NaNo, Day 19: misc notes
Monday, November 19th, 2018 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizvogelSomething I should have given more weight to, when deciding whether to do NaNo this year, was the fact that I had to abandon my usual monthly word-count metric during FFG because the pressure of having to hit that many words was near-paralyzing me (in much the same way other people say perfectionism paralyzes them). I'm getting over it now, but I think a lot of the mid-month dive in productivity can be attributed to that.
I'm still working to catch up from Day 13's no-writing, and the surrounding days' less-than-quota output. The numbers are at least going in the right direction.
I went to a write-in Thursday, day 15. It was a good move. While I don't do the "word sprints" or other games/challenges -- that sort of thing just doesn't work for me -- it is easier to focus when you're surrounded by a bunch of other people typing industriously away. It also makes it easier to resist the temptation to bring up Minesweeper. ;-) I got a decent chunk of words done at the write-in, and I've been hitting quota or better since.
One of the difficulties has been that I leave that last chunk of writing for, well, last, and then somehow it's midnight and I still haven't done it. Saturday I determined to do better, and put in several sessions earlier in the day, so that come evening I only needed another 250 words. And then housework ran late, and dinner, and an extra ep of TV because the cats were too cute to move, and suddenly it was one in the morning and I still hadn't sat down for that final session. Argh.
Sunday I went to another write-in, largely because I needed to get out of the physical environment that Saturday's scheduling debacle happened in. Wasn't sure that was really where I wanted to go, but I didn't have a better idea. It took me quite a while to get going, but once I did it was a good move again. Got most of my day's words done there -- and at least I finished the final at-home session at midnight! It's an improvement.
Of the days I've done quota or better so far, there's only been one where it took me less than four hours.
Aside from word count, I'm not happy with how the book is going. I don't think it's going to have the charm of the first one, and I think it's going to need a lot more revising. The first one was full of sesquipidalian vocabulary and jokes about collective nouns; this one's got the vocabularic variety of a skipping record. And for all it made sense at the time, it turns out competent ninjas aren't nearly as entertaining as incompetent ones. And I got distracted and didn't end up having the characters set fire to the thing. I'm hoping the flying ferrets will make up for some of it.
As for today, I'm less than 200 shy of quota as I type this, and I would rather stick my cerebrum on a grinding wheel than keep writing, even though I think what I've done today is reasonably decent. I'm going to take a short break, and then get back to the writing before this turns into another 200-at-2-am debacle.
I'm still working to catch up from Day 13's no-writing, and the surrounding days' less-than-quota output. The numbers are at least going in the right direction.
I went to a write-in Thursday, day 15. It was a good move. While I don't do the "word sprints" or other games/challenges -- that sort of thing just doesn't work for me -- it is easier to focus when you're surrounded by a bunch of other people typing industriously away. It also makes it easier to resist the temptation to bring up Minesweeper. ;-) I got a decent chunk of words done at the write-in, and I've been hitting quota or better since.
One of the difficulties has been that I leave that last chunk of writing for, well, last, and then somehow it's midnight and I still haven't done it. Saturday I determined to do better, and put in several sessions earlier in the day, so that come evening I only needed another 250 words. And then housework ran late, and dinner, and an extra ep of TV because the cats were too cute to move, and suddenly it was one in the morning and I still hadn't sat down for that final session. Argh.
Sunday I went to another write-in, largely because I needed to get out of the physical environment that Saturday's scheduling debacle happened in. Wasn't sure that was really where I wanted to go, but I didn't have a better idea. It took me quite a while to get going, but once I did it was a good move again. Got most of my day's words done there -- and at least I finished the final at-home session at midnight! It's an improvement.
Of the days I've done quota or better so far, there's only been one where it took me less than four hours.
Aside from word count, I'm not happy with how the book is going. I don't think it's going to have the charm of the first one, and I think it's going to need a lot more revising. The first one was full of sesquipidalian vocabulary and jokes about collective nouns; this one's got the vocabularic variety of a skipping record. And for all it made sense at the time, it turns out competent ninjas aren't nearly as entertaining as incompetent ones. And I got distracted and didn't end up having the characters set fire to the thing. I'm hoping the flying ferrets will make up for some of it.
As for today, I'm less than 200 shy of quota as I type this, and I would rather stick my cerebrum on a grinding wheel than keep writing, even though I think what I've done today is reasonably decent. I'm going to take a short break, and then get back to the writing before this turns into another 200-at-2-am debacle.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-Nov-20, Tuesday 08:03 am (UTC)Oh, you have *those* types of cats. I used to be paralyzed in the midst of typing because my kitty decided to rest her chin on the back of my hand.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-Nov-21, Wednesday 06:07 pm (UTC)A cat who is sadly no longer with us (that's him in the userpic) used to climb in my lap and drape himself over my elbow. He didn't mind if I kept typing, or tried to; indeed, he seemed convinced that any activity would go more smoothly with ten pounds of furry love immobilizing my arm.
The current cats are more couch-potato-specific, although one of them is developing a liking for sitting on the desk between me and the keyboard.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-Nov-24, Saturday 03:15 pm (UTC)I love how cats have that mindset. :)