Custom NPI – Sign Up & Rulings

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WHAT IS NPI?

NPI stands for ‘Novel Push Initiative’. The goal is to write 250 words per day for a month.

This is a great way to help you write through manuscripts you’ve been struggling with, or it can help you get used to writing every day. The reasons for joining are many, but participating always results in adding more words to your manuscripts, letting you get that much closer to the end of your stories.

And most importantly, we’re all in this together, so there’s lots of support and encouragement to go around.

October’s “Custom” NPI

  • Event will run from October 1st-October 31st.
  • This time you get to replace the number 250 with ‘x’. Want to be held accountable for 1,667 words per day? Just 1 word per day? Even half a page a day. The choice is yours! (And if you don’t specify, I’ll assume 250.)
  • You’ll need to publish your daily word counts by midnight using a blog of some kind, something that I can check against a time-stamp (Even a Twitter account will do).

    • The simplest Tweet can look like this:

    Day 10: 289 words.
    11:59 PM October 10th from web.

  • Also, if you’re using Twitter, I encourage you to use the hashtag #novelpi

    Day 10: 289 words. #novelpi
    11:59 PM October 10th from web.
    This will make it easier for people to follow along! Just Search for #novelpi on the Twitter website.

  • We’re on the honor system.
    Just remember that fibbing about your word-count can only hurt yourself.
    If you’re late, you can post your word-counts the next day if you have to. But please try to get them there by midnight so I can more easily keep track of what’s going on.
  • If you complete a work and write THE END,
    you don’t have to meet the quota that day. In other words, if you wrote 100 words to finish a short story, you can be done. You don’t have to hunt down another manuscript and write 150 more words to meet the 250 word quota for that day.
    ex:

Day 18: 36 words. THE END! #NovelPI
8:30 AM October 18th from web.

  • Everyone starts with one ‘Day of Reprieve’.
    This is a day where you can get away with writing less than your quota for whatever reason. Hopefully this will go a long way to prevent burn-out/serve as padding in the event of an emergency.
    ex:

Day 21: Day of Reprieve! #novelpi

OR…

Day 21: 249 words. #NovelPI

OR…

Nothing for March 21st… :(

All of these examples would result in a Day of Reprieve being used.

  • Knock-outs.
    If you end up not writing and you’ve used up all your Days of Reprieve, you get ‘knocked-out’ of the event. (But even if you do, I encourage you to keep writing, and keep following along.)
  • Earning more days off.
    If you write and meet your quota five days in a row, you earn an additional Day of Reprieve. Woot!
  • If you’d like to participate but haven’t signed up yet,
    you’ll need to reply to this or any of my blog posts prior to October 1st, stating your interest. Alternatively, you can contact me.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?:

  • At the very minimum, if you keep up, you’ll end up with … um … 31 words added to your works-in-progress. (LOL)
    But if you stick to the default 250, and you use all possible Days of Reprieve, you’ll end up with at least 6,250 words added to your manuscripts! This is a great kick-in-the-butt for us procrastinators.
  • I think you’ll find NPI is surprisingly uplifting and friendly. Everybody participating (and the people watching from the sidelines) tend to be extremely supportive. Which leads me to…
  • You’ll meet lots of new friends!
  • I will periodically link to each of your sites and post your word-tallies up to a “Knock-out”.

So get ready. October quickly approaches. Now is the time to learn the virtues of writing every day without fail. Now is the time for the Novel Push Initiative! *cue dramatic music*

39 replies on “Custom NPI – Sign Up & Rulings”

  3. Pingback: New goals, Iggi U DIY MFA, and NPI « J. C. Hart

  5. @KLC:
    Yup, definitely okay. While it’s great to start new projects, one of the main goals of NPI is to finish things, so I encourage you to add to your existing WIPs and reach the end of as many as possible.

    Reply ↓

  6. I found this through Merrilee’s blog and I’d love to participate. Since this is my first NPI I’ll start with the standard 250, which is about a half page for me since I write everything by hand before typing it up later.

    I can’t wait to start!

    Have a great day!

    -Angie

    Reply ↓

  7. Pingback: My Novel Push Initiative | Lost In L.A.

  8. I’m pretty certain I signed up for this, but I’m trying for 250+ words a day or until I finish at least half of the project is completed. Ideally, I’d like to finish the project before November, but I need to be realistic.

    Reply ↓

  9. This will be a great way for me to get into my new routine now that I have settled into my new job, the new job I took up to get more time to write!

