October Novel Prep Challenge

Dblameck,

While I understand your point, I do feel the need to remind you that not all writers are the same. Not all approach the prep challenge or even nanowrimo the same way. Some, like I guess you do based on this comment, need the every single day approach. But not all of us do. Not all are using the calendar even for the same reason. I know one person in particular thought the assignments were great for helping develop her idea but has no intentions to write for nanowrimo. And some of us who finished the calendar early are not new to this. I will use myself as the example.

I have taken part in the nanowrimo prep every year (even when I didn't end up writing in 2009 for nanowrimo). Sure, my first year back in 2008, my approach was different. My first two attempts at nanowrimo were minimal with the highest word count being 14,000 and I'd never written anything above that word count before. I'd never done a plotting/outlining/development project before so it took me time to figure it out. However, now that I've done it every year since then, including in 2010 when Brandiwyn was kind enough to let me post the calendar publicly on my blog, it's easier to do things ahead of time.

I'm not a write every day nanowrimo writer. Shocking for some considering I have won since I started taking part in this challenge. While I only made it to 50k on the last day in 2008, since I have more practice in writing novels, I write more and faster now. I've done several month challenges so went from 14k in 2007 to writing 50k in 2008, nothing in 2009, 65k in 2010 for march(50k in 15 days), then 50k in 13 days for nano 2010 and of course the crazy year 2011, which was 50k in 11 days and 125k for the month. Prep helps me but with the type of writer I am, I do things "early" for a reason. I also prepare novels that I'm not writing in November now because I like to have some of that done for when I'm ready to write the novel. But I don't need the prep per se to write. Last year almost 100k of that count was on a romance/erotica novel I hadn't prepped, even though I prepped 3 novels that year in this challenge. (I partly do this challenge now because I love the event and doing the activity with everyone else. I love cheerleading as it is called here, and encouraging others in the event.) And I'm pretty sure I didn't write every single day even last year, except for the first 11 days, but I also had days were I wrote 7k, 8k, and 10k. It's just what works for me.

So, do you also say that those who don't go for the minimum word count in nanowrimo and write every single day defeat the purpose? The purpose is just to stop all the "i'm going to write a novel" talk and to just sit down and actually write the thing. It's okay to not write every single day if that's what works best. Same with the prep. It's to help us develop our stories and be prepared for the challenge of nanowrimo. I finish the prep early now because then I get a few days to let the ideas soak and I like to have a slight rest to get caught up in other places. Like right now. I have reviews I want to get done before I get immersed in nanowrimo for contests, I have blog posts to write, and I have my nanowrimo group to get goals listed in time for Nov. 1. Having a few days between prep and challenge is helpful to me personally.

If you want to force a work ethic then at times there are contests that have a daily requirement for a month and the next day isn't posted until the start of the day so people can't jump ahead. However, (this is a guess) Brandiwyn has chosen not to restrict those who have a different process or who are practiced enough (or those who simply have the desire) to do more.

And back to my point after this long winded response. We all have our different approaches to writing and that includes what we do for nano prep and nanowrimo. I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to force your idea of how it works on some of use who have a different method. Because my way is better for me as an individual writer.