1st November - 2013

So, NaNoWriMo begins! Finally. And scary.

Since there're lots of series this season I want to watch, I'm willing to take a break from a few of them, but there are still 3-4-5 ah, I mean- anyway, a couple of them I must follow. But it's nano. So I decided that I can watch an episode every 1k words. If I couldn't write during the day, then I won't watch until I reach the daily wordcount, only on very special, rare occasions (where it might help overcome some plotholes or a writing block). But those will be very rare.
We'll see if it's enough motivation (and the T-shirt and badges and coupons waiting for me at the beginning of December).

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, DEAR FRIENDS, ONCE MORE!

November, here I coooooome~!

It's that time of the year, again. November. The smell of drying, colourful leaves and new TV series in the air, and the perfect time for a cup of hot cocoa or tea, writing your novel in 30 days.

I won't describe Nano again, if you don't know what I'm talking about, nice to meet you, my name is Tika and you can check out this website.

This hopefully means there'll be more posts for the up-coming few weeks AND some whining about the hard life of a novelist with a 42-hour workweek and whatnot. But I'll try to be interesing, or amusing or something so that you won't feel like you're wasting your time reading my lines.

Ahem. And then, thinking back, I still haven't finished my creative writing course series, have I? (No, I haven't.) So maybe I should make it my goal to finish it this year. Say, I'll write those posts in December and finally, I'll be happy I shared the experience with you and I can procrastinate on something else.

Yeah, that sounds like a plan :)

Oh, right. Here's a brand-new website for the Hungarian region of Nanowrimo: HuNoWriMo. This is in Hungarian, though. But don't worry, if you're in Hungary and would like to connect with us, you can find me here, on my blog or pop in to our English speakers' corner on the regional forum. We'll be happy to see you :)
Or if you're Hungarian and can't find infos, then just click that link, please.

Anyway~ See you in November! I'm off to see the wiz- preparations for the Kick-off! ;)

To press on

O-o, I haven't written a blog post in November, yet, BUT IT'S NANOWRIMO!
How could I do that...?

It all started with a 4-day weekend for us. November 1st is a national holiday here, and the 2nd was a Friday, which automatically became a day where we don't go to work, but had to do that work on the next Saturday... Don't ask, I don't see the point, either - it's not like anyone else in the EU are working in Saturdays...
I like the UK's and Japan's holiday system better, but this post is not about that, then again I might do a blog post about that, if anyone's interested or I'm bored and want to write and don't know what to write about and... I'm blabbering on, sorry. It's near midnight.
Also, sorry for my grammar. My English becomes worse as the sun goes down :')

So, first weekend, 4 days! My aim was 75k this year, as well as last year and... on the 22nd day of November, I can say it now that it's more realistic to aim for the usual 50k... Anyway, on the first 4 days, I wrote 2,5k each day. Yay! I was very happy!
Then nothing on the following Monday. I struggled to catch up.

My main problem is that nano wordcounter is eating my words and now, after 30k, it eats about 1,5k now... It's a wee bit disheartening, if I may say. I'm writing in Open Office, by the way. And I suspect the problem lies with OO, not the nanobots. But I don't have word on my netbook, so... there we go.
I was really happy on the 20th when I caught up. Now... now I'm playing catching-up again this weekend.

IT IS THE LAST WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER! We must write A LOT. writewritewrite!
And we have a guest for the next three days, staying over, so I need to set a schedule or something, otherwise, that's it for the last weekend.
I don't even know why I'm so obsessed with this, because I'm still looking for a job, so I should have a lot of time to write, right? And it really doesn't matter if it's weekday or not. But still, I'm struggling. I really should've worked more on that outline in the last days of October...

How are you doing in this... well, let's say it: last week of November? omg it's really only 7 days away, it's past midnight now!
As for my american blog readers, how does Thanksgiving affects your writing? In terms of wordcount or themes in your novel?


