Friday, November 28, 2014

NaNoWriMo 2014

I've been MIA from the blog primarily because my focus this month ... and the month leading into it ... was National Novel Writing Month.

This year, I was determined to win the 30-day challenge to write a 50,000-word novel. My win/loss record was 3-3 leading into NaNo 2014 and I wanted to put a notch in the win column. It's Day 28 of NaNo, and I'm coasting toward that win.

How? Why?

This year, I discovered voice recognition on my phone! It's been there all the time, it just never occurred to me to write with it. I talk the story into the phone on the commute to and from work (20 minutes each way) and can get anywhere from 800-1,000 words done each way. This has been a game changer for me!

Granted, the writing is rough -- even rougher than a normal typed or longhand first draft because enunciation is not always on point and sometimes the app hears words that I'm not saying. Then there's the bit about punctuation. You have to tell the app to make a period, or a comma or a question mark or a new paragraph. So the first edit of what I've drafted via voice recognition will need to be cleaning up the punctuation and making real sentences out of sentences that go on for 200 words! But, guess what? I'll have a first draft. And that's what NaNoWriMo is all about!

So, wish me luck as I finish up the 50,000 words, because after that, I need to actually finish the novel. My guess is that it will take about another 50K to get to the end of the actual first draft. 50K in a month is remarkable, but it doesn't make a completed manuscript.

What's your experience with NaNoWriMo?

I participate in my region's activities and host a community write-in every year. Here's an article from the Daily Press about wrimos in Hampton Roads, Va. And yes, that's me in the video (before the hair changed again!) and garbed in my writer gear.

No comments:

Post a Comment