Chris Baty's Blog, page 221

2012 NaNoWriMo Stats: Bigger and Better than Ever!

We’re back this year with another round of end-of-event stats! And boy are we impressed. 2012’s NaNoWriMo broke 300,000 participants, easy peasy and you, dear writer, helped make it happen. So without further ado, let me put on my glasses and whip out my laser pointer so we can get this looking professional!

General Stats Round Up!

For NaNoWriMo main:

341,375 participants, up a whopping 33% from 2011’s total of 256,618 writers.
We wrote a grand total of 3,288,976,325 words, up 7% from 2011’s 3,074,068,446.
This averaged out to 9364 words per person!
We had 38,438 winners, giving us a 11% win rate!

For NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program:

97,864 participants, up 21% from 2011’s total of 81,040. (Edited to correct an error in numbers!)
We wrote a total of 419,152,844 words up 14% from 2011’s collective word count of 368,143,078.
This averaged out to 5,077 words per person.
We had 18,531 winners, giving us a 22% win rate!

This November, we also had 37,120,542 pageviews, and a total of 5,939,711 visits: up 10% from 2011’s 5,384,040 visits!

Top 50 NaNoWriMo Cities (according to Google Analytics, based on number of November visits from these fine places)

London 118,030
New York 90,055
(not set) 72,912

Seattle 58,670
Toronto 52,686
Sydney 51,498
Chicago 49,290
Melbourne 44,689
Los Angeles 43,511
Denver 41,574
Portland 36,905
San Francisco 35,593
Brisbane 32,118
Washington 31,301
Houston 27,971
Minneapolis 26,119
Austin 25,388
Calgary 23,588
Salt Lake City 23,383
San Diego 23,279
Phoenix 21,766
Edmonton 21,520
Ottawa 21,133
Boston 20,478
Helsinki 20,330
Philadelphia 19,016
Vancouver 18,548
Aukland 18,153
Albuquerque 18,067
Perth 18,027
San Jose 17,776
Singapore 17,036
San Antonio 16,916
Montreal 16,396
Dallas 16,110
Adelaide 15,943
Columbus 15,664
Dublin 15,272
St. Louis 14,999
Colorado Springs 14,856
Tuscson 14,791
Sacramento 13,858
Manchester 13,270
Edinburgh 13,221
Paris 12,878
Birmingham 12,685
Grand Rapids 12,653
Madison 12,548
Glasgow 12,521
Indianapolis 12,500
Stockholm 12,380

Top 50 NaNoWriMo Countries (according to Google Analytics, based on number of November visits from these fine places)

United States 3,904,119
United Kingdom 553,604 
Canada 418,974 
Australia 185,007
Germany 116,429
Netherlands 70,603
France 56,038

Finland 52,825
(not set) 47,825

Sweden 44,534
New Zealand 37,132     

Ireland 26,051
Norway 22,409 
Spain 19,975
Philippines 19,523

Japan 19,509
Brazil 17,880
Denmark 17,796
Singapore 17,185
Belgium 16,550
South Africa 15,421
Austria 15,350
India 15,080
Poland 13,857
Mexico 13,507
Italy 12,346
Malaysia 10,724
Switzerland 10,466
Portugal 10,091
South Korea 9,119
Indonesia 8,806
Croatia 8,144
Israel 5,919
Latvia 5,882
Hungary 5,689
China 5,616
Russia 5,531
Romania 4,953
Hong Kong 4,914
Czech Republic 4,788
United Arab Emirates 4,578
Greece 4,349
Thailand 4,232
Taiwan 3,708
Argentina 3,506
Turkey 3,204
Puerto Rico 3,041
Estonia 2,569
Egypt 2,474
Chile 2,282
Pakistan 2,221

If this was your first NaNoWriMo, awesome! We think you’re incredible for dipping your toes into this! How did you do? What did you run into that you weren’t expecting? And if you’re a NaNo veteran, how did this NaNoWriMo feel different from previous years? Was the site easy to navigate? Did you make new friends at he write-ins? We would love to know what you thought of this year’s NaNoWriMo!

– Ari

The 3 Superpowers Creative Writing Gave Me

Whether this year was your first time noveling, or you’ve been writing for years, you probably have an interesting and complicated relationship with writing. Every year there’s always some article published that talks about the importance of creative writing in education and its beneficial effects on persuasive ability.

