National Novel Writing Month - The Wrimo Report

Eleanor MacVeigh

Lindsey Grant — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:10:58 +0000

"After six prescription pain killers (the suggested limit for the entire day), my hands felt numb enough to type."

NaNo 2009 started off strong for me. I'd do most of my writing on the weekends and then work a job and a half during the week. I figured the hardest part of my month was going to be organizing the weekly meetings, as 2009 was my first year as a Municipal Liaison in a region that had never encountered one before. Boy was I ever wrong.

My routine was simple enough: get up, cram the nearest edible product into my mouth (usually chocolate, or semi-stale chips from the night of writing before), grab the laptop and start writing until I had to catch the bus to work, on which I would continue writing until I hit work. Then it was boring shifts all day, my mind spinning with story ideas, and then writing all the way home again. Standard and simple, right? What could ever possibly go wrong?

[Cue insane laughter]

November 13th, a Friday. Normally considered bad luck, but always the day that everything goes right for me. Except this year decided to be different. I was washing the thick glass plate that sits at the bottom of the microwave when it slipped 1 1/2 cm (or half an inch to those using the imperial system) and shattered in my hands.
I caught the plate (in pieces) and it took me a second to realize that the awesome and amazing catch I'd just made was not actually glass caught in my hands, but through my fingers.

Six hours, three stitches, and two tubes of topical super glue later, I was bandaged up and sent home. Seeing as I had the next two days off, I figured I would do some writing. Typing with my ring fingers twice as thick as normal because of the gauze was not easy, nor did the pain help much when the numbness wore off.

I had found myself in the worst kind of dilemma a writer could ever encounter. No, not writer's block–and yes there is something worse then writer's block. It was a brain blooming with ideas and no way to write them. My computer had no speech-to-text programs, and no mic in which to install one either. I had no one to dictate my story to who could type for me. I did discover after a week that I could write by hand if I did so carefully. I wrote over 16,000 words by hand before encountering a new problem. How was I supposed to validate if it was all handwritten?

After six prescription pain killers (the suggested limit for the entire day), my hands felt numb enough to type. Three solid days of all-typey-and-no-sleepy followed, not to mention I was also making it to work at the same time. I finished with just under 56,000 words five days early (followed by five days filled with hangover pain) but it was worth it. I made the word-count goal after all!

So my New Year's resolution this year is simple and NaNo related: I resolve that during the month of November I shall not play/handle/wash and will avoid all things sharp/semi-sharp/could possibly be sharp/could break into something sharp so that I will be able to complete NaNo unhindered.

...which makes me wonder what horrible and no good, very bad, awful, and disastrous thing shall befall me this year instead...

Eleanor hails from Niagara Falls, Ontario and it's not nearly as exciting at it sounds. There's not a whole lot to do, thus she's been writing for about two decades. (Okay, noveling for two decades.) The first few novels she produced happened to be very long picture books; you can't really judge her, she was only six at the time!

She has been participating in NaNoWriMo since 2002 when she discovered it in high school, and continued all through university because everyone needs an excuse to avoid doing that 20 page thesis on the economic effect of the Roman Empire. snore And she's passed the 50K mark every year but one.

Tory Dellafiora

Lindsey Grant — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:09:59 +0000

"Thank God for the crazy people I call friends!"

On top of my already-piled plate at NaNo's start (all the possible Honors classes, four choirs, three different bands, learning a new instrument, breaking my ankle, getting a chest infection, and the wonderful people that remained my friends through all this madness), I had a much more pressing issue to deal with. In October, one of my close friends committed suicide after a long battle with depression. I was devastated and sunk into my own depression, to the point where I didn't want to do anything, much less write 50,000 words in a month.

Thank God for the crazy people I call friends! October 31st rolled around with me (and my chest infection) curled up on the couch, drinking hot chocolate and watching a classic zombie movie. NaNo was the furthest thing from my mind. That is, until I get a call from my best friend, who was at one of our marching band functions I missed due to my illness. I answered in a foul mood, basically yelling at him, "What the heck do you want, Ren? I'm not feeling the best right now." (I have to add that Ren is my biggest writing fan, and I love him for that fact. He's the only person I let read my 2008 NaNo-novel, and he'd been anticipating November so I could churn out another novel to read.)

