Late October check-in + November Kick-off
Oct. 22nd, 2024 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ofmonstrouswordsOkay, I'm not sure how it's this late in October ALREADY, but somehow it is. Good news, I have a new (it's a few decades old) keyboard with a working T key! Less frustration ahead.
How are you doing on your monthly goals? Halfway? Launched into the stratosphere? Totally forgot about them but did a bunch of other stuff?
It's okay no matter where you are. Some months are rougher than others. And if you're just starting out with setting accountability goals for yourself in your writing, then it can take time before you reach consistency with it.
(And even when consistent--see previous comment about some months just being rough.)
For myself, I've managed to make my word count goal for this month but I haven't finished 90% of my Preptober stuff for next month, nor have I done any edits, revisions, or anything other than pure drafting. My husband has had some health issues that put us in the ER again last week and have messed up my travel plans up to my mom's town (I was supposed to be up there in September, but that got postponed because of MY health issues).
SO--in light of my life being a ball of CHAOS, we're going to do the November kick-off post EARLY.
Like. Right now. Because I have no idea what the next week holds for me but I do have a spare thirty minutes right now.
NOVEMBER: a month for writing! (or not)
In writer circles November has become somewhat synonymous with writing challenges, thanks to years of Nanowrimo, and I think that habit might be hard for some of us to break even as we move away from Nano.
(Again, if you're still participating in Nano--no judgment and you're totally welcome to join FerUnWriMo too. <3)
This is part of why I started FerUnWriMo, and it's why I'm really glad that others have been stepping up to create different writing challenges, such as Sarra Cannon's Rough Draft Challenge.
(Do you know about other challenges out there? Feel free to make a post about them!)
A lot of people have said that November was a bad time to try to write 50K in a month, and as such Nanowrimo wasn't actually a well-placed challenge.... While I can see where that argument comes from, I actually have to disagree.
First, November being listed as a "bad time" seems to stem from US Thanksgiving--aka Christmas Halftime--taking up basically the last WEEK of the month (when you factor in the travel that many half to do to see family), as well as gearing up for the holidays, the month being only 30 days, and probably some other reasons I haven't seen listed.
But the US isn't the only country out there--Canadians have our Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October--and really, when you remove the week-long Thanksgiving time-sink, the other two problems aren't *as* big when it comes to infringing on writing life.
I mean, plenty of months in the year have only 30 days, or are situated right before big events. Or are in the summer, when the kids are home from school and you can't hear yourself think. Or regional events take up a lot of time.
Or any number of chaotic things that happen year-round. The truth is, there is NO "good time" for a writing challenge.
But also, if it were a *really good time* to write a bunch of words, would it really be a challenge?
The point of Nano was to *challenge yourself* to write 50K words in 30 days. That is a lot for most writers.
The thing I always loved about Nano was how insanely busy my life was in November, usually with the school semester winding down and taking me with it, but somehow I'd still try to write 1700 words a day.
The caffeine abuse, the late nights, the moments of "What am I thinking? Why am I doing this?"--all of that was an integral part of the challenge for me.
So to me, the argument that "November is too busy and thus a bad time for a challenge" falls flat because...it being busy and a bad time is the POINT.
Also, I always liked November because it meant that even if my year of writing had been abysmal up till that point (as so many years of writing have been), I could still make a last-ditch effort to pull things out of the fire by having one really good month just before the end of the year.
(This is why I do word count pledges at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
getyourwordsout , and not habit pledges. I can always catch up with a word count pledge.)
Anyway, those are my thoughts on November as a time for writing challenges. No one is required to agree with me--after all, we all have different paths up the mountain. And some of us just wander right off and find a forest to hang out instead.
November Trackbear Leaderboard Code
337d4a0f-f04b-4858-a2fc-1d1c27a5927e
Joining the leaderboard is optional! If you find it disheartening to be in competition with everyone, then please take care of your own mental health FIRST.
Something you can try is creating your own personal goal in Trackbear--then you can see your numbers go up on a graph that's just you and not worry about the competition. <3
Discord Invite
You can join my author discord here and hang out in the Ferunwrimo channel (totally optional): https://www.katje.link/ferunwrimodiscord
I have temporarily removed the temporary membership bit from it, so you won't get kicked if you log off before I can assign you a role. Unfortunately nothing is really automated in my discord so it's up to me to do everything manually. At least until I can wheedle my husband into doing mod duties for me. (Unlikely to happen. He is a grumpy old man who is only on Discord to pebble me with links in our private server.)
Check-ins
Obviously I am terrible at posting things on time but I am trying to get better. (#ADHDLife.) Would you like more regular check-ins in the community?
I can attempt weekly. It might require me to turn on the moderation queue and then queue up a month's posts in advance and then let them through at the right times...assuming I remember to let them through.
Let me know your thoughts on check-in posts--how often you'd like to see them, if you'd like to. Ideas on how to make me remember things. A shock bracelet?
November Goals + Intros
Post a comment below letting us know your plans for November!
