Total words written Day 9 = 14,211
Thursday was a phenomenal writing day. Much of this was fueled by activity at 4THEWORDS. The wonderful thing was that some of my writing was even story writing. I have the writing separated out, but I didn't divide out which writing was in story and which was journaling and writing into the NaNo project.
I did a trial period of 4TheWords last year during NaNo. It was useful to get butt in chair and fingers moving words through on the page, so I decided last December to give it a one year trial when the 30 days ended.
I have not had a day of regret. It's a silly thing that this website has made such a difference. No, it's not just a website. There is a community of writers there. From what I've heard from people I know IRL, the ages vary, with the majority being adults and many nearing midlife. There are quests, different types of creatures to battle with all kinds of word sizes and times. There are rewards for completing quests. Several months ago they added multiplayer quests, as well. There are forums. There are big goals, and medium goals, and small goals. There are special events.
Speaking of which, it is another special month-long event right now for NaNoWriMo. Today started a short-term extra special event - a Moon Celebration.
Yesterday I joined a Twitch stream group who were battling a string of the November Headmaster. There is a special multiplayer quest where you have to battle them 8 times - and that's a lot of words. It was really fun and sent my word count into hyperdrive! I'm still an introvert online, so I'm not into lots of conversation. The Twitch streaming group was set to medium battles and we did the challenge in sets of 4 and 10 minute breaks in between. But in the NaNo world we had little conversation other than "good job" "gee, you're fast" or "I'm tapping out."
As soon as I get this posted, I have a battle queue lined up to take on. I decided to take a couple of timed quests (most of them are not) for the November special event, and I only have about 20 hours to get them done.
Yes, I do recommend 4TheWords if you are looking for something to help you keep your pen or fingers moving. I know it's not for everyone and I thought it wasn't for me. But it's about the right level of challenge and carrot/stick to keep going. It's simple fun for writing accountability and I can still be my introverted self in an online community of writers.
Here is a screenshot of the 4TheWords worlds.