He asked me if I was doing NaNoWriMo again this year, and I told him that I honestly didn't feel like I was up to that challenge in my present state. I heard the drop in his voice, and I added that I might consider doing half a NaNo. In his usual cheerful voice, he said, "Well then... I guess I have all these people here for nothing!" I asked him what he meant, and from the other end of the line, I heard a loud chorus of voices yell, "Good luck, Tory! You can do it!"

Other people came on the line, telling me things such as, "Get well soon!" "We love you." "I miss you." "You can do it!" Ren came back on, giving me the best encouragement of all, "Write that novel. Or I'll kick your butt."

Needless to say, I dug out the plot I had so carefully planned months before, sat down at midnight, and began typing furiously. My depression caught up with me several times during the month, but I managed to fight it off. I ended up writing what I believe is my best, though only unfinished, NaNo-novel to date. And I have my best friend to thank.

Tory is a high school freshman, pledging her allegiance to the zombie squirrels of the Indiana, PA region, and 2009 was her third year participating in NaNo. She's in five choirs, four bands, and learning yet another instrument in addition to the seven she already knows. She love musicals, writing, joining random groups on Facebook, lemon-scented things, first-person shooters, talking with friends at five in the morning, The Brave Little Toaster, and drumline competitions.

Rovingjack

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:41:27 +0000

"...I realized that I wasn't a sick and dying man writing a story, I was a writer of stories who was dealing with a sickness."

Goodness how long ago did this adventure start for me...

I remember so many years ago that I found nanowrimo.org and thought what a wonderful idea it was. But for two years or more I'd always forget about it until just before the end of the month.

Then there was this Script Frenzy thing that was mentioned. I knew I could do something for that, and set my sights on writing a script. Then I began my procrastination; an important part of my creative process.

With just twelve days left in the Script Frenzy I began writing, and looked to be on course to win.

Only, I then lost my job unexpectedly, and while struggling to find work I fell ill. Very ill.

I struggled to recover, unable to eat, in constant pain. I lost one hundred and forty pounds over the next five months. The pain and sickness were frightening and the doctors frustratingly convinced it was stress.

By this time I managed to find another job and struggle through the pain, as I wasted away. Dealing with the stress and illness was hard and the doctors were deeply frustrating.

Then November came once more; and not sure if I'd be able to participate in any following years, I set my mind to participating then and there.

Something wonderful happened. I don't know when exactly in the process it occurred but there was a point where I realized that I wasn't a sick and dying man writing a story, I was a writer of stories who was dealing with a sickness.

I drove to the public computer labs every day that month pounding out a deeply inspiring story, one that was coming too slowly to meet the deadline. I was determined however, and nine days before finish I started a back-up story. By month's end I finished my back-up story for the win.

As a writer I suppose I'm required to come up with some eloquent means of expressing that moment but really I'm not sure how to describe it other than: right.

There really was no going back at that point. After that NaNo, I found out about the year of doing Big Fun Scary Things together, and promptly made a list of twenty something other "someday" projects that I could work on. I joined Script Frenzy again and wrote five different scripts in five different styles. I wrote 31 short stories in 31 days for charity during the summer. I wrote two novels for the next NaNo, totaling 100,000 words.

I finished 20 of my year goals that first Big Fun Scary year.

I even managed to stop dropping weight, stop most of the pain, and insist on tests that finally showed what had nearly killed me. And I found out that I will face it for the rest of my life. For now I have some amount of control over it, being only slightly underweight and restricted to eight foods that are safe to consume for me.

In the time between that first moment of sickness that made me finally stop putting off my someday dreams, and this moment right now, I have lived more life and had more adventures and fun than I ever did before.

I have written many things, created word puzzles and mazes in the hundreds, run charity events, sold some of my art work, and made jewelry. I’ve started two web comic and have more to come. I’ve started an online store, run panels at conventions and a hundred other things on top of that.

Thank you for the opportunity that you presented to me those few short years ago. It's amazing what a simple invitation to a month's insanity can do.

