National Novel Writing MAY

[Sommer Leigh]

I challenge you to choose up to three writing related goals for yourself that you want to meet during the month of May. Since it's the beginning of summer, consider this Club Deadline. The general word count goal is always 30K, but if you've met that in previous months, try 35K.

Standard format: One post per person, updated with new word counts/goal info daily, weekly, whenever. Who's with me?
May the word counts be ever in your favor.
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5/1: 3876
5/2: 1002
5/3: 3771
5/4: 1005
5/5: 3720
5/6: 3110
5/7: 0 (I know. I KNOW. *sob* I cleaned the basement instead.)
5/8: 0 (too many people at my house last night)
5/9: 1042
5/10: 0 (although I did write blog posts for next week. That doesn't count though.)
5/11: 648
5/12: 7879
5/13: 2372 (which unfortunately I'm going to be deleting. They were terrible! It's like I turned into a monkey and started hitting the "r" key a hundred times while throwing poo around.)
5/14: 1000
5/15: 2015
5/16: 5216 (on two different projects, still, VERY good day for a week day)
5/17: 1060
5/18: 2200
5/19: 1053
5/20: 0
5/21: 4162
5/22: 2220
5/23: 289
5/24: 1687
5/25: 0
5/26: 0
5/27: 1354
5/28: 0
5/29: 0
5/30: 3866
5/31: 2009


May Total: 56,556

Goal 1: 70,000 words
Goal 2: Dedicate 1 day a week to a full 8 hours of writing time. Like a job.

04/19/12: writersink- YES! There are no rules, just do what will help you. Come back May 1st and keep us updated throughout the month.
4/24/12: Exactly one week from today! Woot. I have decided I'm going to set a lofty 70,000 word goal, which I exceeded for April but I had some extenuating circumstances. About half of it will be on the superhero novel, the other half on a few other projects I'm working on, I think. I've chosen to dedicate one day a week, either saturday or sunday, as absolute work time. I'm glad so many people are going to use May to hold themselves accountable! Remember to keep checking back on everyone's individual posts. Do not post multiple times, this makes it easier for us to keep track of how you are doing.
4/25/12: Claudie: Was there a ruling on your strike? Please update me. Margo: It's so exciting! I think everyone has spring fever.
4/30/12: TOMORROW IS DAY 1 ARE YOU READY? HERE I BROUGHT YOU ALL SNACKS. *puts out chips and dip bowl and brews some green tea* Remember to update the post you've already started. We'll bump the thread every couple of days.
5/2/12: I'm thrilled to see so many people got some writing done on the first! For everyone else, don't fret. You've still got 30 days and you're going to be totally fine. Don't forget to update your progress!
5/4/12: Wow, everyone is making great progress! I finished 2 new chapters on the superhero novel, though they still need work. Happy Birthday Aimee!
5/7/12: Margo how was surgery? I hope you are feeling better! Your word count the day after sure looks mighty fine.
5/21/12: Sunday left me feeling kind of mopey. I didn't get any writing done. Or anything for that matter. I watched the entire first season of The 4400 and that was about it. I'm happy to see a lot of people working consistantly every day, even if they aren't meeting their word count goals. I think that's almost more important.
5/22/12: Thanks Wilderness! It's actually Margo's brainchild. She started it after November and I stole it from her this month Logging your word count is really motivating. I like how consistant you are. More writers need to sit down most days and do what you do.
5/23/12: In order to reach my goal of 70,000 words this month, I will need to write 2763 words every day for the next 9 days. We'll see.

[writersink]

Number 1 goal: I've changed this goal to having my first ten chapters edited to a high standard by the end of the month. That will make more of a difference for me. I NEED motivation to keep writing because May is the busiest time of the year for me.
2. Write and submit a short story to a publisher (they want short stories for an anthology.)
3. Send out at least one short story to a magazine.

