Let’s negotiate

Posted: February 14th, 2010 under writing.
Tags: NPI, write

A lot of people didn’t finish the last NPI, but I’d like as many people to finish this one as possible.

So I’m affording you the opportunity to negotiate the terms with me before I post the ruleset for the March event.

Last time, it was 250 words per day, with three ‘Days of Reprieve’, which essentially meant you could write 0-249 words for three days out of the month and still pass NPI. The fourth time was considered a ‘Knock-Out’.

And I held the participants to that—After all if there’s no accountability, what’s the point of running an event that’s supposed to teach consistency?

What’s up for negotiation?:

1: 250+ words per day.

This can be negotiated. Would 200 be easier to maintain? Would you rather raise the bar and bring it to 350? Be honest.

2: 3 ‘Days of Reprieve’.

I like Days of Reprieve. At first there were none. Then there was one. Now there’s three (as of December’s NPI). Three seems like a pretty good number, but this can also be negotiated.

3: ???

Anything else you can think of.

Here’s some food for thought: We all know self-imposed deadlines can be great motivators. Maybe the only thing that’s better is a deadline imposed by someone else?

If you have any suggestions or negotiations, please share.

By the way, this post is exactly 214 words.

« « Almost March again already??? | Novel Push Initiative – March Rulings » »

13 Comments »

As one of the non-finishers last time, I definitely want the accountability – so no negotiating from me! Happy with 250 words and one reprieve day

:-)

[Reply]

Comment by Janette — February 14, 2010 @ 6:39 pm
Hi-
Just read about the NPI for this year from Shadow & Fang’s blog. I am totally up for this! So…how/where do we check in, once March gets going?

[Reply]

Comment by Eliza — February 14, 2010 @ 8:45 pm
I did one successful round of NPI — and loved it. I did a less successful round, I think — although I’m blanking on whether or not it was less successful b/c I didn’t finish, or because it was more like pulling teeth.

Anyway, I like it. Three reprieve days seems pleasant and generous — and to a certain extent, I think 350 is as easy/hard to produce as 250. The point is sitting down. 250 is nice b/c it’s about the length of a typewritten page.

Anyway, I’d like to participate next time, b/c I did feel like it kept me accountable and responsible. And it was productive.

[Reply]

Comment by Francesca — February 14, 2010 @ 8:48 pm
I personally would like the opportunity for catch up credit toward reprieve days. I frequently have days where I write considerably more than 250 words a day, and I’d love to be able to use them to earn weekends (or whatever) off.

[Reply]

Comment by Kait Nolan — February 15, 2010 @ 11:16 am
I would be for raising the bar to 350 at least since there are no major holidays in March. I don’t feel like I hit a good enough writing stride in only 250 words and then I don’t keep writing after hitting my daily minimum for NPI.

[Reply]

Comment by L. — February 15, 2010 @ 12:45 pm
250 words for me, and only 1 day of reprieve. I find that if I have more, I just squander them. I prefer to save it for a real emergency!

[Reply]

Comment by Merrilee Faber — February 15, 2010 @ 3:57 pm
huh! interesting.
There’s some that would prefer 350, some that want no days of reprieve, some that want three….
I think a good middle ground would be this:
Everybody starts out with 1 day of reprieve.
Write 1000 words or more in a day and earn another day of reprieve. After all, it’s FOUR TIMES the minimum required, and there’s really been no motivation to go above and beyond 250 … other than ranking … and showing us that you got your groove on that day.

So if you wrote 1000 words every other day and used all your earned days of reprieve, you’d still end up with 15,000 words.

What do you guys think?

[Reply]

Comment by Nick Enlowe — February 15, 2010 @ 6:21 pm
I like it! Earning days off is an excellent idea :D

[Reply]

Comment by Merrilee Faber — February 16, 2010 @ 5:04 am
[...] I had planned to run a Creativity Workshop in March, but I was distracted by Nick Enlowe, who is running another Novel Push Initiative. If you’re struggling to make progress on your WIP, I recommend NPI. It’s hard work, but worth it. Come and join in the fun! And this time, you can include short works or editing. You can also negotiate your terms. [...]

Pingback by Bits’o’news « Not Enough Words — February 16, 2010 @ 5:41 am
I think that’s a fair compromise and a good incentive to push ourselves beyond the minimum.

[Reply]

Comment by L. — February 16, 2010 @ 7:19 am
Very good incentive. I like it!

[Reply]

Comment by Cassie — February 16, 2010 @ 3:46 pm
LOVE the idea of earning “days off” by writing over 1K. That’s a fabulous incentive which I might just incorporate into daily life.

