Target This Year: 60,000

60,000 words.

That's right. Your eyes are not deceiving you. 60,000 words is my goal this year. Even with a full time job and The World Race looming on the horizon, I aspire for greater heights than a 50,000 word manuscript I probably won't touch again until December of next year. I am determined to pound "60,000 words for the win" into my head, instead of 50,000. It will still be sitting and waiting for me when I get back in December 2010, but it will be longer... and there might be a little bit more to salvage at the end.

Why 60,000?

So I can stretch myself. It's like physical training, really. The more and further I stretch myself, the more and further I can go. I want to work myself up to 100,000 words.

It doesn't seem that unrealistic, if you think about it. When others crank 100,000 and 200,000 word manuscripts in the month of November, it seems like a drop in the bucket, 60,000... and not quite so crazy. 60,000 - here I come!

5 Reasons I Love NaNoWriMo

5 Reasons I Love National Novel Writing Month (in no particular order) and why:

1. NaNoWriMo CD Swap.
I've already written a blog about it, which you can read here.

2. The Writing Dares
Where else are you going to see people dare you to add killer penguins or pantless characters to that novel brewing in your head? View the bulletin board topic here and wade through it. For those with no ambitions to write a novel, do so for the hilarity and absurdity you will encounter. Well worth your time, I promise.

3. It's a world-wide community of support.
From word sprints to n00b adoption to sharing what songs could make a goth MC want to come out and play next month on the boards... everyone who participates is in this to win this, and to help other participants to do so along the way. Much thanks to The Office of Letters and Light, who work their tails off every year to not only put on NaNoWriMo, but ScriptFrenzy in April as well. They do an incredible job during NaNo with weekly pep talks, constant website updates, and in general encouraging over-caffeinated, slightly crazy novelist-wannabes to crank out 50,000+ words in 30 days. And script-writing wannabes to finish a 100-page script in 30 days - depending whether you're talking about November or April.

4. It's an excuse to write that novel brewing in my head this past year.
Yes, there has been a novel idea brewing in my head for the past year. Several have been, as a matter of fact. If not for NaNoWriMo, I would probably never make myself find the time to flesh them out and see if I can, in fact, turn them into a novel. Thank you for giving me a reason to write.

5. Procrastination... go far, far away.
What better way to fend off procrastination than by emphasizing A) the overwhelming nature of cranking out a 50,000+ word manuscript, and B) the enormously important and quickly looming deadline of 30 days? As much as I love to put a lot of things off as much as I can get away with, with NaNoWriMo, I have no valid excuse. It's do or die, baby.

I realize that almost half these reasons aren't related so much to NaNo as they are to a specific character trait of mine... All I'm trying to say is these are some of my reasons. Agree or disagree, you can't deny that the power of a collective agenda cannot be denied. In this case, the agenda happens to be writing novels.

To all my fellow NaNoWriMoers, this collective jump off a bridge is well worth it. I look forward to seeing what comes out of this year's attempts.

NaNoWriMo CD Share

I have a borderline addiction to music. It’s pretty sickening how much music I have on my computer, really. But it’s also the reason why I love one of the things I do about NaNoWriMo… the CD swap each year (I really should make a list of all the things I love about NaNoWriMo, but I’ll save that for another blog). Where else can you get music from a fellow writer who wants to help and encourage you to get through your 50,000+ word goal with some great tunes you might never have taken the time or gotten the courage to listen to otherwise?

Last year I came out on the other side with not only 50,183 words, but some great music to boot -- amongst other things. What I received from fellow NaNoers varied from classical to soundtracks to musicals… Not only was I able to do something I dearly love (explore music genres completely new to me), but the music brought new life and inspiration to my novel. I almost think I would dropped out otherwise.

Needless to say, I am definitely on board again. Fellow NaNoers, if you can afford to mail a few CDs, you should definitely get involved in this.

NaNoPrepMo

It's the month before the biggest month of the year for us aspiring novelists. October, the month where everyone who is going to plot and plan their NaNoWriMo novels to death either starts to or is in over their heads with their scheming. It is also the month where people switch ideas, ditch ideas, and possibly decide by the end of the month to just wing it through November. I call it NaNoPrepMo.

Prep is going well for this year's novel. Instead of creating character bios, I've divided the novel into "themed" chunks, and am outlining each as inspiration strikes. A plot line is emerging, and I am really getting excited for this. Never mind the full time job and preparations for The World Race (if you want to read about what's up with all that, click here), I'm doing it again! I'll be much better about updating my word counts this go round on this blog, and you'll see why in just a matter of days if we're buddies on facebook or otherwise know me.

While we wait for NaNoWriMo to officially kick off, here are a few songs off the 2009 NaNoWriMo playlist that is in progress along with outlines and such! I feel like these songs really have a lot to do with each theme they represent, and I leave it to you to guess what the theme might be for each.


NaNoWriMo 2009
1. "Beautiful" - Bethany Dillon
2. "Be Strong" - Matthew West
3. "Misery Business (Acoustic Version)" - Paramore
4. "Clear The Stage" - Ross King
5. "You Are" - Tenth Avenue North
6. "The Heart of Worship" - Sonicflood
7. "Dead Man (Carry Me)" - Jars of Clay
8. "Faith, Love, and Happiness" - Thousand Foot Krutch
9. "Blood on My Hands" - The Used
10. "Roots Rock Riot" - Skindred

Epic Failure

NaNoEdMo was a complete bust. I wrote the last blog here, and then completely abandoned the idea. I plead mental insanity induced by far too many hours at work for that blunder. The end result is that I am still sitting staring at a novel that is only mostly finished, and hardly edited.

This week and next week are a no-go on the editing process, but I am finding myself interested in picking up the pen and paper and heading into rewrite land. Maybe I can whip this thing into shape yet.

February Update

I mentioned last month that it would be a toss-up as to which novel I would edit during NaNoEdMo, which starts six days from now. That was while I was working a 40-hour week still, and felt like I would have time to devote to fifty hours of editing. Now, I am not so sure that this is the case.

Am I saying that I am giving up on the idea of NaNoEdMo completely? No, far from it. What I am setting for myself as a goal is thirty-one hours - an hour a day every day next month.

Now, to figure out which novel it's going to be!

January Update

No, I haven't finished my NaNo yet, so I guess NaNoFiMo was a real bust for me. December's a rough time to try to wrap something like that up, and I guess the fact that I'm trying to make excuses says my heart wasn't in FiMo in the first place. I do want to finish it, and I will finish it, but after a month of constant cohabitation, my characters need a break from me, and I... I need a break from them. You forget how exhausting it can be to spend so much time with the same people in such a short number of days until something like this comes up.

Truthfully, I think it would have been a huge bust for me regardless of which month of the year it was, though. Mostly because these characters are as sick of me as I am of them, and space does us good, but also because other novels I have sitting around just waiting to be polished. Those characters are tired of me paying so little attention to them, they want to make sure their story isn't forgotten. And they want to make sure I get it right this time. Seems like a win-win to me. I get a break from one set (and them from me), and another set gets my time and energy for awhile.

We'll see who gets top billing for NaNoEdMo - the fight should get interesting. I'll keep you posted.