NaNoWriMo 2011 ends today!

November 30, 2011 11:38 AM

The deadline is less than 12 hours away: So, NaNoWriMo 2011 MeFites, how'd we do?

I managed to win this year, passing the 50k mark yesterday, but I'm pretty sick of writing.

posted by Lutoslawski to MetaFilter-Related at 11:38 AM (52 comments total)

I'm going to get started any minute now I swear
posted by ook at 11:40 AM on November 30, 2011 [17 favorites]

Oh shit, I knew I forgot to do something this month!
posted by Eideteker at 11:47 AM on November 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Including this sentence, I will have completed 9 words.
posted by Think_Long at 11:47 AM on November 30, 2011 [4 favorites]

4 or 5 days in, I grew increasingly frustrated with just churning out copy as opposed to crafting good text. I completed the contest last year and it seemed increasingly odd to the exact same thing again this year.

I like my idea and felt that rushing through it, even for a first draft, was actually harmful to development.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:52 AM on November 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIfuck it
posted by griphus at 11:52 AM on November 30, 2011 [15 favorites]

I wrote about 20,000 words and then stopped.
posted by dfriedman at 12:00 PM on November 30, 2011

I think I misunderstood the intention here. I took it to be "National No-Writing Month." If that was the case, count me amongst the winners, as none of my writing went towards a novel any length.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:01 PM on November 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

The worst. Basically the worst of any year I've tried. Stupid my-actual-job. Congrats, Lutoslawski and any others.

Here's to 2012, I guess? Man I don't even fucking know
posted by penduluum at 12:01 PM on November 30, 2011

I achieved my stated aim, which was not to be so foolish as to attempt this again.
posted by Decani at 12:05 PM on November 30, 2011 [4 favorites]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only..
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 12:06 PM on November 30, 2011

I failed terribly, writing just around 10k words. Part of the problem was that I was entirely uninspired by my plot, and the other part was that I'm at the end-stage of my pregnancy and dealing with everything that comes with it. Oh well, maybe next year.
posted by litnerd at 12:16 PM on November 30, 2011

I stalled out at some 5,000 words.

I blame Occupy.
posted by spinifex23 at 12:26 PM on November 30, 2011

I completed my surrealist masterpiece, "Lorem Ipsum," on day one.
posted by jbickers at 12:29 PM on November 30, 2011 [4 favorites]

I ran 111 miles!
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:31 PM on November 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

I started a mean jokey meta satire of NaNoWriMo that I lost interest in almost instantly and then accidentally came out with the outline for a multi-book adventure series and maybe a play so go me?
posted by The Whelk at 12:41 PM on November 30, 2011

(P.S BRANDON WHERE IS MEFIMAG?
posted by The Whelk at 12:42 PM on November 30, 2011

It was a Dark 'N' Stormy night; I was on my sixth...
posted by villanelles at dawn at 12:42 PM on November 30, 2011

Can I submit my OWS live blogging as avant gaurde journalism?
posted by The Whelk at 12:43 PM on November 30, 2011

Can I submit a parody of Whelk's OWS live blogging as, well, a parody, I guess?
posted by griphus at 12:44 PM on November 30, 2011

Thus creating that utter rarity: parody parity, the archnemesis of sincerity.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 12:50 PM on November 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

Didn't write a novel, but I'm a good 10,000 words into the theoretical part of my thesis, so I'd consider myself a winner.
posted by daniel_charms at 12:51 PM on November 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Nulla dies sine linea – but there may well be weeks." - Walter Benjamin
posted by daniel_charms at 12:54 PM on November 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

so I'd consider myself a winner in the long run. And I could kill for a ninja editing window.
posted by daniel_charms at 12:56 PM on November 30, 2011

(P.S BRANDON WHERE IS MEFIMAG?

Yeah, this. :)
posted by pjern at 1:11 PM on November 30, 2011

P.S BRANDON WHERE IS MEFIMAG?

It is on my computer, Klang's computer and a copy editor or two's computer. We are stitching it together as everyone slowly recovers from the holiday.

Note, the issue has some really fun stuff, but also some deeply personal and harrowing stories. Hopefully by the end of the week, you'll be able to read them all.

Submissions for December's NERD theme or January's MUSIC theme can sent in at the usual link.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:21 PM on November 30, 2011

)
posted by twirlip at 1:42 PM on November 30, 2011

Congrats, Lutoslawski.

I can't say the same--I got about 2000 words in. November 2011 is going in my top-ten list of Worst Months *(So Far) in My Life. Needless to say, I did not get a lot of writing done in between bad news.
posted by librarylis at 1:46 PM on November 30, 2011

I did it! I finished my 50K yesterday, and since the story is only half done, I'm just going to keep on going.
posted by tomboko at 1:47 PM on November 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

I didn't do NaNoWriMo this year, but I'm at 27,000+ words in my choose-your-own-adventure story on G+.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:07 PM on November 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

49K and change. Planning to cross the finish line at a local write-in tonight.
posted by zanni at 2:18 PM on November 30, 2011

I wote a book last year perhaps you have heard if it it's called the bible.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 2:18 PM on November 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Epic fail. I made it to the 10k mark or so, and then flamed out.