Cook dinner? Not tonight, love of my life – I wrote 1000 words so it’s my night off. Takeaway is on you.

Take minutes for the meeting? No, no, el Presidente of my local community organisation which I won’t name – I wrote 1000 words today, let the assistant secretary do it.

I can see a pattern forming…

[Reply]

Comment by Janette Dalgliesh — February 20, 2010 @ 12:06 am
[...] – spend the next week ferociously plotting so I have somewhere to take the writing during the March Novel Push Initiative for which I’ve signed up (thanks, Nick!); and aim to finish the whole thing by the end of [...]

Pingback by Accountability in 2010 « Janette Dalgliesh — February 20, 2010 @ 12:16 am

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As one of the non-finishers last time, I definitely want the accountability – so no negotiating from me! Happy with 250 words and one reprieve day

:-)

[Reply]

Comment by Janette — February 14, 2010 @ 6:39 pm

Hi-
Just read about the NPI for this year from Shadow & Fang’s blog. I am totally up for this! So…how/where do we check in, once March gets going?

Comment by Eliza — February 14, 2010 @ 8:45 pm

I did one successful round of NPI — and loved it. I did a less successful round, I think — although I’m blanking on whether or not it was less successful b/c I didn’t finish, or because it was more like pulling teeth.

Anyway, I like it. Three reprieve days seems pleasant and generous — and to a certain extent, I think 350 is as easy/hard to produce as 250. The point is sitting down. 250 is nice b/c it’s about the length of a typewritten page.

Anyway, I’d like to participate next time, b/c I did feel like it kept me accountable and responsible. And it was productive.

Comment by Francesca — February 14, 2010 @ 8:48 pm

I personally would like the opportunity for catch up credit toward reprieve days. I frequently have days where I write considerably more than 250 words a day, and I’d love to be able to use them to earn weekends (or whatever) off.

Comment by Kait Nolan — February 15, 2010 @ 11:16 am

I would be for raising the bar to 350 at least since there are no major holidays in March. I don’t feel like I hit a good enough writing stride in only 250 words and then I don’t keep writing after hitting my daily minimum for NPI.

Comment by L. — February 15, 2010 @ 12:45 pm

250 words for me, and only 1 day of reprieve. I find that if I have more, I just squander them. I prefer to save it for a real emergency!

Comment by Merrilee Faber — February 15, 2010 @ 3:57 pm

huh! interesting.
There’s some that would prefer 350, some that want no days of reprieve, some that want three….
I think a good middle ground would be this:
Everybody starts out with 1 day of reprieve.
Write 1000 words or more in a day and earn another day of reprieve. After all, it’s FOUR TIMES the minimum required, and there’s really been no motivation to go above and beyond 250 … other than ranking … and showing us that you got your groove on that day.

So if you wrote 1000 words every other day and used all your earned days of reprieve, you’d still end up with 15,000 words.

What do you guys think?

Comment by Nick Enlowe — February 15, 2010 @ 6:21 pm

I like it! Earning days off is an excellent idea :D

Comment by Merrilee Faber — February 16, 2010 @ 5:04 am

[...] I had planned to run a Creativity Workshop in March, but I was distracted by Nick Enlowe, who is running another Novel Push Initiative. If you’re struggling to make progress on your WIP, I recommend NPI. It’s hard work, but worth it. Come and join in the fun! And this time, you can include short works or editing. You can also negotiate your terms. [...]

Pingback by Bits’o’news « Not Enough Words — February 16, 2010 @ 5:41 am

I think that’s a fair compromise and a good incentive to push ourselves beyond the minimum.

Comment by L. — February 16, 2010 @ 7:19 am

Very good incentive. I like it!

Comment by Cassie — February 16, 2010 @ 3:46 pm

LOVE the idea of earning “days off” by writing over 1K. That’s a fabulous incentive which I might just incorporate into daily life.

Cook dinner? Not tonight, love of my life – I wrote 1000 words so it’s my night off. Takeaway is on you.

Take minutes for the meeting? No, no, el Presidente of my local community organisation which I won’t name – I wrote 1000 words today, let the assistant secretary do it.

I can see a pattern forming…

Comment by Janette Dalgliesh — February 20, 2010 @ 12:06 am

[...] – spend the next week ferociously plotting so I have somewhere to take the writing during the March Novel Push Initiative for which I’ve signed up (thanks, Nick!); and aim to finish the whole thing by the end of [...]

Pingback by Accountability in 2010 « Janette Dalgliesh — February 20, 2010 @ 12:16 am