Hello, writers. We’re now 21 days into NaNoWriMo, so if you’re aiming for the traditional 50k words, you’re on track if you hit 35,007 words by midnight tonight.
Next week, according to time-honored tradition, mettle fatigue will be hosting the Write On! Turkey Trot edition.
Would anyone like to host the following week, December 5? I’ll be traveling to collaborate with another writer and then to visit my agent and publisher. The person who hosts on December 5 will also be posting the final grey box reports on everyone’s NaNoWriMo accomplishments.
I’ve been thinking lately about the physical side of writing. For a couple years now, I’ve been physically unable to sit at a desk for long enough to write anything. (The desk that I have is my late sister’s desk, and she was a writer, and so there’s a psychological block as well.)
I wrote my last-but-one manuscript sprawled on a couch --someone else’s couch— and it wound up around 80k words, many of which I knew I’d end up cutting even as I was writing them. It hasn’t yet sold.
My most recent manuscript, which did sell, is only 35k words. I wrote it standing up; that may be why it’s so short. I took an old side table that belonged to my grandmother, and I made four 12 inch stacks of books on the floor, and I wrestled the table up onto the books. Voila, a standing desk. I set the computer on it and stood in front of it and typed.
(A stack of books on the kitchen counter would probably also work for this.)
I like writing standing up and intend to do my next book that way. It definitely causes brevity, though.
I know a writer who writes at a treadmill and is much more productive than I am. I’d like to try this but can’t really figure out a way to jury-rig it without 1) spending money and 2) taking up a lot of space in this small house.
More about this in Tonight’s Challenge. But first, please give me your progress reports and I will add them to the grey box below:
People aiming for 50k words:
bonetti 54,445 as of 11/21
Canasta The Loony 2451 words as of 11/14
Clio2 37,246 as of 11/21
dconrad 23,000 as of 11/21
Toro Blanco 1100 as of 11/7
People aiming for a different goal:
Diana in Nova Finish Iron & Scarlet
Kat Snyder 4150 words as of 11/21
Leo Orionis Bring Thul. Etym. Dict. to stage 5 (finished as of 11/14)
mettle fatigue Admin OFPM, write story (5 diaries, 2582 wds as of 11/14)
Mnemosyne 10k words + 15 walks (1500 words, 3 walks as of 11/14)
quarkstomper edit & write “Dark Redemption” (edit first ~6 chapters as of 11/14)
reppa prep for January
SensibleShoes 20 walks (15 walks as of 11/21)
strawbale finish & polish Clever Bunny story (finished writing as of 11/14)
terrypinder 10k words (2100 words written as of 11/14)
BIC, HOK, TAM!
Tonight’s challenge:
Write a scene in which a character hears a knock on the door, and reacts to it. But write in a position that you don’t usually write in. Try to limit yourself to 150 words.
Write On! will be a regular Thursday feature (8 pm ET 5 pm PT) until it isn’t. Before signing a contract with any agent or publisher, please be sure to check them out on Preditors and Editors, Absolute Write and/or Writer Beware