NaNoWriMo Postmortem

I reached the 50,000 word goal set by the folks at NaNoWriMo. It was a long month, one where I felt like I was working overtime, with my day job (conclusion on that question: don't quit it) and with waking up early to write, as well as writing immediately after work. It was exhausting, but I hit the mark.

I did this not by spending full days writing, not by pouring thousands of words on the page over a weekend, but by steadily making the daily goal set by the challenge itself. This actually worked very well for me. In the end, I only had a few days where I missed this goal.

Now the problem is maintaining momentum.

A Quick Update

I missed last weeks deadline, which, if you've been paying attention, is roughly Sunday-writing, Tuesday-publish, at the latest. I had a bit of a rough weekend. Turns out Berlin beers are not that good for me.

I had one. Honest. That's how bad they are for my system.

I am working on a story at the moment - I did still get a good start on Sunday - that I hope to have finished up for this weekend. It's a bit of a post-apocalyptic number, so that's new for me. I will be on vacation for the next couple of weeks, as well, so I'm not sure if I will get something published over that time. I will make sure I can get a story written while I'm gone.

Up and Running

Now that there are a few stories out there, you'll notice a couple of things. First, I'm all over the board. I mean, a story about snowboarding, a story about monkeys and a Lovecraftian tale of horror? Where's the cohesion in that?

There isn't any. That's the point. Ninety Minutes, writing about what every strikes my fancy. I've done this sort of thing before, just not with fiction.

The second think you may notice is that they very in length. Well, that's the ninety minutes is more of a guideline, than a rule. The first two took about an hour, the third took about two. Depending on how much time I've spent free-writing the damned thing, the editing might be something less than desired (again, the third one).

So far I'm happy with the results. That doesn't mean I think that there all great little works of fiction, only that I'm happy with the fact that I've written them, start to finish.

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I also like to ask if anyone would like to submit stories send me an email, or a comment on this post, or I'll probably seek you out.

The rules are again as follows:

1. Do not talk about nine-minu...
   

Wait, let me try this again.

1. Must be (relatively) original - no fan fiction.
   
2. Must be written and edited in roughly 90 minutes.
   
3. Must be run by me, unless I've given you posting rights to this blog.
   

That's about it.

What's My Motivation?

I was inspired the other day^[1] by another blogger, Eric Canete. He frequently posts sketches (he's a comic book artist) that he's done in ninety minutes or less. These are often based off the inspiration of the moment (i.e. what he's watching on the TV). They are all well composed, inked and, in my opinion, quite good.

I don't plan on drawing anytime soon^[2], but I thought to myself, I should write a short story in ninety minutes. Now, I know this means it will be short, and rough, and not entirely fleshed out. The blog could alternatively be called "First Drafts, or The Crap That Fell Out of My Head." The point is to force me to write, to force me to think about beginnings, middles and ends (something I'm really bad at), and generally to try and motivate me to further my writing goals^[3].

Aside from those three things, it will also be a great way to explore ideas. Every couple of days I have an idea for a story, an intro, character, or whatnot. Sometimes I write it down. More often then not I don't. The idea is just lost. The ninety minute short will give me a place to write it and (hopefully) force my hand to do so.

Ah...motivation.

I've already written one that's almost ready to go. I'm sixty minutes into it, and I need to do about thirty of edits and rewrites. Once that's done I'll throw it up here, and maybe, just maybe someone will read it.


[1] Yesterday. I'm spontaneous that way.

[2] That is between me and my office notepad.

[3]Cough. Maybe I should just be honest and call them daydreams.