I’m taking a “blogging break” today, but I’m still going to get some writing done on my novel, Idle Hands, and in the meantime, here are my stats for Saturday, November 8. It was a pretty productive day…
| Average Per Day | 1803 |
| Words Written Today | 2606 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 14,430 |
| Words Remaining | 35,570 |
| Current Day | 8 |
| Days Remaining | 23 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | November 28 |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,547 |
I realize you don’t donate to National Novel Writing Month for all the “stuff” they send you in acknowledgment of your donation. You donate to NaNoWriMo because it’s a good cause.
But (and this is mostly just because I needed a topic to blog about today) I thought I would take a look back at all the “stuff” I was supposed to receive from NaNoWriMo in appreciation of the donation and see if it has all arrived…
I don’t have any idea if I received this or not. I probably did, in the form of some email with links to these webinars, although, I don’t remember receiving anything like that…
I received this, along with a hand-written card from Grant. Since I doubt I will be in Berkeley, CA prior to the coupon’s expiration date of 12/31/2015, and since this coupon is transferable, the first WriMo who contacts me through the NaNoWriMo site with their California mailing address can have it…
I received this. In fact, they were kind enough to allow me to feature two of my previous books on this bookstore, so I submitted Self-Publishing Simplified and Sell Your Book on Amazon.
It’s probably too soon to know if I received this or not, but I hope I don’t. I get enough stuff like this already.
I received some sort of rolled up poster in the mail, so I assume it was this…
Yes, I received this in the mailing tube along with the poster. I think the dog already go to it.
I received these.
I received these.
Yes.
Yes.
I don’t remember getting this, but perhaps it was in the email along with the webinars…
I don’t remember getting this, but perhaps it was in that mysterious missing email, too.
As I said, the main reason to donate to NaNoWriMo isn’t for any of those things. It’s to support a worldwide creative effort. As Grant Faulkner wrote in his note to me, “the world needs more creators.” Amen to that…
Here are my NaNoWriMo stats from yesterday, November 7:
| Average Per Day | 1689 |
| Words Written Today | 2179 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 11824 |
| Words Remaining | 38,176 |
| Current Day | 7 |
| Days Remaining | 24 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | 30-Nov |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,591 |
Yay, I passed 10,000 words. Woo-hoo! And look at that, I’m scheduled to finish exactly on time. I’d sure like a little more lee-way than that, especially with Thanksgiving approaching, so I should focus on getting a few days ahead!
Wow, yesterday’s word total update for my book, Idle Hands, was the lowest yet. Only 480 words! I felt positive I was going to earn my 10,000 word Writing Badge yesterday when I started the day with over 9,000 words, but other responsibilities took over and I was “lucky” to contribute any words to the cause.
Sadly, this makes my Stats for November 6 the worst yet. This is the first time the stats are estimating that I finish my book AFTER the November 30th deadline. Ouch.
| Average Per Day | 1607 |
| Words Written Today | 480 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 9645 |
| Words Remaining | 40,355 |
| Current Day | 6 |
| Days Remaining | 25 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | December 2 |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,615 |
I better pick it up! Perhaps a way to do that is to look at my writing buddies for inspiration. At the time I was uploading my sad, sad 480 word count, for a new total of 9645, some of my buddies had word counts ranging from 8710 to 33,322. And that’s not even including one of my buddies who has ALREADY written over 50,000 words. I checked her author website and her goal was to write 50,000 words in 5 DAYS! Now that is impressive, and inspiring.
I also remembered that I’m supposed to add an excerpt of my book to the NaNoWriMo, so I submitted this from chapter one:
She was beautiful. I had admired her from afar for far too long and now here I was standing right next to her. I hadn’t spoken yet. I was just… taking her in. Her aura. Her curves. Her style. The way she seemed to shine in the light. She was flawless. It may sound crass to say, but I longed to be inside her. (I loved that smell!) Hearing the noises she made when I pushed her hard and feeling the way she gripped; my mind reeled. She was definitely my fantasy and someday I was going to have her.
