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.