41 666 is the aim by the end of 25th, according to nano. Let's do 42k! Or even better, 43k! Or if you're not playing catching-up, as opposed to me, aim for 45k! Because after the weekend, you'll only have 5 weekdays!

~~~

Warning: this blog post was not proof read. I'll do it tomorrow. Or after nano. Whenever I remember.
Hmm... should've probably posted this in the beginning? Oh, well xD
Oh, and I didn't even mention! We had two write-ins! One we did more talking than writing, but the other was really successful, the 6 of us wrote just short of 10,5k! During... about... 3,5 hours. Yeah, we did some talking this time, as well :)

Changing your mind

So, here we are... actually, it was on the 23rd when I changed my mind about what I write for this year's NaNoWriMo.

In my earlier post, I've told you that this time I would write a romcom, which is not a genre I usually write in, and I still like that novel idea, very, very much (though it might be a better script-idea), so I will write it sometime in the future, but now I'm going back to my original plan.

When I started in 2010, I thought it would be a one-book novel. But during November, I realised the story is going to stretch more. Then, over the weeks, months, years... I came to the conclusion that it might be a trilogy. I'm getting more sure every day, actually.

Anyway, when I won in 2010, I planned to continue and write the second book in my next English year*, which meant 2012. Right now. And since I have serious plans for this story, I think it's more efficient to write it now. And in the beginning of October, I've spent a lot of time on the first book and finally finished it (YAY!), so...

It's really close to me, too :) And it's fantasy :D

So, now I have 5 days (and 2 days till the Kick-off in my region!) to come up with an outline for it. Of course, I have some from 2010 (when I thought it would only be a one-book deal), but I need to think up details, because if I aim to 75k this year, then I won't really have time for it during November. I'm afraid I'd still need to do some research, but I'll try to keep it to the minimum and fix things later.

Dear, fellow Wrimos, have you ever changed your mind about what you're writing for NaNoWriMo the last minute? How did it go? :o

*For new readers (or old ones, for that matter, who don't remember, because I've posted about my NaNoWriMo habits so long ago, they forgot about it): every odd year, I write in my native language (Hungarian) and every even year, I write in English. Therefore, for my 4th NaNoWriMo, which is in 2012, I write in English :)

Preparation for NaNoWriMo

Oh, yes. It's that time of the year, again. Almost November.

NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! Because I had other obligations (still have, actually), I think I'll only begin my preparation the end of this week. I'll still have about 2 weeks and that's plenty of time.

I already have an idea, BUT it seems I like to make it harder on myself every year.

I'm a fantasy writer. Sometimes, I write sci-fi, too. And there needs to be some adventure and romance along the way, as well.

This year, I'll write a romantic comedy, which is really out of my... ehm... field of practice. I'm a little bit afraid that I'll get bored halfway, but I really like this idea, so... I'll try to stick with it. I'm really excited about the story - I hope my enthusiasm will last for longer :'D

Actually, I've tried to write a romance story, several years ago. I got bored with it. No fantastic elements? No adventure? Pah! I don't think it helped that I had no love interests, either.

But this year, I'm thinking of those romcom movies I like and I want to do something like those. I want to write this novel to be entertaining then it becomes a best-seller then there will and auction for movie rights then everyone will be happy. And I hope people will be able to relate to the main characters ;)

So, how will I prepare? Well, I already have two pieces of paper with notes (these are like post-it notes, without the gluey-surface, so the notes are not that detailed), and I bought a new, little notebook which I'll be taking down notes in. Plus, that thing with the dictaphone 2 years ago really worked. And since I usually take some walks during the day, I might just use it to "take notes" while wandering around the neighbourhood :)

That's all. I need to come up with some scenes in the muddle middle, because -as usual- I have the beginning and the ending. And I have some ideas for the middle, but they aren't many (or I just forget them); that's why I'll be going around with a dictaphone, before writing them down :)

How do you prepare for NaNoWriMo? Do you have a favourite method?

PS.: This year is English year for me!

ROW 80 - R1 #1

This is my first ROW80 check-in. So I'm sorry in advance if this will be awkward, I'm still familiarizing myself with the whole thing.

And as I said, I'll probably do 1 check-in per week.

My goal was to write at least 500 words for 4 days per week - ticked. I wrote almost 2,5k in 4 days. I didn't write from Wednesday to Friday, because I caught the cold. These words all go to fiction; I've started a new novel on 2nd January.