“She’s a beaut, isn’t she?” the Porsche salesman said as he approached from my left.
For the last month and a half, my posts have focused on my participation in National Novel Writing Month, which tasks writers to compose 50,000 words to a book within the 30 days of November. During the month, as WriMo’s (as they are called) write their books, they also converse with “buddies” online, commiserate in forums, and some even attend local “Write-Ins” in person, where they can write alongside other NaNoWriMo participants. And all of this helps them do something that ALL writers should do — market their book AS they are writing it.
This is good advice regardless of whether you are writing a book in a month, or in a year; and Outskirts Press has recently published a book by one of the best social media marketing authors, Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol, who uses multiple social media platforms to engage her audience for both her acting career and her writing career.
Author and actress Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol is perhaps best known for her roles in the “Fast & Furious” franchise and the upcoming film, “AWOL-72.” Her first book of poetry, Letters, To The Men I Have Loved, was released by Outskirts Press in June of 2014 and quickly climbed through the bestseller ranks. In a recent interview with us, Mirtha Michelle credits much of her success to a quality relationship with what she calls her “social media family.” In her own words, here are four simple tips she offers to the newly published author:
Mirtha Michelle’s book, Letters, To The Men I Have Loved, is available through iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the Outskirts Press Direct bookstore.
My NaNoWriMo stats for yesterday, November 5, 2014:
| Average Per Day | 1833 |
| Words Written Today | 2371 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 9165 |
| Words Remaining | 40,835 |
| Current Day | 5 |
| Days Remaining | 26 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | November 28 |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,571 |
That headline is a head-scratcher, isn’t it? I mean, of COURSE writing a book requires the “writing” part, but that must be little-kn0wn fact if you’re to read many of the emails and “words of encouragement” being distributed by NaNoWriMo; and they’ve been doing this long enough to have some meaningful statistics. They must know that the percentage of people who participate in NaNoWriMo each year is drastically different from the number of participants who win NaNoWriMo each year (and by “win” they mean writing 50,000 words in 30 days).
We experience the same phenomenon at Outskirts Press. We offer a free “Author’s Center“, which includes three free e-books, to whomever wants to sign-up without obligation. Of course, since we are a business, we do that in the hopes that someday, those writers will be ready to publish a book and they will value all the free information and encouragement we have sent them over the months (or years), and choose Outskirts Press for their publishing and marketing needs. But just like NaNoWriMo, we have more sign-ups than publishing authors. I think almost everyone likes the idea of writing a book, but actually doing it requires commitment and discipline — something NaNoWriMo makes no secret of tackling head-on.
In order to write 50,000 words in 30 days, I’ve encouraged all the participants to at least write “something” every day. In fact, I’ve been more specific and encouraged everyone to write at least 1,000 words.
Well, yesterday, I was unable to do that. I knew it was going to be a hard day to write (because it was election day), and I was only able to produce 827 new words to my novel, Idle Hands. So I thought it would be interesting to compare my Day 3 Stats with my Day 4 Stats in order to see the exact affect it has on daily averages when you don’t produce at least 1000 words a day.
First, these Day 3 stats again, which are a repeat from yesterday.
| Average Per Day | 1989 |
| Words Written Today | 1459 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 5967 |
| Words Remaining | 44,033 |
| Current Day | 3 |
| Days Remaining | 28 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | November 26 |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,573 |
And now the new Day 4 Stats, incorporating 827 new words (by the way, am I the only one that experiences 404 Not Found “crashing” errors on the NaNoWriMo site when updating my word count from the top menu bar?)
| Average Per Day | 1698 |
| Words Written Today | 827 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 6794 |
| Words Remaining | 43,206 |
| Current Day | 4 |
| Days Remaining | 27 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | November 30 |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,601 |
The most telling statistics are the last two. The “At this rate, you’ll finish” date changed from November 26th to November 30th (from 4 days early to just-in-the-nick-of-time), and the word requirement per day also increased by 28 words. Now I have to write more each day AND I’m still scheduled to finish 4 days later than I was! Ouch! Talk about a double-whammy!
