My Own Private NaNo Countdown
Oct. 25th, 2006 06:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jetpack_monkeyNever before have this icon's visual and its wording come together so beautifully.
Short version: OMGWTF horror reviews.
Long version:
October's usually a big month for Classic-Horror and boy we've needed one. We've been struggling on 2-4 reviews a month (13 is the ideal -- 3 a week, MWF), partially due to my own writer's ennui and partially due to the fact that my staff sensed my ennui and turned down their own output to nearly nothing (with one or two exceptions). I can't and don't blame them, and in a lot of cases, real life just cropped up and stuck around at an inopportune time.
Anyway. October. October is important because it brings in a lot of people who don't usually go trawling for horror sites. Classic-Horror in particular is a beneficiary of this because our Google ranking has always been high (due to my obsessive cross-linking, probably and also our keyword friendly title and domain). Not only that, but it's a good time to keep readers with us. We tend to play equal parts nostalgia machine and intellectual discussion (and snark resource for your more lowly genre flicks), so those readers who might not otherwise stick around have a good reason to -- it's fun and you might learn something.
October started strong -- we had my preferred MWF set the first week... and then nothing. Week 2 went by without a single review. I felt guilt, but I was working on a particularly tricky critique. Then, while housesitting for my mother,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
midnightfae and I mainlined three films from Warner's Legends of Hollywood Horror box set, two of which were eligible for review. That Wednesday at the coffeehouse, I finished my I Walked With a Zombie review and continued on to my Doctor X review from there... and I hit upon the idea that if I could post a review every day for the last 13 days of October, that'd be a solid way of ridding me of this paternal guilt keeping the readers glued.
So far, it's worked. We've posted seven reviews thus far, five of which are my own (and one of which is the Classic-Horror debut ofmidnightfae).
My word count for the last seven days (including the opening of my Mad Love review which isn't finished yet) is over 5000 words. Which, I realize is less than half of what I should have for the same period in NaNo, but I'm writing for direct web publication and it's still a hell of a warmup.
What've you been doing to get ready? Or are you just mocking those of us who would subject ourselves to such graphomania?
Short version: OMGWTF horror reviews.
Long version:
October's usually a big month for Classic-Horror and boy we've needed one. We've been struggling on 2-4 reviews a month (13 is the ideal -- 3 a week, MWF), partially due to my own writer's ennui and partially due to the fact that my staff sensed my ennui and turned down their own output to nearly nothing (with one or two exceptions). I can't and don't blame them, and in a lot of cases, real life just cropped up and stuck around at an inopportune time.
Anyway. October. October is important because it brings in a lot of people who don't usually go trawling for horror sites. Classic-Horror in particular is a beneficiary of this because our Google ranking has always been high (due to my obsessive cross-linking, probably and also our keyword friendly title and domain). Not only that, but it's a good time to keep readers with us. We tend to play equal parts nostalgia machine and intellectual discussion (and snark resource for your more lowly genre flicks), so those readers who might not otherwise stick around have a good reason to -- it's fun and you might learn something.
October started strong -- we had my preferred MWF set the first week... and then nothing. Week 2 went by without a single review. I felt guilt, but I was working on a particularly tricky critique. Then, while housesitting for my mother,
midnightfae and I mainlined three films from Warner's Legends of Hollywood Horror box set, two of which were eligible for review. That Wednesday at the coffeehouse, I finished my I Walked With a Zombie review and continued on to my Doctor X review from there... and I hit upon the idea that if I could post a review every day for the last 13 days of October, that'd be a solid way of So far, it's worked. We've posted seven reviews thus far, five of which are my own (and one of which is the Classic-Horror debut of
midnightfae). My word count for the last seven days (including the opening of my Mad Love review which isn't finished yet) is over 5000 words. Which, I realize is less than half of what I should have for the same period in NaNo, but I'm writing for direct web publication and it's still a hell of a warmup.
What've you been doing to get ready? Or are you just mocking those of us who would subject ourselves to such graphomania?
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 07:37 pm (UTC)Unfortunately, I already think I'm doomed. I was figuring out what else I had going on that month and, obviously, I'd like to write a few more reviews for CH. But that's not too bad, as long as I don't try to write one every day like some crazy person I know. And then I realized that my gothic literture class will continue to demand my concentration at least twice a week. Again, a complication, but I am awesome and I can handle it.
And then a reminder from my Goth Lit professor reminded me - I have a term paper due the first of December, more or less. It's like, 10 pages long. *That* is going to take a giant bite out of NaNo dedication. Blah.
I was so determined to finish this year, but, alas, it looks like it will be another year before I can completely dedicate my full attention to a novel for a month. *sads*
But I'm still gonna give it a hell of a shot.