I did it! I really did it!

Actually I already did it on november 24th, which was the day I reached the 50k word count. This was on the day before I went to germany on my vacation. That’s why I wanted to reach the NaNoWriMo goal before, because I couldn’t be sure on how long to stay in germany and if I would find the time to write there. But actually my goal was to write on every day in november if possible and so I did. I took my lovely tiny MacBook Air with me to germany and wrote the first night after a long trip and a long shopping day in Munich before going to sleep until midnight and on the other morning again during breakfast to reach my every day writing goal. And not enough, I even wanted to get a 2000 words per day average.

At this last day of november I have even reached a 2101 words per day average and I have written 63044 words the whole november.

At the start of NaNoWriMo I wasn’t even sure if my story would need another 50k words, because it already had 58706 words when I started, and now at the end of NaNoWriMo my story isn’t even finished yet! There are still 1,5 days of storyline missing. Which just means I will go on writing in december until I reach the end of the story. Most probably I will start working over the whole story on january and not on december as I thought. Maybe I will delete some of the story again when working it over. Because I’m still not sure if the story is not way too long now (and too boring?). But I will decide on this later.

Actually this year of NaNoWriMo worked out great! My inner critics really took their tickets and were on the plane to far-far-away (which was a very nice beach on an island somewhere in the caribbean). My outer critics also were very kind of me although they didn’t get a ticket to a nice place (but they complained about that). Everybody let me talk about what I was doing without arguing with me. Now I hope that my inner critics stay a little longer on the island or at least quiet when reaching me back home. They can talk a lot to me in january when it is time to hear their voices. Same as for my beloved outer critics (some really good friends of mine).

What was my favorite NaNoWriMo moment? I already told you about this one and it stayed my magic moment in NaNoWriMo 2014. It was in the first week when my hero printed out some pages in a room that lead to more suspicions later. I really loved that moment because I haven’t thought about the possiblities this could lead to. I also had some other ideas during my writing about the characters and how they are related to each other and to my main hero. And there are surely still some logical holes and things missing I will hopefully get on my rework. Can I hear the voice of one of my inner critics in this sentence? No, no, surely not.

After the first week I didn’t have to do so much planning anymore. I could just sit down and write and I’m happy for that. Most things just came to me by writing and I was able to do most of the planning aside. Although I didn’t like to write on some days, I always could. It is very similar to jogging. When I’m on it, it works out well and I love it. But it’s always hard to get myself out in the first place (as it seems I won’t make it jogging today because it gets already darker outside. I already had to turn on the lights! And it is so very cold outside and I already did so much today and and …). It is all about discipline!

November ends the writing goes on, but I really would love to read a book again! I couldn’t manage to read more than a comic this month and I’m really missing it! But christmas holiday are not far away and I hope I’m done writing by then (and won’t miss buying christmas presents because of all the writing!). Everybody else of NaNoWriMo 2014 I wish happy rework or happy writing break if you take one!

A little reading tip at the end (of the only book I read this month): Exquisite Corpse by Pénélope Bagieu

I like her drawing style and liked the story of the graphic novel very much because I really didn’t see this coming! So much I can tell you: the story is about an author.

I had a great writing day today! I had a nice little idea on the train ride back home. It just came to my mind how I could turn a rather boring description into something else, but then I couldn’t really write it, because I needed to do some research first. It was something I could not just write down, but had to work on it. But luckily I was home fast and allowed myself to work the scene fully out. I did some research, read some pages of a french book I wanted to include, rewrited and reread the passage several times until I was heaving the effect and sound of words I wanted. It should be music, literally.
I know I wouldn’t have been happy to write down something in place and rewrite it later in december, because I love to play around with the words.

So if you like to do some rework, do it, if it’s the current passage you’re writing on and you do not update your wordcount until you’re finished. Because you will delete some words and add others again.
But as always in writing (and that doesn’t change just because it is november) you can do whatever you want and how you like to do it. And if you are the rewriting type, just do it! Even if you delete more than you wrote and don’t reach your word count.

I reached my daily wordcount today, which makes me more than happy! Surely the scene needs some more rework but in december. Tomorrow I write on!

First NaNoWriMo week has passed and again I learned (ok I’ve already known that before but) that writing is fun, work and pain altogether. I have so many bookmarks in my head which say what I have to work over in december, I really cannot think about a single one in november and I shouldn’t. Actually the first week worked out quite well. Sometimes it was hard to sit down and write, but I did it. Even after some drinks after work. I know there is this cliché about writers love to drink and write better when they do? I personally don’t. I cannot focus anymore after I had some beer, wine and whiskey (I souldn’t mix that und I clearly shouldn’t drink on mondays). I can still hit the buttons, but that alone doesn’t tell a story, no.

