Anybody who’s hung around here for any length of time knows that I’m a big fan of accountability groups and anything that involves me having to report my daily word count somewhere. 70 Days of Sweat, Holly Lisle’s Write A Book With Me, Nanowrimo (though not so much since I got out of grad school), and now I’ve stumbled over the Novel Push Initiative. This round is being hosted by my pal Merilee Faber.
The rules (totally shamelessly lifted from her blog for your ease of viewing):
NPI is for: Anyone having trouble making progress on their WIP, anyone finding it difficult to develop a habit of writing daily, anyone who is looking for motivation and support from fellow writers.
Who it’s not for: If you’re already pumping out daily words, this is not the challenge for you! Go get yourself geared up for Nano.
THE BASICS (shamelessly lifted from Nick’s blog and amended to suit):
- Event will run from September 5 to September 26.
- Pick just one project for this event (preferably something novella/novel-sized) No project hopping allowed this time!
Word counts:
There’s a little modification to the original rules, as follows:
- If this is your first time doing NPI, your daily goal is 250 words.
- If this is your second time doing NPI, your daily goal is 350 words
- If you are an NPI veteran, (that’s you, Nick and RG!) you can either go with 350 words, or nominate your own daily count.
- If your name is Joseph, you get a 700 word handicap.
- You’ll need to publish your daily word counts every day by midnight either on your blog or on Twitter. Use #NovelPI (npi is taken) to make sure I can find your tweet.
The simplest Tweet can look like this:
350 words. #novelpi
11:59 PM Sept 9th from web.
- Of course, you’ll want to double-check your local settings to make sure it matches your time zone.
As this is a short marthon (3 weeks), there will be no project hopping. You will write and post your daily count until either you miss a day, or you write ‘the end’.
Those of you writing over 350 words can have one (1) day of reprieve, where you can skip writing.
I will post 7 day updates on everyone’s progress. The progress meter is as follows (also stolen from Nick):
- A “Knock-out” is 0-249 words.
- An “Update” is 250-999 words.
- A “Session” is 1,000-1,667 words.
- A “Tougher-than-NaNo” is anything greater than 1,667.
- An “End of the Book” is when you’ve completed your WIP and typed ‘THE END’.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? (do I still need to mention that I stole this?):
- At the very minimum, if you keep up, you’ll end up with 5,250-7,350 words added to your work-in-progress. This is a great kick-in-the-butt for us procrastinators!
- I think you’ll find NPI is surprisingly uplifting and friendly—everybody participating (and the people watching from the sidelines) tend to be extremely supportive. Which leads me to…
You’ll meet lots of new friends! 😀
So of course I’ve signed up. Now, it isn’t usually an issue for me to write daily (usually 5 days a week so that weekends are for hubby and accomplishing other stuff), but it’s clear that as I’ve hit this final quarter stretch on HiS that my productivity is starting to lag. I’ve still been making my weekly goal of 2500 most weeks, but I could use some cheerleading and some folks. And I like this challenge because it’s a level I can sustain (unlike Nano, which is just insanity given the stuff going on in my life).
As an update on my progress, I’ve spent the last two days reading through my draft as it stands. I’ve made notes on how to better weave in various threads. I’ve come up with a way to more firmly anchor my subplot by making one of my characters a POV character and envisioned a handful of scenes to write from his perspective. I’ve figured out how to expand some of my villain scenes to make them more meaty and useful. I decided on some scenes to bring my hero into more equal face time during the Set Up, what his demons are that tie in with the rest of the book, and several places where I need to flesh various scenes out (plus notes on what to expand them with). I have also come to the realization that in my joyful abandonment of the S.S. Fluffyverse, I have focused SO MUCH on building the conflict in this book (which I think I’ve done a really good job with), I haven’t spent enough time making the relationship believable despite it. I am in desperate need of a few Can’t Help Falling In Love With You Moments.
This is a term Pot came up with for those little moments (which are really damned hard to come up with) where the hero or heroine’s heart can’t help but just go thunk. I can easily point to two with my husband. The first, on our third date, he arranged for us to go horseback riding just because I’d mentioned in passing that I love to do it and hadn’t been in years (he himself didn’t ride). I recall joking at the end of the ride that he’d been really thoughtful and he should remind me to marry him someday. The other, on our two month anniversary, he wrote me a song (he’s a musician and a good one). That was just it. I was a goner. But while I have a few that I coudl torque that way from Conall’s perspective, I’ve got nothing on Marley. So that’s something I’ll have to keep thinking about.
Anyway, I’m very pleased with the results of this read-through, and after I finish the last 3 chapters, I’ve got a LOT of words to get in to make my weekly goal since I’m sitting at, um, 31 for the week.
Oh, and for those who care for an update, we’ve given up trying to hide the meds in Daisy’s food. Instead it’s a down the hatch forced swallow, which she hates, after which there’s a treat and a lot of praise and loving, which leaves her looking annoyed, but she’s not running away or balking at her food anymore. So yay.
Recipe of the day: Sausage, Mushroom, and Rice Casserole