Monday, November 30, 2009

Failed

Well, I tried. And even though I crashed and burned, it was still a good idea, participating in NaNoWriMo Challenge 2009. I'll do it again next year, hopefully with better results.

I don't know what my final word count is/was. Although writing longhand in a notebook actually got me writing and getting the ideas down before they evaporated, it turned into that proverbial double edged sword. If I haven't already, let me say that a laptop would have come in extremely handy for this challenge. It would have saved me from having to type what I had already written. Somehow I doubt my Word program's ability to produce a word count from scanned pages. That's the way it goes. Part of my problem was that I liked to be comfortable while writing/creating a story. I would write late at night, when everyone else would be sound asleep. I'd settle into my nest and allow the ideas to come. There were nights where I ran out of steam before running out of ideas, sometimes coming awake after a short doze to find notebook and pen still in my hands. I admit that transcribing my story proved useful, as well. Where I had only dialogue on paper, as I typed I was able to fill out the scene almost subconsciously. While I didn't want to get bogged down with all sorts of details as I wrote longhand, they practically typed themselves, and so my word count grew. The other side of that process was that I would actually stop transcribing to pick up pen and paper again if an idea blossomed to move the story along. Bizarre but true.

So as of this post, I haven't transcribed even a tenth of what I have written. The up side of this is that I actually intend to keep working on my story and hopefully one day it will reach that magic 50,000 words. That's when I will sit back and evaluate if there's anything worthy of a second draft. Time will tell.

P.S. Thomas seems to be fully recovered. He was begging to go outside by Sunday morning. He is staying close to home, though. Thanks for all your kind thoughts and wishes.

P.P.S. I finally repossessed my coat from Pandora.

3 comments:

Holly said...

I absolutely love the coat! which one was it?

There is a relatively cheap answer to your quandary. It is called a netbook. Normally you can find them for under 300$US.

Then, you can use fancy software just for writers, have multiple word processing windows open, or just use an editor.

in anycase, they are lightweight, portable and can sit on the bedstand when you go to sleep....

lexa said...

Love your coat!

Patty said...

Oooh, Barbara! That coat is GORGEOUS!