Monday, November 5, 2007

Nano Update

Word Count (projected): 8333
Word count (actual): 467

To say that I'm unproductive would be an understatement. I'm almost anti-productive. And in addition to being anti-productive, the 467 words that I have written are horseshit of the worst kind. I can't turn back now, though. I'm clinging to those 467 terrible words. Well, the words aren't terrible, just their order on the page.

It's my plan to get in the 4000 range by the end of the week, which will still leave me disastrously off pace, but I'll at least be slightly more pleased with myself.

Slightly.

Labels: NaNoWriMo

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Nano, Nano

It's that time of year again: time to sign up for a novel writing contest that I'll ignore until the last minute, then not finish while complaining that I never write anything anymore.

Anyway, it's called NaNoWriMo, and it stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal: write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days or less. The prize: knocking something off of your "One Day" list (as in "One Day, I'll write a novel ..."), a proud sense of accomplishment and a hastily-written and sloppily-edited novel.

I, myself, have reaped two benefits from this exercise. In 2002, I "won," completing Frank Black (a novel of 53,000+ words) in 17 writing days (26 overall). NaNoWriMo was also the impetus for Nick, Josh and myself to start YPR, after rejections started piling up and we needed a place to publish our own material. These days, YPR is a thriving example of how mediocrity can succeed on the InterWeb.

So come on, America. Get writing!

Labels: NaNoWriMo, YPR