Yikes, being five days behind would cause a panic!
The first year is probably stressful for most people, whether they just run with an idea or plan ahead. I'd made notes and carried out research for months before I first took part, but there were quite a few times that I thought about giving up or thinking that I wouldn't reach 50k by the end. Last year was definitely easier though, and I think a lot of it came down to the fact that I knew what to expect in terms of how much writing I needed to do, and how much I could manage each day.
You're right about it being a useful writing exercise, and it's something I'd recommend to anyone who wanted to write a novel. As you say it can be added to and re-written at a later stage as you already have a good base to work from.
Joining this community made a heck of a difference for me last year as well, and even though the NaNo forum is good for support and finding help if you get stuck, being here was probably more helpful. Everything was in one place and it really didn't matter which genre you were writing, and the word count prompts were a great way to make sure that we kept writing without putting pressure on us to keep up with everyone else. Unlike the forum we all 'knew' each other, which made it easier to cheer people on if they were keeping up with the average word count each day, and encouraging those who had a few rough patches along the way. That's why I'm hoping that it'll be the same for this year.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-02 11:51 pm (UTC)The first year is probably stressful for most people, whether they just run with an idea or plan ahead. I'd made notes and carried out research for months before I first took part, but there were quite a few times that I thought about giving up or thinking that I wouldn't reach 50k by the end. Last year was definitely easier though, and I think a lot of it came down to the fact that I knew what to expect in terms of how much writing I needed to do, and how much I could manage each day.
You're right about it being a useful writing exercise, and it's something I'd recommend to anyone who wanted to write a novel. As you say it can be added to and re-written at a later stage as you already have a good base to work from.
Joining this community made a heck of a difference for me last year as well, and even though the NaNo forum is good for support and finding help if you get stuck, being here was probably more helpful. Everything was in one place and it really didn't matter which genre you were writing, and the word count prompts were a great way to make sure that we kept writing without putting pressure on us to keep up with everyone else. Unlike the forum we all 'knew' each other, which made it easier to cheer people on if they were keeping up with the average word count each day, and encouraging those who had a few rough patches along the way. That's why I'm hoping that it'll be the same for this year.