Morningrushes and words per hour

This year's Nano is going great! It's feeling really good so far, I'm already at 15k! Last year I think I got stuck at 10k and then started over again. This year I am really hoping to make it.

Me and Xyssify's been a keeping track of a few other Wrimos and jeesus! - 14k already at day two? I guess it's impossible not to be jealous of that. But we also saw people who were just on the line or trailing behind a bit... that kind of thing gives you quite the egoboost ;)

So far, I think mornings work really good for me. The half hour it takes before you are completely awake is the perfect time to write, because it's so much easier to focus on only one thing. So I've been waking up at seven everyday so far in the month (which is four, so it's not too impressive to be honest.)

Lastly, is it important to know how many words you write in an hour (in average) or is it just a matter of when you are on flow or not? What do you guys think? I've been trying to time myself today, but the results are so varied that I don't think it's very much to go by.

- A.

Procrastination

Well, I'm a pro at that at least. I really don't know how I am thinking, but somehow I'm always convinced that I'll write something... soon. And then tomorrow, when it gets to late. And then the day after that.

Procrastination is way too easy when you have access to the internet. Not to mention that whenever I get a flow going, someone always seem to interrupt me.

I think Xyssify has a major issue with this too, but she doesn't acknowledge it ( :'P ) And this may be a little tittle-tattley but whatever - she wrote like 1000 words or something.... and erased it! ALL OF IT! So yeah, that's maybe not going too well.

Here's some really nice youtubers (Charlieissocoollike and Danisnotonfire) talking about procrastination:

Xyssify and I LOVE these two, so I just had to put them up. Seriously, they're awesome <3

(And a little side-note, writing on this blog is procrastination too.)
- Amanda

Question about Hats

Okay, so I've gotten to the point where I get distracted with small (and sometimes impossible) details. For example, there is this guy named Wilbur and he has a very characteristic hat that looks like this:

But I can't for the love of God *inhaling deeply* figure out what this kind of hat is called. Anyone who knows the name in either Swedish or English? It would be a great help.

Thanks, A.

Update

I seriously don't know why, but things have been going soooo slow with our novels (I think Xyssify's sort-of dead, writing wise) but well... I'm trying to get back again. I'm about 10 000 words behind but.. it's not impossible right? I really want to "win" this year ;)

- Amanda aka Bokpandan

First Day of Nano

Well, this has been the first day of NaNoWriMo and it's been crazily funny, stressy, creative, writers block-y, full of food, candy, shouting and music.

I was so eager to start in the morning when I woke up, but what I realized was that it is really, really hard to write in English. Not impossible, but definitely more time-consuming and brain-wrecking than Swedish (That's, after all, our native language). But I have a hunch my English is going to be so much better after this November.

I have four new favorite sites after the first day. They are really handy when I'm looking for a certain word or phrase or a synonym for something. Tyda.se - the best when looking for many suggestions for just one word (translating), google translate - for sentences rather than words, synonymer.se - for the kind of zombie moments when I don't even know the Swedish word and then.... thesaurus.com - I'm soooo in LOVE with this page right now. My English teacher suggested me using it and I'm really thankful for it. It's awesome, so good synonyms and definitions, I'm lovin' it <3

I've also successfully found sites with lists of about thousand names on imaginary/most common fantasy names, house-names, first and surnames, town-names, names on schools.... the list goes on. It's a great time saver, rather than me getting stuck all the time.

I suppose (or hope?) that you're interested in how the writing is going. Well, I've written about 5 full pages by now and exactly 3 411 words. You should write at least 1667 words per day, so I've got both today and tomorrow covered already haha. I've also concluded that it takes me about 55 min to write one page. It's almost one freaking hour! Just how am I supposed to get by when school starts again? o.o

Xyssify is a really good kid who's been to school and done her homework and all that (not to mention she's writing a really complex novel - mine's pretty simple) so she ain't got time to write a blogpost (not now at least) but she gave me a message:

"It's really hard to have homework and Nano. at. the. same. time." *choking sound*

We have been sitting for about 4½ hours by now, talking over Skype while writing. She does random shouting at me sometimes, because apparently I talk too much, which is distracting x'3

As for my novel... so far I love it! If any of you would like to read it, just ask, I would love it if you did <3

xoxoxoxo
- Bokpandan (Haha, I'm SO HYPED! 8D)

5 HOURS LEFT!

... and about 30 minutes. But I'm just sooo excited - maybe excited enough to stay up half the night writing. I'm pretty sure Xyssify won't though, because she's got school tomorrow. (I'm on break until Tuesday, which is niiice :)) I finally found out what I wanted to write about yesterday, so I've got the major plot under control now. I've just gotta make myself a more precise timeline of the novels events and then I'm set.

I'm really curious as to how it'll go though, because I've never written anything this big in English before. Not to mention that my vocabulary is quite poor, but I hope that I'll at least manage to get myself through those 50 K words without any brain-breakdowns (I can picture myself rolling on the floor while mumbling weird stuff about my characters while trying to rip my hair out already)

Well, in 5 hours the writing-frenzy begins. It might get crazy!

-Bokpandan/Amanda
(Haha, I'm such a copycat sometimes)

Ploting Plots

It's now... two days? Or three? left until NaNoWriMo officially starts and all the writers are supposed to start writing like crazy. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of authors/people out there that are going crazy waiting for that day, but in the meantime - we've got a problem over here.

I can't think of anything to write! Really it's just catastraphos and really bad of me, I know. But as much as I'm really, really excited over this (and I am, believe me) I'm also really, really stuck. It's not like a complete case of writers block, because I do have some flighty ideas of what I want to write and a couple of properly developed plot-lines already sketched upon - but it just doesn't feel quite right.

If I'm going to spend a whole month on this story, writing about 120 pages, then it needs to be good. Or really bad, the quality doesn't really matter. But it has to be a story I like writing, right? Or else I'll just have my little Guilt Monkey laughing at me while she finishes her project brilliantly and makes it into the hall of fame, probably getting published and then winning the Nobel-prize. Or something like that. (We wish, haha)

Speaking of the other Guilty Monkey (Xyssify) I think she has some ideas on what she wants to write at least. She showed me some storylines two days ago, but she doesn't seem to be sure about it. (Right now I'm secretly happy about being as far behind when it comes to a plot as she is, but don't tell her!) Anyways, wish us good luck - that would be nice - and I hope your NaNoWriMo-novel is going great. If you have one, that is.

Hugs and kisses (or something like that)

-A