I really REALLY wish NaNoWriMo would be in any month but November - it's always my big pain month for my graduate classes.
posted by SNWidget at 2:36 PM on November 30, 2011

I finished (won) last year, when I had a much better idea. This time around I was starting with next to nothing, a wisp, if you will. If I make it to 35k tonight, because my husband keeps saying that all is not lost, well, as the NNWM folks contend, even if your padded output truly sucks, there just might be an unexpected character/situation that makes the whole of your effort worthwhile, and with this, I agree. Then again, I heart words.
posted by emhutchinson at 2:41 PM on November 30, 2011

Well I did come up with a new username, so that comes to a grand total of: 1
posted by book 'em dano at 3:10 PM on November 30, 2011

If you really wish NaNoWriMo were in any month other than November, I invite you to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, in July/August.

(Don't feel bad for not knowing about it; this was the first year.)

And I won a little bit after midnight last night, but my GOSH I am not doing an experimental form (in this case an epistolary novel) for NaNo next year. I basically gave up and switched to just writing my main character's daily journal entries for the last 15,000 words.

This is my eighth year, and I fell desperately behind at various points, far worse than in most previous years. However, this is the closest I've ever come to actually writing each and every day for the whole month (I forgot on the 13th,) so go me.

Epistolary novels are hard, by the way.
posted by SMPA at 3:17 PM on November 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

I came up with a killer title. And that is all.
posted by rachums at 3:26 PM on November 30, 2011

The only way to win is not to play.
posted by Trurl at 3:29 PM on November 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

The whole semester I was trying to get ahead so I would have the time to work on NaNo. Since I have adequate procrastination skills... well, there's always next year.
posted by DoubleLune at 3:48 PM on November 30, 2011

I went back in time and punched Chris Baty in the face.
posted by fleacircus at 4:11 PM on November 30, 2011

I've done it before, finished some and not others. It turned out to be just what I needed this year, coming along just when I finally felt ready to write again. 1500 or so words a day (I'm rounding down from 1667) is top speed for me, but I made an effort not to write filler or crap... it is a first draft, of course - but it's not bad. I am happy! But I am taking tonight off.
posted by tomboko at 4:19 PM on November 30, 2011

I actually wrote this year, unlike the two previous years I attempted this. I learned the max I can write in an hour is 800 words, meaning to meet the goal I would have to write 3 hours a day, which I really don't have unless I stopped doing things I like to call "my life." Maybe that's the point.

"Writing is HARD. Let's go shopping."

Unfortunately, that is probably what I'll do.
posted by fiercekitten at 4:23 PM on November 30, 2011

Does it count if I cut up a bunch of Kathy Acker books and glued them together in random order?
posted by Splunge at 4:23 PM on November 30, 2011

You get half credit for being insane.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:31 PM on November 30, 2011

That's not writing. That's fine art.

If you can find a buyer.

Then again anything is fine art if you can find a buyer.

Excuse me, I've just had one of those moments when the utter insanity that is our modern society stood up and demonstrated itself to me in all its hollow grandeur someone please hold me until it goes away
posted by ook at 5:07 PM on November 30, 2011

I stopped two days in, due to starting a paying job after almost 2 years of unremunerated self-employment. I'm calling it a partial win.
posted by gauche at 5:24 PM on November 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

I passed 50k on Sunday mostly because I was sick all Thanksgiving vacation and had nothing to do but write. Grats, Lutoslawski! It is a really fun exercise, all this writing, but I am so glad to not be writing for awhile.
posted by Wuggie Norple at 6:14 PM on November 30, 2011

I actually finished this year. First time, out of three attempts. Yay, me. Woooooooot.
posted by palomar at 8:05 PM on November 30, 2011

I grew a beard instead. (Alienated my wife with it, too, which was an unexpected bonus. Would really have had to work to do that writing.)
posted by maxwelton at 1:30 AM on December 1, 2011

I won! This was the first year I actually tried it... I think I signed up an account a few years back, but forgot all about it by November. Thanks to uni exams I didn't really start (wrote a couple thousand words early in the month, admittedly) until day 21, so it was an interesting slog.
posted by lwb at 3:42 AM on December 1, 2011

So... was I the only one lured away by Skyrim?
posted by spec80 at 6:03 AM on December 1, 2011

I got about 24k down - it was holiday crafting needs that hampered me this year.

That said, my Christmas present to my partner this year is to finish (so she can read it). I've been talking about my ideas for this story for a long time - and I didn't let her read the mess that was last year's NaNoWriMo, so it's only fair.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 10:48 AM on December 1, 2011

yayay to palomar and lwb as well!
posted by Wuggie Norple at 7:21 PM on December 1, 2011 [1 favorite]