This month, and probably next month, I'm involved with a few writing challenges. Not only am I participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, I'm also participating in A Round of Words in 80 Days.
My goal for Camp is to write 50,000 words in 31 days, while my ROW80 goal is to write a minimum of 1,613 words a day but to aim for 2,000 words a day until I finish this book, then use the rest of the time to type it up and edit like crazy (I'm sure I'll be adding a huge amount of words during the type up since I edit so heavily). These are both pretty doable goals and it will be fantastic because I will have finished writing the sequel to Land of No Angels.
Why do I participate in these challenges? Well, a lot of it has to do with accountability. If I'm a part of something where others are in the same boat as I am, then there's a sense of camaraderie and I have more reason to keep pushing myself to get things done. Also, challenges are fun. You get to see what everyone else is doing, how their doing, and it's just fun to tell people about how you're doing some amazing thing.
Something I've been considering as a way to "up the stakes", as they say, is to maybe become sponsored. NaNoWriMo has this thing where you can become sponsored and have people donate money to the Office of Letters and Lights (the gang who run NaNoWriMo) so they can keep their awesome programs running. The only reason I haven't yet is because I'd like to prove I can win one first. Also, I don't think anyone would donate. Not anyone I know of. How sad is that? It's not their fault, it's mine. So, for now I'm just sticking to the regular "let's write 50,000 words in a month" thing.
READER RESPONSE: Do you participate in any challenges, whether it be writing or art or even sports? Why do you do it and what do you get out of it?
Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Focused Writing
I can always tell when I have a tight deadline and a lot of work to do because I seem to post a lot of blogs, tweets, and facebook statuses when I'm stressed out. (I also seem to get a lot of cleaning and errands done during this time.) I've been working on my MFA thesis, which also happens to be my YA novel, because I have to finish the first draft by March 7th. I'm at about 40,000 words and would like it to be around 65,000 by the time I'm done. So, I have about 3 weeks to write 25,000 words. This actually wouldn't be an issue, but I'm a procrastinator and I've been struggling a bit with my process and getting words out.
For almost a week, I wrote only 600 words. In my defense, I was doing other things as well, like working with my thesis mentor to finalize my schedule and reading list, reading a book from my reading list, and playing video games with my Husband. So, this week started and I panicked. Only 3 weeks left and I was writing too little. With the thrill and cram-sessions of NaNoWriMo gone, and no useful way to continue word sprints, I decided to try a few new things.
The first thing I did was start chapter nine by hand. The entire chapter was written by hand in the end and it's going to be about 4,000-4,500 words long. doing this gave me the opportunity to keep myself away from distractions on the computer and was a nice change of pace for once. The second thing I did, was to set my own word sprints. I'd set Apimac Timer (a freeware timer for macs) for 10 minutes at a time. In those 10 minutes, I would write without interruption, then stop and take a break for 5-10 minutes TOPS. Sometimes, I'd be on a roll and not want to stop, so I'd continue passed the 10 minutes or reset the timer. But if I was in a distracted mood, I'd stop working for five minutes to allow myself a break and to keep my focus.
Surprisingly, this method works wonders for me. I wrote about 1,300 words in two hours, and half of that time was spent actually writing. The day before, I spent 5 hours trying to write and had only written 500 words. My brain starts to see Timer Time as "Getting Down To Business" Time and I focus.
For chapter 10, which I'm starting tonight after husband goes to work for a 4 hour shift, I will try to type it up using my timer method. I'd like to hit 2,500 word tonight (about half the chapter), but I know I type slower than I hand write, so I'm not sure how it will compare. I want to see if I can still maintain the same level of focus whether I'm hand writing or typing.
Well, that's all I have to say on the subject for now.
-N.R. Wick
[READER RESPONSE] What method do you use to get the max amount of writing done in the amount of time you are given to work? Do you have any useful tips to share?
Note: This entry has been cross-posted to my personal Live Journal blog.
