Comments on: Is anybody planning to participate in nanowrimo this year?

Question: Is anybody planning to participate in nanowrimo this year?

codger — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 07:46:35 -0800

Two weeks and counting... Is anybody planning to participate in nanowrimo this year?

By: Danelope

Danelope — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 08:25:34 -0800

No.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 08:57:45 -0800

Ooh. Thanks for the reminder! I must have at least one more novel in me this year :D

By: rushmc

rushmc — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 09:29:52 -0800

I'll be in for my fourth year.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 09:35:58 -0800

codger, thanks for posting. I'd forgotten it was coming.

I think I'm going to do it but make an online attempt via a new domain. (Though the failure would be catastrphophic, personally, if I can't pull it off. Ouch)

I've always done well (word-count wise) in the 24 hour Blogathons (17k words one year and 11k another) and the 50k words they "require" for NaNoWriMo seems paltry in comparison. That said, I have nowhere near that output without the commitment due to participating in a collective... thing, which is something I find equally annoying and interesting.

Is anyone else doing it online?

By: mcsweetie

mcsweetie — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 09:37:05 -0800

I've been thinking about it, but I'm not a very good writer.

By: crush-onastick

crush-onastick — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 09:37:37 -0800

yes (to the participation); no (to the doing it online)

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 09:40:37 -0800

From the FAQ:
I have a lot to do in November. Can I start in October and end early?
No. One of the best things about NaNoWriMo is the way it spreads the agony of creation throughout a large community of co-sufferers.

I like the idea, and gave a try two years running, but I've come to the conclusion that doing it in November just doesn't work for me. I really don't get why they didn't choose October.

Nice about the Cambodian library though.

By: majcher

majcher — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 10:45:03 -0800

I've thought about doing it for the last few years, but yeah, November always turns out to be a pretty bad month for that sort of thing. Also, I'm really, really lazy.

By: cyrusdogstar

cyrusdogstar — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 11:19:33 -0800

I was toying with the idea earlier this year, but probably won't bother, in no small part because I haven't written jack since I was in high school. My significant other participated (and passed the limit of 50k words, if that's what it was) last year and she'll be doing it again this year.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 11:41:28 -0800

I can't stop myself from linking to an article I wrote last year about NaNoWriMo, which also sort of says why I won't be doing it again.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 12:22:16 -0800

I'm going for it again. Third time was a charm, so no doubt the fourth time will be just effing GORGEOUS.

It might not be a bad idea to find some mefi-specific forum for nanochatter -- with the iterative improvements to the site over the last few years it may be possible to set up a mefi forum at the main site itself -- something along the lines of the better "regional forum" management they've got going on.

By: neckro23

neckro23 — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 12:24:49 -0800

I'm doing it. moift made me.

By: codger

codger — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 13:08:31 -0800

I did mine online last year, but never gave anybody the link. This year I'm going to try and write the novel I start, not a novel about failing to write the novel I started and couldn't get past 1000 words.

And it'll be online, with a semi-public link.

By: Eamon

Eamon — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 13:11:02 -0800

I'm planning to get to a good start and peter out after a week or two. That puts my odds at actually starting around 50-50.

By: codger

codger — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 13:12:53 -0800

Oh, and if I recall, they picked NOVember because it starts with NOV. As does "novel".

Get it?

By: fishfucker

fishfucker — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 13:58:02 -0800

i want to do it, but I'm a perfectionist.

i know.

it shows.

By: kamylyon

kamylyon — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 14:30:16 -0800

I was challenged by a veteran of the event, so I'm in.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:14:55 -0800

I still like calling it "November."

And no, I'm not planning to write a novel next month.

By: maurice

maurice — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:23:01 -0800

I'm in. It's the fourth time for me, but I didn't finish in 2002 -- sophomore slump, I guess.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:39:19 -0800

Oh, c'mon, ikkyu2. By my calculations, you'd only have to make 2,941 more comments, all no doubt equally as constructive and interesting as that one, and you'd be golden.

It could be a romance novel. "The Despoiling of Threads."

By: kenko

kenko — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:41:21 -0800

A friend of mine is doing it.

By: moift

moift — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 17:16:28 -0800

I'm doing it. moift made me.

Kamylyon's blog made me. There is no place for free will in NaNoWriMo.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 17:27:43 -0800

Cortex: I try to keep my comments relatively helpful and to the point. The answer to the original poster's question is "yes," incidentally. Hope this helps you on your quest for enlightment.

The whole idea of Nanowrimo annoys me; sorry for letting that get the better of my posting instincts.

By: Dreama

Dreama — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 18:44:10 -0800

I'm in for a fourth year. We should have a MeFiNano support/encouragement/commiseration thread in the forums on the NaNo site.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 19:30:58 -0800

ikkyu2: I apologize for the elevated snark -- you do seem to be a very well-behaved AskMe poster.

The whole knee-jerk anti-Nanowrimo sentiment tends to really get my goat. The implication seems to be that, somehow, the people who elect to participate are universally incapable of perceiving the connotations and contradictions of throwing caution to the wind and writing an intentionally irresponsible novel in a tight time frame. It's craziness, it's foolishness, it's not where Great Literature comes from, but, y'know, so fucking what? It's fun, it's a springboard to growth, it's many things that sitting around watching syndicated reruns isn't, at the very least.

So clearly I have charged feelings about all this, and from that I read probably far too much into your comment, and so, again, I apologize for inserting into your comment a malign intent that was not there. I react badly to people shitting on creative ventures, and I react badly to people shitting in AskMe threads, and so I reacted badly to what I took as the product of the two.

By: wendell

wendell — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 21:15:13 -0800

The timing's finally right for me; I've been promising myself to do a novel on a specific theme for over 20 years (which means it'll probably end up an '80s period piece...)

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 23:35:39 -0800

I'm thinkin' about it. But I'm a lazy prick.

By: youhas

youhas — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 04:18:37 -0800

I'm doing it once again, for the fourth year running. Most likely linking to it as well - don't see any reason to start being deeply shamed by my aimless banter at this late date.

For me, hitting the 50,000 word mark has never been that big a problem, last-second heroics notwithstanding. Actually completing a story by the time 50,000 words and November's end comes around: ah, now there's the rub....

By: moift

moift — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:53:08 -0800

We should have a MeFiNano support/encouragement/commiseration thread in the forums on the NaNo site.

I started a Metafilter thread in the groups and clubs section of the NaNoWriMo forums if anyone wants to drop by after this thread is closed. I know further typing isn't going to be a top priority after you crank out 1,667 words/day for a few days, but I think the communal whinging may be among the more rewarding parts of this whole silly endeavor.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:58:17 -0800

I am thinking about it. I want to write novel that summarizes all of the iraq/bush threads and I want to store my work in those same threads..

By: Dreama

Dreama — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 11:01:03 -0800

Following up on moift and myself: MeFiNaNo Check In Here.

By: tdismukes

tdismukes — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 12:33:02 -0800

Thanks for the heads up on this. I'm not participating, but I've convinced Mrs. tdismukes to sign up. I'll do my part by reading her output.

By: mabelcolby

mabelcolby — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:20:12 -0800

I'm doing Nano for the 3rd year this year! I can't wait!

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 17:38:44 -0800

Of course, is someone asked reeeeally nicely, Numero Uno might be able to hack up with minimal effort something internal to mefi for the Nano folks...