During November of 2005 the seventh annual
NaNoWriMo was held. And as I did in 2003 and 2004, I competed
again in this contest of personal motivation and satisfaction.
It's basically a challenge for authors to produce a 50,000-word manuscript in 30
days. The goal is not a high-quality manuscript filled with crisp writing,
perfect plot lines or outstanding editing. The goal is to produce
approximately 175-pages of a novel in thirty days... or seven hundred twenty
hours... or forty-three thousand, two hundred minutes... or simply between
midnight on November 1st and midnight on November 30th. Quantity...
quantity... quantity...
In both 2003 and 2004 I was able to meet
the goal. You can find links to the manuscripts of those efforts... The
Mystic Inn from 2003 and November Rising: The Trinity Stone from
2004... near the bottom of this page.
In this section of my web site I have
posted my entry for NaNoWriMo 2005, which currently has a working title of
Harry and John. Per the guidelines of the effort, I did not type or write a single
word of the manuscript before 12:00am on November 1, 2005... that would have been
cheating. However, I did have some idea beyond a title of the subject
matter I intended to attempt. Hey, it's 50,000 words in 30 days with no
words written in advance... cut me some slack. And, since I have some
plans for the subject and text for the future, I may add to the listing below as
time goes on, even after the finish of the NaNoWriMo efforts.
Two big things... First, I have pointed
out on this web site before that all of the material presented here at In My
Backpack is mine and can not be used without my expressed, written consent.
In this particular case, where for NaNoWriMo I have been working out entire
story ideas, it is even more of a sensitive issue for me. I want to share
my efforts. But, this is material I have worked on with specific hopes in
mind... and I plan to keep working with this stuff in the future.
Second, I cannot promise that I will post any further updates as I do revise,
edit, or panic while I try to raise the quality. There is a chance that
will happen, but it isn't a definite. Thank you for understanding.
If you are interested in learning more
about NaNoWriMo, I encourage you to visit the site, which can be accessed using
this link.
I know there are a ton
of problems with
my characters... with my story... with my narration... heck... with the whole darn
thing even though I did manage to get past the 50,000-word mark. The novel
isn't even close to covering the story I wanted to bring out. It might
have hit about 25% of the story I had swimming around in my head. It was alot of
fun, and the clarity can come later on.
WORDS TOTAL FOR MANUSCRIPT:
50,023
WORDS LEFT TO QUALIFY AS NANOWRIMO 2005 WINNER
: 0
* * * Please note * *
* As of March 10, 2006, I have removed the links to all chapters of this
effort other than the Introduction. Thank you for your understanding.
| CHAPTER |
TITLE |
POSTING DATE |
NUMBER OF WORDS |
| Introduction |
Introduction |
11-1-05 |
1,016 |
| 1 |
Some background
and history - Part 1 ~ A few words from Harry Carpenter and John Aspen |
11-15-05 |
3,766 |
| 2 |
Some background
and history - Part 2 ~ The story of a Hall of Fame singing duo |
11-19-05 |
2,303 |
| 3 |
The
early years |
11-25-05 |
3,807 |
| 4 |
Family picnic |
11-25-05 |
1,011 |
| 5 |
Out
of Tune - 1965 |
11-26-05 |
5,902 |
| 6 |
New Year’s Eve 1965 – The signing of a band |
11-28-05 |
3,125 |
| 7 |
A word
about Emma |
11-28-05 |
1,167 |
| 8 |
Diary of a first tour – summer 1966 |
11-28-05 |
9,619 |
| 9 |
Recording a legendary album… and then another… and then another |
11-29-05 |
8,465 |
| 10 |
Promotions… promotions… promotions... |
11-30-05 |
1,992 |
| 11 |
Another summer… another tour - 1967 |
11-30-05 |
1,747 |
| 12 |
Senior year |
11-30-05 |
1,491 |
| 13 |
A new direction |
11-30-05 |
3,026 |
| ? ? ? |
Trailblazer |
11-30-05 |
1,586 |
| Certified as winner
on November 30, 2005 |