And this also marks the end of the first chapter!

As for my other goal, it was to revise a chapter of my 2010 NaNovel. Because of my cold, it all came down to Sunday, after I've written my at-least-500-words for today. And I was like 'Ooow, don't wanna! I have fun with the new story!' because I knew it needs so much work. But to start with failure? Nah...

In the end, I opened the document and tried to find where I was the last time I revised (because it was in September...). Chapter 8 didn't have a title and the beginning of chapter 9 had many blank paragraphs, meaning that was where I most likely stopped in September.

I re-read chapter 8 to give a title and found myself laughing at some parts. And realized that I still love this story very much! But it took a different turn from the first draft around chapter 6-8, so I would need to think on chapter 9 as much as I would need to think on my new story...

That said, I decided to leave it for next week. But at least I've found a title for chapter 8, fixed some awkward-sounding sentences and picked up the thread of the story, again. So, until next week, in between (or after?) writing my new novel, I can think on how to continue this old one.

I think I've started off well and because I aimed for a lower wordcount and not for everyday, the cold didn't disrupt me much (though I had to make a conscious effort to sit down and continue the story after I got better)...

Next week, I want to continue the new novel as I did this week and want to plan and write the new chapter 9 for my earlier story. If I can write more (than for 4 days) for the new one, then great, but it's not priority at this point. Haaaaah, why do you give me so many things to revise, earlier novel?!

ROW 80 - Goals

You can find more info about ROW 80 here. Basically, it's a writing challenge where you set the goals for 80 days. There are four (80-days) rounds in a year, the next one starts tomorrow.

And since I have a degree now, NaNoWriMo is over and I'm still looking for a job, this seems the perfect time to finally join! So here're my goals for the 1st round of 2012:

• write at least 500 words 4 days per week
• fix at least a chapter per week from my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel

This might not seem much, but I know about myself that I don't like repetitiveness - which means writing each day isn't a good advice for me. Cue the 4 days I didn't write a word during November. You can call it 'laziness', I call it 'rebelliousness' and I can't really do anything about it.

Anyway, I'd rather start with smaller steps and with a plan than greater ambitions and failure in the end. I can always write more if I have inspiration, right? Right.

Let's see how this ROW80 challenge works for me. Good luck to you, if you're also participating!

Do you make any New Year's resolutions?

Happy New Year! \^o^/

PS.: I think I'm going to do one blog post about this per week (check-in). That, in itself is a challenge for me...

November summary

Okay. So the Christmas preparations and a little contest on DeviantArt took my attention away and I realized that I won't be able to remember in detail , so... with my little NaNoWriMo postcard before me (which has wordcounts and happy or neutral or sad smileys on it and even some red worms) I'll try to sum the whole month up.

I mean, what remained after the 1st week (since I already have a post on that one).

There were all in all, 4 days in November where I haven't written a word (including the one on the 1st week), my best day was 27th, with more than 6k words written.

I struggled to catch up with myself in the first half of the month, so I can have 75k words at the end of November. But I had to learn that MLing and writing a novel isn't such an easy feast. It pained me, but I think it was around the 3rd week when I gave up on my 75k goal and decided to pursue 50k, which I aimed for in the earlier years. And I think that helped greatly.

I let myself lower my aims. I gave myself permission to write less, permission to suck, permission to just write and don't care about expectation - whether they be from myself or others. The only expectation I held onto was the 50k goal.

I wanted to finish on Sunday, but something came up during the weeked, so I wanted to finish on Tuesday, then. The 29th. I didn't...

I crossed the 50k line about 45 mins after midnight, so I finished on the 30th. So, in some ways you could say that I disappointed myself, but if I look at it in another way, then... I wonder if I wouldn't set such high expectations in the beginning, would I still be called a NaNoWriMo winner? Or would I watch the goal line from far away, below 50k?

We might never know. It doesn't matter. What matters is, that I reached 50k and had a wonderful month, with several write-ins, organizing events and encouraging Wrimos and it was exhausting during November, but when I look back on it now... I wouldn't change it in any way.