Personally, I still can’t tell a narrative without falling into tangents and backstory (don’t ever ask me to tell you about my dreams!), but writing has certainly been beneficial to my life. Here are the three superpowers creative writing has given me:

1. Writing takes me places.

When I say “places,” I don’t just mean travel. Sure, if you can’t hop on a flight to Belize, writing about it instead isn’t such a terrible option, but writing can also take you to places that don’t exist. It takes you far under the ocean, or out into space. It fails to take time seriously, sending you backwards or forward through it. And depending on the way you write, you have the ability to see things in slow motion, or fast-forward through the mundane stuff.

It’s like living in a world where everything is Instagram-ed (if you’re writing a dystopian novel, make sure you don’t forget to use the Dystopian filter). Writing has helped maintain my fascination for elsewhere and elsewhen, even when I think about places that I wouldn’t personally want to visit. I didn’t stray very far from home this year, but my eyes are already alight with ideas for future projects. Where will I go next? Kowloon Walled City in the 1960s? Or Celebration, FL in the 90s?

2. Writing mitigates my social anxiety.

When I was growing up, I was painfully shy. In fact, as a kid, when my parents’ friends used to ask me questions, I would seize up trying to explain myself. Writing was a way for me to work out how to articulate my thoughts and feelings on certain subjects.

Through writing I allowed myself to explore topics that interested me when I didn’t know how to express my interest, and I could also record witty comebacks no one would ever hear me say because I thought of them days too late. If I could explain myself in writing, I decided, I could explain myself in other ways too. I began to say things out loud that I would have otherwise waited to write down. And it wasn’t the end of the world! Today, I am braver, I am curious about others, and maybe even a bit of an over-sharer.

3. Writing teaches me empathy.

I got really into writing a mean character this year. She was a bully, arrogant about her intelligence, she had a bad attitude, and no respect for most of the people she encountered. Mean people generally suck. But mean characters are cool, because it’s so often that they’re not just mean. We all know our fair share of mean people, but writing a mean character gave me the opportunity to explore the desires, and insecurities deeply rooted in a mean person.

Writing teaches you to empathize with even the foulest personalities. You can put on their shoes in the morning, or follow them like a shadow. You can watch them experience extreme grief or anger, and then take it out on someone else. You can watch them regret something, and then be too proud to admit it. Writing takes you out of that unforgiving space and makes you want to pat your fully human characters on the back and tell them things will be okay.

What kind of superpowers has creative writing given to you?

— Ari

Photo by Unforced_Error

NaNoWriMo 2012: The CreateSpace & KDP Chronicles

Congratulations, all you survivors of NaNoWriMo, whether you emerged victorious with 50K or not! The important thing is that you took on an incredible writing challenge with more than 300,000 people around the world, and came out with some writing to call your very own this November.

CreateSpace is offering all winners 5 free copies of their books—those codes, along with your other winner goodies, should be up by the end of this week. The CreateSpace and Kindle team sends us a final update (check out the others on their blog), and reports their final word counts:

Phoebe, Kindle Direct Publishing. Final Word Count: 50,064

What was your overall experience?

It’s been a blast! I love meeting and talking with fellow authors who are all working toward the same goal. There was a period when I was doubtful, but I just kept plugging away and thinking about the “winner” t-shirt I pre-ordered, which was hanging on my wall waiting for me to earn it.

How are you celebrating?

On Friday I went out with the Seattle Drunken Write-In crew, on Saturday I went to the official TGIO skating party, and on Sunday I did a whole lot of nothing but video games.

What are your plans for the book?

After I’ve set it aside for a few weeks, I’ll take a look back through it and see what kind of actual story I came out with. Even though I hit 50K, I definitely didn’t get to “The End.” So much of it came from the pressure to just get out more words that the narrative flow is all over the place. After much editing and rewriting, I’d like to send it to some beta readers for feedback.

Margaret, CreateSpace. Final Word Count: 30,000

What was your overall experience?

Overall, it was really good. Before NaNoWriMo, I didn’t make writing a habit because I didn’t think I had time for it. Because of the contest’s goal and deadline, I had to include writing time in my daily schedule. Now I have time built in to keep writing!

How are you celebrating?

I’ll probably keep writing; I didn’t quite make it to 50,000 words, so plan to keep writing to complete the novel by mid-December.

What are your plans for the book?

When the book is done, I’ll give it to a few different people to read, edit it from their feedback, and then likely publish it on KDP.

Katy, Kindle Direct Publishing. Final Word Count: 12,390

What was your overall experience?

About halfway through November, work and life got exceedingly busy, so I had to put NaNo on hold, which is frustrating! I got back to it every several days, but my stories were effectively dead in the water by 11/20. Curse you, life!

