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Post by boomboom on Jul 30, 2013 16:55:46 GMT -5
Well, didn't want to call it "loser" because it's not but I am not going to make the NaNo word count goal. Since I started writing prior to the start of NaNo, I have more words in the novel total than my NaNo goal, but not going to make the full amount. Just a slow writer in some ways and still haven't trained myself to sit and write voluntarily all that well. It did more than double my word count, though, and I know I have to start really making some decisions about the world and plot. I found not knowing those well really hampered my "speed". I didn't want to just pound out words to make a goal, which is what it would be for me at this point without more planning.
Very glad I participated, though, and you guys are a big part of that joy. Hope to "see" you after July 31 still!
So it is world building and plot honing for me, then writing again.
A very big CONGRATULATIONS to those that made their goals! I'm very proud of you.
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Post by aquarose on Jul 30, 2013 18:37:14 GMT -5
It sounds like you progressed on your story, which in my opinion is the purpose of taking a month out of your normal schedule to write. So, congratulations! You are further along than you were on July 1st. Yay.  |
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Post by r.elena.t on Jul 30, 2013 21:08:17 GMT -5
You're a winner in my estimation, Boomboom. After all, you could have dropped your goal. Instead you kept it and kept going, doubling your word count, despite the need for plotting and world building! So here is your win cheering, cheerer.  |
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Post by Bird on Jul 30, 2013 22:06:02 GMT -5
Ditto what everyone else has said.  |
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Post by boomboom on Jul 30, 2013 22:47:52 GMT -5
Thanks all, but I will confess I did lower my word count on the 2nd week because I knew at the rate I write, I would never make it. I just didn't drop it low enough. Actually, I might make it anyway. Trying a new tactic. We'll see. |
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Post by wetdirt on Jul 30, 2013 23:05:21 GMT -5
OK, here is a deep dark secret, better than caffeine. Nicotine gum. A 4-mg tablet cut in quarters with a scissors, 1 mg. Chomp it a couple times every 5 minutes or so. It keeps my brain from jumping around like a sack of crickets. Pulled me through some late nights. I have ADHD, and it really does work.
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Post by boomboom on Jul 31, 2013 0:00:29 GMT -5
Thank you, WetDirt! However, I can't use any stimulants - which is a problem and one of the reasons I nod off when writing sometimes. I have a touch of Atrial Fibrillation. No caffeine. No nicotine. I crave a cup of coffee sometimes, I must tell you. I think nicotine might have the same effect as caffeine. Sounds like a great solution, though, for ADHD and wish I could try it.
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Post by mllersil on Jul 31, 2013 0:21:02 GMT -5
Boom, I'll be pressing my thumbs for you. But like the others already said, this word count only seems to be the prominent goal of NaNoWriMo, but in fact it's just a motivational tool. Although a very good one at that. The true purpose of those events is to get writers together in reaching their goal, to help them getting their ideas on paper, to show them they are not alone in their struggles. And like it's pounds and kilograms with the Weight Watchers groups or the count of weeks staying sober with Alcoholics Anonymous, the counting of words is the first and easiest instrument to compare oneself with other writers. Personally, I think we got that covered and partly are past this motivational stage, instead focusing more and more on the content of our writings and the respective problems (research, plot holes, skillful phrasing and how to use nicotine gums). Of course, a daily or weekly word count still helps to get one's fingers on the keyboard regularly. But I wouldn't be too depressed if I didn't accomplish my self-appointed word goal as long as I make at least some progress. You know the proverb, the journey is the destination. Coming forward matters, at which pace not so much. (Unless there's a publisher's deadline hanging over your head, of course. ^^) Therefore, I'm glad to hear you made progress! That's a winner's situation! |
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Post by tom de plume on Jul 31, 2013 2:12:55 GMT -5
Just stopped by to start this exact thread. The big bad real world has a hold of me for the next couple of weeks, but I am very happy with the progress i made this month.
