Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo?

[Chouryou]

Diardan

Chouryou

I am not yet done.
>>>>>>>>>>

I just joined last year and won with 60k+ words; it was a fantasy story.
I plan to participate again this year. I now have a job, though, so I might be super busy this November.

<<<<<<<<<<
WITNESS.

I got to 30,000 words on my first year while going to school. Mine was also fantasy.

Ooh, that's more than I could ever write in a semester when I was still in school. biggrin
Will you be participating this year?

[Diardan]

Chouryou

Diardan

Chouryou

I am not yet done.
>>>>>>>>>>

I just joined last year and won with 60k+ words; it was a fantasy story.
I plan to participate again this year. I now have a job, though, so I might be super busy this November.

<<<<<<<<<<
WITNESS.

I got to 30,000 words on my first year while going to school. Mine was also fantasy.

Ooh, that's more than I could ever write in a semester when I was still in school. biggrin
Will you be participating this year?

Of course. I got that while in school, keeping my grades at B's, and still being able to hang out with friends every day.

[TottWriter]

I've done it four times, and won two.

I've written fantasy of some sort every year, because that's my preferred genre, and usually plan the characters and plot outline in advance. I do have the advantage of being an adult and not having to worry about school of course, although the two years I failed to do it were the years relating to my daughter - my second NaNo was dogged by morning sickness and I pegged out at 42k, and my third one, she was only 6 months old, and I made it to just 11k, because I was utterly exhausted. Winning last November was a big pick-up for me, though I have yet to finish any of the actual stories I write. I find it a good writing exercise all the same, and a lot of fun.

[Prince Trase]

Yes, I have.

But I never met the quotas. Thus, never won. sad

[DamnBlackHeart]

I took part in it twice. The first time it was mostly a practice run. It gave me a feel for what it's like and if it was possible for me to have time to actually complete the challenge. I only manage to reach 13,000 words until things in my life got in the way.

The second time that I did it, I was a lot more prepared for it. I planned out my story in detail to avoid getting stuck on anything, used a of couple tricks/techniques to help me and in the end I got a lot further then I did the first time. I reached about 28,000 words and I could have had 50,000 words at the end of the month but more important things got in the way.

Even though I didn't win both times, I enjoyed it a lot and it actually helped me get started on those two fantasy novels. There have been times that I wished NaNoWriMo took place in another month, or at least they should do it twice instead of once every year.

[minty moonlight]

I took part in it for the first time last November. I hit 30 000 words, a feat I was rather proud of, despite not winning. However, I began struggling with my story half way through the month (I was at 25000 words at the time) and am still working on the same story.
I'm glad I participated, it was a lot of fun and a good way to get going on my novel.

[Diardan]

minty moonlight

I took part in it for the first time last November. I hit 30 000 words, a feat I was rather proud of, despite not winning. However, I began struggling with my story half way through the month (I was at 25000 words at the time) and am still working on the same story.
I'm glad I participated, it was a lot of fun and a good way to get going on my novel.

I had the same thing happen to me. I was proud, and when I started editing it... I but out about 5,000 words. It was good for a first try though.

[lexipthemudkip]

I've tried it twice. First time, I crashed and burned within the first week. Second time (this past year), I made it with a day to spare. cool

It's tough, but not impossible. Just needs planning... or at least mine did. Way more planning than I've done for anything ever before (which, considering that I didn't use to plan at all, isn't necessarily saying all that much, but still).

[Alberic of Krufton]

Never. Thought about it a lot over the past, what, four or five years? Never had the gumption to just grab an idea and run with it, or the motivation to pick one of my ridiculously numerous story seeds and actually pound some words out. These past two Novembers have especially been wasted, considering that for the most part I was doing nothing else at the time. (Graduating last year would've knocked me down to only about three weeks, but...)

Don't wanna use school as an excuse, but making it through the pipeline is priority numero uno, so. As much as I wanna write fiction on the side, there's no way humanly possible that I can fit fifty thousand words or more into a mere month while still surviving class, PT, and getting sleep. (I'm deficient in the latter as it is.)

Just settling for an annual word count this year. Worked for 2011, and for the most part it's worked fine this month and last, too. If I could sit down and dedicate thirty days to just making myself write, well hell, that'd be awesome. Just isn't practical at this point in my life, though.

Gonna settle for writing more piecemeal. I could set smaller goals to make myself more effective, yeah, but there's also the temptation to blow it off sometimes, too. (Like now, haha.)

[Niamh the Fae]

I might if I ever happen to be at the right stage of writing at that time of year. So far I haven't ever had an idea for a novel-length thing in November that I'd done enough of the preparation for to start writing.

[Lonely-Eyed Wolf]

I tried to this past year, but...I didn't make it very far. I was doing pretty well the first two weeks or so, but after that I just kind of stopped writing. My schedule was really busy at the time and most days by the time I got home I was too tired to even think about writing.

It was fun though, I might try again this year if I have the time.

[shadowofaprincess]

I tried this last year for the first time, and lost steam almost right away at 1k words.

It was erotica. I didn't even get to the fun bit before I lost interest.