I'm looking forward to MLing with Poggi next year, too! And to spend a month of crazy writing with my fellow, wonderful and brave Wrimos!

So, Wrimos, let's meet again next November!

If you do NaNoWriMo, do you check on the regional forums once in awhile during the non-Nano period?

I do ;)

NaNoWriMo summary - Week #1.

I... wanted to write every few days or at least once every week, but... well, yeah, it's been hectic. So I'll do a series of 5 posts for every week in the following... weeks. I hope it'll be every few days, then again... I'll try.

We had the Kick-off party on 31st of October, from 4 PM till 8 PM at a café in downtown (the same one we used last year). 16 people showed up and got a little package to survive November, I mean, NaNoWriMo and we had a great time, I think.

Then when we got home, we had a virtual Kick-off from 22 PM until after midnight on the regional chat. Loads of people showed up there, as well. So, I was very happy when I went to sleep after the first wordwar of 2011, which started at midnight ;)

I aimed for 75k this year and to finish my novel. But, it turns out, it was hard enough to write and ML a region. I postponed my 75k challenge to next year or the year after (because, you know, I'll be writing in English next year).

MLing is fun, we created a Facebook page and tried to post there every day (sometimes more than once per day) something that would be useful or inspirational or fun. And we had a regional website this year, which is maintained by Poggi, my senpai ML :)

I think it was the first week when I went around looking for place to have a write-in. I was really excited when a smaller library wrote back - we had 2 write-ins there - and the café near my home was open to us, as well. So all went well, except the 75k goal escaped from me. I don't exactly remember what happened on the 3rd day, but that's when all started to go down. Then I didn't even write on 4th. Not. A. Word.

It's really been like a wavy ocean - this NaNoWriMo :)

I thought I got the second week depression (SWD) earlier, because I wrote more than the minimum average wordcount.

That is, until the third week, but I'll tell you more about that later.

Non-NaNo related events: a birthday get-together at a teahouse on Friday. Ooooh, right! That's when I didn't write a word! It was only in the afternoon, but now that I think back on it - it was hard for me to write before nightfall. Maybe because of the nature of the novel I was writing?

The first part is definitely horror. In the dark.

And I took a day or two off from MLing at the weekend - I needed to get my energies stored back up again (as I've mentioned, MLing is fun, but it's also exhausting) - and Poggi was doing all the work that weekend. Thank you, again, Poggi! That really saved me; actually I think I had sore throat.

Ah, sore throat... it followed me around the entire month...

How did your NaNoWriMo start this year? Did you also struggle with sore throat or other illness during November? :(

PS.: The picture shows the days when I wrote in November and how much I wrote (I mean, the minimum, more, or just something little or even smaller amounts or none).
Feel free to decode it :P
And for my Hungarian friends, especially Poggi: a (piros) pöttyös az igazi!!! ;)

Historical (Regency) Novels & PREPARING!

My notes are very short on this genre, that's why I try to cover more topics in this post.

I) Historical (Regency) Novels
Historical novels became popular in the romantic period. Its characteristics includes the accuracy of details and language usage.
...
And this was it. Plus, books from this genre, e. g. Possession by A. S. Byatt, The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfield, Waterland by Graham Swift (which has parallel editing - there are 2 families' stories which are connected from time to time, by people's stories). Like this:

Looks interesting, doesn't it?


II) Preparation for NaNoWriMo
November is just around the corner and this year, I'm a co-ML of my region. And there're quite a few helpers, so we have manymany new things this year! For example, the 'HuNoWriMo' facebook page we made for our region('s Wrimos), which you can find on the right side of this page.
We're planning the Kick-off party, write-ins and other, online-events. It's so exciting!

As for my NaNo novel, this year, I'm writing it in Hungarian. I decided I change what language I write in, every year. I mean, one year it would be in English, the next in Hungarian, then English, then Hungarian, etc. You get the point.
I see some details quite clearly about the story, but then again, I should probably write a draft down to see how it looks and where I need to put some 'bridge' between two scenes. And to clear up a few things, as well. It's kinda... like a floating fog around my head right now.
It's going to be dark, (hopefully) frightening (horroristic?), and of course, the usual: supernatural elements and romance! And the line between darkness and light is blurred, again. Hmmm, I should really write down my ideas to clear it up!

Are you going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year? How do you prepare for it?