5/1: Nada. So we're not off to the best start, but oh well. As long as I get those ten chapters done I'm fine. WILL. START. TOMORROW. I am determined to get up early and everything. If I don't, and there is rien on tomorrow's post, someone feel free to cyber hit me
5/2: 1500 words. Essentially half a chapter.
5/3: Re editing what I edited
5/4: Ditto
5/5: Dito
5/6: Redo chapter 2: 2500 words.
5/7: 0
5/8: Finish editing of chapter 3. Another 1000 words more.
5/9:
5/10:
5/11:
5/12:
5/13:
5/14:
5/15:

Total: 5000 words edited (Chapters edited: 1, 2 and 3.) But I'm going to redo chapter 2 again

[wilderness]

Nice. I am in and can use all the motivation I can get!

Goals:
1. Add 35K words to novel
2. I'm giving myself permission to revise as I go, as long as I can maintain forward momentum. Therefore, I'm shooting for a FAIRLY DECENT and LOGICAL 35K

5/1: 958 words + heavy editing/revising
5/2: 1012 words + revisions
5/3: 932 words
5/4: 2343 words. Woo!
5/5: 0
5/6: 0
5/7: 1114 words
5/8: 1455 words
5/9: 1004 words
5/10: 1518 words
5/11: 1216 words
5/12: 0
5/13: 0
5/14: 1259 words
5/15: 1325 words
5/16: 1101 words
5/17: 1384 words + revision and rethinking
5/18: 1135 words
5/19: 0 words + brainstorming
5/20: 0 words + brainstorming
5/21: 1142 words + some revisions
5/22: 2129 words (partially because I brought back part of an old scene, though I revised it a lot)
5/23: 458 words + revisions
5/24: 0
5/25: 698 words
5/26: 0
5/27: 0
5/28: 0
5/29: 2017 words - This is net total. I actually wrote more but ended up deleting part of a scene as well.
5/30: 1786 words
5/31: 1423 words

May Total: 27436 words

5/8: Awesome everyone! Keep chugging!
5/14: I wanted to write over the weekend. I really did. But there was just too much going on. Sommer, almost 8000 words in one day?!! Amazing!!!
5/21: Thanks again Sommer for instigating this. Even though I'm not sure I'll reach 35K, I think I will be close. Having to report my word counts each day really keeps me on track. Also, AMSchilling, you're rocking it! Awesome work, all!
5/22: (re: Sommer's post today) Thanks Margo and Sommer, then, for the idea.
5/29: Had a friend over for the long weekend and got really behind. Definitely not going to make 35K but let's see if I can make the next couple days as productive as possible
5/30: Overall, very productive day yesterday. I guess I had some pent up creative energy from Memorial Day weekend! Also, congrats Brenda for finishing the draft, and AMSchilling for meeting your goal! Everyone, let's make the most of our last couple days!
6/1: Assessment of goals:
Writing goal: made 78% of my goal, which is not too bad -- I give my self a B
Revisions as needed: I am fairly happy with the chapters I did write as I took the time to think them through and revise as needed -- I give myself A-

[Aimée]

I wasn't able to arrive at 30K in the months I participated in this, but since I won't have class this summer, I'll be able to focus more on my writing. I'm feeling super confident about my new project, and I'm hoping to finish writing the first draft by the end of August. If I'm aiming for 60K total (aiming low to make it seem achievable to my gullible little brain) ...that's means about 15K a month? Yeah. Cool. So my goal for May is 15K.

EDIT 4/29: Wow, everyone is aiming so high! I feel a bit lame with a goal of only 15K, but my longer term goal is to finish the first draft by the end of the summer. I'm sure working full time isn't a good excuse; anyone else with a day job this summer? I'm sure I'll get a few short stories written in there somewhere too though.

5/7: You had oral surgery and wrote that much the very next day? You've got some writerly ambition there Margo!

5/31: Yay, I made it past my goal of 15K! Are we doing this again in June? It definitely gave me the motivation to write more.

______________________________________________________
5/1: 0 (not a great start... work then final exam then sleep no more excuses I promise, unless they're good ones...)
5/2: 0 (my birthday... this is a bad excuse, I literally did nothing all day, but I certainly needed that.)
5/3: 512
5/4: 644
5/5: 187
5/6: 352
5/7: 2301 (That's more like it!)
5/8: 0
5/9: 791
5/10: 849
5/11: 0
5/12: 0
5/13: 203
5/14: 0
5/15: 0
5/16: 0 (this is getting sad...)
5/17: 769 (little more than halfway through the month and not quite halfway to my goal. definitely going to try to catch up like mad tomorrow!)
5/18: 2089 (coffee shops are renowned for their boosting of a writer's creativity it seems)
5/19: 566
5/20: 860
5/21: 983
5/22: 0
5/23: 267
5/24: 0
5/25: 376 (plus a hell of a lot of outlining!)
5/26: 719
5/27: 556
5/28: 312 (had no time to write this weekend but the ideas are flowing like mad! any spare minute I had was spent outlining.)
5/29: 549
5/30: 566
5/31: 1592 (yay! I made it!)

