How to Survive National Novel Writing Month

There are so many (seriously, SO MANY) articles and posts and blogs and comments dedicated to this subject, that I'm not even going to try to compile "the best" ways to survive writing 50,000 words in a month. Besides, "the best" is always subjective. Every writer has things that work specifically for them. So this is dedicated to ways that I intend to (or have in the past) use to get a 3rd win in row.

• Remember that you are the only one reading what you are writing
• This is probably the most important thing for me. I have this habit of writing something and instantly wanting to rewrite it, or thinking it is too stupid, or inaccurate. Remember - YOU are writing, and YOU get to decide if anyone will ever read it (which they probably wouldn't until you edit it in January anyway). Don't get distracted thinking something is dumb. Just write what you want how you want and keep going. 
• Reward yourself
• When I really don't feel like writing, but need to get in my word count, I reward myself. For instance, say I really want to be reading this awesome new Clive Cussler book I just got. I force myself to write between 300 - 500 words (pick a number and stick to it), then I get to read a section in the book, and write the next 300-500 words, and so on until your word count is finished. It is a slow method, but I have found it pretty effective to ensure I get my words in. You can do the same with a TV show. Write, watch for 5 minutes (or a predetermined amount of time) and then watch again. It helps force you to keep writing no matter what because you want to get that word count in so you know what happens next in your book/movie.
• Write in timed spurts
• Sometimes I will set the timer for 5 minutes and force myself to keep writing during that five minutes even if I just end up describing an elaborate sunset because I can't think of anything else to write. This not only gets word counts in, but, because you are being forced to write without thinking because you are not allowed to stop while the timer is going, it has occasionally broken me out of areas I am stuck. I might go back and rewrite it later, but for now, as long as I am out of the stuck area or that sunset sure looks gorgeous, it still adds an aspect to your story that wasn't there before. 
• If you work, bring a computer or notebook to work with you.
• Do your work, but every now and then (perhaps once every half hour?), turn to your computer or notebook (notebook is more subtle) and write 1-2 sentences. Minimal effort, but you'll be surprised at how many words it can result in, thereby encouraging you when you sit down to your "real" writing session.
• Change up the scenery
• Try writing in different locations (unless that distracts you). I like occasionally finding a coffee shop and crashing in a corner to write. 
• Write with noise cancelling headphones
• I live in a tiny apartment and it is just me and my husband. There is no extra noise, especially if my husband knows I am writing, yet for some reason, when I put on my noise cancelling headphones (usually with my favorite writing music), I get lost in my world and am far less easily distracted from anything around me.
• Pretend you are telling someone the story
• When you are stuck - you simply don't know what to write next, and the whole writing with a timer thing just isn't doing anything for you, close your eyes and pretend you are telling this story that happened to you to someone else. What would naturally come next? Whether it seems like it is skipping a bunch of detail or going far too much into detail, write it down. What would you tell them next?
• Turn off your data
• If your data/internet is turned off and you aren't getting notifications of things happening in the world, there is nothing to distract  your eyes or ears. This, especially combined with the noise cancelling headphones, can be a killer combination for immersing yourself in your new world.

If you, like me, are crazy enough to try NaNo yet again, I hope these tips help! 

Preparation for NaNoWriMo

So, I'm not going to get to 95,000 - 100,000 word for Ethrill before tomorrow. I gave it a good effort, and am currently at 88,000. I think I can make 90,000 by tomorrow though. I can count that as a finish, right? It is clear that I have a lot more to write, so I am probably going to have to start looking at splitting it into two books unless I cut out a bunch when I edit it. For the rough draft, at least, however, it will likely be two books unless I disobey the newbie book rule and have a super long one. But, I gave it good effort, and I don't think I'll mind taking a break as I look forward to NaNoWriMo. Plus, I'm becoming impatient to edit PoP. I'm so ready to have a finished full-length book.

So, as most writers know, National Novel Writing Month starts tomorrow! Not going to lie, I'm nervous. My husband is lovingly referring to it as Video Game Tuesday. He says he is going to play video games until I get my word count in. Which, I won't lie, has in the past proven quite effective. I don't like feeling ignored while he plays video games, so it does force me to work hard on my word count because I know as soon as I finish, he'll turn off the video games and we can do whatever we want. I feel like such a child, sometimes. :P

I tried to make a list of short story ideas for NaNoWriMo in preparation, so I wasn't totally stuck once I started. It didn't go well. I began drawing a complete blank for stories. Or at least ideas for short stories. But I came up with what I think/hope is a good idea to solve that! We have this game called Dixit, which has a ton of very interesting picture cards. I've decided to look at each picture and create a short story based on those cards. After all, I need something for inspiration, and some of those could make very interesting stories. I'm not sure what yet, but I believe.

