It's That Time of Year Again: NaPoWriMo 2018 · 1:22pm Nov 1st, 2018
Blog Number 45: Time Trial Edition
National Pony Writing Month beckons once again, and I don't so much heed its call as camp outside its front door waiting to claim dibs. I took part in 2016 and 2017; it's proven a reliable way to kick-start my writing. (Just as well, because October was lousy).
Given my recent low performance, I'm only setting a 10k writing target. It's a conservative guess, way lower than in previous years. I'd rather make it easy to surprise myself this year.
Still working on a novel, at least. This monster is proving to be a handful. With only two months to go until the resolution deadline, I fear I'm gonna have to do a Flim Flam Brothers and turn off quality control, if it means producing something.
(Plus I'm not saying what the exact project is, in case I jinx myself, and jinxes are the last thing I need. I know I submitted a project title for the Equestria Daily registration, but that was just a placeholder.)
Hm, what else...? Oh yes: In the meantime, I might publish regular progress reports here on this blog, either once every five days or once every six. Not sure yet. They'd be bare-bones, though, so no statistics until this is over, and likely not much in the way of messages.
Nothing else to report for now. Just a heads-up. Impossible Numbers, out.
Statistics
List of Reviews
A couple of reviews from PresentPerfect and a couple of ratings from smo0sj. Trying not to let it go to my head, so let's just say I fared well and I hope I keep faring well should any more come in. 
- Fic recs, October 21st: New Character Tags- Edits and updates edition! (When Space Met Time)
- I Just Read (10) (Calendar Chaos)
- I Just Read (11) (Work and Play)
- Fic recs, October 30th: Jinglemas 2017 edition! (A Very Merry Commission)
Fics Accepted By Equestria Daily
Diminished was approved, though it took way longer than expected, and it was not without reservations on the pre-reader's part (namely that its connection to "pony" is very thin). Fair enough, I'll have to bear that in mind next time. It should appear on the site within the next few days. I've got a good idea what to submit next, but I need to time it right for Christmas...
New Stories?:
Business Bubble. I confess I didn't have much in the way of "headcanon" for Sunshine Smiles aka Bright Pony, so I had a peek at what others were doing with her on FIMF.net, and from there went from "she's got a shop?" to "she's got a business?"
It also marks, unless memory fails me, the first time I've ever tackled Prince Blueblood, and it was a tentative step towards a certain depiction of Pony Joe that's been at the back of my mind for a while (I have written him into stories before, but usually in a very minor role).
I won't say it was experimental - it was another background pony slice-of-life fic, really - but the business-related stuff, especially Joe's catechism near the end, was a little outside of my comfort zone (I'm not particularly into business).
New Updates:
N/A
Story Count: 80.
16 in 2018.
26 in 2017.
16 in 2016.
2 in 2015.
0 in 2014.
8 in 2013.
9 in 2012.
3 in 2011.
My Total Story View Count: Rendered obsolete due to new site changes.
Age: 2,515 days, or 359 weeks and 2 days.
Working: 19 days in December 2011, 2x366 days for 2012 and 2016 leap years, 4x365 days for 2013 and 2014 and 2015 and 2017, and 304 days for 2018 so far combined.
My Follower Count: 206.
My Followed Count: 195.
If I didn't have so much to read, this would be a great idea. :/ Dang.
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I don't know if they're still accepting applicants, but you can set your personal target to whatever you want, if it helps.
I forget where you’re at in the process of working on your novel. If it’s still in the drafting stage, yes definitely dial QC down to zero! I found with mine that the most important thing was just to get a full alpha draft put together, warts and all; go ahead and take notes about stuff that you think needs work later, but don’t slow down.
That was the first step in my process. Here’s the rest, in case it helps:
Take a break from your alpha draft for a couple months after you complete it. You’ll need the distance from it to have good insights when it’s editing time.
Then do the alpha edit. You’ll probably make some big changes at this point, which might introduce inconsistencies. But that’s fine. Once you’ve put together the beta draft, it’s time to get some beta readers! You probably care more about plot, consistency, and pacing at this point, though feel free to squash any spelling/grammar bugs that pop up, too.
Next up, take the feedback you get from the beta readers and refine it into a first release candidate draft. Now you’ll want to tap people who can really go for the jugular with spelling/grammar/etc. You might pick up some more things to change at this point, but hopefully it’ coming together by now.
Then take that second release candidate draft and run through it with yourself and/or others in one last polishing pass.
Eggs plain
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There used to be an overall tally for story views. It got taken down a while ago, but I keep the title up anyway. This is partly because I half-hope they'll bring it back, and partly because I couldn't be bothered to remove it. Plus, I'm not sitting down and counting views for 80 stories.
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Draft stage is correct. Honestly, I'm trying not to think about the "after" until I get to it. I'm my own worst editor.
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You send an application email to Equestria Daily to let them know you're taking part, who then note your stated goal and the final amount. Obviously, you don't have to (and it's based off the National Novel Writing Month event, which has its own criteria), but for some it helps to have an official target.
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Oh.
Those are some delicious plain eggs.
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It's a sprint to encourage writers to get off their asses and write.
It's easy, I've found. The normal "par" is 50,000 words, which is is 1,666 words daily.