Will you still work on the novel?

Heck yes. I know the idea’s good because everyone I’ve ever described it to has loved it—I just have to get it done. I’ll then have several of my friends copy edit it. I worked as a writing tutor in college, so I’m also going to print it out and rip it apart by treating it like someone else’s writing (I am ruthless). And then, publication through KDP and CreateSpace is the plan!

Andrea, CreateSpace. Final Word Count: 12,000

What was your overall experience?

LOVE LOVE LOVE. I can’t wait for next year. Maybe I’ll actually finish!

How are you celebrating?

I’ll keep writing in the month of December and hope I can do it in two months instead of just one. There could possibly be a glass of liquid courage in there too to celebrate the long month of literary tenacity.

What were your relationships like with other writers throughout NaNo?

There was nothing but positive feedback and mutual enthusiasm. Who could ask for anything more?

Any final thoughts?

Keep at it. And remember, the first person you need to satisfy with your writing is yourself, not the critics.

Jonny, CreateSpace.Final Word Count: 1,850

What was your overall experience?

I’ve wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo for years, and I am glad I finally gave it a shot. I knew I would be busy this month, as I set out to overachieve, and I was only able to complete part of my goals. When I was able to write, it felt rushed and stressful, as I had other obligations that took priority. The experience gave me a greater appreciation for the authors I work with every day, most of whom have jobs, lives, and children to balance as well. Every book that is published deserves applause. It takes time, dedication, and patience to write.

What were your relationships like with other writers throughout NaNo?

When speaking to my peers who participated, they took on a wonderful literary tone. It warmed my heart to have a more thoughtful conversation than a normal day would provide.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 33

Today’s cover was created by Alan Dye!

How To Become Invincible by Rachel Shapiro

Anthony and Cory meet at the hospital. He is recovering from popping out his knee. She is dying from, as she puts it, a “deadly, boring disease you’ve never heard of.” What starts out as a late night adventure to a vending machine becomes first an acquaintanceship and then a friendship. And then, things go to a whole new level when Cory asks Anthony to go on another adventure with her. And this one is a road trip to a spring that grants immortality.

Alan Dye Alan Dye dreamed of being a pro basketball player, but his love of type and lack of a jumpshot led to his becoming a designer. Alan began his career in New York working for various advertising and design agencies, including Landor Associates and a four year stint at Ogilvy’s Brand Integration Group. After years of agency work, Alan went in-house and became design director for kate spade and JACK SPADE. Later, Alan moved to the west coast in 2007 where he is currently a Senior Creative Director at Apple. Besides his work with Apple, Alan has contributed to the New York Times, WIRED, the National Basketball Association (as close as he’ll ever come to getting paid for basketball), and New York Magazine.  Alan’s work has been recognized by a number of design shows and publications, and he is a regular speaker at design and advertising events. Alan lives in San Francisco, works in Cupertino, and continues to work on his jumpshot.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 32

Today’s cover was created by Robynne Raye!

Cricket by E. Cortez

Cricket’s Daddy killed her Mama, and it hasn’t rained since. It’s all his fault Mama’s dead and the sky dried up with her, or at least, that’s what Meemaw says. In a town plagued with drought, heightened crime rates, and illegal fighting pits the locals are using to gamble and reap a little money, Cricket O’Reilly finds herself alone, missing her mother, trying to love her grief-ridden father and coping with cynical Meemaw and her otherworldly intuition no one takes seriously. And of course, the drought, which is slowly turning Mentiras Mesa to dust. Locals find hope in the Rain Man. A mysterious, masked man who comes to farms and is rumored to able to pull water from the ground, and make the clouds weep with his songs. For a little money, of course.

When Daddy hires the Rain Man to come perform his Song at the farm, Cricket sees him for what he really is: a man with a cheap trick, and a cyborg eye. Something only seen in wanderers from New Port, a place of amazing machinery and supposedly, riches. The Rain Man is nothing but a common criminal hiding away in a forgotten, dust-eaten town and picking the pockets of the farmers with his act. When Meemaw sees him, she tells Cricket the Rain Man’s going to make it rain…

And that Daddy’s going to die.

