Hello everyone!!!
Can it be November 1st already?! Can you guys believe that it is the beginning of the amazing and crazy month that is Nanowrimo? (Eeeek!)
How are you all feeling? I am a mixed bag of emotions- excited to start a novel that’s been in the back of my mind all October, and nervous to see if it all goes according to plan! Yes haha… a lot of feelings going on all at once.
Wait… What is Nanowrimo?
Na·no·wri·mo
ˈnænoʊ ˈraɪmoʊ/
A frenzied month where novelists and aspiring novelists take on the ambitious and crazy goal of writing a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. For more information, check out the official website.
(And YES, there is still time to commit to Nanowrimo if you haven’t yet!! We are on the first day, which means that even if you start thinking about your novel today, you are not behind!)
To be honest, I was debating about what to post today, whether it will be a WIP aesthetics post or my usual monthly wrap-up post, until I saw this awesome video by ThePatchworkNerd on youtube about the Nanowrimo WIP Tag!! I wasn’t formally tagged, and of course I don’t have a youtube channel, but I thought it would be fun to do a blog version of it 🙂
It would be an opportunity for me to introduce my Nanowrimo WIP to you guys! More importantly, I want to hear about your Nanowrimo WIP and goals!
1. What is your Nanowrimo WIP?
My Nanowrimo WIP is an adult science fiction novel titled “Never Forget.” Time for a blurb!
It is 2050, ten years after the technological apocalypse that tore down the Internet. Welcome to the Digital Dark Age.
Remy is a peculiar man with the ability to remember every detail of every day of his life with flawless accuracy. By day, he works at the corner cafe and fails at first dates. By night, Remy attempts to rediscover the Internet from the rooftop of his apartment.
Meanwhile…
Ria is your average unicorn-haired college student, or so it seems. On week nights, she crams for her next exam while trying to ignore her annoying brother. On weekends, she hits the popular bars and parties. The rest of the time, Ria contemplates how to break out of the matrix.
Everything changes when Remy and Ria’s worlds collide.
2. What stage is your WIP in? (First draft, second draft, third draft, editing, betas, etc.)
This will be the very first draft of this novel. I love the feeling of writing a first draft, and I haven’t sped through one since the last time I did Nanowrimo in 2016, so let’s bring it on!
3. What are your goals? (Monthly, word count goals, etc)
It’s kind of complicated! Firstly, I am going to with the traditional Nanowrimo word count goal of 50,000 words. However, looking at the plot and the outline of Never Forget, it seems like it will likely be a 70-80K word novel. Therefore I am going to try to finish this novel by the end of November as well. *Big Gulp*
That being said, I’ve never written 80K words in a month EVER in my life. So if I don’t finish my novel this month, I would be happy with 50K words 🙂
4. Do you have rewards for meeting certain Nanowrimo goals?
I’m not too big on giving myself rewards, instead I rely on good old self-satisfaction!
Actually……. As some of you guys know I am a huge tea-lover!!! My friend just bought me this beautiful set of tea leaves as a gift:
There are 5 types of tea in total, and I thought, what a coincidence that there are 5×10,000 words to write during Nanowrimo!! So I swallowed the urge to unbox these containers of tea all at once. Instead, I will be opening one container of tea with each 10,000-word milestone!
5. Are you in a Nanowrimo cabin or have Nanowrimo buddies?
I thought cabins were a thing for Camp Nano but not for Nanowrimo? (Are they!??! Please correct me if I’m wrong!)
Yes! I have some Nanowrimo buddies that I look forward to writing with! You know who you all are 😉 I’ve also joined my geographical region on the Nanowrimo forums and I am looking forward to try out some write-in events!
6. Have you done Nanowrimo in the past (November and otherwise)? How did it go?
I’ve done Nanowrimo three times previously in 2005, 2007 and 2016, and I was fortunate to complete the 50K words and a novel in each of the years. (Though the end results were novels of questionable quality hahaha…..) I also successfully completed Camp Nanowrimo twice in April and July this year.
However a few things changed in my life since 2016:
- Work got much busier, and
- I have two dogs, a long commute, and a wedding to plan, and
- My typical novel length is much longer than 50K words now!
So this year is up in the air!
7. What are you most excited about for this year’s Nanowrimo?
A few things actually!
This is my first year going into Nanowrimo with a plan! Plot, research, world building and characters are mostly figured out! I’ve done the same for my previous (non-Nano) WIP and had a good result, however I am curious whether Nanowrimo will be a different experience this time around!
I am going to *gasp* be social during Nanowrimo this year! In past Nanowrimos, I stayed away from the Nano forums and social media in general because I wanted to focus on writing. However, after being in the blogging community for a while and meeting some writers here, I realized that writing doesn’t have to be an isolated activity, especially not during Nanowrimo. Therefore I am looking forward to these things:
- Doing some Nanowrimo “check-in” style posts throughout the month of November, so I can update you guys about how I’m doing, and see how you guys are doing!
- Dabbling a little bit in Twitter!
- Going to some write-ins with fellow writers!
So yes, very excited 🙂
8. What is your #1 advice for people doing Nanowrimo?
Keep at it and don’t give up! There are going to be low-word-count days (life happens!) but we should accept them as a bad day and move on. Even if we fall behind, there is always a chance to catch up. Whether we reach our word count goal at the end, it is the journey that matters 🙂
I tag…
Whoever wants to do this tag!
Nanowrimo is already rolling and we’re all short on time, so I won’t tag anyone specifically. However! If you have some time and you are excited to announce your Nanowrimo WIP and your goals for this month, I encourage you to do this tag and I look forward to hearing about your WIP!
Are you doing Nanowrimo this year? Tell me about your WIP! Do you have a reward system, whether it is for Nanowrimo or for other goals?
A small announcement: I will be switching things up for the month of November!
As mentioned previously, I’ll be posting once weekly rather than twice weekly. Instead of my regular bookish posts, I will be creating “check-in” style posts where I can update you guys about my Nano progress and also see how you are all doing as well!
SOPHIE LI 
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