Are you writing like an insane person finishing up NaNoWriMo? Three days left!! Whoo hoo!!! For those of you who've made it this far, my hat is so far off to you I can't even reach it. Wow, you are seriously awesome. Events conspired to throw me off my NaNo game only a week into the process this year (sigh), and this my first time, too. But I got enough of a taste—and 34 pages, :-) —that I know a little about the pressure, excitement, frustration, exhaustion, and exhilaration that come with it. Hang in there, NaNoWriMo Scribes, only two more days after today!
There is nothing like writing to keep a person thinking, learning, striving, and feeling like life is amazing. So, in spite of this painfully funny cartoon from
The New Yorker magazine that reflects the current publishing industry all too well,
never say die. If you love writing (at least when you don't hate it), your destiny has found you.
(Just remember, DO NOT send your unedited NaNoWriMo manuscript to agents. I heard last week that many agents claim they hate the first week of December because so many people do exactly that. Can you believe such a deluge happens? I don't think I can. It must be an urban myth. Sounds like a plot for a page turner, though. Hmmmm . . .)
~ Linda
Sending a NaNo novel to agents the first week of December is probably a baaaaad idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear that your NaNo plans got derailed Linda! But at least you felt the excitement and got 34 new pages out of it. That's still moving forward.
ReplyDeleteAs for the deluge of subs after NaNo, I send out a plea, writers, for the sake of your novel and career, DON'T DO THIS. A first draft is never the final draft. Ever.
Definitely, Lydia!
ReplyDeleteWell, Heather, there's always next year :-) Actually, the experience got me focused on where I want to go next with my writing career, so I'm hoping that next Nov. 1 I will have one new book down and be ready to take a shot at another of the three books I know I want to write.
ReplyDeleteI'm seconding your plea!
This was my first year also. I have made it to 42,000 words. I'm stalled. Don't know if I'll make the last haul or not. Hope so. Don't want to fail after coming this far. Frankly, I wouldn't submit this to my critique group. It's crap. Rushing to get in word count does not make for a "good" piece of art.
ReplyDeleteLinda, That is the funniest thing I've heard...sending them to agents. I'm a NaNo dropout. I just realized I couldn't keep this on my plate. I got 30,000 words in the first 2 weeks... but then had to say buh bye. Will get back on it in January.
ReplyDeleteDawn, that is fantastic that you got to 42000 words! It's a huge accomplishment that lets you know you have the discipline to write, even if what comes out is crap. I'll bet not all of it is crap, either!
ReplyDeleteAh, my fellow dropout, Karlene! Wish I'd made it that far, but every little bit helps. Congrats on getting there, and having something to pick up on in January! (Are you a Grandma again yet? Thoughts are with you all, and especially Kayla)
ReplyDeleteI started a book on 9 November, after finishing my 406,000-word sequel to my long Russian historical novel on 5 November. I knew I couldn't sign up for NaNao with this new book (the third in a contemporary historical fiction family saga) since it would come in at longer than 50,000 words. As of today, I've written around 48,700 words and might make 50k by the end of the month. I estimate this will be one of my shortest non-YA books (by my standards), at around 150-200k.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, Carrie Anne, 406,000 is an incredible wordcount! 150-200K is definitely not short by most standards, either. How fun for you to be immersed so deeply in a story that it takes you there. Marketing that as a new author must be difficult, but these days the field is wide open to anyone willing to put the effort in to finding out what will work for them! Write on!
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