Check-In: Week 2, Part II

I know this is late, but I found myself out of town this weekend without internet access. (It's a sad tale to be told later.)

Round 1 Goals:

1. Re-read what is written on Untitled NaNoWriMo 2011 Project
   
2. Finish first (and only) draft of Untitled NaNoWriMo 2011 Project
   • 500 words per day except Fridays or
     
   • 3,000 words per week

My Week Two ended with Goal 1 met!

Now I can concentrate on finishing the November novel. First check-in of week three is due tomorrow, so I should get to work, shouldn't I?

Check-In: Week 2, Part I

Round 1 Goals:

1. Re-read what is written on Untitled NaNoWriMo 2011 Project
2. Finish first (and only) draft of Untitled NaNoWriMo 2011 Project
   • 500 words per day except Fridays or
   • 3,000 words per week

The Actual Progress Report:
As of this morning, I'm at 75% on my read-through, according to my Kindle. (I love my Kindle.)

Everyone Else's Progress Reports

Additional Garbage Not Related to ROW80 Progress:
(You could probably stop reading now.)

The novel is largely as I remember it: Trite, uncompelling, full of cliches and contradictions, and just plain bad. (What do you expect? I wrote it.) The question other people would be asking themselves, being the writers that they are, is this: If it's so bad and you don't plan on going beyond the first draft, why finish it?

My answer is this: Out of seven Novembers, I have finished the projects in three of them. (I got 50,000 or more words all seven times, but have only typed "The End" on three of them, and one of those was done the following July.) I'm what you call a "serial starter." I start many, many projects (of varying types, actually), but follow very few to completion. I'm trying to put my November novels into that elite category. Except maybe my 2006 novel.

New question a Real Writer would ask: If you want to follow this project to completion, why stop after one draft? That's not complete. You need to revise, edit, revise, rework, restructure, revise, and edit. Why not do that?

My new answer: Because this story is not worth that much work. I never even bothered to give it a title, and that's often the first thing I do after I decide what the story is about. I just want to be able to type "The End" to bring my track record above 50%.

If that's wrong, so be it.

Check-In: Week 1, Part II

Short: Whether or not it's sweet is up to you to decide.

The re-read continues. I'm not quite half done with it. (Which I should be to be able to finish it by this time next week. Alas.) Lots of flaws and inconsistencies, but that's fine. I won't be revising it later anyway, so let them stay, sez I! I just want to type "The End" and be done with it. (That's my goal, for those of you not keeping track -- and really, why should you?)

I'll keep you updated!

How about everyone else?

Check-In: Week 1, Part I

Already check-in day, and what do I have to report? Easy... no writing.

I decided, since I was planning to finish my November novel, that I needed to re-read what I've written so far on my November novel. That way I'd remember what's happened and where I left off. It was a logical decision, actually. After all, when you write in a frenzy of words and aren't actually paying attention to what you're writing, you're bound to miss something.

A lot of somethings, as it turns out. In the first section alone, I spotted at least three statements that were contradicted later in the story. If I were planning to edit this, I'd be in for a nightmare in revisions.

The main problem in this logical decision was that it was a decision reached on January 2, the day we were supposed to start this Round of Words in 80 Days. There already exist 105,000 words on this beast, and I'm a pretty slow reader. This catch-up will take me at least all of week 1, and probably most or all of week 2. So... let's tack that onto the goal list, shall we? Re-read first, then continue the story.

And hope beyond hope that some kind of conclusion can come of this mess.

How goes it for the other participants?

The Goal Post

(Oh, look! A pun!)

It's a new year, with new opportunities to fail at the things I pretend I want to do! This time around, at least for the first 80 days, I'm pretending I want to finish my untitled 2011 November novel. And by "finish" I really only mean type "The End" as opposed to revising it or anything like that.

So... the measurable goal:

Average around 500 words a day for days that are not Friday. (This means 3,000 words a week.) This is to last until the words "The End" can logically occur. At that point, I will reflect and potentially revise / add to the goal.

Easy peasy, no? Knowing me, prolly not.

We shall see.

What are everyone else's goals?

Guess Who's Back!

This is me, throwing my hat into the ring for 2012 Round 1.

No, I haven't suddenly decided I'm a writer again. And no, unlike most of the people who participate in A Round of Words in 80 Days, I have no desire to write professionally in any capacity. In fact, as I've so often stated, I'm one of the "evil" November writers. I participate in National Novel Writing Month and often don't write at all the rest of the year. That's why ROW80 is such a good idea. It's motivation for people who want to be writers to... you know... write.

Me? I'm back in this to try to reach some kind of conclusion to my still-untitled November novel. And no, it will never see the light of day after I write "The End" on it. I want to finish it because I'm tired of unfinished November novels. (I may even go back and finish a few of the previous ones, as well. We shall see.)

I have an overall goal in mind, and the "measurable" steps to get there. That, of course, must wait for the Goal Post on January 2. Ish.

See you then!

The End of the Line

I stated in Entry #1 of this blog one very simple truth about myself: I'm not a writer. I play at it in November, and sometimes I think about scenes and ideas during the rest of the year. Thinking, for some reason, that I could translate my November enthusiasm to a year-long (broken down quarterly) challenge, I dove head-first into the ROW80 pool.

