NaNoWriMo 2015 day 1 thoughts

Just a brief note based on my first day's activities (3,593 words so far, and I might try to get in a third session before bed).

First, the general advice that I got to 1) not edit, just write? Good advice, but oh so very tough for me! I edit as I think, mostly (I suspect a lot of other writers do, too), and I often will backspace or re-write a passage as I'm writing it. I'm trying to break that habit, though, in the interest of getting words on pages.

Second, the advice to just be okay with sucking, at first? GREAT advice (and, thanks to Jamie the Podmedic, +Jamie Davis). I am 100% okay with the first (very rough) draft being kinda icky to re-read later, because I'ma go in there and edit the heck out of it anyway.

Third, Scrivener. I love this tool anyway, but I changed the way I use the Project Tracker for now. It was set up, as was advised in many places, to track the overall project as well as per-session by using the deadline method. In short, if you open the Project Tracker on a Mac you can click "Options" and tell it when your writing deadline is, and how many words total, and it will calculate the daily word count accordingly. This is fine, but I found a better way for me: I did all that, then turned off the Automatically calculate from Draft Deadline checkbox. I set the session target for 1,667 words, and also changed the reset option to reset every time I close the project. That means that I have a session target of 1,667 every time I open it up. For me, it's just easier to close Scrivener when I'm finished, so I'm not tempted to edit right now (which I totally would!), and it also kinda kicks up my writing a notch. Next time I open it, I'll have a full day's worth of words as a goal, even if that happens later tonight. That certainly means I can blast through 3k+ words in a day several times, and have some leeway for things like Thanksgiving, etc.

Anyway, that's my first impression. Don't expect a blog entry every day, but I will endeavor to update again next Sunday.