Rovingjack has participated in three NaNoWriMos, three years of Script Frenzy, and the year of doing Big Fun Scary challenges together. Until recently he's been using public access computers to do it all while wrestling with a chronic illness/disability in the cold Northeastern United States.

Margaret Day

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:38:58 +0000

"In July, it didn't seem like such a daunting task. In October, I was hyperventilating."

Over the summer, my current roommate and I exchanged emails about our plans for the upcoming semester (i.e. who was going to bring a rug and do we need a mini fridge for our late night Coke binges or is the fridge in the kitchen going to be enough?). I mentioned that I was interested in participating in NaNoWriMo, and she immediately jumped on board. In July, it didn't seem like such a daunting task. In October, I was hyperventilating.

"Why am I doing this? Why are we doing this?" I kept asking her whenever I stumbled into the room after another late-night study session in the library, my backpack falling to the floor with a thud. "Because we're crazy," she'd reply, leaning back in her chair, minimizing College Humor on her laptop. "Because we're in college."

All of my friends thought we were crazy, too. They kept asking us, "Are you sure you want to do this? Is this healthy? Is this sane?" And I'd nod and say, "No, it's fine. I'm not going to watch YouTube or go on Facebook or have a social life during November."

Fat chance.

It's hard to find time to write in college. In my admissions essay, I wrote about sitting on the quad with my headphones on and writing the next Great American Novel. More often than not, I find myself translating hundreds of lines of Latin or reading all of Shakespeare's sonnets in a couple of hours. Where was all the time I envisioned for my college self? Where was that idyllic scene from my essay?

I went to sorority parties and club parties armed with my laptop and earbuds during November. I "watched" movies with my friends while furiously typing away at my story. I apologized over and over again: "I'm okay. I'm fine. We'll hang out, for real, in December."

I started talking to my housemates about my characters like they were real people. My roommate and I bounced ideas off each other and called each other names when the other's word count soared higher and higher. The tension in the room was palpable.

And we still had homework and grades and essays and exams. No big deal. Right?

I ended up writing half of my novel at home during Thanksgiving. I never imagined that I could write 6,000 words in one sitting or that I could carry on whole conversations with my father while also typing on my laptop. At the end of November, I really thought I was going insane.

On November 30, I locked myself in my room after my last class and wrote until I could write no more. 50,011 words. Score!

My roommate had finished the day before me, and we spent the rest of the last day of NaNoWriMo running through the streets of our small town screaming at the top of our lungs that we had written a novel. It was such a rush. And it was so cold. But we didn't care. We had done it. We had completed the impossible. And the reactions of our friends and families were worth the hours spent in front of our computer screens.

It was our first time doing NaNoWriMo. This semester, we'll proudly display our NaNoWriMo poster in our room. It was the promise we made to each other: If we won NaNoWriMo, we'd get a poster. So, Poster? Meet Dorm Room Wall.

Margaret is native of Birmingham, AL who is currently pursuing a BA in classical languages and English at a small college in Middle-of-Nowhere, TN. Now, you might be wondering, "What does one do with a BA in classical languages and English?" Well, for starters, she can talk to the Pope, debate the etymology of the English language, and quote from Cicero (in Latin). Law school might be an option, too. 2009 was her first year to participate and win NaNoWriMo. When she's not writing, she's participating in too many extra-curricular activities, drinking too much coffee, and spending too much time in the school library. (You know you've been there too long when the librarians tell you to go home.)

Barbara Plotkin Gilchrist

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:12:05 +0000

"I heard the boom of a 2,000-word wall crash to the ground."

With rutabagas and crispy shallots dancing through my head, I scribbled furiously through the last two-thousand words of my first NaNo novel while watching the nine hundredth hour of the The Food Network Thanksgiving marathon. Soon, I too, would be sitting down to a delicious turkey feast, my NaNo experience, a sweet and exhilarating memory.

Oh, wait…

I still had to transcribe my hand-written NaNo novel into my computer. (My eyes tend to glaze over when reading FAQs and I kind of missed the part where it said you could verify your hand-written novel in two easy steps. But let’s not go there).

