NANOWRIMO — are you thinking about it?

Does anyone do Csmp Nanowrimo? I always find that extremely helpful to play around wirh previous November writes to see if they are worth revisiting.

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Although my current work is not NaNo inspired, the book before it was. A friend tells me she finds it a great way to make her tell herself the story. All she wants to do is start, finish, and work on a middle.

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I enjoy NaNo and often do it since discovering it at the last moment in 2007 or so. I’m always happy to cheer others on as they take on the challenge. However, this year I will pass on taking part. Too much non-writerly stuff going on. As of right now it looks like I’ll be transporting my father for cancer treatments. Any writing I do will be on my terms, not subjected to or limited by the dates of November 1-30.

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Please remember to save all that “non-writerly” stuff for when the writer is back in residence and needs to jot down few bits. As a note, and having nothing to do with anything, I’ve started a little piece with a regular customer who came in a few weeks ago with a prescription for her cat. Nothing serious - her cat’s apparently a bit of a hypochondriac, but an off-hand remark was made, she laughed, I laughed, and now she has this thread running involving her cat, herself, and me. I suppose I am the diarist here, the cat the protagonist and she the POV. Nothing outstanding , just a line or two , once or twice a week. Hopefully, I can get a little flash, or a short out of it. Wishing you well, though.

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@Dave What software did you use? I doubt I’ll be able to type before November.

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It’s called Express Scribe Transcription Software. I use a voice recorder that saves your recording as an mp3 file. You can one on Amazon

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@Dave
Thank you! I’ll look for it.

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I use Plottr and check the Facebook group often because they have great info for writers. Today we got a notice that Plottr is teaming up with James Thorn to offer a free five-day challenge “to teach you how to plot and finish a first draft of your novel in less than a month!” The challenge isn’t linked to NANOWRIMO, but could help you prepare for it if you’re interested.

It seems you need to be a Plottr user to join the challenge, but if you have any interest, Plottr offer a 14-day trial and that puts you in the Facebook group (and Plottr is inexpensive).

Here’s a link that gives more details (and lists the other sponsors)
https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/plotanovel

Here’s what they said about James Thorn:
J. Thorn is a bestselling sci-fi author, podcast host, as well as a certified Story Grid editor, and the author of the Three Story Method (which is the basis of a template in Plottr).

FYI: Plottr is easy to use. It’s taken some time for me to figure out how to use it with my story structure, but to get started using Plottr in a basic way is easy and you can build on it from there. They provide several tutorials that show how well-known stories could be structured in Plottr. Looking at a few of those will give you a good start.

I just signed up and based on the reply I got, I think you can sign up for the challenge without having Plottr or being in their Facebook group. You could check it out here:
https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/plotanovel/

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The title of this blog post from Reedsy doesn’t quite convey the abundance of tips it provides if you are thinking about NANOWRIMO. I’m not even participating and I found good stuff in there.

Here’s the link:

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Thank you for sharing, @Argent - I’m going to try some of these tips!

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Yes, I’m doing it for the first time.

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This is my 10th year. Some years, I use it for cleaning up manuscripts; some for catching up on outlines and plot ideas; some for editing my work or works of friends; some for 2 or more short stories; some to just practice new skills. Even if I don’t get to the 50K words or a “prize” of any kind, it’s useful. It’s like a mini-writer’s retreat with only me as the impetus to get anything done.

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Breaking down the word count into sprints is a great idea. Thanks for that! Maybe I’ll finally make it work…

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I always attempt but definitely fail. This year I did not fail either Camp NaNoWriMos so a part of me is optimistic about doing NaNoWriMo. I’m taking my first Camp project and trying again with it next month.

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That’s awesome. This will be my first time too!

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I’m planning on scheduling some sprints throughout November if you want to join.

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I do Nano every year!

Last year, I celebrated my tenth annual win. Over the years, I’ve slowly amped up my intensity, and I’m aiming for 100k this year. :grimacing:

The community is the best part! If you’re going to set buckwild goals for yourself, it’s great to do it in the company of friends :sparkling_heart:

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Not for me this year. I have a book launch for early December, so I need to build some more marketing time into my schedule for November. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop writing that month. But I think an outside construct that may encourage me to shift some of my time from marketing in November may be a bad idea.

I am intrigued by this though. I believe there is a certain value to pouring out a rough draft as fast as possible without any editing to intervene with the flow. I may give it a try next year if the rest of my calendar cooperates. I just can’t see forcing my calendar to accommodate it.

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I’d love to join. Thanks!

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I just signed up. Attempted it once before, in 2011, but didn’t finish. This time I plan to!

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