Posted in books, Halloween, NaNoWriMo, science fiction, writing

Must…resist…NaNoWriMo

Posted on by D. D. Syrdal

:::chewing fingernails:::

I found out, via Twitter, that one of my favorite sci-fi writers, Robert J. Sawyer, is taking part in NaNoWriMo, and has invited people to follow him. Yes, he tweeted it out. That in itself is almost enough to make me sign on. Argh. What to do, what to do?

I actually got a bit of revising done on the WIP so I’m feeling good about that. I really need to do some major surgery on it, though. It’s far too long for a first novel (nearly 107,000 words). I think I know what I want to cut, it’s a chapter I was never entirely happy with. The whole situation and things that come after it need to be excised (or exorcised maybe…). I really need to focus on making some progress on this.

But why in the world is Mr. Sawyer doing NaNo? Well, as I like to say, fortune favors the bold, so I actually replied to his tweet and asked him, not knowing if he is one of those famous personages (I don’t want to say ‘celebrity’ as that word has such a shallow, negative connotation to me) who responds to his followers. In short, he is (bless his heart). He replied and said he needs to get 50K words done to meet his deadline for his 21st novel. Yes, that’s twenty-first. Egads, I am SO behind in my reading :::cries::: I guess I had this idea that someone like him who has published numerous books is already into that groove and doesn’t need the sort of insane pace and focus that NaNo provides. Huh. Shows what I know. If you’re interested in following him on NaNoWriMo, he said his username is ‘Ergaster’ (for Homo ergaster, an early common ancestor of both homo sapiens and Neanderthal). I don’t think I’m breaking any code of ethics by mentioning that here since he did in fact tweet it out himself. The name doesn’t surprise me, his knowledge of human and earth history is extensive and is put to good use in his books. I used to tell people if you slept through science class, read his book “Calculating God,” it will just about make up for it.

Spent the day cleaning and putting up my Halloween decorations for any trick-or-treaters who may come by tomorrow. I might get a couple, although the last few years that’s about all I’ve had come by. But what the hey, it was fun and I like the decorations. Now, back to the WIP.

Author:

Writer of vampire stories and science fiction. First novel, "Revenants Abroad", available now at Amazon. If you like a vampire you can go out drinking with and still respect yourself in the morning, I think you'd like Andrej.

24 thoughts on “Must…resist…NaNoWriMo”

  1. I look forward to reading your WIP.

    I’m gonna do nanowrimo and I hope to get over 50000 works, I don’t think I’ve ever written anything that long. It’s gonna be a hard one for me as I’m writing that is very personal to me and drawing from experience. Not my normal genre either so could be interesting.

    PS. Resistance is futile :-p

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    1. Good luck, Chazz, it’s really so fun. Like I told someone else recently, you’re after quantity, not quality. It’s all about word count, not Pulitzer-worthy prose, so dump the inner editor and just crank! And if you decide it’s too personal, you can always revise it later.

      and P.S. Har-har! 😉 :::mutters about feeding people their lines:::

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      2. No! No! NO! Write! Write! Write! No revising! That’s what December is for! Do word sprints with someone. I can do them with you, just say what time and at the appointed hour we both write, unrestrained, unfettered, unnerving, unpromsing though it may be. Go, man, go!

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      3. I’ll see how i go, I’m actually writing little bit here and there at work, just to get something down. Thank goodness for Google Docs, I can access it from anywhere that has an internet connection; even my phone 😀

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      5. I just remembered something else: No contractions! No “he’s” or “didn’t”. Everything gets spelled out, i.e., ‘he is’, ‘did not’, etc. Every word counts!

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      6. “every word counts!”

        I’m gonna start telling people that D.D. stands for Digital Dickens 😉 !

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      9. Weird progression, I started out writing one story, but already its turned into something completely different. Which is weird, I was writing a cyber type tragedy and now its a 1930’s noir detective story. I don’t see how the two connect

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  2. Happy Halloween!

    I’ve made peace with my decision not to do NaNo this year.

    It is interesting that someone who has written so many novels is participating this year- but on the other hand, it shows how we all need different things at different times. Maybe he needs the push to write quickly right now, while you need to take your time, scrutinizing your manuscript for the revision.

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  3. Right? That’s why I had to ask him. Nice of him to respond to me, too. I’d be willing to bet he’s not the only well-known author to be joining in, I wonder who else is?

    I’m not going to change my mind about starting something new right now. Even if I were done with the current WIP, I’ve still got starts on three others (!!!) that I need to get back to. And a couple of short stories that I’m taking WAAAAAY too long with.

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  4. I say follow Sawyer, Chazz, and everyone NaNo, while exercising similar diligence to edit your WIP. Sawyer’s making the provess suit his particular needs, and I think that is what you are responding to – why not do the same?

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    1. Oh hehehe, I’m a little slow on the uptake this morning. Normally I am fluent in typonese 😉 More coffee, that’s the ticket…

      Yes, I should go ahead and ‘buddy’ him on NaNo, and Chazz, even though my word count won’t budge from zero. If anyone wants to add me as a writing buddy on NaNo I’m Digital Dame there. Same pic and everything.

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  6. i was planning to NaNo but some work drama has ramped up my life for the next 60 days or so. i might just lurk and try to work on last year’s WIP as a creative outlet to the office junk. i do love the festive vibe of NaNo, and as luck would have it, there will be write-ins occurring across the street from my office at the NY Public Library. we do what we can….

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  7. What a drag. Dontcha just hate it when real life gets in the way? 😉

    Go to the write-ins if you can, it can be amazing how much you can accomplish in those things. I was afraid it would be long gab-fest and I wouldn’t get anything done, but even with all the socializing and trying to help others with brainstorming or fact-checking and so on, I got A LOT of writing done at those things.

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