Hey, I wasn’t going to let a little thing like typing 50,000 words in two days from chicken-scratch notes discourage me. I knew my three famous friends would rush in and help me if I needed them.

Let me explain…

I first heard about NaNo from a fellow Wrimo on November 17. The idea excited and terrified me at the same time. I had never written a story longer than 2,000 words in my life. Could I write 50,000 in two weeks? That night, driven by an insane desire for a coconut cupcake, I drove to the local bookstore with its insanely good café and purchased my cupcake…and a moleskine notebook in which to write. Properly nourished, I opened the moleskine to begin my adventure when I noticed a piece of paper inside.

It told of the history of the moleskine and the men who had used one to make their own history: Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Bruce Chatwin (a noted novelist and travel writer). I felt that funny feeling you feel when it all comes together, when the planets align, you find a dollar bill in your pocket, and everything is right with the world.

I had my story! I would channel the tortured yet brilliant souls of all three men to help my protagonist finish a NaNo novel! I mean, talk about a creative support group. I commuted four hours a day by train and wrote in my moleskine until every page was weathered and felt “alive.”

Fast forward to November 30. I was typing downstairs in my makeshift office, the midnight hour looming before me. An Italian radio station was blasting music through ITunes as my head precariously hung in front of the computer, ready to crash into the screen at any second when…

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Holy you know what, it was the burglar alarm. It hit me that a crazy stranger could be thinking of taking off with my computer and ruin my chances of ever submitting my NaNo-novel. (The mind isn’t always rational when under pressure). I unplugged the mouse from the computer and thought I could swing it at the assailant’s head if it came right down to it. By now, my American bulldog, Sadie, was barking furiously.

“Where is my husband?” I thought when I saw him walk downstairs, half-asleep, and proceed to turn off the alarm before heading back upstairs.
“But…what if someone is in the house?” I stammered.
“The wind made it go off. Now get some rest.”

I knew if I lay down all would be lost, so I typed and typed and made it by midnight. I heard the boom of a 2,000 word-wall crash to the ground. For one stirring moment, I was invincible. I bade goodnight to Ernest, Pablo, and Bruce and slept sweet dreams until early afternoon. Since then, I’ve had two more NaNo victories and gone to lots of crazy places in the process.

Still, you never forget your first.

Barbara Plotkin Gilchrist resides in Madison, Connecticut with her brave husband, two wonderful kids, Beth and Mike, her trusty sidekick Sadie, two guinea pigs and a rabbit. She has promised her husband that in 2010 she will not use NaNo as an excuse to get out of unloading the dishwasher.

Kansas Lane

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:32:13 +0000

"I wanted a novel by the end of the month, so darn the side effects, I was going to get one!"

To Do List:

-Keep up with seven high school classes
-Prepare for midterms and take end-of-semester tests
-Sleep
-Oh yes... Write a novel

That's pretty much what my life looked like during November. Of course, it was much easier said than done. Not having to attend high school every day helped quite a bit, though. I only had to attend school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For the rest of the week, I had four classes online that kept me quite busy, and two younger siblings keeping me too busy. My novel was shabby at first, my characters undeveloped, my word count hovering around 10,000 for a long time, and my sleep debt unpaid. However, I wanted a novel by the end of the month, so darn the side effects, I was going to get one!

Every day I would sneak chapter after chapter during school, and during my classes I would jot down ideas. My teachers were a little weirded out seeing, "Bombs? Maybe he dies by disease. Stabbing?" in my notebooks, but I had a goal in mind.

Unfortunately seven classes and 13K a day was too hard to maintain. Also, the matter of writer's block cropped up. While I did indeed write 52k, they weren't in the same novel.
Oh well, there's always Camp NaNo next year.

To whoever bothered to read my little story, stick with it, and if you have free time, you are one of the richest people on earth.

Adios, NaNoers,
Kansas Lane

Kansas Lane is a high school student, doing classes both online and at school. He has two siblings and a cat, as well as four unfinished novels. He hopes to write professionally in the future, enjoys NaNoWriMo, and cannot wait for Camp NaNo!

