Jack of Many Trades

NaNoWriMo Q&A

Originally posted: 2009-10-30

I borrowed this little Q&A meme from Benjamin Solah.

When and how did you find out about NaNoWriMo? How did you go? I found out about Nano sometime in 2003, probably on Livejournal. I don't even remember what I wrote that year, to be honest, but I don't think I got very far at all.

How many times have you done NaNoWriMo? This will be my seventh go at it.

How many times have you won? If you haven’t won, what was your best result? I've won three times, all of them writing plotless, roaming novels.

How did you go last year? I got about 58k by the end of the month but I didn't finish the story. And I still haven't, for that matter.

Where do you write and with what do you write? I write at home, at work, and at Regional write-ins on the weekends. I'd like to try to get more out-and-about writing in this year, especially since they're coming down on us pretty hard at work. I do most of my writing on my EeePC but obviously when I'm at my desk I'll be using my desktop.

How do you find time to write? I just sit down and do it, really. Lunch hours, bits of my evening, weekends at the library.

Are your partners, friends and family allies or enemies? My SO is also doing it this year, so I really lucked out in that respect. Other than that everyone else can go hang in my opinion, but I do try to talk everyone into at least writing along even if they're not actually Nano-ing.

What are you strengths and what do you use to help you get to the end? In general my strength is rambling, reasonably-clever dialog which flows quickly onto the screen and uses up lots of words quickly. I'm not afraid to skip ahead if things aren't working on the current scene, which cuts down on time spent stupidly staring at the blank page.

What are you weaknesses, obstacles and challenges that hinder you from finishing? My attention span is nil, and that's my greatest challenge. I get distracted very, very easily. In general when I don't win it's because I got bogged down in my story and thus it was easier to be distracted than it was to work on the story itself.

Do you plot/outline/plan or do you write by the seat of your pants? How much do you plot or how unprepared are you? Usually I'm a very seat-of-my-pants writer, but this year I ended up with a tight outline almost by accident. I'm still not sure I could manage it again if I tried.

Do you participate in the real life community, go to write ins and meet ups in your area? Oh, yes. Real life write-ins are where I get some of my most productive writing done.