Total: 16,043

Goal: 15K (or 500 words per day) and finish first draft by end of August

[Sleeping Beauty]

I'm in! Word count goals AHOY!

[Claudie]

YES! It's funny because I had every intention of stealing it too! You got there before me, Sommer! I am totally in, hopefully for 30k too!


05/01: 809
05/02: 1053
05/03: 715
05/04: 1792
05/05: 460
05/06: 1077
05/07: 0 --- because 7 non-stop hours of intense debates on strikes, government offers and counter offers will fry one's brain faster than you can say woosh.
05/08: 1137
05/09: 1019
05/10: 544
05/11: 0
05/12: 0
05/13: 0
05/14: 0
05/15: 893
05/16: 0
05/17: 0
05/18: 0
05/19: 0
05/20: 0
05/21: 0
05/22: 1036
05/23: 0
05/24: 0
05/25: 0
05/26: 405
05/27: 687
05/28: 1627
05/29: 2027
05/30: 1594

Total = 16,875 words

EDIT: Oh my gosh, it seems like I'll have to catch up with 2 months of non-classes in 3-4 weeks... in May. *FACEPALM* What a bad timing. But hey. Write everyday, do my best. Move forward. Step one is to try my best. Step two is to succeed.

EDIT 04/25 : They are negotiating at last. I don't know where it'll lead, though. Just last week the Premier was joking about the crisis (and meanwhile, there was a riot outside...) Tensions are still pretty high. I can give you more details next time we see each other. (but here's a teaser: I nearly got arrested!)
EDIT 05/02: Yay, it's midday and I'm already close to the 1k/day goal. OK, I've got to do catch up for yesterday, and write more because Saturday is a no-no in my case, but considering the word counts I'd have during school, this is very good. It'd be a shame not to maintain that pace at a time where I have some free time, wouldn't it? And Sommer, you're a beast!
EDIT 05/06: Whoo, look at that, I finished my weekend on track! Miracles do happen. Not to mention I outlined/re-imagined two whole new scenes!
EDIT 05/19: It's midnight and I'm starting Thursday's writing. Oops. Probably had a bit more than 1019 yesterday, because I added words elsewhere, but I can't be bothered to count them. Very happy with the month so far. Lots of new scenes instead of rewriting, and although it'll need edits, the words flow well enough.
EDIT 05/15: Oh my gosh, I vanished and stopped writing. Instant disappearance. Got eaten by a very nice video game that my computer can actually play. BAD CLAUDIE. And now, back to work, because I am way behind on 30k.
EDIT 05/27: I don't -- where did the last two weeks go? All those zeros make me feel guilty. >.>
EDIT 05/29: One scene left to Part 1! It was high time I planted my butt in this chair and finished this. I still have to rewrite a solid chunk of Part 2. And the ending (which means 75% of Part 4). But hey, after that I can go back to edits! Normal, not-rewriting-every-single-sentence edits. It feels like I haven't done that in forever. And yessss, a 2k day, for 15k total. At least I got halfway there!
EDIT 05/30: I finished Part 1! This is worth celebrating (which I am doing with an ample support of alcohol tonight). Now I'll revise it briefly before it is shown to the outside world!

[Margo]

I'm in. Goal for the month: 75,000 words.