And smacked the bottom and drowned. (Proverbially, of course. It would be pretty difficult to be writing up a closing entry if I were dead.)

Kait Nolan has a wonderful idea: A challenge designed to fit writing into your life. The block I stumbled over is the fact that writing is a very low priority in mine. NaNoWriMo is the exception rather than the rule. It was clear to me that the primary reason I participate in NaNoWriMo is the social side of things rather than the writing.

Most of the people I encountered during ROW80 (thanks to the regular Linky provided) are actual, real writers who want to make some kind of career out of it. ROW80 is perfect for them. It makes them set their goals, gives them something solid to reach for, and helps keep them on task. If life gets in the way, it gives them the freedom to alter their goals to compensate. When life backs off again, they can adjust their goals further. (Let's face it -- unless you're a no-life slacker like me, you have unexpected things arise that totally screw with your plans. That's just how it goes.)

Well... none of that applies to me.

I'm not an actual, real writer who wants to make a career out of it. I don't have a life to get in the way of a writing challenge. I'm just... lazy.

So I failed. Hard.

In 80 days of the challenge, 58 of them had no writing. (42 of those were consecutive, and ran from February 10 through the end.) I hadn't intended to quit, but I just didn't write. I didn't feel like it, and there was nothing to lose by not doing so. I wasn't sabotaging a wanted career... and it's not like anything I'll write will ever see the light of day. (It's all a daydream, really.)

Again, I want to stress that the idea behind ROW80 is fantastic, and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to make writing a priority. I'm even contemplating coming back for Round 3... but for now, as of this moment, it's not for me. I'll be sitting out Round 2 but secretly cheering on all of you hoopy froods who are brave enough to do it again.

Thank you, Ms. Nolan, for putting together this challenge for writers. I hope everyone who participates reaches their goals and achieves their dreams.

Check the Blog Hop to see how everyone else did in Round 1.

Week 6 Wrap-Up

Oh, look... another late check-in with more slacking to report.

I finished out week 6 with 2.5/6, writing Monday through Wednesday (not a surprise) but not Thursday through Sunday (also not a surprise). (Friday is my day off from writing anyway.) Wednesday, I didn't write the full 750 words; this is why there's a half-credit in the total.

Definitely better than the 1/6 that was week 5.

At this point, Round One has become an exercise in adding words to a story I've lost all interest in. I'll continue to do this through the end, and Round Two, if I participate again, will hopefully be a story I can maintain interest in. (That's one reason I'm not a writer. I can rarely maintain interest.)

So until the next (probably late) check-in...

The February 13 Check-in Blog Hop

Week 5, Part II

As expected (self-fulfilling prophecy, mayhap?), Week 5 ended with 1/6. The battle for motivation was lost. I wrote last Monday, and that was it. Strangely, I'm okay with that.

No promises for how Week 6 will go -- managed to get sick over the weekend, so I'm fighting coughs and sleepiness as well as the non-motivation monster. Meh. It's not over yet.

The February 6 Check-in Blog Hop

Week 5, Part I

How many of us are surprised that the check-in post is late? (Yes, I'm pretending someone would actually keep up with this blog.)

Week 5 of A Round of Words in 80 Days has not gone swimmingly so far. I'm lacking this drive that brought the rest of the participants here in the first place: Motivation.

I'm not a writer. I'm a writing hobbyist. Actually, even that phrase overstates what the written word is to me. I like writing, but it's not something I'm passionate about. I have no wish to make it a living, though I do still hold out the delusion that I will one day publish something -- prolly self-published. (If it doesn't happen, I won't lose any sleep over it.) I'm among one-monthers -- the ones who do National Novel Writing Month but no other writing the rest of the year.

The cool thing about ROW80 is how personalized the challenge is. You set your goal(s). You work to meet your goal(s). You check in on how your goal(s) progress(es). You keep yourself accountable. Others are doing this thing with you, but they're all chasing goals that they set. They don't have to meet your goal(s), and you don't have to meet theirs.

The very important part about this being so personalized is that you don't compare yourself with the other people in the challenge. And this is where I almost invariably fail.

Many of the others you will encounter on the Blog Hop (link posted below) are actual writers. They are people for whom the dream is strong or has even come true, to an extent. They still have day jobs, but are using ROW 80 to eke out time to make their writing goals happen, be it publishing for the first time or being able to quit that day job to focus entirely on writing.

I read of these folks who are Real Writers™ and think, "What the hell am I even doing here? I don't belong in this event with all of these writers around me. I'm just doing this for fun."

The truth is, however -- and this is the realization that ultimately keeps me doing ROW80 -- that my goal of "just doing this for fun" is just as valid as someone else's goal of writing for a living.

We're all in this ROW80 thing for our own reasons. At this moment, waffler that I am, my reasons for being here are not 100% clear. So while Week 5 may end up a bust (depending on how the weekend goes), I'm in this to the end of Round 1 at the very least.

The February 2 Check-In Blog Hop