The 17th of Nano

The Nanowrimo community is now over half way through.  Today's goal is 28,333 words.  I, myself, am sitting at 42,526.  The range in my Nano region is 12k - 42k, with most people sitting between the 30k - 35k range.  Our write-ins have had great turnouts, we have had less dropouts this year than previous years, an word wars have been amazing at getting word counts up.

Word wars, a challenge that was begun last year by our Municipal Liaison, is a fifteen minute challenge to all who sit around the table, or internet in some cases.  As is the case in many instances, people start to talk about their novels or productivity cats, don't ask.  Someone, usually the person becoming highly annoyed, calls out '3 mins to word war,' the effect is immediate as people refocus their attention on their novels.  Figuring out where they were, where they want the next scene to go, and where they are in their word count.  People begin watching their clocks, "BEGIN."  And for the next fifteen minutes there is silence and writing bliss.  "TIME."  Numbers range from 200 - 1100.

The person with the highest numbers gets a prize from the numbers bag, an assortment of candy, a coveted prize regardless of the bowl of candy sitting on the table.  That person becomes ineligible until everyone has received a reward.  This way the person writing 200 consistently gets a prize, despite the fact they will never have the best word count.  "DING," someone calls out and glories in the congratulations they hear for hitting that next 5k milestone.  They put a star on our star chart, physical proof to the world that they are progressing and they choose a toy from the star bag, cheap toys of ducks, army men and dinosaurs being the most popular.

Even as I write this, preparing for the this mornings write-in, bright and early at eight, which will not be done in the future, it is far too early in the morning for a Saturday to be awake, my fellow Nanoers are arriving for a four hour word sprint.

And with that I will end my blog because the noise has become too loud to focus.

-LadyKaitlyn-