So good luck to all you other NaNoWriMoers out there! Looking forward to mutual misery starting tomorrow.

Ethrill Update

Ethrill could be going better. I've been having some issues getting back into the brain of my character. The first half of the book was quite rough, but somehow still seemed to connect. There was something about the character and the story that even drew me in, even though I was the one who wrote it. The second part - I just seemed to lose it and was just struggling through, trying to make it as magical as the first part.

Daniel and I spent the weekend away and ended up talking it over, because, believe it or not, I had let Daniel read through the first half. On the up side, he loved it and is now invested in the story and hearing his thoughts on why he connected was really helpful. He also recommended that I go through what I've written so far to try to reconnect with my character before I continue. So that's what I'm doing so far. I still intend to finish by the end of the month. Although finishing might mean me just realizing it needs a second book. I've decided anywhere between 95,000 and 100,000 words is enough to call it a finish, since I've heard books from novice writers shouldn't be longer than like 90,000, or thereabouts. I'm currently at about 77,000. That's possible, right?

Looking forward at NaNo - I've never done any type of outline before. I've just waited until November 1 and then started writing whatever book I decided to finally try. This time, though, I was thinking I should maybe prep a little. Not an outline, but I should probably at least make a list of short story ideas so I don't go totally blank after the first story or two.

Fall Writing Plans

I have a plan and a schedule! Granted, for anyone who knows me, that is nothing unusual. I always have plans and schedules, and tend to do much better than if I do not. This one is a very basic plan and schedule. Straight and to the point:

October: Finish writing Ethrill
November: Participate in and win NaNoWriMo
December: Edit Picture of the Past and have ready for review/reading by someone else by the end of the month

I also intend (intend being the key word here) to have something published by the end of the year. No, not a book. But a poem, short story - really, anything. Printed. I'm going to try, anyway. So my goal is to submit something somewhere once a week. Don't tell me it is too ambitious. I know it is ambitious - but better to have ambition than apathy, right? Last week (or was it the week before?) I submitted a poem to the poetry contest at Writer's Digest. I don't think it was good enough to win anything, but at least I submitted it, right?

For those of you who are wondering whether I know what I am going to write for NaNo - yes, I do! Well, more or less. I decided last year that this year I am going to write 50,000 words worth of short stories. So, I don't know what those short stories will encompass, but my goal is to finish a least a dozen. Why, you ask? Well, for the following reasons:

1. Because I think it is good to have something finished on hand in case anyone ever asks to see a sample of my writing.
2. It will be very good practice to create multiple stories.
3. I will feel accomplished.
4. I will have a collection from which to submit stories for publication.

If you think of any other reasons, please feel free to comment and let me know. I can always use encouragement.

Printer Euphoria

This is going to sound a little silly - but there is one thing I am super excited about right now. I HAVE A NEW PRINTER!

Okay, yes - nothing to get excited about. EXCEPT IT IS!

So, our printer right now prints slowly, doesn't print double sided unless you feed it manually, takes extremely expensive ink, and in general is not very useful for anything beyond the occasional menu/picture printing. The upside being, it also scans. But, as you may or may not know, I finished writing my first full-sized book this year. Close to 100,000 words. And, being a writer, I have to print it out in order to properly edit it. So, Daniel suggested I put it on a thumb drive and go to a FedEx or something to print it.

But I realized that, if I am going to be a writer, this may be a fairly common occurrence. The need to print tons of pages. So, I did a little research, found a printer that was recommended for writers, and decided to buy it! So, yes - I am excited. I have a printer officially for writing. It makes me feel one step closer to being a real writer.

Seriously - it is a laser printer, prints double-sided, has wireless printing (I can write something on the couch and print it at my desk!), prints super fast, and has high yield ink (2600 pages before needing replacement!). For those of you who are interested, I have a lovely picture of it below.

Okay - I'll stop ranting about a printer now and let you take a breath of relief.

So, this means that I no longer have any excuse to not edit Picture of the Past. I am still working on Ethrill too, but I have this desperate desire to have both books finished by the end of the year, and maybe even have PoP ready for someone to read. Am I being too ambitious? Perhaps. But better to be too ambitious than not enough, right?

Writing Exercises

I've not written in far too long. It's funny. Whenever I take too long a break from writing, I begin to feel as though life is stretching out in front of me with no breaks, and going super fast simultaneously, and I begin to long for a break and pester Daniel to bring me on a cruise or a vacation. As soon as I begin writing again, though, a sense of contentment settles over me and I once again feel that I am fine, and life is fine, and I don't need a vacation to keep living without going crazy.