    Sign me up, and put me down for 500 words!

    Reply ↓

  10. Looks like there will be a lot of participants this time! The more the merrier, then. I’m already looking forward to it, saving up my ideas for a good start. I suppose I’ll be adding the actual word count to my daily post as well, but only to be on the same “currency” as the others. For myself, I’ll only be counting pages. And damn, I once again have no real title for the story I’m working on.

    Reply ↓

  12. Count me in. I’ve been working on the May 5 serial and was planning on launching it mid-Oct. This would be the perfect opportunity to continue writing my episodes, whilst keeping the same project at the forefront of my mind.

    Been a while since I posted too!

    Reply ↓

  13. @Nick: 30 minutes? That’s a cool goal! I didn’t even think such a currency was valid, heh, but it’s cool!

    @RG: hey, nice to see a familiar face joining in. I’m glad you’re in!

    Reply ↓

  14. I feel like this is just the push I need to get myself going in the writing direction! I have stories, poems & things that need me to write them too. :D
    So, I’d like to commit to the 250 words per day. I’d like to post my word counts on Twitter: @jflamingo2
    I also have a blog too: j-flamingo reflections
    This seems like a great writing event and a nice group of people!

    Reply ↓

    • Okay~I’m letting y’all know that I’m recommitting myself for this year’s NPI! I’d still like to commit to the 250 words per day with a potential to up that word count. My twitter and blog is still the same as above. :)

      Reply ↓

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  16. Oooh! Saw this on Merrilee’s blog and I’m in. I finished the second book of my trilogy (first draft) last week and have withdrawal symptoms, so I’m going straight on to the final book in the trilogy. The first is in the process of being published – I received the ARCs today so it must be auspicious :)

    Please consider me signed up to aim for 1000 words a day. Em x

    Reply ↓

  18. I’m in! This is just perfect to keep me writing, even just a little bit each day. I’m aiming for 100 words a day from Oct 1 – 22. On Oct 23rd I’m flying off to Ireland for an anniversay holiday so the month will have to be cut a little short for me.

    P.S. I love the concept of Reprieve Days. It’s a great nod to the realities of writing and life.

    Reply ↓

  19. Also here via Merrilee – I’m in! It’s not much, but I’m trying to ease myself back into writing after a long hiatus, so I’ll go for 100 words per day, if I may. I’ll be working on something I just started all over again after throwing all previous drafts out the window.

    Reply ↓

  22. I finally logged into a ‘real’ computer and was able to find the roster and much more via your blog!
    I’ve posted an introduction for for my blog and will post the work count there eveyr day as well as on Twitter. The blog link is shown in the Website field.
    Thanks for adding me!
    Have a great day.
    Aliza

    Reply ↓

  23. Pingback: Novel Push Initiative Returns! | A. M. Harte

  24. I’m another that’s come over from Merrilee’s blog. This is exactly what I need to prepare for NaNo in November (and funnily enough what I did last October to get me into it).

    I’m on Twitter as @new2writinggirl.

    Thanks for hosting this :-)

    Reply ↓

  25. Pingback: October = #NovelPI Month (Mark II) « Newtowritinggirl's Blog

  27. Is Oct. 1 too late to sign up? I seriously need to get back in gear before NaNoWriMo next month. And getting into the habbit of writing everyday couldn’t hurt in general, either. I don’t tweet, but I just started a writing blog that I can use to update my daily progress. Write on!

    Reply ↓

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  30. Can I still sign up? What time zone is the midnight counted from – I tend to write after the kids are in bed (like so many others) and I’m on mountain time. For reporting the words – do I have to do a blog post or is a widget in the sidebar okay?

    Reply ↓

  31. I can get you in there, sure!
    -No specific timezone.
    -Widget is fine, if you basically post once per 24 hours, that’ll do.
    -And if you’re a little late posting your WCs, that’s fine, too. But try to keep in mind that every five days or so, I tally.

    Reply ↓

  33. Hey, if you’re willing to write, I’m willing to include ya :)
    But I won’t be taking more tomorrow. Cut-off @ 11 CST, 12 EST, so if anybody else is thinking about jumping in, be sure to do so quickly.

    Reply ↓

  34. Hi, I’d like to join – is it too late? I’m in New Zealand so I’m not quite sure how the whole timezone thing works for the midnight deadline?
    I’m going for 200 words.

    Reply ↓

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