Complain Corner - Why you (probably) won't see me posting for awhile

Yes, again. Lately, because of NaNoWriMo and sinking into self-pity that I won't reach 50k, blablabla.

Now, I'm having exams. I mean, next week. Every day. Even on Friday, though I don't have lessons on that day. And I'll get to know this weekend whether I'll have 1 or 2 exams on Tuesday. Wheepee! (Feel the sarcasm.)

It's gonna be a hectic week, and I'm afraid that I'll need another bottle (or two) of caffeine-filled coke :/ Damn exam-periods, ruining my health. Oh, and I'll have one more exam on the 21st, then I'm clear - until 7th January, but I'm not complaining about that one, because otherwise, it'd have had to have been on the 16th or 23rd of December. A little bit of consideration from a teacher - she's doing her PhD studies, so I guess she hasn't forgot the terrible exam periods, yet. Thank you.

On the other hand, I might have a few posts, because - as all worthwile writers, I can be a big procrastinator. But if I do manage to get my wandering mind under control, then you'll probably won't hear from me for a week or two. Just wanted to warn you.

THEN I'll continue my posts about my creative writing class! You didn't forget about that, did you? We still have a few more lessons to go! And I think I'll translate one of my homeworks into English and post it here. An original fairytale ;)

NaNoWriMo 2010 Summary

This'll be my last completely NaNoWriMo-related entry this year - I think. I don't know yet, how long it'll be, but if it's novel-lenght, sorry in advance. I promise I don't want to go into details, more like a... eer... draft of the third and last week. Oh, and the last two days.

Third week:

At the end of the second week, I was so happy I caught up with TEH PLAN and was only a few hundred words short and feeding off my last blog post, that I felt confident I would finish on time and content with my progress.

Hence those next days when I only wrote a few hundred words. Not much, it didn't even come close to the daily wordcount goal, but still, I wrote some.

Fourth week:

I continued with my few-hundred-words-per-day progress. I still had a week... A WEEK! First, it sounded such a little time, then I reassured myself that's plenty of time. Besides that, I had an exam(-like thingy), then met up with my oldest friend whom I haven't seen for such a long time, so I didn't really have time to write.

And before I knew it, only 5 days were left. I think that's when I began to feel something similar to panic. But no worries! I knew I won't have that much time on the weekend, because I had a few things scheduled, so I had to write a lot on Friday. I can do that easily, right?

Nope. I could only write 1,5k. Then only 1k on Saturday. But I did write 3k on Sunday, which was the most packed day out of the three. Funny how life works, yes? Though I think it might've had something to do with the rapidly rising panic.

More and more of my writing buddies and other fellow wrimos in my region got that nice, shiny, purple bar under their username. Even those who started NaNoWriMo in week two! They only had half the time and they were already finished! And how shameful it'd be if I only had a 2009 winner T-shirt and when someone asks about 2010, I'd be very embarrassed about it, because I couldn't do it!

Yes, I had more on my plate this year and didn't even write in my mother language. But the others who started late, had been very busy, too and they already DID IT!

Thus came Monday, with almost 4k. I wanted to write at least... I don't know... 5k or 6k? Because I only had 1 class on Monday, then I was free (aside from homework for next morning). And Tuesday is a long day. And last year, I managed to write 6k (my record!), but I didn't have classes that day. So it seemed impossible to write even more on Tuesday.

Nonetheless, I closed Monday with 44 422 words. I had to write more than 5,5k on the last day, as if there wasn't enough things to do!!!

On Tuesday, I wrote when waiting between classes, using whatever notebook (paper-based) I dug out of my bag. Bought snacks. Bought coke (but let's keep this between ourselves; I don't fancy coke, I only needed it for the adrenaline and since I'd been waking up before 6 AM for a couple of days and had to write more than 5,5k on a busy schoolday to finish on time, I decided to buy one).

Luckly (?), my last class was canceled, so I got home as fast as I could, typed up the scenes from my notebook and drank coke. And wrote. And wrote, and wrote. And didn't use the Hungarian NaNoWriMo chatroom, until I got to 50k. In 4-4,5 hours, around 8.15 PM, I reached the 50 000 words finishline.

Then I went to eat dinner, started up the chat and after awhile, I realized I downed all 0,5 litre coke during my writing frenzy. And no matter who opened my door, I directed them at my doorhanger which said not to disturb me under any circumstances.