For almost a week, I wrote only 600 words. In my defense, I was doing other things as well, like working with my thesis mentor to finalize my schedule and reading list, reading a book from my reading list, and playing video games with my Husband. So, this week started and I panicked. Only 3 weeks left and I was writing too little. With the thrill and cram-sessions of NaNoWriMo gone, and no useful way to continue word sprints, I decided to try a few new things.
The first thing I did was start chapter nine by hand. The entire chapter was written by hand in the end and it's going to be about 4,000-4,500 words long. doing this gave me the opportunity to keep myself away from distractions on the computer and was a nice change of pace for once. The second thing I did, was to set my own word sprints. I'd set Apimac Timer (a freeware timer for macs) for 10 minutes at a time. In those 10 minutes, I would write without interruption, then stop and take a break for 5-10 minutes TOPS. Sometimes, I'd be on a roll and not want to stop, so I'd continue passed the 10 minutes or reset the timer. But if I was in a distracted mood, I'd stop working for five minutes to allow myself a break and to keep my focus.
Surprisingly, this method works wonders for me. I wrote about 1,300 words in two hours, and half of that time was spent actually writing. The day before, I spent 5 hours trying to write and had only written 500 words. My brain starts to see Timer Time as "Getting Down To Business" Time and I focus.
For chapter 10, which I'm starting tonight after husband goes to work for a 4 hour shift, I will try to type it up using my timer method. I'd like to hit 2,500 word tonight (about half the chapter), but I know I type slower than I hand write, so I'm not sure how it will compare. I want to see if I can still maintain the same level of focus whether I'm hand writing or typing.
Well, that's all I have to say on the subject for now.
-N.R. Wick
[READER RESPONSE] What method do you use to get the max amount of writing done in the amount of time you are given to work? Do you have any useful tips to share?
Note: This entry has been cross-posted to my personal Live Journal blog.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Bloggiesta
I decided to join in with Bloggiesta. Bloggiesta is a challenge to organise and further your blogs. It's fun and informative and I thought I'd participate. I'm a bit behind, but it will be great once I get everything done. If you know your blog needs a bit of revamp and you need to get it organised, I suggest you join me and participate as well! Post a link to your blog post if you do decide to join so I can come see.
Bloggiesta - First Day Intro Post
Bloggiesta - Second Day
Personal Goals for this weekend
+Write an Article
+Write a Review
+Set up a Calendar/Events page
+Create a Menu Bar for Blogger Blog
I will be updating with the items from the mini-challenges I have completed, and will also apply most of these things to my Articles on nrwick.com since they need very similar attention as my blog does.
[UPDATE]
+2010 Resolutions - Finished
+Comment On Blogs
+Create a Blog Cheat Sheet
+Change the Footer Copyright to 2010.
+Organise and Think Critically about your Labels and Categories
+Back up Blog
+Searched for Dead Links and Fixed SEO
+Decided on 5 Article Topics
From First Bloggiesta
+ Updated Google Reader
+Set Up Google Alerts
+Had my site graded by websitegrader.com
An additional helpful url is from Problogger. I'm going through this list as well for Bloggiesta.
31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Problogger
Total Hours Spent: 16 (Not because I'm lazy or started late but more so that I am just that fast with some of this stuff... also my blog is fairly new and easy to clean up.)
Bloggiesta - First Day Intro Post
Bloggiesta - Second Day
Personal Goals for this weekend
+Write an Article
+Write a Review
I will be updating with the items from the mini-challenges I have completed, and will also apply most of these things to my Articles on nrwick.com since they need very similar attention as my blog does.
[UPDATE]
From First Bloggiesta
An additional helpful url is from Problogger. I'm going through this list as well for Bloggiesta.
31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Problogger
Total Hours Spent: 16 (Not because I'm lazy or started late but more so that I am just that fast with some of this stuff... also my blog is fairly new and easy to clean up.)
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