The thought that you should just write during november no matter what and if it is good or not is not always helpfull. Clearly you don’t want to delete the hole book in december, don’t you? So do not write when your drunk unless you are really one of those cliché writers who get at her best when fully drunk. But you should go out, meet friends and then come back to your computer and write (without drinking before). It helps to get your mind off, when you are stuck at some point. You should also sleep and you should never forget, that you always work on your novel and that you always can. Even when your asleep. So don’t punish yourself when you are not writing all the time. But think about your novel on every minute you can. Because you can plan on your novel under the shower or while jogging or cooking or doing something mechanical when your mind isn’t used (ok, if you are a quantum mechanic it might be hard, but even they cook and take a shower sometimes!). You can work so much more on your novel than just the moments you are actually writing!

I just had the big problem this week, that I had to do some planning before I could go on writing and didn’t have the time to do it. So I had to write some scenes I knew they would come before I really had the time to plan on the weekend. I rearranged some scenes and so on, but I didn’t really filled up the holes like I thought I would. My plan actually was that after the weekend I would excactly know what is missing so I could just sit down and write it all down until end of november. But that’s just not how I’m ticking or working or writing. I’m not much of a planner. The story reveals itself while I’m writing. And that’s what this first week teached me (actually again I already knew that).

I wrote a scene and had no idea how to end it. My hero printed out some pages and I had no idea what should be written on them. Then all of a sudden in the bathroom (and not before my computer while writing) I knew excaclty that I don’t have to tell now what is written on those pages and that I already know what is written on them. Because I had a scene later where my hero actually already has those pages. The fact of the place where my hero printed out his pages leads to more suspicions I didn’t think of before!

So after this successfull first week and a good time management with having a drink (or two or even more) on monday, visiting a poetry slam on tuesday (very inspiring, do that if there is one near you this month!), a market on thursday, went shopping on friday, visiting another friend on saturday and even learned chinese and went jogging today, beside all that I wrote every day. And even I was suprised how many words I can type in my 10 minutes train ride to work.

With these (again not counting words) I head up for the second week and go on writing, all excited about the story to reveal itself to me.

Tomorrow is the first of november, days are getting shorter, weather colder. I don’t have that feeling any longer that it is the last warm day (because there it was, last sunday and I’m pretty shure that this time it really was the last one for this year), that I have to get out and enjoy it. I can now stay home without remorse.

After I was getting home from “Zurich reads” last saturday, lying in bed and feeling stimulated, I suddenly noticed that november is coming which means NaNoWriMo (national novel writing day) is coming up again and that I should be part of it. I already participated two years ago in 2012 and wrote more than 60K words which made me one of the winners. What did you win?, you might ask. I won, what everybody wins: My very own novel! Finished or not, but with more than 50K words (which is the winners goal of NaNoWriMo) than before you started.

So, just 6 days to prepare and what to write? The novel I started in 2012? No. I finally want to, no need to finish my diploma novel I started at SAL (school of applied linguistics Zurich). Are there any more 50K words to write until the end? Maybe not. But it doesn’t matter. It’s more important for me to finish the novel than to reach the 50K words goal (of course I would like to do both!).

I am just working so much better with a goal! After this late decision in bed, I started preparation and read my novel again this week and all the planning stuff I had. And I’m really motivated! But I still have no idea where to start writing tomorrow and there is only today left for preparation. If I just have one point to start, I can go on writing. Fortunately the stuff I had written so far is pretty good. First I was afraid it might be all crap and I would have to start over again, because I have written the first pages 3 years ago. But it isn’t, lucky me!

For I have already done lot of the planning stuff, it should be easy to finish? Because I have the whole story in my head? I wish it would be that easy. Of course I know most of the plot and the holes are getting smaller. But that’s excatly what makes it harder. The main character needs to find his goal, the others need to finally couple together, the whole story must get even. I cannot just come up with new ideas and characters, I must focus on the existing ones and in the end all parts must fit perfectly together, every character needs a cause. That’s just the difference from a story to life (or maybe not?): every character has a special cause in the story, a reason why needed for the story.

I am not much of planner, I love to just write and look what happens, let the characters tell me their story. That’s why nove(l)ember is perfect for me. Buy your inner critics a ticket to far-far-away. In 2012 I thought it would be that easy, but they didn’t leave. They all stayed and told me each and every day what rubbish I’m writing and that I can throw the whole novel away after november, that it is all for nothing because it is just not, what I wanted to write, and not good enough and so on. I badly hope this year is better!

Actually this is no good time to start my blog, because from tomorrow on I will need every word for my day goals. Unfortunately words written not for the novel don’t count or do they? I don’t think so. Therefore I already apologize if I won’t make it to write any news here on how it’s going on before december. But keep an eye on my twitter account, there is always time for a tweet in a coffee break or waiting for the bus.

Happy nove(l)ember to all of you, welcome to my blog, write and read on!