Congrats to everyone no matter how many words you wrote. Nice job, Boom!
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Post by jackierandom on Jul 31, 2013 4:59:36 GMT -5
Congrats to everyone who made their word count  I doubt I will make my word count either boom. But I'm glad I got as far as I did and intend to shove it in a drawer and pick it back up again. I've had issues of other story ideas getting me disinterested in my writing. And also let the outside world interfere with any discipline I might have had at the beginning of the month (so sorry I haven't been around much). Hope everyone still continues to post here - all of you are beautiful, creative people. I stand in awe of each of you! |
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Post by r.elena.t on Jul 31, 2013 23:19:19 GMT -5
I'm definitely sticking around. Gotta have some place to hold my commitment to keep on writing daily. Even 10, 20, 100 words. It doesn't matter how many, just something. Every day. (More or less... 'cause no way I'm turning into a martinet at this stage of life :  |
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Post by boomboom on Aug 1, 2013 0:24:47 GMT -5
Ok, I face rolled on my keyboard - that is almost literal - and just typed almost anything to get there. Tired of signing up for NaNo and not "winning". I would never get up to 50,000 in November. Not proud of what I pounded out but it did get me to my word count goal.
Yes, I will be sticking around. Also, know that Mumble is still available to all of you. If you want to discuss your writing with someone, including me or anyone else, please feel free to use it.
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Post by Bird on Aug 1, 2013 3:33:40 GMT -5
I face rolled on my keyboard... I found that incredibly hilarious. And yes, huge, gigantic, tremendous congratulations to everyone who not only made their goal but to everyone who gave it a real go, whatever the result. Well done! |
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Post by r.elena.t on Aug 1, 2013 9:21:13 GMT -5
Congrats Boomboom! Sometimes, it really is best to let it be all about the word count. And thanks for the mumble offer. I hadn't the wherewithal to use it this month, but think it would be a great place to get some critique feedback.  |
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Post by gitchel on Aug 1, 2013 11:16:05 GMT -5
I made it by being VERY generous with what I counted as writing. Ive thrown out two novels during this month, and started a third. I'm counting it all. Thankfully, I have written a few thousand words of PLANNING NOTES for this last version.
I have to stick around here. No one else will listen to me moan ;-)
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Post by gitchel on Aug 1, 2013 11:22:19 GMT -5
OK, here is a deep dark secret, better than caffeine. Nicotine gum. A 4-mg tablet cut in quarters with a scissors, 1 mg. Chomp it a couple times every 5 minutes or so. It keeps my brain from jumping around like a sack of crickets. Pulled me through some late nights. I have ADHD, and it really does work. I hear you. I use snus. Little packets of pure (un-carcinoginated) tobacco tucked under my upper lip. It does wonders with my autism. I think they're realizing that nicotine, without the noxious chemicals added, has a positive cholergic (sp?) effect on the brain. I know I couldnt function without it. A real Algernon effect. Jeff |
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Post by wetdirt on Aug 1, 2013 15:31:38 GMT -5
Gitchel,
Stay away from tobacco products. Tobacco is allowed to use non-food chain pesticides. Many are nasty. They argue that the pesticides get burnt up so it doesn't mater. BS. You are exposed to both the current pesticides and at a lower level, every pesticide ever used in the field where the baccy was grown. Including DDT from the 1950s. Interestingly, pesticides are mostly neurotoxins, and many bioaccumulate. And never leave you. At low levels, they chip away at your nervous system, and because they sorb to body fat, they keep on doing it. A lot of tobacco farmers end up with Parkinson's. Chronic exposure. Stay away from tobacco, and whatever you do, don't put it in your mouth. The gum works, and doesn't come from tobacco. Just sayin. It's umm, not like I look into this stuff for a living or anything, tho...(wink wink nudge nudge). Umm, yeah, that.
