,000 words in one month. Even if they sound terrible strung together.
2.) That the best way to write 50,000 words in one month is to pace yourself. Slow and steady wins the race.
3.) That having a community of writers around you helps, not just with word count but with your sanity.

This was my first NaNo, and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll come up with another story idea so I can do it again next year.
 

Yeshanu

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This is my eighth NaNo, and my third win. Last year, I paced myself. I wrote every day, even if I only wrote 500 years. It was actually easy, and I finished two days early.

This year, I didn't write on the first, wrote on the 2nd, then got sick for two weeks. At the halfway mark, I had written just over 10k. I didn't think I was going to make it this year, but I sat at my computer every day and pounded out some words and pounded out 40k in two weeks.

It was just as easy as last year, except that I was a bit sicker.

I learned a couple of very important things that I will keep in mind for future writing:

1) I CAN write to music (I've never done this before, but some of the epic music mixes on YouTube were fantastic for this), and it helps me to stay focussed for longer. I can definitely say that the 3k a day or so I was cranking out would not have been written if it weren't for those mixes.

2) I'm probably allergic to peanuts. But Ally gave me some gummies, and some peanut M&Ms. I was fine eating the gummies, but I started wheezing and coughing like crazy as soon as I started eating the M&Ms. Crap. Just crap. There goes the healthiest writing food. I adore Chipnuts.
 

Camilla Delvalle

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What I learned this year is that it can be beneficial to take in ideas from others before writing. Previously I have guarded my stories closely before writing. This year I was in a pre-nano writing group where we did many exercises and some ideas suggested by other members did end up in the novel. I'm glad for this, and for the extra motivation that I got from the group.
 

Enzo

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'Learned' might be too big a word, but it helped drive up my pace from 1,000-1,200 words a day before November to about 1,800 words a day during and after NaNo.
 

Animad345

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I learned that a single month can be far more productive than I ever thought possible. And that it really isn't THAT hard to write 1667 words a day :)
 

areteus

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1) That given the motivation I can push through writer's block and should therefore just get off my fat arse and write more even when I am complaining I have no inspiration

2) That despite motivation, I do not have enough hours in the day to write as many words as are needed to complete Nano AND have a full time job and a family but that does not matter because I still wrote more in that month than I had the three previous months all together...

3) Nano is great as a topic for blog posts (http://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/nano-reflections/) :)
 

LupineMoon

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I learned that this is the only way I'm going to make any progress in writing my novels even though I just end up letting them sit for a year or two afterward and go on to/back to other projects. At least they got written?
 

Yeshanu

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This is my eighth NaNo, and my third win. Last year, I paced myself. I wrote every day, even if I only wrote 500 years. It was actually easy, and I finished two days early.

This year, I didn't write on the first, wrote on the 2nd, then got sick for two weeks. At the halfway mark, I had written just over 10k. I didn't think I was going to make it this year, but I sat at my computer every day and pounded out some words and pounded out 40k in two weeks.

It was just as easy as last year, except that I was a bit sicker.

I learned a couple of very important things that I will keep in mind for future writing:

1) I CAN write to music (I've never done this before, but some of the epic music mixes on YouTube were fantastic for this), and it helps me to stay focussed for longer. I can definitely say that the 3k a day or so I was cranking out would not have been written if it weren't for those mixes.

2) I'm probably allergic to peanuts. But Ally gave me some gummies, and some peanut M&Ms. I was fine eating the gummies, but I started wheezing and coughing like crazy as soon as I started eating the M&Ms. Crap. Just crap. There goes the healthiest writing food. I adore Chipnuts.

Fortunately, by the time NaNo number nine (how's that for absolutely awful alliteration?) came around, I'd been tested for peanut allergies, and found not to have one. Big sigh of relief, plus a crap load of peanut M&Ms. :D

This year I learned that if I write every day, it gets easier and more addictive the longer I can go without missing. My final word count just blew me out of the water -- I had no idea I could write so many words in a single month, most especially not November. But I still didn't write as many words as Lilli did. :tongue

I also learned that if I have two or three projects, and am enthusiastic about all of them, I can switch back and forth depending on my mood. Being a bit of a rebel last month was probably a big help.

Finally, I learned that I'm going to have to offload at least one of my major volunteer commitments, if not for next November, than for the year after, because besides NaNo, I'm on the planning team for two major church events (and both planning teams consist of three or fewer people), plus I play in an orchestra and we ALWAYS have a major concert in November.

At least this year I wasn't sick for two weeks.
 

brasiliareview

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I learned that my first successful NaNo didn't mean that I was finished. I didn't reach The End in the story, so I made myself keep going. Yesterday I did it, I reached The End.

I wrote a complete 70,000 word novel in 42 days. I can hardly believe it. It makes me think that if they were still publishing the pulps, I should sign up for that. Six novels a year is suddenly no problem for me? It took me 22 months to write my last one. And the new one is longer, and I think it's better. Unreal.

All the support and comradery on this board helped. Thank you. You're all wonderful.