THAT’s the danger of writing a low word count in a day. Imagine skipping a day entirely!
I know I was going to write about one of our recent Outskirts Press authors who has done an amazing job leveraging social media for success, but this low word count day offered a good opportunity to do a comparison, so I’ll do that other posting tomorrow (and hopefully I’ll write way more tomorrow, too!).
I’m writing this blog posting on November 3, and then I will schedule it to post on the morning of November 4th. I often do this so that my blog postings can appear early in the day, and I’m never quite sure what my actual schedule will be each morning.
I mention that I’m a day early because this post involves my NaNoWriMo buddies, and specifically, just how many words THEY have written in only two full days of NaNoWriMo. It’s humbling, but also inspiring.
My first “buddy” on NaNoWriMo was one of the local community administrators, which is probably a volunteer position, and is held by a long-time participant of NaNoWriMo. I can see from looking through her past history on NaNoWriMo that she joined in 2007 and in that year, she wrote over 100,000 words (twice as much as required)! Now THAT is impressive. Even more impressive is the fact that she has participated every year since then, and has written 50,000 words EACH AND EVERY TIME! And she’s already up to 22,000 words in 2014, after just 2 days. Makes my 2-day word count of 4,500 seem like nothing. Okay, so it’s humbling, inspiring, and just a tad bit annoying, too. I wish I were at 22,000 words already. Ahh, what a feeling that must be.
My other buddies aren’t quite as “annoying”, but still inspiring. After two days, a member from 2008 has 6,300 words; our Exec VP from Outskirts Press (who joined NaNoWriMo in 2012) has almost 10,000; and two new WriMos, both from 2014, have 2700 and 9100, respectively. On the other side of the equation, I have a number of NaNoWriMo buddies, new this year, who haven’t registered any word counts at all yet… Hopefully they’re reading this blog, as I have invited them to, and finding the inspiration they need to upload their first word count totals and get “some skin in the game.” As I’ve mentioned previously, falling even one day behind can start to make the “hole” insurmountable.
But the point of this posting is that knowing other writers and following other writers can offer inspiration and motivation to you as a writer, and this holds true even outside of the small (and short) NaNoWriMo universe. If you have a favorite author who is currently still putting out work, odds are that he or she is “on the Internet” in some form or another, either on Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram, or Tumblr. Today’s market savvy authors know how to leverage different social media sites to grow their market, engage their audience, and build their platform as writers. If you haven’t yet done that, today is a good time to start, and the first step is by finding a writer you admire and “following” them on one or more of their social media outlets. Perhaps they will do the same, and all of a sudden, you’ll find yourself using social media to broaden your reach as a writer.
At Outskirts Press, we have many authors who are taking great advantage of the Internet to market and sell their books, and tomorrow I’ll talk about one in particular…
On a final note, after three days, I finally earned my 5,000 Word Count Badge by passing the 5,000 word milestone. Woo hoo! And my daily input is very close to my personal goal of 2,000 words each day. Hopefully I can keep that up.
My Daily Stats for November 3 were:
| Average Per Day | 1989 |
| Words Written Today | 1459 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 5967 |
| Words Remaining | 44,033 |
| Current Day | 3 |
| Days Remaining | 28 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | November 26 |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,573 |
We’re on Day 3 of National Novel Writing Month. How are my Mentorees holding up? Have you received your third “Writing Badge” yet (for passing 5,000 words)? I haven’t. After two days I’m about 500 words short of that first 5,000 word milestone. But, I did earn my 2nd “Writing Badge” on Day 1 after entering my first day’s total. And presuming I write an acceptable amount of words today, I’ll earn that third Writing Badge today (for reaching 5,000 words). Hopefully a lot of my buddies join me. In fact, if you want to be my “Buddy” on NaNoWriMo, just find my Forum Posting under “Mentors Looking for Newbies” and click on my username Outskirts_Press_Brent and then add me as a buddy. I’ll add you, as well, and that way, you’ll be able to see my Novel Stats through the month. Hopefully the goal of writing more than I do inspires and motivates you toward great success this November.
