It’s only five days into October and I’ve already gotten emails from two NaNo groups I’m part of, telling me it’s time to get ready again. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) happens every November, I know, but wasn’t it just a few months ago? Time flies!
So what am I going to do this year? Participate and work hard to write 50,000 words in 30 days? Sign up just to be hanging out online with my writing friends and do however much writing (or editing, or whatever) I feel like or have time to do? Or skip this year because of other commitments and make up my own writing schedule like I do the other eleven months of the year?
I haven’t decided yet. A huge factor in my decision will be whether we are staying here in Sydney for a while longer or if we end up moving back to the States in November. I’m pretty sure that no matter how organized I am, I can’t write 50,000 words and make an intercontinental move in the same 30-day period. :)
But if I don’t decide to reach for the traditional NaNo goal, I’m still going to put together some kind of goal for November. I find that having a schedule and a plan and a goal help me to accomplish more. (For instance, my plan for tomorrow is to not check email before I start working. I’ve gotten sidetracked the last few days and I need to put an end to it.)
My plan for October is to finish uploading the ebook version of Little Miss Lovesick to the various online retailers I’ve targeted (it’s available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Apple iTunes/iBookstore, and Smashwords, more coming soon), then to finish setting up the print version so it can be ready for orders in November. (Woo-hoo!) I also have a boatload of marketing and promotion tasks to do including blog tours (check out my guest post at Writers In The Storm on Friday this week), updating my web site, and creating an Author presence at places like Amazon and Goodreads.
In little bits of time I’ve squirreled away in the last week, I’ve also printed out all of my notes and the first draft of the next book I’ll publish, Love at the Fluff N Fold. (The first chapter is at the end of Little Miss Lovesick.) So I’ll actually be working on editing in November anyway. (Good thing we had this conversation! Now I’ve narrowed down the three options above to two.)
So there’s the general outline of my NaNo plans. What about you? Have you thought about what you’re going to do yet?
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I’ve thought about it, but I haven’t made any final decisions. I’m working on one MS now and if I finish that in time to start NaNoWriMo, I’ll hammer my way through another first draft. I’m going for quantity this year, not quality. Quality is next year’s goal.
I haven’t quite decided either. Like you, I have other commitments and my husband (which I appreciate for setting boundaries) has told me I shouldn’t do NaNo unless I finish all my essays for college applications before November. This makes sense, but makes me sad. Also, I have a WIP I’d rather finish than starting something new.
I have to second the no-intercontinental moves during NaNo thing. I moved back from Argentina to the US during NaNo 09. I thought, well I have 24 hours of flying and layovers by myself. I should be able to write a lot… pfft yeah right! Moving does not equal writing time.
And finally, awesome news on the launch! good luck with everything.
Hannah, it’s always a good start to at least be able to decide between quantity and quality. I usually can’t do both – write fast and well – unless I really know exactly where I’m going. Good luck! Your current plan sounds good!
Mel, your moving/writing story made me laugh! Yeah, thanks for the encouragement not to overextend myself into Crazyland. LOL! I’m pretty sure I’ll sign up just to be there with my friends but just finish editing the next book and count whatever I get done there. Since I write for a living now, NaNo doesn’t mean quite the same thing to me. And thanks for the kind words on the book launch! Woo-hooo!!
I will be there. Nano is my best thing. My first completeish novel came from there and thanks to Mr Baty I reached my frist dream of actually completing a novel…
this year again!
Oh, good for you, Nintaikage! Yay! Here’s to another success!
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