Kay, First-Time Winner

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:33:07 +0000

"The concept of total public humiliation was the best motivator I've ever met."

This year my strategy was personal public humiliation if I failed. Literally. I told everyone I met what I was doing for November 2009: writing a novel, a fifty-thousand word novel. Some were astounded at the undertaking; some laughed. For me, it was telling people and knowing they were going to be asking for updates, and the fact that if I failed to complete it, everyone would know of my failure and they would have fodder to deride me for months.

Each day I went to class (working on my Accounting degree) and my beloved classmates ragged on me and cajoled me and berated me for info once they saw the battered notebook that contained my notes. (Ever notice how bedraggled a notebook looks after about a week in a backpack..?) It was the fact that everyone I talked to—everyone who knew me at all—was asking me about my novel. That made me make it.

The concept of total public humiliation was the best motivator I've ever met. Normally I don't let anyone know about a plot until I finish the piece. But for NaNo '09, I blurted out plot tidbits, character info, and anything else that I could to get other people interested.

I even got a writer friend so interested he's going to proof my deformed, disjointed and strangely written baby and participate in NaNo 2010. The fact that all these people, friends, teachers and acquaintances were watching me, asking for the word count, had me sweating bullets from the 1st to the 30th.

It was with brutal relief and the secure safety of my pride intact that I penned in my last few words to complete my novel and submit it to the word counter at 11:58 PM on November 30th, 2009. It was an even greater boon to walk into class at a little after 1:00 PM December 1st and gratefully announce that the demon-beast of NaNoWriMo was conquered for the year. There were cheers and comments and then questions. Oh the questions. I have forestalled the next stage by telling them all that once I have my CreateSpace proof copy, they can read my crazy little project to their heart's content.

Kay is a twenty-three year old word-addict and writer-in-perpetual-training. She has attempted NaNo since '06, joined officially in '07, and finally won in '09 with 51,353 words. (Joy!).

Jenna St. Hilaire

Lindsey Grant — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:25:47 +0000

"I spent most of Thanksgiving week and the day itself blowing my nose and running a fever and typing."

I spent the first six days of NaNoWriMo in Italy, without computer or internet access. The nine-hour time difference meant I could start at 9 AM on the first of November, Rome time, so with pen and notebook, I began my novel at the front of St. Peter's Basilica just before going in for Mass (see picture). For the rest of that week, I wrote whenever time allowed me to pull out my little book—on the streets, on the trains, in the backs of churches while the rest of my group finished touring, at the hotel while everyone else talked over each day.

The ten-hour international flight gave me my first all-nighter, and I spent much of the first day home typing up the handwritten pages. To my surprise, I had accrued ten thousand words on the trip—just enough to stay on pace.

This was my first NaNoWriMo, and upon joining the site I promised myself a win. I took the advice given in the NaNo welcome letter and told just about everyone I know that I would write a whole novel in November; the constant questions and the fear of getting behind drove me to get my daily 1667. Whenever ideas ran short I hung around the forums, which reminded me of what I ought to do, and the videos and pep talks fed me energy and motivation.

With Thanksgiving coming, I began trying to get ahead on word count—and then I got the flu. I spent most of Thanksgiving week and the day itself blowing my nose and running a fever and typing. I validated my manuscript at 50,272 words on Thanksgiving night, and as I stared in delight at the fireworks on the winner's page, my husband came home from his parents' with a full plate of Thanksgiving dinner. I couldn't eat much, but I felt like a champion.

I kept writing, and on the 29th, at 57,500 words, NaNoWriMo gave me the prize I wanted most of all: a complete first draft of a novel, something I had not managed in ten years. It also gave me confidence and momentum that I plan to use in revising this novel and writing others.

Best Christmas gift an aspiring writer could ask for—and I got it for Thanksgiving. Many thanks to the wonderful people who make NaNoWriMo happen!

Jenna St. Hilaire lives in Bellingham, WA, USA with her husband and a lot of houseplants and books. Her talents include reading, writing, making music, making people happy, remembering loads of random trivia about the Bible and Harry Potter, wearing the wrong shoes for an outfit, and daydreaming.

