NaNoWriMo! Are you doing it?

[littlescotia]

It's National Novel Writing Month - 30 days to write $50,000 words. ( www.nanowrimo.com ) Are any of you doing it this month? (You know, because we all have TIME to write nearly non stop during the busiest month of our home businesses..lol..I"m being completely facetious.)

So far I'm keeping up with the word count, but I have NO friends on my buddy's list there, and I"m sure by next week we'll be needing the support

Lori

[bluemariposa]

For what it's worth, I just wrote 2096 words in the last 3 hours. 50000 in a month seems doable if you can set aside time each day... and of course have something to say. That's the trick.. knowing what to say. I've started outlines for book ideas before but they never materialized. I'm famous for having great ideas, but they tend to fizzle out after a few days.

I never wrote anything more than articles. My 2096 words today are in the form of 4 short articles that could probably be put together and put into a book if I kept going. They're all related and could easily be made better with more detailed information. However, that's not my purpose here so I'm happy with what I have.

Sorry for the ramble... no I'm not doing NaNoWriMo.

[Yuliya Mironova]

No, I'm not. Again.

I did it in 2007. Intended to do it in 2008 but just didn't have time for it, when it came to it; and this year I knew I wasn't going to have time for it and am "sitting it out" yet again. 2010, I hope.

Good luck with it! There's a thread on it in the 'WAHM's Who Write' folder, in case you hadn't seen it ... here.

[littlescotia]

Oh, I hadn't seen the thread there yet, Yuliya! thanks!

[Amy Jacobs]

WOW that's a lot of words good luck to all those who take the challenge

[anniekatt]

So the contest consists of having to write 50,000 words and winner gets $50K? Am not clear on that yet. I've visited the site, but it was too fleeting and I've not had my 1st cup of coffee yet, lol...can't seem to focus too well without...

Will have to check it out again. Ironically, I spent last night researching agents for a novel that I need to submit and they too need to have word count in the query letter....I am used to writing and am so happy I can do it again (was very ill for a long time)...

Wishing erveryone a great day and the best with this challenge,

Annie

[Yuliya Mironova]

Originally Posted by anniekatt

So the contest consists of having to write 50,000 words and winner gets $50K?

Nooooo, anyone who manages to write 50,000+ words during the month is a "winner" (and quite right, too) and gets a digital certificate to prove it, too. You submit what you wrote at the end of the month and they do a word-count (without reading the content). NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, nothing about judgment/quality. Which does serve a very valuable purpose in that it encourages people to appreciate that you can't be a writer without getting words down on paper (or saved in software, anyway, these days), and the emphasis is very much on "producing your word-count for the day", with the philosophy that you can always edit later.

There's a forum there, too, which is a great distraction, of course, and some of it makes really interesting reading!

Originally Posted by anniekatt

I spent last night researching agents for a novel that I need to submit

Oooh, good luck!!! Remember two things (both rather counterintuitive but drilled into me by some successful writer friends):-

(i) Finding an agent is more important (and sometimes harder) than finding a publisher

(ii) The cover letter matters just as much as the text of the novel



I have still not yet completed the novel I began in November 2007. I have two thirds of it written in something like "second draft" and the remainder sketched out, though.

[anniekatt]

Hi Yulia and thanks for clarifying that "wishful thinking" on my part, lol, about the 50,000 words on the site that is the focus of this post.

I am happy to read--although not surprised!!!--that you are also in the throes of writing a novel. You come across as definitively eloquent in your posts. Yayyy for this urge to write!

Yes, I do agree that finding an agent--the right agent--is the proverbial needle in a haystack. I used to write about music, once upon a time, and the writing world was a much different landscape then. Strangely enough, I had 3 agents interested in this novel prior to my getting ill (7 years ago) and now none of them are in existence.

It is a very "liquid" world, especially now, with so many factors impacting it, not excluding the economy collapse and the fact that fiction is in the back of the cart due to so many people clamoring for "how to" books. It is a much smaller, yet more magical pond, so to speak. Although the demand for fiction has become miniscule, the potential for vastness exists on a scale such as never before--ie; the Harry Potter phenomenon (that could never have been so vast before the internet and this newly fiercely streamlined landscape) and a newly emergent genre known as YA (young adult fiction)---the Twilight series for teens that is exploding on film, TV and was launched in print.

It is a brave new world, so to speak. I'd like to extend my wishes for your success with your novel. I know you can do it!!! I'd like to also venture to add that a work need not necessarily be completed in order for you to try to "pitch" it successfully in a killer query letter to a suitable agent (one that tends to specialize in the genre that your novel falls within)...

Wishing you the best,

Annie

[Yuliya Mironova]

Hi Annie,

Many thanks, and very best wishes with yours, which I'm sure will find a "home" some time ... as the saying goes, "Persistence gets you published".

Over the last couple of years, I've learned quite a bit about this process by reading books written by agents (UK ones, in my case - the UK is the obvious first hope for me, finding an agent), and one or two websites: I'm also an avid reader of "The Rejecter" and have been for a long time. I also think this book is absolutely great and have learned far more from it than from 5 other books on the subject combined together.

Times are not exactly optimal anywhere, at the moment, for getting "first fiction" published, unfortunately.

Though, I understand too, given the massive expenses of committing themselves to publishing a first novel, "advances" are also on the high side by comparison with earlier years, on the logical and understandable grounds that if a publisher can't afford to pay a respectable advance, he can't afford to publish and market one's book properly in the first place.

I'm gradually coming to appreciate that, especially for "first fiction", a publisher (eventually) really isn't buying "a manuscript": he's buying "an author". No first fiction will be accepted without options on at least one (and usually two) subsequent works. One has to sell oneself as well as one's writing. Or one's agent has to.

(I'm writing in Russian - when it's completely finished in "second draft" I'll probably translate it into English myself first, and then have it edited by a professional literary translator as well, before submission anywhere. For me, it's a very long process!).

Good luck and warm greetings!

[MsFit]

Never heard of that site before.
it sounds like it could be fun though.