I bought myself 642 Things to Write About a few months ago after wanting it for years (yes, years). I had only gotten through one exercise until today. Mostly because when I sat down to write, I was working on one or both of my books and didn't think I should take the time out to work through exercises. Today, though, I just did three exercises in a row, which was an great reminder of how good writing exercises are to get the juices flowing again. Writing is rarely easy, and even less so when you haven't taken time out for it in awhile, but if anything will get you started again, I think it is writing exercises with prompts.

I have the day off today after working over by 18 hours during the last pay period, and intend to use it writing - of course, best intentions always go awry - but if nothing else, at least I did the writing exercises. And I've been longing to have some quiet time, so I think no matter how much (or little) writing I actually get done today, it will be a good day. I don't even mind the rain. It adds to the ambiance of a day to spend writing. And I will finally get to read the Writer's Digest that has been waiting for me for a month.

Writer Fears

If you've read the description for this blog, you know that my intention was (and sort of still is) to use it to talk about research I'm doing for books I'm currently writing, as well as keep you sort of up to date on what I'm writing - just in case you are interested. Well, if you check this blog on any sort of regular basis (highly doubtful), you know I've been doing a smashing job! Or not.

It's time to admit it. Unless my posts affect me personally somehow and I am emotionally invested in it, it is hard to write them. I wanted to keep this blog away from more personal stuff because - well. A couple reasons.

1: I don't like talking about my writing, particularly when I know the people reading my talking. It is incredibly personal for me. When I talk about my writing, I feel like I am opening my heart and laying it out for people to stomp on. So I thought if I only talked about research, I could fulfill the requisite "must have online writing presence to get published" without showing people I know who I am.

2: I am linking to this blog on my social media, which means that friends and family might actually click on that someday and read this. I am fearful that if they find out about my true love - writing - and that even though I've loved it since I was 8 I still haven't had anything real published, they will think of me as a failure.

3.: Everyone thinks they are a writer. Anytime someone mentions that they have written/are writing/want to write a book, everyone else in hearing distance pipes up, eager to talk about how they, too, want to write a book and be a writer. And somehow, it gets frustrating for me to hear everyone around me talk about it as though they understand what it is to actually be a writer. Most people who "want to write a book" have no idea of the constant emotional turmoil people who are wired as writers suffer. Of the struggle through lack of inspiration, the simultaneous hatred and love of every sentence put down. The fear of doing it and inability not to. Of actually being a writer. Not just writing. And I want to explain it to them, but again, I don't. Because I'm afraid.

Overall - it is just fear. My closer friends know that fear - and especially fear of failure - is my old enemy. I like getting things right on the first try. And if I don't think I will, I am less likely to even try. Except when it comes to writing itself.

So, anyway. All this to say, I'm going to try (once again) to overcome my constant fear of failure and update this blog based not just on research, but my personal life in writing.  Because, published or not - open heart or not - it is who I am.  And I would write even if I knew I would never be published. So it's time for me to get over it.

Ethrill Excerpt

I started a post on lace tucks and then realized the internet held very little information about that subject or regency necklines in general - and least information that I felt was sufficient for a post. So I am holding off on that one. Then I thought about posting about regency era clothing, dances, rag curls, and a multitude of other things because I knew I should post something, but honestly? I don't feel like coming up with an intelligent post today. However, rather than making the nonexistent people who read this wait to read another post, I've decided to post an excerpt from the book I am currently writing. Enjoy!

“Quickly now.” The bartender turned from a happy-go-lucky, eager to get a coin, man to a nervous, fast-moving man, looking about the empty small room as though to ensure no one was lurking in a corner. He virtually pushed us toward the bar where he reached under the counter and pulled a lever. The shelving holding the various drink offerings immediately parted, showing a small room. We scurried through, well aware that if anyone chose that moment to enter, all would be lost. As though the realization alone were enough to make it happen, a voice screeched from behind us. 

“Stop! You are all traitors and will be punished  in the name of Damanius!”

 Whirling almost as one, we were simultaneously relieved and horrified to see  only Dave standing there, eyes blazing, her hand raised as though that alone could make us stop. 

“Grab her.” Hadwin did not even hesitate to give the order to the bartender, who just as quickly had his large hand wrapped around Dave’s mouth before she could utter another sound. Dave was unceremoniously dragged into the room with us. The bartender deposited her into Hadwin’s small but wiry arms and left us, closing the door to the hidden room as he went back to his duties. 

“What now?” I asked, as Hadwin kept a surprisingly strong grip on the woman, who at first had been too stunned at our audacity to do anything and was now struggling like cat in water. 