And that brings me to the 5 things I have learned so far, after just 2 days of participating in National Novel Writing Month:
1) Publicize your goals and your efforts — It’s much harder to “quit” if other people know what you’re trying to do. If you’re writing in a vacuum and you are the only person aware of your NaNoWriMo participation, it’s going to be easy to call it quits when those word count totals just aren’t what they should be. But by adding “Buddies” to your NaNoWriMo profile, or by posting your goals on Facebook or Twitter or your own website, you increase the chances of your success because your buddies, friends, followers, or visitors will be watching. Even if they’re strangers, allow them to hold you accountable for your success.
2) Waking up early in the morning with the idea of “getting some writing done” isn’t going to work for me. With the sun still far below the horizon, and unable to fall back to sleep with thoughts of NaNoWriMo swirling in my head, I decided it would be time best spent to crawl out of bed early and hit the book running. So that’s what I did on November 1. But two paragraphs in, my lovely son interrupted me, and I always choose him over the computer, so I had to save my progress and plan to come back to it later. That was probably harder than waiting until I KNEW I had some uninterrupted time available.
3) This is closely related to the previous paragraph. Being interrupted in the middle of writing and then being tasked with the idea of having to return back to it later in the day is much harder (at least for me) than just plowing through. On November 1 I had to return back to my book a few hours later, and it took precious time to get the gears grinding again. I knocked out the numbers on Day 2 all in one fell swoop and not only did I write MORE, but I wrote more confidently, and more quickly. All good things when the clock is constantly ticking.
4) Save each day’s work as its own file. This holds two advantages. A) You don’t run the risk of losing your ENTIRE book if your file corrupts unexpectedly. B) You don’t run the risk of reading your previous day’s work over and over, which takes time away from what you SHOULD be doing (writing). On the other hand, there are two downsides: A) Each day you need to add up your own word count before entering it into NaNoWriMo, because their “stat machine” simply wants a cumulative total. B) During the “confirmation” stage when you apparently need to upload your book to the NaNoWriMo website for word-count verification you will need to combine your documents in one single file. But that 30-part cut-n-paste exercise seems like a small price to pay to keep me from re-reading my first page over and over again (which is something I’m apt to do otherwise).
5) Being a fast typist helps. A few days ago I posted a link to an online touch typing webpage which taxed you with copying a written paragraph into a box as quickly as you could. I registered a words-per-minute rating of 81, with 1 mistake (including the time it took for me to move my hand to the mouse to click the “Start” button). When I posted those results on my Facebook page with a challenge to my Facebook friends to beat me, of course my wonderful (and competitive) Outskirts Press EVP, Kelly, raised the bar to 83 words per minute with 2 mistakes at http://fastfingers.com — So naturally I had to give that different website a try. The good news was, it didn’t require me to take time away from typing to click the “Start” button. So my first attempt rated a 95 words-per-minute rating, but with 5 mistakes. Too many in my book, so I tried it again and earned a 94 WPM time with 3 mistakes, which the site makes easy to post to your Facebook page. Logistically speaking, typing quicker makes it easier to get the required words on the paper. But more importantly, having a writing buddy (Kelly is participating in NaNoWriMo, also), especially an equally competitive one, increases the chances that BOTH writers will succeed, simply because neither writer wants to fail. If you don’t have a writing buddy on NaNoWriMo, find one.
Or review my stats and compete against me. Here are my DAILY STATS for November 2, 2014:
| Average Per Day | 2254 |
| Words Written Today | 2316 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 4508 |
| Words Remaining | 45,492 |
| Current Day | 2 |
| Days Remaining | 29 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | November 23 |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,569 |
A few posts ago, I discussed the amount of actual time it might take to write a book in 30 days, which is what all the WriMos started doing yesterday, presumably with a stack of candy (it WAS just after Halloween, after all). In that posting, I suggested that if you forgo ALL personal time (or, more accurately, squeeze ALL personal time into 5 hours/day, including eating), you still have 5 hours a day to devote to writing your book if you work 8 hours a day and sleep 6 hours a day. If you actually spent 100% of those 5 hours each day for 30 days doing nothing but writing constantly and consistently, you would only need to type 7 words a minute to write 50,000 in 30 days.