Will you be joining the Rough Draft Challenge? Doing Nano? Something completely different? Do you plan on starting an entirely new book on November 1st or will you be continuing work on a WIP?
Let us know your plans so we can cheer you on!
How are you doing on your monthly goals? Halfway? Launched into the stratosphere? Totally forgot about them but did a bunch of other stuff?
It's okay no matter where you are. Some months are rougher than others. And if you're just starting out with setting accountability goals for yourself in your writing, then it can take time before you reach consistency with it.
(And even when consistent--see previous comment about some months just being rough.)
For myself, I've managed to make my word count goal for this month but I haven't finished 90% of my Preptober stuff for next month, nor have I done any edits, revisions, or anything other than pure drafting. My husband has had some health issues that put us in the ER again last week and have messed up my travel plans up to my mom's town (I was supposed to be up there in September, but that got postponed because of MY health issues).
SO--in light of my life being a ball of CHAOS, we're going to do the November kick-off post EARLY.
Like. Right now. Because I have no idea what the next week holds for me but I do have a spare thirty minutes right now.
NOVEMBER: a month for writing! (or not)
In writer circles November has become somewhat synonymous with writing challenges, thanks to years of Nanowrimo, and I think that habit might be hard for some of us to break even as we move away from Nano.
(Again, if you're still participating in Nano--no judgment and you're totally welcome to join FerUnWriMo too. <3)
This is part of why I started FerUnWriMo, and it's why I'm really glad that others have been stepping up to create different writing challenges, such as Sarra Cannon's Rough Draft Challenge.
(Do you know about other challenges out there? Feel free to make a post about them!)
A lot of people have said that November was a bad time to try to write 50K in a month, and as such Nanowrimo wasn't actually a well-placed challenge.... While I can see where that argument comes from, I actually have to disagree.
First, November being listed as a "bad time" seems to stem from US Thanksgiving--aka Christmas Halftime--taking up basically the last WEEK of the month (when you factor in the travel that many half to do to see family), as well as gearing up for the holidays, the month being only 30 days, and probably some other reasons I haven't seen listed.
But the US isn't the only country out there--Canadians have our Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October--and really, when you remove the week-long Thanksgiving time-sink, the other two problems aren't *as* big when it comes to infringing on writing life.
I mean, plenty of months in the year have only 30 days, or are situated right before big events. Or are in the summer, when the kids are home from school and you can't hear yourself think. Or regional events take up a lot of time.
Or any number of chaotic things that happen year-round. The truth is, there is NO "good time" for a writing challenge.
But also, if it were a *really good time* to write a bunch of words, would it really be a challenge?
The point of Nano was to *challenge yourself* to write 50K words in 30 days. That is a lot for most writers.
The thing I always loved about Nano was how insanely busy my life was in November, usually with the school semester winding down and taking me with it, but somehow I'd still try to write 1700 words a day.
The caffeine abuse, the late nights, the moments of "What am I thinking? Why am I doing this?"--all of that was an integral part of the challenge for me.
So to me, the argument that "November is too busy and thus a bad time for a challenge" falls flat because...it being busy and a bad time is the POINT.
Also, I always liked November because it meant that even if my year of writing had been abysmal up till that point (as so many years of writing have been), I could still make a last-ditch effort to pull things out of the fire by having one really good month just before the end of the year.
(This is why I do word count pledges at
getyourwordsout , and not habit pledges. I can always catch up with a word count pledge.) Anyway, those are my thoughts on November as a time for writing challenges. No one is required to agree with me--after all, we all have different paths up the mountain. And some of us just wander right off and find a forest to hang out instead.
November Trackbear Leaderboard Code
337d4a0f-f04b-4858-a2fc-1d1c27a5927e
Joining the leaderboard is optional! If you find it disheartening to be in competition with everyone, then please take care of your own mental health FIRST.
Something you can try is creating your own personal goal in Trackbear--then you can see your numbers go up on a graph that's just you and not worry about the competition. <3
Discord Invite
You can join my author discord here and hang out in the Ferunwrimo channel (totally optional): https://www.katje.link/ferunwrimodiscord
I have temporarily removed the temporary membership bit from it, so you won't get kicked if you log off before I can assign you a role. Unfortunately nothing is really automated in my discord so it's up to me to do everything manually. At least until I can wheedle my husband into doing mod duties for me. (Unlikely to happen. He is a grumpy old man who is only on Discord to pebble me with links in our private server.)
Check-ins
Obviously I am terrible at posting things on time but I am trying to get better. (#ADHDLife.) Would you like more regular check-ins in the community?
I can attempt weekly. It might require me to turn on the moderation queue and then queue up a month's posts in advance and then let them through at the right times...assuming I remember to let them through.
Let me know your thoughts on check-in posts--how often you'd like to see them, if you'd like to. Ideas on how to make me remember things. A shock bracelet?
November Goals + Intros
Post a comment below letting us know your plans for November!
Will you be joining the Rough Draft Challenge? Doing Nano? Something completely different? Do you plan on starting an entirely new book on November 1st or will you be continuing work on a WIP?
Let us know your plans so we can cheer you on!
