Words...

Are just that... words.

NaNoWriMo day #28 - wordgoal: 46666 -

Now the thing is; Since I finished my novel, I do not keep track of what I do each day of the month... Yes, I actually did that. But I know I was still working on revising chapter 2, so yeah. That happened. What have you been up to? Writing? I hope so. Because only two days remain.

NaNoWriMo day #29 - wordgoal: 48333 -

We are nearing the end. Only one day until the finale. Even though I finished my novel nine days ago, I can still feel the butterflies in my stomach. It's like I can feel the excitment from everyone who is still getting to 50k. Oh on that note; Editing is going great. I finally finished revisions on chapter 2 and started on chapter 3. Chapter two took a little longer than I hoped it would, but that's okay. It is my first time every revising a novel, so of course it is going to be a struggle. I am still having fun with it though, so I got that going for me.

NaNoWriMo day #30 - wordgoal: 50000 -

WE DID IT! Confetti and champaign for everyone! I know I have been real hard on you throughout this month. I yelled at you a couple of times, but that was only because I wanted you to succeed. And even though I have been saying how important it is to hit the 50k mark... it really isn't. Whether you hit 50k, 30k or 168 words... you still did something that a lot of people fear. You wrote. You sat down and wrote. Starting something new is scary. But the only way of getting ahead is getting started. If you did NaNo, in some way or another, you started. If it wasn't for NaNo I don't think I would have been able to start my novel. Having this end goal of 50k words and...the graf...ohhh the graf... it motivates me to write. That is why I keep doing it. This has only been my second year doing (and winning) NaNo, but I am going to keep at it. It is an amazing project that challenge people to take quantity over quality. That is pretty damn hard. We are forced to keep going and finish the project before we are allowed to edit and perfect.

Now, writing is what I want to do for a living, I literally can't go a day without working on my novel. And even if I don't see the shadow of NaNo until the summer camps, I will still be writing. I finished editing chapter 3 and that means there is only 22 chapters to go before I can work on my 2nd draft. It is going to take a lot of hard work, but in the end I know it will be worth it.

The real journey starts now. I hope you will join me. Until we see each other again;

Keep Calm and Write On.

- Nanna. 

Why I love revision...

You know what is really weird? Sitting alone at your friend's house, while she is out working. Whatever! I am just gonna chill with her dog!

NaNoWriMo day #24 - wordgoal 40000 - 

The big 40k! You are almost there! Only 10k more to go. That isn't so bad now is it? I mean, you have come all this way... why stop now? Because you can't. You just can't! I will not allow it. Write that novel. Finish it. And then throw it in the trash on December 1st! I won't judge you! But I will be disappointed if you stop now that we are so close to the finish line... hey! Even if you haven't started yet, you can still win. All you need to do is write 8333 words a day! It can be done!

I managed to read through... five...or six chapters of my first draft! It actually is not as bad as I thought. I mean, there is still a lot to edit, but it is readable.

NaNoWriMo day #25 - wordgoal: 41667 - 

VALIDATION DAY! Yes! the 25th is the day when you can officially validate your wordcount! But that is not the most exciting part! It is the awesome PURPLE bar and all the winner's badges! Let me share some of them with you! 

Just look at how pretty that is! I am a winner! I also got my winner's certificate, but I won't show that. Yeah I am annoying. I know.

On the progress of my novel... I decided that is was not necessary to read through all the chapters. All I needed to do was look them over and write a short synopsis for each. So I did. I wrote the final synopisis, and decided that on Tuesday I would print out my first chapter and work on that!

NaNoWriMo day #26 - wordgoal: 43333 -

I printed out the first chapter of my novel! Wauw... it really is different to hold it in a printed format... but it is even crazier how much I was able to edit! Every page is covered by yellow markings where stuff needs to be changed. I know Stephen King said in "On writing" that you need to cut 10% away, but I never imagined it would be so easy! I am deleting way more than I thought, and that is just by changing sentences. On top of that I went to my writing class and we had a substitute teacher (also an author) and she read through my 1st chapter... she could not put it down! She did give me some really good advice, but I could really feel how she believed in my writing. Aslo; she is really good friends with the man I look up to the most, Kenneth Bøgh Andersen (a danish author) and she said, that she would tell him, how much of an inspiration he has been to me... that is just awesome!