It was crazy. It was a long chase. And I've transcended many things that seemed impossible to overcome before. In 2009, I wrote in Hungarian, my mother language. I had a passive semester at the University, so I only had two, 90-minutes lessons every week at a language school. I had plenty of time on my hands. In 2010, I had and active semester at the University, packed with seminars, which meant I had to prepare for every class. I decided to write in English. Also, this is the semester before my last <touches wood>, so I wrote this with the thought looming behind that I need to get started on my thesis, soon. And if I don't pass a course this semester, I'd be stuck here for another year.

I didn't know I could do it. And if our beloved Municipal Liasion, Poggi, wouldn't have nudged me and encouraged me to try - I still wouldn't know I can achieve this. I'm truly grateful for you, Poggi, if you're reading this, and I'll never forget that it's thanks to you that I know I can overcome my limits like this.

And thank you for you, who got started in the middle of November and showed us courage and enviable determination, persistence and faith that in spite of beginning late, you could still do it. And thank you for those, who were always a few steps before us, and ended November with unbelievably large wordcounts! And thank you for the others, even those who didn't win, because their determination, encouragement and always being helpful meant a lot to me.

It was a great November, let's do this again next year!!! <famous last words>

NaNoWriMo - The Second Week

After my post on Monday about the enthusiastic first weekend, Second Week hit me. Literally.
I was exhausted on Tuesday and had lots of classes (not that that kept me from writing last week, but now I couldn't fight), then Wednesday, I planned to write a lot, after all, I only had one lesson in the morning, then another in the evening, so all should be alright, right?

Not really. The weather was depressing and I felt as if I'd been plunged into the deepest, darkest, blackest waters of self-pity. I had hit a wall - I only had 3 sentences in my outline about what was supposed to happen now in my Novel and I needed at least 3-5 scenes written from them. I couldn't find Inspiration anymore. And my idea which sounded so fantastic earlier, now seemed hollow. I couldn't even get into my characters' head! Ugh.

Then came Thursday, my mood wasn't any better, but I went to all my classes at least. For the record, my last class was Creative Writing. You know, the one that gave me the idea to start this blog.
And we had a special lecture that day - we didn't sit in the classroom, but rather, went to a discussion and book introduction at a bookshop, called 'Írók Boltja' which means 'Writers' Shop' in Hungarian. The event was both in English and in Hungarian. I loved hearing the Irishmen speak and although it was late and I was a bit tired, I was really content.
I even joked with my classmates that this will be a research for me; so when I'll have my booklaunch for my bestseller, I'll already have experiences about these things.
Oh, and I just bought a new mobile phone which I am absolutely in love with! I've wanted this phone for at least 2 months now.

After I got home, tired, but content, I got to know my new cell phone. I knew I wouldn't be writing, no matter how much I planned to, because I still didn't have Inspiration AND I know myself enough to realize I wouldn't be satisfied until I got acquainted with my new gadget. So I did just that.

But you know what happened on Friday? I was still in bed, and the Sun, which has been hiding over the last few days, was now annoyingly bright and shining straight into my eyes from behind the blinds, when inspiration suddenly hit me. It seemed I really only needed to let go of the guilt and quit stressing myself over my wordcount and have my Novel rest a few days. I remember I had a rough second week last year, as well.
I still have a few details to shape (like the very next scene, again! argh!), but my faith returned. I remembered how enthusiastic I was on the last week of October to finally start my story, and how much I loved writing the first few thousand words last week. And I caught up with my wordcount, I wrote more than 4000 words yesterday and I only need about 400 today to reach the official NaNoWriMo wordcount. Which will be a little tricky, since I'm invited to a birthday celebration, but who knows?
Well, I won't stress myself over it, I'll just have to write more words tomorrow, right?

How do you fight SWD (Second Week Depression)? What do you do to get over it? Or you don't even notice, just write, write, write?

NaNoWriMo Day #6-7 A. K. A. 1st weekend

On Saturday, I went to the hairdresser, so I can write my NaNoWriMo looking great.* While there, I read the book I had to for my class on Wednesday. I threw it on the seat next to me after I reached about 30 pages. Yes, it was that bad.
After I got home, I wrote. Then watched a few episodes. Then did this and that and went to the chatroom of our region. Several of my fellow Hungarian Wrimos were participating a weekend-long ww marathon! It was like: 20 mins ww, 10 mins break, 20 mins www, 10 mins break, and so on. I got distracted when I searched the dictionary and eventually gave up participating. I was counting the minutes in the end.