05/01: 0 (outlining)
05/02: 2528
05/03: 0 (oral surgery)
05/04: 1169
05/05: 0
05/06: 0
05/07: 1491
05/08: 3600 (exactly)
05/14: 2066
05/16: 3942
05/17: 2350

Total for May: 17,146

Edit 4/24: Wow, many more participants than the last few and solid, ambitious goals. This one should be exciting and inspiring. Hektor, you shouldn't try to match me; try to BEAT me. Though I do have the advantage of going fulltime about mid-month.
Edit 5/08: The meds were working that day. Not so the next couple days! Finally feeling myself again and gearing up to hit full speed by Monday, when I start writing fulltime.
Edit 5/15: 75k words is probably too ambitious for the month. It turns out to be more work leaving my day job than having the day job. It's going to take me DAYS to finish filling out paperwork, visiting offices, making calls. Note: when it's time to go fulltime with the writing, expect to have two weeks when you can't get any writing done, the week before you leave and the week after.

[dios4vida]

Count me in. (Which might be crazy since I'll be out of town the first week of May!)

I'm going for an editing goal, too. As my WIP stands right now, I have 32 issues to fix and about 20K of new material to add. Once I finish that I'll give it a brief rest and then do another red-line. I want to have that second red-line in my computer, and be at least halfway through those edits, by the end of May. It's a massive goal for me but I really really really want (need) to get this done.

5/7: Finally back from vacation and somewhat unpacked. I almost have my brain up and running and a modicum of energy. I didn't get much of anything done in CO, but I did take a cave tour and since my protag is a person from the Underground...and the scenes I'm rewriting all take place in caves...does that count as something?

5/8: Nose. To. Grindstone. And it apparently worked! I'm down 8 issues and up a net of 2K words. What a way to get back into the groove of writing!
5/8 again: Make that up 2500 words.

5/9: Not sure how to tally my word count because I added new words, deleted old words, then re-added different old words. Net word count is up 2200. Also took care of another 8 comments today, only 16 more to go!

5/10: 3 comments down and 2500 TOTALLY KICK @$$ words written! I dunno where this stuff came from but I'm typing and thinking "wow, I can't believe it! This is great!" and my heart is pounding and I want to leap up and happy dance across my office because these scenes are so freakin' good. One of those days we writers live for.

GO EVERYONE, GO!! Great progress so far, keep at it! WRITE LIKE THE WIND, BRANSFORUMERS!!

5/11: Calling it early today to nurse a headache. Didn't fix any issues but wrote 1400 words. That makes over 8000 for the week!!

5/16: Took the last several days off for various reasons. Today was uber successful, though - 10 comments taken care of (only 3 to go!) and 2400 words written! All I have left to do is fill out the last half of the book with scene transitions and some details...probably another 10K should do it. I'm so excited to finish this darn thing. And the progress I've made this month is more than I've ever done in so short a time. I can't believe the productivity going on here. BIC is really working for me!

5/18: ONE COMMENT TO GO!! The first 70K of this book is "finished" with only one exception (said comment) - just have to finish writing up the last 1/4 of the story and I'll be done!

5/23: I've forgotten to keep track of how many words I've written the last few days. It's in the neighborhood of 5K. I only have one scene left to fill out and that dastardly First Plot Point conversation to fix and then I'll be ready for another redline.

5/25: THIS DRAFT IS DONE!! I can't believe I actually finished it.

[jazzlovesnoodles]

I'm in - aiming for 1000 words a day.

May 1 - Managed three handwritten pages, which I calculated to be approximately 1000 words. Won't know for sure until I type it up, which I plan to do at the end of the chapter. Easier than I thought; perhaps the last few days of essay writing have helped to ease me into it. Left off mid-sentence so I'm guaranteed somewhere to start tomorrow.

Also, I managed to blog for the first time in almost a year: http://ygmason.blogspot.co.uk/

May 2 - Again managed, with some, but not excruciating effort, another three pages and a line. Hope to finish the chapter tomorrow, which should total about 3000 words. Will find out for certain when it's all typed up.

May 3 - To my slight surprise, got the final three pages, and finished the chapter - estimated at about 3000 words, official stats later.

Update: total for the past three days is 3363 words, over half the total length this particular manuscript has even gotten to.

May 4/5 - Went past midnight this time, and it looked a little uncertain, but got another three pages done. Started a sentence for later in a pre-emptive strike against writer's block. This is like learning to break through the pain barrier when establishing a regular exercise routine - or so I imagine.

May 5 - Got my daily 'three pages and a line' finished just before midnight, next writing session should see the end of the chapter and take the total to around 6000 words or a bit more.