“She’ll have to come with us until we are out of Damanius’ reach.” His face showed the briefest traces of a grimace as Dave bit down , managing to capture some of the skin of his hand. He leaned down and whispered something into her ear, and the vicious bundle suddenly dropped into unconsciousness. With some relief, Hadwin dropped her to the floor, gently massaging his injured hand and not bothering to break her fall. 

“What did you do?” I asked, somewhat fearfully. 

“Don’t worry.” He looked a little disgusted at the concern in my voice. “She’s just asleep. See if you can find some ropes and material for a gag. We are going to have to make sure she doesn’t escape or yell for help. This may make things more difficult.” 

He looked at Ari, who had watched the proceedings with uncharacteristic silence. “Is everything ready?” 

“Yes, sir.” She answered respectfully. I raised my eyebrows in surprise at her tone of  solicitude. “We may proceed as soon as you see fit.”  

“Will it be an issue if we leave earlier than planned? Her presence complicates matters. We cannot wait long before she is missed, and that is assuming she did not have backup with her."

I looked around while this conversation was taking place and noted that the little room was stocked with a surprising amount of a variety of provisions. A lot of preserved food items, water, ale, blankets, and a multitude of other items one might need to survive. One crate held several pieces of rope. I silently handed Hadwin a goodish piece and a torn piece of material from a cloth that had been used to wrap some food items. He quickly shoved them into a sack near at hand. “Let’s go.” 

“Aren’t you going to tie her up?” 

“Not yet.” Hadwin did not bother to expound and I got the sense that it was not the best time to ask additional questions.  He nodded at Ari, who flew over to the wall and disappeared through a tiny crack  near the floor boards that I hadn’t even noticed. As soon as she disappeared, Hadwin leaned down and hoisted Dave up. “Help me with her. It needs to look like she is just drunk.” 

I quickly moved around and supported her other side. As if on cue, the bartender opened the door again, this time just enough for us to slip through, closing it immediately behind us, and pressed a packet into my hand. “Good luck.” He whispered and then turned back to the bar, busily preparing for the customers he did not yet have. 

Happy Independence Day!

I wrote the following poem when I was - oh, probably 14 years old. It doesn't exactly rhyme and it isn't exactly - well, worth publishing. But it is all I have on hand at the moment and I thought in celebration of our freedoms and all who have given them to us, I would swallow my pride and fear and post it for you anyway.

The Unknown Hero

Dedicated to the glory of God and to all the unknown heroes out there

Out there beneath a distant sky,

there stands a silent one;

He looks out, over the field,

his back against the sun.

He knows that quite soon

on this very field

He will be fighting for his life

with little or no shield.

Yet he is not afraid,

This soldier tall and straight,

For he knows that God is with him,

And that his reasons are great.

He is willing to fight in battle,

Though unknown he may remain,

For does he not work for God?

And the story remains the same.

There are people dying,

And if he is one of them,

He knows it might save the lives,

Of his countrymen.

And so this soldier does not care,

If he does not make it to one-zero-zero

This is a soldier brave and true,

The unknown hero.

Jacinta  A. VanZandt

Canp NaNoWriMo and Writing Generally

So, I have a confession. I haven't written anything in - two weeks. It's just been so busy! It's like something is going on every day/night! And by the time night rolls around, I am too tired, or the house needs to be cleaned, or . . . or . . . or . .  . yeah, I know, I know, all the normal excuses.

I will say one thing, though. I really miss it now when I don't write. I mean, when I was younger I did as well, and then at first in college, but it slowly wore off during the business and then I was just frankly scared to death to try to write after it had been too long. So, I consider it an improvement that after two weeks of virtually no writing, I do not feel fear when I think about it, but just a need to go do it.

I comfort myself, however, with the knowledge that in July . . . Camp NaNoWriMo is here! What is that you say? Well, you all know about NaNoWriMo, I have no doubt. Camp NaNoWriMo is essentially the same thing, but instead of HAVING to write 50,000 words, you get to choose how many you write, and, if you so wish, you can be part of a small "cabin" of writers who encourage one another. I am too shy to be part of a cabin, unless I can convince my friends Abby and Rissa to join as well, but I am looking forward to the incentive of having a site keep track of my words and whether I "win" or not. I need a push to keep working on my fantasy, Ethrill. I have been doing too much thinking and not enough writing lately.

So if you have been doing too much thinking and not enough writing you should totally try Camp NaNoWriMo too!

Finishing the Book

As you may or may not know, I recently finished my first full length novel - A Picture of the Past (PoP for short). I've finished short books before, but this one was actually full length. 99,000 words, in fact. I finished it - mmmm - probably a month or so ago, and haven't touched it since. It needs SO many edits, that I am kind of scared to pick it up again. So I'm working on a different book instead, while I glance at PoP out of the corner of my eye.