NaNoWriMo day #27 - wordgoal: 45000 - 

Less than 5k! Just a little more!

So I printed out chapter 2 today. I managed to finish my notes for chapter 1 yesterday... I ended up with 62 footnotes...and that is not even everything. I also deleted a lot of stuff. But while editing the first chapter I found out, that my favorite part of writing a book is the editing process. I love to outline, I love to write...but I am IN LOVE with polishing. What NaNoWriMo is about is quantity. Revision is about taking that 'quantity' and turn it into 'quality'. That is why I love revising. I actually sat for an hour with chapter 2 today, and I only managed to take notes to two pages! I sat for so long just wondering how to phrase certain sentences! It was awesome! And I can't wait to edit more after writing this!

Just for fun I am going to show you a random yellow marked page of chapter 1... just so you can get an idea of what I am talking about.

All the yellow is stuff that needs to be changed... yeah... pretty much all my pages look like that, but it is okay. My story is moving forward, and so should yours be!

Keep Calm and Write On.

- Nanna.

When you think it is over...

... it really is not. At all. In any way.

NaNoWriMo day #21 - wordgoal: 35000 -

There really is not much to tell. After finishing my novel on the 20th I felt like I deserved a break. So I took one. But just from the creative writing. Another reason for me not working on my novel was schoolwork. We got a really big assignment that is due Monday the 25th, so I worked the entire day on that and did not get to do anything else. It worked though. I finished the first draft of my assignment.

NaNoWriMo day #22 - wordgoal: 36667 - 

Being done with my school assignment, I had the entire day to work on my novel. So I started reading through it. Why? So I could get a better picture of my novel. While reading through it I would make a really short synopsis of each chapter. I managed to get the first three chapters done. I could probably have done more, but I decided to take it easy and not make it a drag to revise my novel.

NaNoWriMo day #23 - wordgoal: 38333 - 

Once again I have managed to read through and make a short synopsis of three more chapters, but the day is still young! And I might read another or two more chapters before I go to sleep. Or I won't. I am going to a party later tonight and I do not get home before 3am. I am not planning to drink, but I still might be really exhausted, so I won't have energy to read nor write. Though this first read through is just to get an overview, I still want to be clear in the head when I am doing it. The real read through will not happen until I print out my manuscript...my 220-something page long manuscript... sorry rainforest, but it is in the name of my novel, so I hope you will understand.

For the rest of NaNoWriMo my updates will be a little bit different, as you probably have noticed, since I am no longer working on my first draft. My graf is a sad sign. It has gone still, which hurts me so much inside that I will not even show it to you. However I plan on being done with my first read through once November is over. After that the real revisions begin, and with that I will have a Hell of a lot to talk about. Trust me.

For those of you still doing NaNoWriMo....:

Keep Calm and Write On.

- Nanna.

The beginning of the end...

I am sitting here; alone in my room. I cannot shake this emty feeling off me. When you have dedicated so many hours to one specific project, what do you then do once it is over?

NaNoWriMo day #17 - wordgoal: 28333 -

The 17th was a very speciel day for me. I started the journey towards the end. When I started writing I only had 3 chapters left to write. it was really overwhelming, and my mind could not gasp itself around the fact that I might only have had a few days left before I was done. But that was not the only reason why it was so special. My total wordcount for the day was 90808. Not only did I pass 90k, but I passed the wordcount of last year's NaNo-novel, which was 90106 words. This makes my current novel the longest I have ever written in my entire life. I was quiet excited indeed.