May 5/6 - Left it a little late, but got my three pages in and finished another chapter. Total should now be 6000 words plus, and could beat a personal best for this manuscript. Official statistics will tell when typing is done later.

May 7 - Actually procrastinated so much that no writing technically got done, didn't start until the early hours of...

May 8 - Did the three pages that should have been done yesterday, having managed to overcome the usual resistance I always seem to encounter at this stage of the manuscript. When today's pages are done, total word count should be around 8000 words.

May 9 - 11 - Not quite sure what happened when, but I've now taken to staying up until 4 a.m., scribbling in bed and leaking fountain pen on my duvet cover. Life of a writer I suppose... Finished chapter 3 somewhere in there, and started chapter 4. Unsure of official word count (haven't done any typing for a while) but might be slightly behind. Catching up and typing up to do later.

[AveryMarsh]

This is just what I need right now. So I'm in.

My goals:
- Finish outline for rewrite.
- Write 30k of rewrite. (Hopefully, more than that... but May's going to be busy enough as it is. Can't wait till June.)
- Polish query, blurb, logline, etc.

5/1: Didn't have time to write. Just tweaked the query & logline.
5/2: 1631 into the rewrite and messed with the outline some more.
5/3-20: 4739. Bleh.
5/21-28: Finished goal 1 and goal 3. Got the wordcount to 25721. (After a terrible start to May, I had one REALLY productive week. May even reach my goal before June starts.)
5/29: 27923



4/29: Added another goal.

[hektorkarl]

I'm in. Goal for the month: 75,000 words.

I feel a sudden urge to try to match Margo, like when I used to use Arnold's Guide to Bodybuilding to plan my weightlifting.

[cheekychook]

I'm in. I'm going to say my goal is two novellas and a short story (roughly 50k words) but I'll have to amend that if my editor(s) comes through with edits in May, which either or both of them might.

[Philabuster]

I'm in for 30k...

but I'm taking a one week head start and starting today.

[kghartwig]

Yes. 2k words per day and/or reaching the halfway point of the WIP.

[AMSchilling]

Now, see--I disappear for a month to spit-polish my book and look what I miss!

I'm in. I'm in query letter hell right now, but I really need to get started writing the next book. Maybe this will be the goose I need. It certainly worked for the last one.

Goals:
1. Get 35k of my WIP written (setting the bar low for me just because I'm also doing edits on my "completed" work as beta feedback rolls in)
2. Work on my writing every day for at least an hour, whether it's my blog, query/synop, edits of book prepping for query, WIP, whatever....
3. Remember that reading is good, too. Let's say I'll read three books from my ever-growing "To Read" pile, and not just the ones to my kid at night.

------------------------------

5/1: 1500, started reading "The Bride Wore Black Leather."
5/2: 1500
5/3: 1500
5/4: 1500 - okay, I admit: I spaced counting each day (QLH--what can I say? I'm lucky I could write anything NOT query-related at all). But I'm at 6k so I'll split it evenly.
5/5: 1686 on the WIP, and I'm officially on a "break" from my query for my book in beta. Stinky thing is driving me nuts...
5/6: 1948
5/7: 1336
5/8: netted zero new, not sure how many I rewrote. But I made progress on goal #3...
5/9: 2005
5/10: 1900
5/11: 2100
5/12: 1600
5/13: 1554
5/14: 2369
5/15: 3100
5/16: 2150
5/17: 2300
5/18: 1840
5/19: 1250, book 2 read.
5/20: 1100
5/21: 2100
5/22: 1040
5/23: 1760
5/24: 2300
5/25: 4440
5/26: 2000
5/27: 2115
5/28: 2000

TOTALS:

Goal 1: MET! 51993 and counting
Goal 2: Still mainly in little chunks, but it's every day and adds up to over an hour. That's what a full time job and a kid will do to you...
Goal 3: 2 books down. Gotta pick a new book 3 if I'm going to make this one... talk about slow read.

5/24: Have to admit I'm bouncing between 2 WIPs right now (which will probably bite me in the butt). All but 5k on the total for the month is WIP 1. I just need to figure out some "middle of the story" stuff, so while my brain works on it I figured what the heck. I'll start in on the other one yelling for my attention while I wait.

5/26: CONGRATS Brenda! We need a party emoticon...