But no one writes that way. You’ll need to take some breaks to recharge. It’s a good thing you type faster than 7 words a minute, isn’t it? So what can you do for relaxation that doesn’t take you TOO far from the laptop (just in case inspiration strikes)?
You can watch movies about writing and writers. There are a lot of them. Not surprisingly, many movies are about screenwriters (hmm, I wonder why), but there are also quite a few movies (some better than others) about book writers, poets, playwrights, etc. So, in no particular order (well, except for the first one, which seems appropriate since we’re all about to artistically “suffer” writing 50,000 words in 30 days, AND since NaNoWriMo kicked-off on Halloween at midnight), are 25 movies about writers that you can watch when your fingers need a break during National Novel Writing Month. Add them to your NetFlix queue today.
1. Misery
2. Chinese Coffee
3. House by the River
4. Prick Up Your Ears
5. The Player
6. Barton Fink
7. Midnight in Paris
8. Deconstructing Harry
9. Wonder Boys
10. Another Woman
11. The Squid and the Whale
12. Capote
13. Numb
14. Starting Out in the Evening
15. Shadows in the Sun
16. The Ghost Writer
17. Beautiful Kate
18. The World According to Garp
19. Zorba the Greek
20. Listen Up Philip
21. The Tenants
22. Stuck in Love
23. Finding Forester
24. Sideways
25. Adaptation
Okay, okay…. you didn’t think I was going to forget one more, did you? The Shining
I’m sure there are many others, but as they say, “All work, and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.” So have fun while you’re writing! Who knows? Some of the movies above may just inspire you (or at least explain why some writers are cra-azy!)
DAILY STATS UPDATE for November 1, 2014
Yesterday was fun! It was the first time I got to actually work on the book I’ve been blogging about for nearly a month, and the first time I got to put some words to paper, and then enter my word count into the NaNoWriMo site. Contrary to my own advice, I didn’t quite reach 3000 words the first day out, but that’s okay. And, it’s even BETTER for the WriMo’s I’m mentoring because it offers up an opportunity: I challenge you to stay AHEAD of me. Each day I will post my previous daily stats on this blog and as long as you write MORE words than I do, you’ll be pacing yourself well (assuming, of course, that I will be pacing myself well, so the pressure is on!).
| Average Per Day | 2192 |
| Words Written Today | 2192 |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | 2192 |
| Words Remaining | 47,808 |
| Current Day | 1 |
| Days Remaining | 30 |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | Nov 23 |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,594 |
I’m assuming the “Days Remaining” stat still says 30 because I updated my word count at noon, mountain time, on November 1. That last stat is the benefit to writing MORE words than the required 1666 per day. Every time you write MORE than the required average, your NEW required daily average decreases. Talk about a psychological boost!
My last several posts have all been leading to this day, when the 2014 National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) officially kicks off. For the next 30 days, approximately 500,000 participants from around the globe will be striving to accomplish the same thing: To write 50,000 words of a book before the stroke of midnight on November 30th. That’s 1,666.6 words each day. We’ll be cheering each other on in local “Write-ins” around the country and world; we will be helping and commiserating online through the NaNoWriMo website and its forums; and we will be updating our daily word counts through their website as we each try to complete this amazing accomplishment.
For each “book” that you submit to NaNoWriMo (although it’s not really a book yet, since you haven’t written it — it’s a book idea), NaNoWriMo provides you with a “Stat” page on its website. Right now, before I’ve written a word, it looks like this:
As you update your daily word counts, the table on the left will recalculate your averages while the line and bar graphs on the right will (I’m assuming) show you where you (and perhaps your local community) are compared with other NaNoWriMo participants.
