For the past 24 hours I've been wanting to chime in about participating in NaNoWriMo on this discussion board, but I wasn't quite sure where my comment would fit . . .

I've never done NaNoWriMo before. I will admit . . . I am NERVOUS!

Anybody else?

I mean, I am excited, and I know I can do it, and I know it's going to be a ton of fun to do it as a group (so excited to cheer each other on!). BUT. Somewhere implicit in those 4 syllables is some kind of commitment to waking up REALLY early (because how else I am ever going to do 50K words in one--rather short, BTW, if you consider the holidays and all the movie premieres--month?).

The waking up early is the part that scares me the most.

Anyway, who else out there is getting the jangly jitters about NaNoWriMo, for this or other reasons??

Let's support each other. Let's get excited!! Together we will overcome our fears!

LS

Don't be afraid, Lucy!

I commit to getting you emergency cupcakes at least twice in the month of November to help you beat the midday slump.

Hello! For some reason I can reply now - it wasn't letting me earlier. 

NaNoWriMo is scary and exhilarating and hard. I've attempted every year since 2005 and only won once, when I actually spent some time planning in October (which I probably should be doing now), and actually managed to get into a good writing routine. But, for every year I've 'failed' I managed to achieve more than I could have done, written more words, discovered more ideas, than I ever could have if I didn't attempt the craziness of NaNo. 

Totally worth it.

Well, I did it! A writer friend has been trying to persuade me to do NaNo for 2...maybe even 3 years. I always said no, no, no. I can't crank out a novel in a month. That's insane! Who can do that? (Speaking as a methodical writer, not to mention busy woman). I've got kids. I've got a husband. And I've got all their laundry to keep up with for gosh sakes!

Yet, as you know, I just recently joined your online writing community and came to find that you are sponsoring NaNo. I told my friend and she of course said right away, "It's a sign. You have to do it now." I filed it in my 'under heavy consideration' folder, still in need of further validation that I should hop on this insanity train called NaNo. 

Then I packed that idea away and proceeded along with my day, including taking my kiddos to the library.  Walking through the hallway, guess what's hanging right on the wall, right in front of my own two eyes? A flyer. 'Do you NaNo?'  Oh Cheese and Crackers!!! Even I can't ignore that literal of a sign. So here I am, excited, but more than slightly perplexed as to where I am going to find the time But all good things tend to start that way.

Didn't actually find it that difficult for my 2012 year, first time round and I won .  Started a few days late so I was hitting 2,500 words a day to catch up and wound up hitting 50k a few days early.  I suppose I'm lucky I can pound a few words out at work during slow times.  Usually if you have about an hour of time you can get the 1,337 words in easier than you may think.

The key is quantity not quality.  Don't worry about bad grammar or structure, just get words on the page.  I went back through my MS after (gulp) and made A LOT of changes but the meat of the content was there thanks to NaNoWriMo.

I'll be on there again this year.  Hope to see you there!

Thanks for the encouragement! It will be quite the adventure! An hour of writing...yeah... that will be my issue for sure. I almost can't even say 'write an hour each day' without starting to laugh.  Not because I don't want to, but in my life, it doesn't happen like that very often. Mine is going to be more about grabbing 5 minutes here and 15 minutes over there. As long as it gets me closer to my goal, it's all good!

--edited by Maggie Whiet on 10/18/2013, 6:00 PM--

Don't be nervous Lucy!  It's a lot of fun.  If you look at the 50,000 word goal, it can be intimidating, but I break it up into small goals.  Words per day target, words per week target and so on. 

If you have a job/family/obligations (like most of us do) you can always carry a pad of paper and pen in your bag.  Whenever you find yourself with a few minutes waiting, like at the doctor's office, start writing a scene.  You can always transcribe it later.  I also write very early in the morning before everyone else is up and my biggest motivator is coffee.  Before I can pour the first cup I make myself write 500 words. 

@Danielle, thank you so much for your words of encouragement . . .  but 500 words BEFORE coffee?!?!?! Now I am more scared than ever!!

Just kidding, that's a fantastic idea. I do love making those kinds of bargains with myself--they work!!

That's a great idea! Thanks!

Maggie

Yes, so last week I was feeling a little scared of Nano . . . made obvious by this Nano image I made to pin on Pinterest . . .

But I am feeling more confident this week. I spent the weekend doing Nano prep (some of which I documented on the Book Country blog), and I am making a plan for how I am going to squeeze in the writing!

I heard from DCLabs on Twitter yesterday about how he's prepping for Nano--what's everyone else doing to get ready?

Besides the first year I did NaNoWriMo, I was always nervous to write, hell I'm even nervous now, and this'll be my 4th attempt. I think the key is to just find a few good places to write, and when you do write, just loose yourself in your work. I know how it is to be busy with whatever, so right away, as soon as you can, I would write for as long as you could, way past 1667 words, that way your ahead of the challenge. Believe me it's so, so helpful.

Whatever you decide to write, and wherever and whenever you decide to do it at, I hope you're able to complete the challenge. I'm sure everyone would love to read your work here. Good luck! Believe in yourself and your writing! You can do this!

@BohemianStarlight--thank you so much for your post! Wonderfully kind words, and also wise: I DO need to start thinking about where all this "magic" is going to happen--at home? In coffee shops? Tapping away on my phone on the subway?

Where are you all planning to do your NaNo writing>

Hi Lucy!  I'll cheer you on, if you cheer me on.  This is my first year too. 

50,000 words - in a month?  When I haven't been able to do it in a year?  Well, according to this source, it is 108 pages, divided by 30, brings it down to only 3.6 pages a day.  Now that number I can handle.  Heck, I write that much in my journal - easy.   

Don't get me wrong though - I am way beyond nervous.  I need to pep talk myself through this one.

Well, good luck and thanks for the thread here.  Oh, by the way, I'll supply the brownies.

--edited by fyrestarre on 10/31/2013, 9:15 PM--

Hi everyone!

So thankful for all this cheering each other on. It definitely makes NaNo a lot of fun!

@Fyrestarre--I love the stats. I was kinda thinking the same thing. When I write Book Country blog posts, they easily get up to a word count of over 1600 words before I start cutting them to make them more concise and pithy (hehe, or so I hope). When I realized that, I started to think--NP! I can do this, it's just writing the words I am used to, but in another medium.

I'm doing well so far, thanks to two very serious writing binges in the last four days. I've got a lot of my real work here at Book Country to do today and this week--just as fun, but in a different way--so I am not quite sure how much I will get done.

@Imawake--what do you think is pulling your focus?

Lucy

I am happy to say I have fully overcome my fear of NaNoWriMo! I wrote a post for the Penguin blog about it today.

How's everybody else feeling??