Then realized I wanted to reach 12k by the end of the day and I was getting nowhere. So I logged off the chat and refreshened myself (washing face in cold water, running and skipping around the apartment thrice) and bargained with myself (I wouldn't get to eat dinner, go to the bathroom or watch another episode till I reach 12k) AND began writing again.
And I finally reached 12k (appr. 12,5k)! I was so glad! Then I went back to the chat to cheer the others and make use of my stopwatch, again. I was up till midnight, ready to nod off, but stayed with the others for the last ww for the day :) By the end of the day, I wrote about 2900 words. Woo-hoo!

On Sunday, I wrote little during the day. Then, in the afternoon, I decided to finish that... book. I did it. But I swear it's an energy-vampire, because I was so drained after finishing it, that I didn't even have the strenght to do anything, anymore. I watched two episodes, hoping they would lift my spirits.
They did and I got down to bussiness (A. K. A. writing) in the night. I wanted to reach 15k. As you can see it on the left side, I managed to do it. No matter the cleaning or anything, I managed to get down a little more than 15k words half past 11 PM.
And that's when I remembered that I had to get up early next day! Ugh. I'm still in one piece (almost wrote that starting with capital letters o.O), though I only managed about 300 words so far. But it's still early, right? Even if the sky is already dark and I'm yawning, again. My goal for the day? 17k. 18k would be better, but I don't think I can manage it. 17,5k at the best. But we'll see.

Wish you a few thousand words today!!!


*No, this wasn't the reason, but eventually, it worked out this way, too.

NaNoWriMo Day #3-4-5

I haven't written anything on the 3rd, but I blame it on the gloomy wheather and also, (un)fortunately, I found a new manga series interesting... Which is somewhat surprising, because I usually only do that when I have exams (yes, procastination has NO limits).

On the 4th, I wrote appr. 2365 words. Wow, this sounds so much! I only remember reading that manga, then before I knew it, I had only 1 hour before going to class (creative writing!) and decided to write till I need to get going and did just that. Then, after class, I had a chat with one of my classmates, with hot chocolate and even managed to convince her to sign up for NaNoWriMo! And she did! I told her I finished it on the 26th last year, so it's not too late to join us in NaNoLand. I'm so proud of her!
After I got home, I wrote some more. But it still didn't seem this much :o I'm glad, though.

Today, I wrote appr. 2500 words, so I'm at 9622 words so far. I wanted to reach 10k today, but... certain things got in the way, only half an hour ago. So my day went like this: read the manga (finally caught up with the freshest chapters!), then wrote, then I had to turn off the computer and only got back to writing around... hmm... 7 PM? And been writing since then.
I'm at a scene where I need some idea to think about how exactly should I reach the next plot point, without any plot holes to disappear into o.O So I figured I'd browse the internet for awhile, maybe I get some inspiration, then be done with it. Only, I managed to remember a thing I wanted to check for a couple of days now and always forgot before tonight.
It's the public plan for the new law of higher education (no worries, my English speaking friends, I am speaking of Hungary now - as for my Hungarian friends, feel free to worry, please). I only got to read the intro, but by the time I reached the end of it (it's not long, only 1/4 page) I was so angry, and frustrated and feeling helpless that I knew this was a bad idea before reaching my goal for today. Ugh. I would rant about it, but since I don't like complaining, let's just say that I was overwhelmed by a strong need to get out of here. I mean, out of Hungary. And again. I don't think I can count on my fingers how many times I felt this in the last few years, but it was certainly a lower number than the ones I've felt after the election this spring. It's... suffocating.

But, on to calmer waters: I decided I want to reach at least 12k tomorrow! So now I only need to figure out how to get Odette from one place to another. I have a faint idea, but I still need to see if I can imagine it - I mean, if it's really possible and not a deus ex machina move - you know what I mean.

Wish you at least 1667 words today!

NaNoWriMo Day #2 - A journal entry

Dear Blog,

I successfully managed to flick off a spider from my glasses during today's Russian word test, then between Japanese Literature and Russian Linguistics, I created a time paradox and in order to solve it, I used a non-linear conception of time.
When I got home after my classes, I realized I forgot to lock the keys on my dictaphone, so it recorded 3,5 hours of nothing interesting, but I found out at least that it used appr. 50 MBs of space and the batteries are still okay. I amused myself listening to bits of it.