Bob Grant

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:35:32 +0000

"The act of creatively inserting a random garden shovel, and the crazy woman driver who swerves to miss it, forced me to swerve as well. "

I’ve had a story kicking around in my head for a couple of years and decided this year I was going to put it on paper. I signed up with NaNoWriMo on October 31 and started writing the next night. I quickly discovered it was one thing to have an idea, but quite another to get it to be more than a few pages of disjointed thoughts. After almost a week of spinning my wheels, I did what everyone says not to do: I re-read what I had written and I hated it. There was only one thing to do. Select all, delete.

Two nights later, I started over, writing from a different perspective, ditching my early plot line, and letting my main characters do what they wanted. My pace was slow (I don’t type well – actually I don’t type at all), and 50,000 seemed impossible.

Then the Traveling Shovel of Death made an appearance. I introduced a new character that would become its victim and my story took off. My intended victim survived the TSoD, and saved my story. The act of creatively inserting a random garden shovel, and the crazy woman driver who swerves to miss it, forced me to swerve as well. Suddenly, I was writing without thinking and that’s when the fun really started. My characters became frequent visitors to my dreams. I would write dialogue and they would say things that made me gasp. More than once, I heard myself ask, “Where did that come from?”

My story includes a male character who believes nothing is impossible if you have courage and work hard enough. He was right. At the end of the month I had 51,000 words and the momentum to finish the story a few days later. I also had a crazy woman driver who might be the lead character when I do it again next November.

Bob Grant is a carpenter in mid-coast Maine. This was his first year as a NaNoWriMo novelist. Now that November is over, he has renewed his vow to finish restoring the home he shares with his wife, two dogs, and a cat.

Robin Strachan

Lindsey Grant — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:35:17 +0000

"I prefer to think of it as my first out-of-body experience—and yes, it will go into a future novel."

On Friday the 13th of November 2009, I decided that with almost 30,000 words on my green bar, I could afford to join friends to celebrate their two-year-old daughter’s birthday. The event took place at a Serbian Orthodox Church, which also was holding its annual fund raising dinner dance. The church’s priest, Father George, plays keyboard for a popular swing band that was featured that night. My friends and I (who were seriously under-dressed for the occasion in jeans and sneakers) watched in fascination as couples dressed in formal attire danced to popular big band songs. Something about the manner of dress and the music made it feel like an event from the 1950s and I, of course, began to take notes for a future novel.

I was immersed in a discussion with friends about our days as newspaper reporters when suddenly I felt queasy and dizzy. The feeling worsened and I excused myself to go to the restroom. Halfway there, I knew I was about to pass out and lowered myself to the floor so I wouldn’t hit my head and bleed all over the dance floor (which was carefully polished with a special powder to facilitate gliding). Thankfully, the band was on its break, so I didn’t get trampled by any dancers.

It was fortunate that one of the better dancers also happened to be a cardiovascular nurse. She, along with two physicians who did not speak English, tried to revive me. Because I had no discernible pulse and my blood pressure was so low, someone called 911. Two ambulance companies arrived—it being a slow night, apparently—and a lively discussion ensued about who would transport my body. I regained consciousness just as Father George was making the sign of the cross on my forehead—a surreal moment, to be sure.

I was taken to the hospital where my fainting spell (called syncope) was investigated, although a cause has yet to be determined. I prefer to think of it as my first out-of-body experience—and yes, it will go into a future novel. I was told to take it easy for the next week while every conceivable medical test was performed. This, of course, gave me license to lay around on the sofa with my laptop and finish my novel, which is titled Manifesting Destiny. It was my first year as a participant in NaNoWriMo. There can be little doubt that it will be my most memorable experience as a Wrimo.

Robin Strachan, who lives in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, wears many hats. By day, she is a National Development Officer for the PKD Foundation (polycystic kidney disease) in Kansas City, Missouri. When she isn’t traveling around the Northeast raising money, she is a writer whose poems, articles, and feature stories have been published in regional and national publications. She also is an artist specializing in watercolor and pastel. She has two grown daughters who are enthusiastic readers and critics of her creative endeavors. This was her first year as a NaNoWriMo participant, and she plans to make it an annual challenge.