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Post by gitchel on Aug 1, 2013 17:20:37 GMT -5
I get mine from Sweden, where its pure enough to be regulated as food. It gets stale quickly, but it has none of the chemicals. They're allowed to put salt and sodium carbonate on it. It comforts me that the Swedes have the second lowest cancer rate in the world - second only to Denmark, who make their own snus.
I know the American companies are trying to market their own snus, but its really a lot like ground up cigarette tobacco - with all the familiar poisons. Tastes hideous too.
Whatever bad stuff I still get from the Swedish snus, I suspect it cant do much more damage than the 18 years of double-pack-a-day smoking I did when I was younger.
And I was serious with the Flowers for Algernon reference I made before. I go far far away without the nicotine. I'm sure, someday, they'll invent a pill that works as well - probably in an effort to cure Alzhiemers, Parkinsons, ADHD and depression - but I also expect they'll make the pill from....nicotine. Doesnt make sense that they would spend gobs of money chasing after a NON-nicotine agent to increase your neurexin-1 beta proteins, when they could just give you PURE nicotine without poison mixed into it.
Do you happen to know what the nicotine gum is made of? Curious, since it's probably not taxed as a tobacco product. (grumble grumble)
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Post by wetdirt on Aug 1, 2013 19:29:57 GMT -5
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NicotineIt's synthetic in the gum. The only other ingredients are minty flavorings and the like. I wouldn't mess with plant-derived nicotine. Note especially on the webpage that nicotine itself isn't addictive, and it behaves like typical stimulants used for ADHD. That's why it works for ADHD. It's *cigarettes* that are addictive. But as BoomBoom said, it is a cardiac stimulant, and as we get old and creaky that can be a bad thing. But it's easy enough to figure out if that is happening and stop using it. I won't admit to drinking so much coffee it gave me an arrhythmia many years ago, but it happened anyway. I learned to pay attention to stuff like that. And I would wonder where the snus people source their tobacco, US tobacco has lower levels of pesticides than anywhere else in the world, and that statement is scary, because pesticides are essentially unregulated in the poor countries that grow tobacco. Unless you saw an analysis, I would make no assumptions about the purity of tobacco. Price is not equal to purity. Pesticides are the biggest factor in getting cancer from tobacco. Note that smoking was not associated with lung cancer until this century, and lung cancer rates match the timing of heavy use of pesticides in the tobacco industry. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, doctors didn't associate tumours with tobacco use. And they weren't stupid, either. The huge increases in cancer worldwide coincide with the heavy use of insecticides after the Victorian era. Another thing to ponder: The names for many diseases go back to the Greeks and Romans. The names for a lot of neurological diseases like Parkinson's, Lupus, Alzheimer's, and autism are only a little over 100 years old, and the names were invented after widespread use of arsenical and other pesticides in the late Victorian era. Coincidence? Don't get me started. I could write a book... wait, I just did.
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Post by gitchel on Aug 2, 2013 10:03:19 GMT -5
The name for autism may be relatively recent, but autistics have been around for a very long time. And it isn't a disease. It's straight up genetics.People may debate whether its an evolutionary path for the good of humanity, or diverting from the "true path" of evolution, but it's genetics any way you slice it.
My own need for nicotine is not curative. It's something I use to tune my nervous system in such a way as makes me appear more like the folks around me. For example, it slows me down enough that I never really tell them what I think, when they ask me what I think. I have time to craft a more acceptable and safe answer. It modifies my sleep and eating schedules so I can arrive early in the morning, instead of after a late sleep, big breakfast and early nap. It enables me to waste large amounts of time and energy arranging my thoughts linearly (sp?) and slowly, so I dont leave people behind. And it helps me cope with all those folks around me who need regular eye contact in order to feel loved ;-)
You're possibly right about Parkinsons and Alzheimers, but even there I wonder if that has more to do with the difficulties of adaptation, or of our being removed from something more than exposed to something.
Sorry. Thisis my topic ;-)
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Now, where did I leave off at?
My latest edition of Straight From Thecliff Chamber 