NaNoWriMO - I'm Writing Again!

Anyone here doing this?

It started Sunday and I have written 13,397 words since then. And, they make sense!

I haven't written anything since January except letters and emails. Ideas and words were bumping into each other in my head, but they couldn't find the door out. NaNoWriMo gave them that door.

I found that I needed the discipline to sit down and write no matter what wasn't done or who called. Even hubby doesn't bother me when I write. (That is the only time he doesn't bother me.)

My novel is coming along great and I must say I am pleased with it so far.

If you are interested you can still join.

I am doing this as well, my third year. I "won" the first year I did it, the second, eh, not so much.

I am up to 12,310 words.

You are way ahead! That is truly awesome.

I have no idea if my novel is good or not.

I corrected some punctuation mistakes last night and saw some inconsistencies in the time-line. That can be taken care of in the edits. Right now I am just focusing on getting the story down. It is really coming easy. So easy, in fact, that I don't want to stop to do anything else. Hubby literally pulled the plug on the computer to get my attention. It is a good thing that I had autosave after 5 mins so I only lost a couple of hundred words or my friends would have had to bail me out of jail for murder.

I only correct errors if I notice them while I type. I don't edit until after the first draft anyway.

I'm doing it on my Dell because I downloaded a program for novel writing and I love it. yWriter

I have never used anything like this before and it really helps to organize what I am writing.

I am still just letting the creativity flow. The difference is I can
tell whose viewpoint it is and make a notation to refresh my memory on
that particular scene.

I don't have the updated version of the program but I intend to get it
when November's writing is done. I don't know what it would do with
what I have already written.

I use gedit to write. Its a plain text editor but it does the job. You can have multiple tabs open ala firefox, that's where I keep notes, etc.

When I'm done, I'll pretty it up in Adobe FrameMaker.

You're having fun, Sue, and being creative at the same time. Best of luck with the book.

Malcolm

Sue, I love Ywriter, too. It has been especially helpful with the development of Adam. As I get older, it is more difficult to keep everything in my head. Ywriter does that for me.

Ann

What do these programs -ywriter, gedit- do that MS Word doesn't? I've been using ordinary word processing programs for 25 years, first Apple's, then Microsoft's. They do the job. What am I missing?

About NaNoWriMo, no, I don't specifically devote a month to writing, I've been writing about six hours a day for years (three book contracts in five years). I don't get its whole point. Is it just to feel you're part of a larger group?

LC, yWriter isn't so much a word processor as it is novel writing software. And it's free.

http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

The video on this page is a bit long - over 8 minutes, but it does a good job of showing what it can do. It's basically a way of organizing all your work - a means of getting character sketches and scene descriptions, etc. in one place, as well as an easy way to set up chapters and to work back and forth.

Ann

I use roughdraft.http://www.richardsalsbury.com/ another free program. It has different modes for scripts stage screen or radio and prose. But I will also try ywriter.

Thanks for the link.

Sue it's nice to see you creative again.

Ann, thx for that link, I actually watched the whole video! Looks like a nice piece of software. If I ever give a novel a shot, I'll try it.

On a tangent, I've often wondered about all these software developers who put stuff like this out there for free, and how much paid business it eventually brings them. I'm wondering because in the textbook open source movement, free software is often brought up by those who think texts should be free, too. I never got the analogy and I never got how giving away your product really benefits you.

I've been on textbook selection committees. I must admit, teachers are driven towards getting freebies. We pay lots of attention to the textbook companies who have packages that include free supplements. I never thought about getting the text itself free, though. That does seem to defeat the purpose.

Ann

Oh yeah, the need to include free supplements with a text is a given. Teachers won't look at a book without them. I always thought it was pure laziness, but now I'm the same way. Oh well.

Prentice Hall is going a step beyond that now. They're setting up Second Life-like sites where you can go in and actually "try out" equipment (e.g., in a MyWeldingLab site). They're doing a companion website for my book, "repurposing" (my editor's words) the book's material for it. Unfortunately, I see nothing in my contract that gives me a cut of this (companion websites always have an access charge). I may pursue that further, but I digress.

I think money is a big part of the problem. Money and time. Teachers don't have a whole lot of either. Finding ways to put the lessons across to the most students. Part of the job.

Oh, No! I'm thinking in fragments. Am I getting old or what.

Ann

Actually, the publishers have taken OVER much of the job with the kinds of supplements teachers demand. Here's what you need to sell a text:

• Sample syllabus
  
• Worksheets with solution manual
  
• Test bank with 100's of test questions and, of course, solutions.
  
• Power points of every chapter, with images and bullet points of chapter material
  
• Databank of all images not in the Powerpoint, numbered and referenced by chapter
  

How lazy can you get?

Yep, sounds familiar. Just before I retired in 2002, we adopted new Lit/Comp texts that had all that stuff. I got to take advantage for about a year. The really cool thing was that they were actually usable.

Ann

What's really ironic is that this same group complains about textbook prices.

I particpated in NaNo two years. A lot of fun. The most important thing I got from it was the ablility to turn off the internal editor and just get words down. I use the same technique now. It really helped me. Later, I go back and revise.

I'm taking this year off. I just finished a novel and I have a lot of editing to do.

At this point I am at 33,420 words. I am about four days ahead, if my math is right.

I've passed the 40,000 mark last night. I was forced to take 3 days off, or I would have more words.

LC asked:

Quote :

Is it just to feel you're part of a larger group?

Not for me. I find it difficult to snag the time I need to write. With the NaNo group (this is my first year), I actually made time for two reasons: First, it gave me motivation to make sure I sat down and wrote; second, it helped me see that others were in the same boat as me.

I make sure I sit down every night and write for at least two hours. Last night I wrote for five hours. Boy, was I stiff. I don't just crank out words for numbers. My characters aren't messing around. They want their story told.