NaShoWriMo, perhaps? I won’t try to talk you into the 1,667 daily word count — it’s about personal goals after all, and being able to say that “I did that” whatever “that” may be. There were certainly days when I struggled with meeting the quota with my laptop, obsessively running word count at every full stop. I’m looking forward to the no-safety-net experience this year. Since I am not a career writer, my personal expectations are very low, so I’ve promised myself not to become encumbered with worry about niceties like “spelling” or “sensible grammar.”
My new Dad job will probably prevent me from fully participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I may set myself a smaller goal, as you are (though maybe not *that* small; maybe a 10-20k short story goal.) Last year, I OCR’d my typed pages to calculate my word count; this year, I may just measure my progress in pages. Say, a page a day. If I do more, super. If not…oh, well.
I’d totally buy one of those bakelite iPods. When I was a kid, my dad gutted an old wall telephone–you know, the kind with a big speaking-tube in front and separate piece you hold to your ear–and turned it into a radio. The operator crank became the tuner. I’m tempted to update his concept for the mp3 generation. I’ll call it…the iPhone!
@ CStanford — I’ve never seen enameled binocs; that must have been beautiful! Did it have a leather neck strap with the little metal buttons on the ends too? I have two old Esterbrook enamel-coated ceramic pen holders on my desk now that have that same “gravitas.”
@Mike — It sounds like you’re taking the right approach to NNWM; personal goals are what matters most! I’ll try to remember your sound advice when the pressure starts mounting as the month wears on, as it no doubt will even if I keep reminding myself about the low-set bar…
@Alan — Hmmm. page counts might actually work better for typecasts; it seems like a more natural “unit of measure” for this particular format. Especially if I have lots of short, choppy dialogue each in its own paragraphs… 😀 And please send me pix if you ever build your Amazing Music Generating Electro-Telephonic Device.
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You’re right about black enamel. I have fond memories of my grandfather’s black-enameled binoculars that my dad would let me use on camping trips.
NaShoWriMo, perhaps? I won’t try to talk you into the 1,667 daily word count — it’s about personal goals after all, and being able to say that “I did that” whatever “that” may be. There were certainly days when I struggled with meeting the quota with my laptop, obsessively running word count at every full stop. I’m looking forward to the no-safety-net experience this year. Since I am not a career writer, my personal expectations are very low, so I’ve promised myself not to become encumbered with worry about niceties like “spelling” or “sensible grammar.”
My new Dad job will probably prevent me from fully participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I may set myself a smaller goal, as you are (though maybe not *that* small; maybe a 10-20k short story goal.) Last year, I OCR’d my typed pages to calculate my word count; this year, I may just measure my progress in pages. Say, a page a day. If I do more, super. If not…oh, well.
I’d totally buy one of those bakelite iPods. When I was a kid, my dad gutted an old wall telephone–you know, the kind with a big speaking-tube in front and separate piece you hold to your ear–and turned it into a radio. The operator crank became the tuner. I’m tempted to update his concept for the mp3 generation. I’ll call it…the iPhone!
@ CStanford — I’ve never seen enameled binocs; that must have been beautiful! Did it have a leather neck strap with the little metal buttons on the ends too? I have two old Esterbrook enamel-coated ceramic pen holders on my desk now that have that same “gravitas.”
@Mike — It sounds like you’re taking the right approach to NNWM; personal goals are what matters most! I’ll try to remember your sound advice when the pressure starts mounting as the month wears on, as it no doubt will even if I keep reminding myself about the low-set bar…
@Alan — Hmmm. page counts might actually work better for typecasts; it seems like a more natural “unit of measure” for this particular format. Especially if I have lots of short, choppy dialogue each in its own paragraphs… 😀 And please send me pix if you ever build your Amazing Music Generating Electro-Telephonic Device.