There are several reasons why I prefer participating in NaNoWriMo over participating in NaBloPoMo.With NaNoWriMo I get the satisfaction of having completed a first draft of a novel. That first draft potentially gives me something I can work on and shape into a story that someone night want to read some day. With NaBloPoMo what I write it typically fungible and tied to a particular or reflective of circumstances that likely will change over time.
The deadline pressure of NaNoWriMo, 50,000 words in 30 days, drives my creative impulse in a way that having to come up with 30 blog entries in that same time period does not. The blog is all about me, about my observations and analysis of the world around me; quite often the characters in a novel tend to take over the story and make it move in ways that lead me to end up some place I did not expect to be when I started.
And then there is the finishing aspect of it. NaNoWriMo has a fixed deadline: 50,000 words in 30 days. Ideally, you want to finish your first draft though I’m sure there are some people who hit word count, “win” NaNoWriMo, and never finish their stories. Since I always have family obligations, and, having participated in NaNoWriMo four times, since I know there will be days when the writing does not come or when I feel like a complete fraud every time my fingers touch the keyboard I always set a daily word count goal that exceeds what you need to write to complete NaNoWriMo.
To complete NaNoWriMo you need to write 1,667 words per day. I usually set my writing goal at 2,000 words per day which gets me completed on or around the 25th every time I’ve participated. In 2009 when I did NaNoWriMo I hit 51,203 words on the 21st of November. In 2007 I hit 51,431 on the 27th of the month which is a little slower on pace but it also accounts for two writing days when my total was under 200 words.
In order to complete NaBloPoMo I have to come up with three more coherent blog entries, and one could argue that I’ve been kind of slacking on my stated goal of getting back in touch with and looking critically at the world. I’m just happy that I haven’t spent the entire month complaining about my job.
That said, here are a few more November related numbers to consider:
- Day on which my family started asking what I wanted for Christmas: the 9th
- Day on which I relented and made a “wish list” on Amazon: the 27th
- Things on my Christmas wish list: 10
- Eggs expended in holiday related baking: 6 (with more scheduled for tomorrow)
- Loaves of cheese bread given away: 5
- Varieties of cheese bread baked: 2 (cheddar chili and Italian blend with sun dried tomatoes)
- Cookies I plan on baking on Sunday: 6 dozen
- Slices of pumpkin pie consumed in the last four days: 2
- Amount of cheese eaten in the same time period: way too much
- Pounds gained/(lost): (1.5)
- Hours spent using the chain saw: 4
- Hours spent trying to start the !#@$#%& chain saw in the first place: .75
- Mice in the house not yet caught by any one of the three laziest cats on the planet: 1 (I hope)
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