Okay, it’s time to start writing. Each day I will post my own personal table stats as they are updated, so right now it looks like this:
| Average Per Day | Not started yet |
| Words Written Today | Not started yet |
| Target Word Count | 50,000 |
| Target ~ Words/Day | 1,667 |
| Total Words Written | Not started yet |
| Words Remaining | 50,000 |
| Current Day | Not started yet |
| Days Remaining | Not started yet |
| At this rate, you’ll finish | |
| Words/Day to finish on time | 1,666 |
Tomorrow I’ll update with new stats, along with my daily “Mentor” postings for other WriMos.
Happy Halloween.
Tonight at midnight marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, when approximately half a million people from around the world will attempt to compose 50,000 words of their books before the end of November. I am joining them, as I write my dark comedy/thriller, Idle Hands.
And today I’m going to offer 3 suggestions about a way to not only survive, but thrive, as you cope with the next 30 days, which promises to tax your mind as well as your body.
TIP #1 Begin strong
And by that I mean, take advantage of this first day, when you are going to be the most vigorous, the most pepped-up, the most anxious and excited, to tackle this adventure. For those of you I’m “virtually” mentoring through the NaNoWriMo site on this blog, and for others who have stumbled across this blog as you prepare for this journey, here is my suggestion for day #1: Write AT LEAST 3,200 words.
Why? Because if you begin with 3200 words on November 1, you can begin a countdown that allows you to write LESS words on each day that follows. There is a psychological advantage to approaching each day of writing knowing that you are allowed to write fewer words than you did the day before. So if you start with 3200 words on November 1, and write at least 3100 words on November 2, and 3000 words on November 3, and 29o0 words on November 4… and so on and so forth… you can “reward” yourself each day by writing 100 words fewer than the day before, and cross the finish line on November 30th with the word count total you seek. Are you allowed to write more each day? Of course, and you should! There’s nothing wrong with crossing the 50,000 word finish line early. In fact, NaNoWriMo allows you to “declare” your 50,000 word count and begin the confirmation process as early as November 20th.
TIP #2 Write every day
When you are feeling inspired and motivated, it’s “easy” to write. It’s more difficult when you approach your keyboard with trepidation or even fear. But my suggestion is to combat that fear or trepidation head-on and be sure to write AT LEAST 1000 words EACH AND EVERY DAY, even if you really, really don’t want to.
Why? Because skipping even one day puts you in a hole. On the next day, not only do you have to write THAT day’s word count, but yesterday’s, as well. It’s easy to see how completely skipping even ONE day can start to build an astronomical hole from which you cannot escape. Don’t fall into that hole. Write at least 1,000 words each and every day (unless, of course, you’re religiously following my advice in TIP #1 above and have earned the right to write less in the latter half of the month due to your impressive diligence in the first half). Some days you might write 2,000, and some days, hopefully, even more. But there may come a day or two in the course of the next 30 days when you absolutely, positively, don’t want to write one single word. And on THOSE days, be sure to write anyway. You don’t want to find yourself too far “behind.” It’s very, VERY, difficult to catch up.
TIP #3 Write a treatment for your whole book on November 1
Since Day 1 is the day I have taxed you with writing at least 3200 words (of course MORE would be better!), and since Day 1 is the day you should feel the MOST inspired, and the most excited, Day 1 is the day to take advantage of your reckless muse and push “her” for all she’s worth. Leverage this by writing a treatment or short story, that condenses your entire book into 3500-5000 words.
Why? By doing this, not only do you get all the important elements on paper (you know, the beginning, the middle, and the end), but you make your entire book seem more “real” since it is written down. You suddenly have a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and, more importantly, you’ve harnessed your muse to bust through the 3,000-5,000 word count barrier in a single day, which gives you some latitude for the rest of the month. And, with your whole book condensed into a short story, you have an outline for the rest of the month…
Start your engines everyone. National Novel Writing Month is almost under way!
President of Outskirts Press 