The End of NaNoWriMo 2011

NaNoWriMo has officially ended in Japan!  How did you all do?  Did you finish?  Will you try to edit and publish your new masterpiece?

To all of those who participated; whether you made the 50,000 words or not, congratulations on such an incredible accomplishment! I'm proud of everyone who took part, and I hope you'll join me again next year! Good job and good luck!  To those of you who didn't participate but are considering it for the future, perhaps you'll join us in 2012?

-Lana

P.S. Happy December 1st!

Off to a good start!

Well!  The first day of NaNoWriMo and I'm off to a decent start!  I've written 2,255 words for my story today, which is 589 words more than I needed.  It really doesn't matter how many words I write a day, as long as I write an average of 1,666 to accomplish the 50,000 word goal by the end.  I bet it will be difficult to find time to write on some days due to whatever, so writing over the daily goal is probably a good thing.  I'd love to write more tonight, but after my English lesson with a co-worker and getting ready for work related things for tomorrow I don't think I'll have enough time.  It's already near 9 and I tend to be in bed by 10.  I wish I was (were? I can never remember this rule...) the type that could run on no sleep. Then I could probably get everything accomplished!  Perhaps my real problem is that I have too many interests and there simply aren't enough hours in the day to support them all. ^_^
So far on the first day, I've found that my friends' progress in NaNoWriMo is a big motivator to write more.  On the website there is an option to befriend other people also involved in the project, and if they update their status you can see how many words they've written and what percentage they have finished.  The competitive side of me wants to stay ahead, so as long as my friends are writing and updating, I'll probably be able to get motivation and inspiration from them as well as from myself.

As of now I don't think it's good enough to post any of the 2,255 words that I've written, but I'd like to post a short sample here sometime this month so keep a look out!

Hello November!

Happy Halloween 2012

http://dailycontributor.com/happy-halloween/8236/

Happy Halloween!

Halloween isn't a very well celebrated holiday in Japan.  Some people decide to have parties, but in general it's not a big to-do.  Tomorrow my three English club students will be making some Halloween sweets with me after school, but I don't have a costume or any fun party gifts.  They may be a bit disappointed, but it's hard to decorate for such a thing with no budget and no materials available within a reasonable distance of my house.

Last year, teachers asked me to do special Halloween lesson plans during the month of October, but this year there were too many events happening at our school and no one had time to deviate from the textbook curriculum.  Let's hope they don't suddenly ask me to have something ready in class tomorrow, since I don't have anything to bring and not enough time to make something on the spot.

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As tomorrow is the last day of October, NaNoWriMo will be starting the day after on November 1st!  Here is a short video from the creators of NaNoWriMo.

I was told the following: "Warn your friends, family, neighbors, and pets about the upcoming challenge. The more people who know what you're working on, the more accountable you'll feel and the likelier you are to hit the 50,000-word goal."

I agree that having friends and family know about my projects, as well as supporters cheering me on for whatever goal, helps keep me focused as well as holds me accountable for my actions.

So wish me luck!  I haven't quite decided on a storyline yet, so maybe I'll be day-dreaming all throughout tomorrow about a possible story plot.  Any inspirational ideas?  It is supposed to be easy and fun to write, to the goal is to stick to fiction.

Stay warm, and have a very wonderful and happy Halloween!  It finally feels like fall.  My favorite season.