NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, is a month-long challenge to write 50,000 words in November. You can use modified Writertopia progress meters or try one of the external meters linked below.
Picometer: The Simple Progress Meter
For a no-frills, small image, use the picometer. The progress meter image is generated whenever you use the following web address (URL):
http://picometer.writertopia.com
Customizing the progress meter is easy. Just start with the basic image HTML tag:
<img src="http://picometer.writertopia.com">
Add values for "words" (how many words you've finished) and "target" (the number of words you want to complete). These values can be set by expanding the web address. For example, if we've completed 10,000 of the 50,000 target words, we change the image's web address:
http://picometer.writertopia.com/words=10000
For NaNoWriMo, the target word count is 50,000 by default. We've appended to the basic image URL a slash (/) and a setting=value pair. Using the previous web address in an image tag lets us retrieve a simple progress graphic:
If you want to add more than one setting, link them with the ampersand (&). We can ask Writertopia to set a target of 20000 words by using
http://picometer.writertopia.com/words=10000&target=20000
The above example sets the word count to 10,000 and the target word count to 20,000.
Nanometer: The Writertopia NaNoWriMo Progress Meter
You can also use the nanometer, a cartoon that lets you show your current mood as well as the word count. As your word count increases, the stack of pages in the graphic rises. You can retrieve this image by using "nanometer" instead of "picometer" in the web address:
http://nanometer.writertopia.com/words=40000
Changing Your Mood
Change the mood of the writer in the image by setting "mood" to a number from 0 to 7:
http://nanometer.writertopia.com/words=40000&mood=3
By setting the mood to 3, we've made the writer sleep in the graphic.
Moods generally go from bad to good as we move from 0 to 7:
| Mood | What the Writer is Doing/Feeling |
|---|---|
| 0 | Very frustrated |
| 1 | Ready to shoot computer |
| 2 | Shocked at what's written |
| 3 | Sleeping |
| 4 | Watching TV |
| 5 | Logical & Calm |
| 6 | Working at novel |
| 7 | Joyful |
When you reach the target word count, the writer in the image will celebrate. Click the following link to see.
http://nanometer.writertopia.com/words=50000
To embed the image in a web page or blog, just use the URL as the source in an image command:
<img src="http://nanometer.writertopia.com/words=30000&mood=1">
If you like the meter, please link back to this page so others can find Writertopia's progress meter.
Other Meters
NaNoWriMo Utilities
Paul Hawke's great graph tool. Despite the disclaimer that he could pull the plug if there's too much bandwidth demand on his server, Paul has created a tool that's the most functional graphic out there.
NaNoWriMoProMe
Jeff Lee's nice but defunct progress meter. I'm hoping we can find a way to resurrect it for the masses.
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zokutou Word Meter
A simple graphic that requires a fair amount of cut-and-paste HTML code. You can choose between different colors and select different target word counts.