Since co-founding Modern Dog Design Co. in 1987, Robynne Raye has continued to do work for entertainment and retail companies - both local and national - and counts packaging, identity anbd poster design as some of her favorite work. Robynne has received recognition from every major design organization in the U.S. Her posters are represented in the permanent archives of the Louvre (Rohan Marsan wing) the Library of Congress, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Museum Fur Kunst und Gewerbe, the Warsaw National Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum among others. She is co-author of “Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art” (Chronicle Books, 2008)  and “Inside the World of Board Graphics: Skate, Surf, Snow” (Rockport Books, 2011), and contributes regularly to the design blog RockPaperInk. For more than 18 years she has lectured and taught workshops, both nationally and internationally. Currently she is an Associate Instructor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where she teaches classes on typography and packaging design.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 31

Can the folks at OLL count? Yes! Did too much turkey and stuffing go to my head? Also yes! Earlier this month I sent out a few repeat covers, but they are gorgeous, and they ought to be featured, so we have saved them for the month of December. Today’s cover was designed by Eric Heiman!

The Dreamer by Sapphire16

Jane lives in a world where everyone disappears when they fall asleep and returns when they wake. No one remembers anything at all about what happens during the night, except for the rare Dreamers, like Jane.

In the past, the government has requested that Dreamers work with them for research purposes, but when they suddenly change this request to a demand that all Dreamers turn themselves in, rumors start and suspicion grows. Jane must choose a side for the fast rising fight, and find out the truth about Dreamers and where people are disappearing to.

Eric Heiman is a designer, writer, educator, and occasional DJ when prodded out of retirement. He is a principal and creative director of Volume Inc., founded in 2002 with Adam Brodsley. Volume’s work has been featured, published, exhibited, and honored by the finest publications, museums and professional organizations the world ‘round. Eric’s writing has been featured in such publications as Eye, Emigré, AIGA’s Voice, and is a contributing writer for the SFMOMA’s culture blog, Open Space. He is also a Professor of Design at the California College of the Arts.

Untold Stories from Elsewhere :: Middle East

During the month of November, we’ve discovered new friends and neighbors at write-ins in local coffee shops and libraries. We’ve memorized every valley, dive bar, and street sign in our fictional worlds. We’ve even sketched a map of the Tupazel World from Bearded Troll Mountain to Red Dragon Lair. But, we may have forgotten that there are Wrimos writing all over the world.

In the region of “Elsewhere :: Middle East,” 934 Wrimos join together from the 24 countries in the Middle East. Today, I’d like to introduce you to Lone Bendixen Goulani, an academic writing teacher at the University of Kurdistan-Hewler in Erbil, Iraq, who teaches 125 students. Eight have signed up with NaNoWriMo to tell their untold stories.

If Erbil, Iraq was the setting of a novel, how would you describe the area?

Kurdistan is a beautiful mountainous area in the Middle East that covers regions both in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Armenia. Kurdistan is a safe haven in Iraq. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the region has developed a lot. Erbil is the capital in Kurdistan region in Iraq, and the majority of people in Erbil are Kurds, but our pluralistic society also contains Arabs, Assyrians, Jezidis, Turkomans etc. The history of the Kurds is very bloody and sad, but there are so many untold stories waiting to be told.

One of my students is using a lot of his mother’s stories in his novel. One of my characters has a father that was killed during Saddam Hussein’s ethnic cleansing of the Kurds. Another character is watching a DVD where Baathists are executing people in different ways because this is what my taxi driver was doing on November 4th, and I put it in my story. There are green parks and modern shopping malls, and the killings have stopped, but people still watch the killings. They still cry over their lost ones.

How did your students react to the idea of writing a novel in one month?

To be honest, most of them looked blankly at me when I announced the event in the classroom, and since they quite often whine about the amount of words they have to write for my assignments (max 800 words this semester), most of them think they would never have the time to write this much. A few asked for more information and got hooked. We are only 8 Wrimos in Erbil as far as I know, and 6 of us are from the University of Kurdistan, but it’s a start. Pictured at the top is Kameran, a UKH student and one of the new Erbil WriMos in front of our NaNoWriMo bulletin board.

Have there been any cultural barriers for fiction writing?

Not really, not so far at least, but I suppose I’m taking the risk of getting into trouble if they write and upload something which is considered inappropriate around here (which is just about everything if you include the stories after they have been retold a few times).

What is the reading culture like in Erbil?

Poetry is quite popular, but there is not really a reading culture. I hardly ever see anybody reading a novel for pleasure, and it’s difficult to find any kind of literature. I go to a book fair once a year, exchange books with my expat colleagues and buy books whenever I’m abroad.

Had anyone heard of NaNoWriMo in your area? How did you first hear about NaNoWriMo?  

No, I had never heard about it until my American colleague told me about it a few months ago. She is taking a course in creative writing as part of her master’s program. She finished her first novel recently (she spent 60 days on it which is clearly cheating, but I’ve bullied her into writing a new one in November).

