So; NaNoWriMo?

[panik]

Never done this, never really given it much thought before, tbh but, being in the prep stages of a novel that'll probably start getting written in November anyway...

If you've done NaNoWriMo -
If you're thinking of doing NaNoWriMo -
If you've never done it and never , ever intend to ever have anything to do with NaNoWriMo...

Have you got any thoughts? What are the advantages/disadvantages (bearing in mind I'm going to be writing this thing anyway, challenge or no challenge)? I'm really interested in thoughts, experiences, opinions...

Comments

[rhianne.livejournal.com]

Hi hon. For what it's worth, I did NaNoWriMo about four years ago. It was great fun, but an incredible amount of pressure (though that does depend on your writing speed, I guess, 1667 words every day was a lot for me!). I managed the 50,000 words with about four days to spare, and it felt like a great achievement, but I must admit I'm not sure I'd ever do it again. The story I wrote for Nano ended up at about 60,000 words, was unfinished, and I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've gone back to the story since then. I'm beginning to wonder if it'll ever get written!

Having a daily deadline really does help to spur you on to keep writing, even when you're having a bad day or don't want to sit at the computer/whatever, but it really depends on how much other stuff you have to get done during that month. I was also doing on a full-time job when I did it, and doing 8 hours real work and then having to go home and start that was a little too much for me, though as I said, I'm glad I did it.

Just my 2p, if it helps. *hugs*

[gillyp.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I'm not good with pressure tbh; I won't even do a fic challenge, but I'm going to be writing this anyway... Not sure I need the discipline, really and I really don;t need the pressure.

::still thinking::

Thanks for the input. (o: (Hope you're doing OK?)

[rhianne.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, to be fair to Nanowrimo, they don't really put 'pressure' on you, so to speak. You get an email once a week, reminding you of the deadline and how many words you should have done by then to be on track.

There are forums and LJ comms you can join to keep in contact with other people, but I never got involved in them.

The real pressure that I found was the pressure I put on myself, which is something I tend to do once I commit to something. I'm a bit of a worrier *g* If you're good at not putting too much pressure on yourself then you probably won't find it as much of a problem as I did.