Nanowrimo

Two weeks from now, November madness, otherwise known as Nanowrimo, starts again.

Nanowrimo stands for (inter-)NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth, and the objective is to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days!

Sounds crazy? Oh yes! Sounds fun? Absolutely!

This will be my 5th year of doing Nanowrimo, and I've reached that goal ('won Nanowrimo', as everyone who reaches the goal is a winner in Nanowrimo's book) every time, even before the month was over. I don't have much problems writing 50,000 words that don't even make sense half the time, no, it's finishing the actual story that's my problem. I write way more than the daily target, burning myself out completely by the end of the goal, so I don't even look back at the story.... I tell myself every year that this will be the year I actually finish it, but.. oh well.... But let's not go on and on about it, right?

Why would any sane person want to do this? Because you always wanted to write a novel, but never got round to it. Because you like to challenge yourself. Because although writing is a lonely job to do, having a forum with people doing the exact same thing at the exact same time will keep you going. Because you like competing, even though that's not the main goal of Nanowrimo. Because you're mad about writing. Because you're mad, period.

Come and join Nanowrimo, and look me up. I'm Eveline_uk on there. See you in November!

Creative Challenge, day 15

Yes, YES, I've been keeping myself busy with the Creative Challenge, I just haven't been updating my blog. I know, bad bad me!

Let's see... What have I been doing?

I've turned my Art Journal page in the post below into four ACEOs, two of which are currently in my Etsy Shop.
I wrote little stories about them in my Flickr description, which I think counts as being 'creative', right?
I started a separate sketchbook come art journal thingy for my birds and other characters, just in case I will go ahead and turn it into a children's book or something....

I also finished my first spread in my Art Journal for the Round Robin we're doing, and I have to say I feel so much better for it! Now I 'only' have to do another spread and I can send it off to the first one on my list!

And last night, as I was struggling to think of anything to do (my sweet Love was already asleep and I did not feel like painting with just a small light on), I went to the The Dreamy Giraffe's blog, and found a link that got my writing juices flowing straight away. Six word stories! I had no idea you could write a story using just six words!

So I wrote these last night:

'Kebab man knows: chicken, salad, mayo'

'Staring at ceiling. Mister Sandman? Please?!'

And today I am writing more. I'm loving it. It's the complete opposite of Nanowrimo where the objective is to write a novel of 50,000 words, so you'll end up using 'fluffer words' in order to get to your daily target, but I do like these six word stories.

And on this site, you can submit your own!

Nanowrimo day 10....... Done! (sort of)

The last few days have been amazing.

My MC (Main Character) turned out to be a cat lover. I had no idea. She even went to a cat rescue center after doing some research online, and went to get a cat. Boo, a partially blind white tomcat, is now hers, after getting the OK from the center on both her meeting with him right there and having had a house check. It was not planned at all and took me by surprise. Only during Nanowrimo can things like that happen I guess...

On Thursday night, I reached the 40K. I had been writing roughly 5000 words a day, and was 'in the zone'. I was thinking about the story all the time, making mental notes and even though I did struggle a bit, I managed to keep on typing.

After midnight, I wrote another 2140 words, leaving me with roughly 8000 words. Doable, I told myself, absolutely doable.

And so yesterday, I started writing at about 7 pm. At midnight, I changed my word count on the Nanowrimo website to 46.734, and that's when I decided I could not let go. Not yet. Not with 'the prize' right there in front of me, where I could see it and almost taste it.

At 2 am last night UK time, I got to 50,150 words! I did it!!! And within 10 days! A new record I never even dreamed of reaching!

Of course the story is not finished, I need about 20-30K more, but I have already got all of that planned out. It will happen this year. I will finish it.

(But no more 8000 word days.... that was painful..... )