In the evening, I managed to break our internet-connection (effectively rendering our landphone useless) while trying to work on my NaNoWriMo Novel. Fortunately, the need of the www and my creativity let me fix the connection.
Now I can finally continue my novel. See you later!

2nd Nov., 2010. 7 PM

NaNoWriMo Day #1

As it is almost 8 PM and my fingers hurt, I feel it should be okay to sum up today's events. So, I looked through those aforementioned 295 words, edited a little (I couldn't help myself, I wrote them in such a haste and strange mindset, I was exhausted and 295 words aren't the end of the world - only the beginning of it, at least, in my novel... or not?), wrote some more there, then continued the story.

I must confess, I updated my wordcount more times than I should've - and wandered to the statistics page to see it changed (woah, new shiny little statistics!) and drew the conclusion: do not check your statistics unless you're done with your word-goal for the day. Otherwise, it will just dampen your spirits.
It didn't dampen mine, however, I just kept going, I needed to continue. As of now, I have 2316 words written in English and enjoyed creating them! I planned on doing some more today (I can see a day or two when I absolutely won't be able to write, besides I tend to write as if I am on a roller coaster: a lot in one go, then nothing for days), but I'm not sure I will be able to do so.
You see, I have a test tomorrow (yes, I finished my portion for the day before I went to prepare for it, don't worry, my fellow Wrimos) and besides the fact that I need to study, I wrote my homework. My conclusion: never ever write long texts with rotring. I can't even hold a pencil now and it's even hard to type :'(

So, first day is successful, we'll see what tomorrow brings (I know, test and the need to finish a 300-pages long book in a few hours - oh! and reach my daily word-goal).
Hope you're doing well! Boost your word count while you have the momentum and as long as your fingers don't hurt (too much)! Good luck!

PS.: I don't know how frequently I'll be posting about my NaNo progress (I have a sneaking suspicion it will be infrequently), but I'll try my best.

Managing your time

NaNoWriMo has just started, I've already written 295 words in 5 minutes after midnight, in English (which is not my native language), I'll probably skim through it, because it looks rather ungainly and 295 not such an amount that I can lose precious time because of it.

While were're at it, TIME. Not only my NaNo Novel includes time-travelling, but I think I may need that little handy hourglass-thing Hermione has (but doesn't every Wrimo?). I have to figure out how to prepare for next day's word-test at University and do my homework for Tuesday, and I need to read a few-hundred pages long book before Wednesday morning.
Oh, and write for my NaNo. Why are there only 24 hrs a day? And it's only day 1! (And only 11AM...)

Hope you're doing better and don't stress yourself over every little thing as I do. How was/is your first day in this year's NaNoLand?

PS.: The word-count widgets are active! Shiny~~!

Preparing for NaNoWriMo

Only a little more than a day and it starts! I'm really excited, eager to write which is a great feeling! Writing is easier when one's enthusiastic, right?

Right. Still need to figure some things out before it begins. But I would love to write instead of smoothing out the details. I've just finished the outline yesterday evening. I was glad I can finally see exactly where I wanted the story to go and how to prevent time's material from fracturing further, when who decided to join? After I mentally finished my story? Another character! It's so frustrating, because now I have to edit the 2/3 of the outline so she would fit into the storyline. However, I can see how she would propel some events and she also has a big role in the romantic thread of the story.

Ah, the romantic thread. I hope I'll be okay with it this year, because I'm afraid that in my last NaNo, it only existed in my imagination, but not in my actual storytelling. Maybe I should re-read some of my old works.

I used a new method (for me) this year while collecting my ideas for my novel. My mp3 player broke, but I can still use the dictaphone mode. So I made notes on that and later, listened to my own voice (ugh) and it took a few afternoons and evenings, but I finally managed to get everything typed into my computer. The best thing is, my notes on the dictaphone are in Hungarian, while I was writing them down in English. A warm-up for my NaNo this year, because I'm writing it in English!

The point is, I love that it captures more of my ideas and I can think paralelly not only on 2 or 3 threads, but on one more and I won't forget it, because I only need to listen to it once more, after I wrote down my other idea(s). So it may take more time, but I think it's perfect for being more creative and for a brainstorming session, of course.

What methods do you use while outlining? How are you preparing for NaNoWriMo? Are you as excited to begin as I am?