The working title of my work-in-progress is At the Seams. It is about a middle-aged woman whose life is coming apart at the aforementioned seams. Here's the first paragraph:
Looking back, I place the blame for the whole debacle squarely where it belongs: on the AARP. If they weren’t so stinking efficient, delivering their welcome to Old Fartdom precisely on my fiftieth birthday, the exact same day the nude picture of my daughter arrived in the mail, things might have turned out differently.
This is my 5th novel. From those prior efforts, I know that my normal approach is to write slowly, putting in a bunch of crap that has to be edited out later, but lets me get to know my characters really well. And to write myself down a lot of blind alleys and then throw all that away, too.
This time I was hoping to break the over-writing habit and be a little more efficient, but, prior to NaNoWriMo I'd been working on it since April, and had only about 18,000 words written. (It should wind up somewhere around 80,000.) It was pretty clear I'd fallen into my old routine.
So I signed up.
How is it going?
Today is November 9th, and, to date, I've added 4000 words. Which means I'm already 9300 words behind.
But have I given up?
No!
I'm still convinced I can make this work. I've spent the first few days reviewing my character motivation analysis. Since they drive the plot, once I get them finished, I figure I can write like the wind and still slide in with my (additional) 50,000 words written.
In the interest of keeping this blog interactive, I'm asking you, in the comments, to select a number of words that you believe I will complete this month. The closest guess will receive a $10 Target gift card.
Just in time for Christmas!
Jeanne, you can do this! I'm going to guess 50,142 (if you're anything like me, once you realize that you've crossed the finish line, it's time to catch up on the ten thousand other things that fell by the wayside during the month. I've hit 50k words in November, but my novels never get finished until the first week or two of December :)
ReplyDeleteBut I hope you write 65k or however much you need to finish your novel! Go Jeanne!
I'm going to guess 40,000 words, but really great words you don't need to throw away.
ReplyDeleteThen I predict you'll take your time and finish it up in the next month.
I hope the new technique works out for you.
45,752 words.
ReplyDeleteThis is like The Price Is Right!!
50,007.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've done that before...
I'm behind at the moment, shouldn't really be blogging, but I need a break.
That is a world class opening para!!!
ReplyDeleteHey, if anyone can do it, its you! Keep writing and posting! Its already sounding terrific!
ReplyDeleteI believe in you. You can do it.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little confused by the question but I will guess 43,567.
How is that?
much love!
You can do it! just write! I am a horrible guesser.. 54, 277 :)
ReplyDelete51,007. I've been writing +/- 2,000 words a day, but I haven't written a thing yet, today. I hear that the Giller Prize is being awarded tonight, and I'll want to be able to watch that, for inspiration. (The Giller Prize is awarded annually to a Canadian author.) So, I must stop reading blogs and go get some writing done.
ReplyDeleteYou're awesome. I can't believe this is your fifth novel. I'll guess you do it. 50K. Good luck!
ReplyDelete