NaNoWriMo day #18 - wordgoal: 30000 -

At this point you should be around the 30k mark. If you were not, past-me would have to spank you. I want to see you all win, and there are no good excuses to compensate for the fact that you have not reached it yet. Being busy is no excuse. I have been busy. Really busy. But my wordcount was at the 18th about 94k. You just need to find the time. And use every free moment you have to write. Especially if you are planning on getting published one day. Anywho! I am not going to sit here and be mad, so let's talk about my progress! I actually managed to finish the 3rd last chapter and you know what that means; The final battle has arrived! And I freaking loved writing it. Unfortunately I did not have time to finish it because I had school and with that a presentation first thing in the morning...stupid I know.

NaNoWriMo day #19 - wordgoal: 31667 -

I started the final chapter! YES! My story is really coming to an end soon, isn't it? You bet. It was actually really emotional for me to write the final battle-chapter. A lot of stuff happened that really just tied everything together. But who cares about the story, right?! The more exciting news; I crossed the 100k mark...well, actually 100,001 mark! I know... that should not be happening. Especially not for me. I managed to write 100k in 19 days. I did not even know I was capable of that. It kind of makes me wonder what else I am able to, if I really put my head in the game. Could I do 50k in one day? Probably not right now... but maybe one day.

NaNoWriMo day #20 - wordgoal: 33333 -

When I started writing today I was only half a chapter away from the end. But though it was so close I would taste it, it was probably the hardest thing I have ever written. Multiple times I just sat there and stared at the screen thinking "how do I word this?!". But in the end I did it. I wrote that last sentence. I finished the first draft of my novel. The final wordcount is 103,398 words. I wrote a 100k+ words long novel over the course of 20 days. And the most surprising thing is that I am really satisfied with the way it ended. My last sentence was very carefully thought out, and througout the 2nd last and the last chapter there are small hints to this final sentence. But now that it is done I am left feeling empty. What do I do now? My novel is done, but NaNoWriMo is still going. I know I am going to start the reading of my novel probably tomorrow. But while doing that I might start the outline of a new novel that I have been playing around with. The thing is though...I do not want my graf to die...I mean...look at it!

But there is nothing left to write on it. This story has come to an end. And if I want to get it ready for publication, then I need to begin the edits ASAP. 

For those of you who are still reaching for the 50k...stretch your arm a little longer. You are not that far away.

Keep Calm and Write On.

- Nanna.

Do you know your plot...?

I have been watching way too many Stephen King interviews. I will continue saying this; That man is a genius. And now I want all his books for christmas.

NaNoWriMo day #14 - wordgoal: 23333 -

So do you know your plot? Because I thought I did. Turns out I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Well...kind of. My plot arch has changed. This resolved in me having to kill off a character a little earlier than originally planned. He was a secondary main character, and only child. I had to kill him while his own brother was watching. It was a very emotional ride for me, and I even had to stand up and walk away for a moment. Hopefully I will cry, when I read the chapter in revision.

NaNoWriMo day #15 - wordgoal: 25000 -

Only half a month left! If you are still behind, I am sorry to do this, but here's a kick in your butt! It is defiently possible for you to win, but you need to get yourself together. I hate yelling at you, but writing is disciplin, and since you committed to NaNoWriMo, you have to go through with it! I don't care if you are lying in bed with a cold...we all sit on the computer anyway when we are sick, so you might aswell be writing.

But on a happier note! I hit 80k! And then I continued to 82k, which means over the course of week 2 I have written 30k words. It is not as much as in week one in which I wrote 52k words, but I am still proud of the amount I have managed!

NaNoWriMo day #16 - wordgoal: 26667 -

I have come to the realisation that after chapter 22, which I intend to finish within the next few hours, I will only have 3 chapters left of my novel to write; the build up - the fight - the ending. Yes I am that close to the end of it. I don't think it has hit me yet. This is what I mean, when I talk about knowing your plot! I thought I had 29 chapters, but no! Apparently I only have 25, which I don't really mind. If I still had 7 chapters to write, I think I would be kind of intimidated. 3 more chapters seems more reasonable, and if I had to make an assumption I would say that my novel is going to be about 95-100k words.

GRAF-TIME:

As you can see I am not too far from the 90k mark! Really exciting!

Keep Calm and Write On.

- Nanna.