I just finished a couple articles in Writer's Digest about "Plotting vs. Pantsing" - you know, the writer who plots everything before they write vs the writer who just sits down and writes. I seem to fall somewhere in the middle. I seem to like sitting and just writing - and then doing a little mapping out if I get stuck, and going back AFTERWARDS to REALLY map things out. What really scared me about the articles, I think, was the comment in both articles that "Pansters" tend to start novels that really never go anywhere, and as much as I am not sure I liked the completed product of PoP, I love the idea enough that I desperately don't want it to be a dead end. But, even if I didn't completely like the completed product, if I still love the idea enough, that means there still has to be promise in it, right? So, here are a couple tips I pulled out of the article that have actually inspired me to go back and finally take another look at the book and see what I can make out of it:

The article suggested the following extremely useful points:

• If you are feeling stuck make a list of events in your story, leaving blanks as needed.
• Once you know how to get from your stopping point to the next fixed point, quit plotting and go back into pantsing.
• Don't try to list every single event and line of dialogue when making a list. 
• Imagine you're the protagonist and ask yourself what you would do next (I already do this a lot and it DOES help a lot).
• If you know where the plot needs to go, ask why your characters get to that point and keep repeating the question until you work backwards to where it all fell apart. 
• Retroactively plot the story. 
• Be open to reworking parts of your novel - if it isn't working, try "pantsing" the part to see if it goes in another direction.

One thing I appreciated and agreed with, was this sentence at the end of the second article:

"The trick is to get the story down, from beginning to end. Ultimately, the writers who get published are those who finish the first draft and then revise it. Get the words on the page and you're halfway there."

Writer's Inspiration

I don't know about you, but writing inspiration for me can come in many forms. This particular morning, it is in the simple joy of a gorgeous sunny morning. Granted, that may be because I can count on one hand the number of sunny days I have experienced since April. But it doesn't change the immense joy I feel in seeing a blue sky, bright green leaves, marshmallow cream clouds, and hearing birds singing. Mornings like this are perfect for writing - for inserting realism into your book by simply writing what you actually see and feel.

I used to chafe at the constant instruction from experienced writing masters to only "Write What You Know" - until I finally realized that they weren't necessarily saying you were only allowed to write about your own experiences. They were just saying that, if you have experienced a certain emotion, country, or day - insert that into your book, because you know just how your character would feel during that experience and it will feel all the more real. At least, that is how I have chosen to interpret their instruction, and I will thank  you not to pop my little bubble.

And, while I may still be grimacing at the thought of the days upon days of gloomy, rainy days, the truth is, that too may end up in a book. Because now I have no doubt as to how a character might feel if caught in the rain, with no glimpse of sun, for days on end.

So there is my suggestion for the day as I arrogantly pretend to be experienced! Take anything that causes you immense emotion - whether joy or sorrow - and insert it into a story.

Truth

The Required Introductory Post

Welcome! As you may have already read in my About Me Page, I've had a passion for writing for almost as long as I can remember.


Truth be told, like most writers, I am a flaming introvert. I have a difficult time talking to people, let alone sharing something like my precious writing with them. Which is likely one of the reasons I have yet to publish anything other than a short story and a poem. The other reason is, of course, that time just got away from me, I got caught up in college life, and then after-college life, and before I knew it, here I was, 29 years old and yet to have a book published.


So last year, I began narrowing my focus again and writing more regularly than I had since I left home. My husband can account for the fact that I am a significantly happier person just writing - no publishing needed! - but I still have the same desire I have had since I was 8 years old. To bring joy to other people through stories.


Being a very detail-oriented person, I have also delved into research on getting books published and one common item that keeps coming up, no matter how much I try to ignore it, is the need to establish a presence on social media. One, to promote your book, and two, to prove to your agent (whenever I get one!) that you will be ABLE to promote your book, should you be published.


Consequently, here we are today. This is me, establishing online presence. Just being honest here. I know for a fact I am not the only introverted writer who has difficulty with self-promoting fears.


So, I've decided to give this blog dual purpose:


1. Share my writing, whenever I am feeling particularly brave.


2. Sharing research for my books to assist other writers of historical books, for anyone who just enjoys random historical facts, and to help implement it into my own brain by summarizing it. As all writers know, writing books placed in the past requires TONS of research if you are interested in accuracy. So you may find posts on here about fashion, historical events, timelines, and who knows what else.


Whatever your interest, I hope you stop by every now and then and find an interesting or even useful fact for yourself.