Nanowrimo Blog 1

Nanowrimo 2012 Reflections by PlatypusChopChop

By the time of this writing, I have just managed to write my story in one week. That's about 25000 words per week. If the trend continues, I'd be able to finish the whole 50000 words in two weeks. Chris Baty, in his book "No plot? No problem!" wrote that only 2% of the participant can reach that kind of productivity. I wish I can be even more productive, as there are people who managed to write the whole 50000 words in one week! Those people took some serious beatings, and I supposed I should be happy that I did not take some serious beating in order to get to where I am. That is not to say that my journey was painless.

I did not clean as much as I should. I did not wash as often as I should (stinky!). I slept on the couch, typing my story in bed, when I'm supposed to sleep. No comfortable bed for me, while this is going on. I dare not sleep less, because my job requires me to be awake. However, I did not catch up news at all. I did not go shopping, watch movies, play game, or watch TV. In short, all my waking moment is devoted to writing the piece for Nanowrimo.

I had planned well in advance of the November deadline. I knew from experience, that I can devote to this Nanowrimo deal, one hour at maximum. There was no wriggling out of the hour. I work 12 hours a day, sometimes 14 hours a day. There would be only one day off, half of it will be gone as I try to rest myself in between crushing daily schedule. At the end of the day, I would be so tired that if I managed to not sleep immediately as soon as I hit the bed, then I'd set up Nanowrimo writings for about half hour or so, before sleep over take me.

I supplemented that time writing by planning my stories during meal time. I used to read news during meal time. Well, that time is gone. Now, it's planning stories. At home, I eat rice plus some meat, usually hot dogs, sometimes KFC. Do you know why? It takes 1 minute to put rice and water in the pan, and meat on the steamer. Push one button. Done. I'd write some more Nanowrimo materials as the food cook. About 20 minutes or so. Laundry? That takes about 3 hours. I usually would spend one of those hours, cleaning various places. I spend the rest writing some more Nanowrimo materials. You get the idea. It's all Nanowrimo, all the time.

I don't usually go after word count. In the beginning, I'd plan for one hour per day writing, thinking that I'd get 1000 words. I had planned on getting those 1000 words per day, per hour, making it up on my day off. I think that's the key. Unless I can achieve a rate of 1000 words per hour, I'd never make it. There is simply no more time, which I can squeeze off my day. So, that's the key.

It's has been a hard key to achieve. In the beginning, I tried using PalmPilot, or the newer device Handspring. For a while, I have my Treo. I no longer have Treo smartphone, now that I upgraded to Android device. To my dismay, the newer Android phone does not support bluetooth keyboard! That was disappointing to say the least. Then Kindle Fire came, and it does not support bluetooth keyboard, either! Extremely disappointing!

I was ready to give up not participating with this year's Nanowrimo. Unless I can get those 1000 words per day, I'd never make it. You are probably wondering why I didn't get a laptop or even a cheap netbook in order to write? Alphasmart Neo is a good substitute, right? Well, in fact, I got them. Okay, I didn't get the Alphasmart Neo, because mainly I'd rather get a bluetooth keyboard. But I do have them. I spent hundreds of dollars trying to get the setup just right. The netbook works, but it's a hassle to carry. Also, the battery doesn't last too long with Wifi on. The keyboard is too small. The operating system is Linux, and while it's a good operating system, there's a dearth of good applications to write in. Maybe I should have gotten another netbook with Windows OS. I didn't get one.

I have a Windows XP laptop, and I use that to good effect. I got a newer Windows laptop, one of those swivel screen touch screen used for digital painting. It was rather expensive at 1000 dollars. It runs the newer, fancier Windows Vista. Well, you know what they say about Vista. That didn't work too well. How about my old Windows XP? I still use it! Unfortunately, it takes about 20 minutes to boot up. There are various background programs that take a long time to do. Obviously impractical in normal setting.

How about hibernation mode? Isn't that quick enough? Yes, barely. I never sit down and write unless I know I have at least 15 minutes to write. So, 3 minutes setting up is acceptable. Not ideal, however, because I knew from my PalmPilot experience that it can be one minute or less. Again, it's the convenience thing. Is it convenient? Not really. It's my laptop and I use it as main computer. So, I carry a lot of devices along with my laptop. It's a big laptop bag, always overflowing with work stuff. Carrying that bag is extremely inconvenient.

In my bag, there is a kindle device. Well, make that 2 devices. Kindle keyboard and Kindle Fire. I bought that Kindle Fire on impulse. I shouldn't have bought it. But it was on sale, and I snapped it. It turns out that I like it a lot. The only gripe that I have about the device, other than it guzzles bandwidth like crazy, is that it doesn't support bluetooth keyboards! Do you see a recurring pattern here? I work with wireless keyboard.

I don't even use USB keyboard. I like bluetooth keyboard just fine. Imagine, if you will, a lightweight keyboard on your lap, while you're leaning back on your bed. That's very nice, and that's why I like it. The screen is usually off to the side, that I don't bother seeing. I know how well I type, and only need to glance at it occasionally. In fact, since I touch type, I can actually type on the keyboard without looking at it. Imagine me, drifting to sleep, typing happily on my keyboard, and closing my eyes. Just incredibly relaxed. Yep, that's my ideal setup.

Unfortunately, Kindle Fire doesn't support bluetooth keyboard. But then, Kindle Fire HD came out, and it supports bluetooth keyboard. What's the difference? The operating system. While the old, original Kindle Fire is 2.x Android OS. The new Kindle Fire HD is 4.x Android OS. Yes, it supports bluetooth keyboard. I bought one at full price. Got yet another bluetooth wireless keyboard along with it, and it works! I was so happy!

I had planned an outline, just a little outline, mostly chapter heading. I'd be called a pantser, if not for the fact that I have been running the story over and over in my head. I'm actually a percolator. So, when November 1st rolled along, I already have a perfect set up to go along with it. I registered an account, confident that I will make it. And so it was, with great anticipation, that I started writing my story.

And it was great! At least in the beginning. I marveled at the word count. It was clocking to around 2000 words per hour! That means the planned catch up session on my day off didn't happen. Of course, I still do what I planned, and wrote like crazy. The end result was that I managed to get 4000 words per day average. This despite the slow down that Chris Baty warned will occur on the second week. In my case, it happened on the third day. My typing speed slowed down to just 1000 words per hour. And yet, my original output was so great, that I managed to go through the whole story in just one week. Then a big slowdown happened.

What happened was that I ran out of story! Yep, the story just plain ran out on me. I knew I should've prepared a second story outline, just in case this happens, but I didn't have time. So, now I'm at impasse. What should I do now? I'm filling in the drought with flash fictions. I planned on several. There is something else, too, I noticed. When I type the words, I can usually get 500 words per 15 minutes. But when I type dialogue, I slowed down to half that speed. So, maybe I should become a nanowrimo rebel and type essays for the reminder of 50000 word count.

I think what will happen is that I will be typing a lot of flash fiction. Stories that can be read in one sitting, and hopefully, typed in the same amount of time. A short story collection is nothing to sneeze at. I know that at least one Nanowrimo participant does exactly that, and his word count is off the charts! He was writing 200,000 words per month! That's an incredible output that I will never be able to match. He was talking about writing 50,000 words per day! I suppose that typing 2000 words per hour does enable one to do so, but I don't have the stamina. I would be glad, indeed, if I can managed 8000 words per day. That should take anywhere between 4 to 8 hours. I guess that's my pace. But it's okay. I can live with it.

Time: 45 minutes
Words: 1663