I’ve always written a lot, but never fiction, so I’m looking forward to taking writing less seriously and share a creative writing experience with my students, friends and colleagues.

How have you kept motivated throughout November?

I enjoyed bragging a lot about what I’m doing in November, so there wasn’t any turning back. How can I call myself a writing instructor if I haven’t written a novel in 30 days?

Also, there’s barely anything to do around here apart from breathing fresh mountain air, so writing a novel is really a perfect activity apart from the power short cuts (and my laptop battery is broken, so it is a serious matter really).

Lone, thanks for sharing your world with us. Wrimos, on this last day of November, let’s do a roll call! Where did you write from this month? How would you describe your home in one sentence?

Student Photo by Lone Bendixen Goulani

Landscape Photo by Flickr user Mustafa Khayat

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 30

Hey, everybody! It’s the end of the month! Did you make it? Even if you didn’t, we hope the score of beautiful book covers and exciting synopses kept you company throughout this year’s NaNoWriMo season. We’re saying so long to November with this cover designed by Christopher Simmons!

Generation Hex by A.C. Silva

In the future, everyone is a wizard. Or so the corporations tell us: you can command technology with a thought, make household appliances do your bidding by just willing it so, or trade emails with your best friend by just thinking about it in a sort of high-tech telepathy—if you pay your monthly access to the Program.

But then, a young and brash student with a side job as hacker, Victoria Valentino also known as H3x, is grounded out of the Network as punishment for fiddling with the Code (the building blocks of the Program)—And then things get really complicated when she starts seeing the Code everywhere. And she can manipulate it. Reality is hers to do and undo.

And just like that, she becomes one of the most hunted people in the world—a Technomancer, a Cyber-Wizard—a reality-weaver.

As the corporations, governments and even other Technomagi hunt for her, she finds herself very alone, very quickly, not knowing who to trust—not knowing how to control her powers. But she knows a thing or two about being the underdog and how to turn a bad situation to her favour—with the help of a friend or two and just a little bit of magic.

Christopher Simmons is a designer, author, educator and principal of the noted San Francisco design office, MINE™. He is a frequent lecturer on design issues for colleges, universities, and professional associations, and regularly participates as a judge for major design competitions. In addition to being recognized with awards from nearly every leading design institution, Christopher’s work has been exhibited at the The National Design Center, The Pasadena Museum of California Art, The Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Craft + Design, The Smithsonian Institution, The Brno Design Biennial, and numerous galleries and exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. He is the author of four books, most recently Just Design which focuses on design solutions for social and cultural causes. 

Christopher is an adjunct professor of design at the California College of the Arts (CCA), and a past president of the San Francisco AIGA. On completion of his tenure in that role, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an official proclamation declaring San Francisco to be a city “where design makes a difference.”

Six(ish) Possible Post-NaNo Conversations

The end of NaNoWriMo 2012 is fast approaching. We all began the month of November in the same place, facing the same blank page, but December 1 looms, and with it, at least four or five different ends to the journey we started together. Each ending comes with a conversation, some of which I’ve imagined below.

The Winner:

The One Who Was Almost There:

The Overachiever:

The One Who Was Sidetracked Early:

The One Who Hit 50K but Didn’t Finish Their Novel:

And a bonus! My Actual Texts from Yesterday:

Disclaimer: This is not what my actual novel is about, promise. (…Though I’d read the heck out of that.)

Which conversation are you most likely to have, or are you hoping to have? Any scenarios I’ve missed?

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 29

Today’s cover was designed by Geoff McFetridge!

Widow’s Revenge by DTRPerkins12

Temperance’s soon-to-be husband, Samuel, decides to join the Continental Army in 1776. When he is killed, she decides to take revenge on the redcoats that murdered him in cold blood. Temperance is thrown into the gritty underworld of the British army, just to avenge her husbands death.

Geoff McFetridge is a artist based in Los Angeles, California. Born in Canada, he was schooled at the Alberta College of Art and the California Institute of the Arts. He is part of the Beautiful Losers Exhibition, and makes solo exhibitions from Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, London, the Netherlands and Japan. For two years, he was art director of the famous underground Beastie Boys magazine Grand Royal. Since then he has started the design studio Champion Graphics which has done projects for numerous clients ranging from Nike, Pepsi, Stüssy, Burton Snowboards, Girl Skateboards and Patagonia. He made clips for Plaid, Simian, and recently also for The Whitest Boy Alive, and he created film title sequences for The Virgin Suicides and Adaptation