Tag: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 2014

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BAM!

Yes it’s been another great November for me. I finished my 50k wordcount on the 26th and was able to take a couple days off besides. I took a break from writing for the rest of November and now I’m working at finishing the novel.

If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, I strongly suggest you take a look. It’s a blast.

As for Blood of Midnight, I’m going to wait until I’ve finished my NaNo novel to decide what’s to be done about Hollow Vengeance. It’s possible that I’ll publish the NaNo novel first. Hollow Vengeance needs a major rip-tear-and-repair job before I can enjoy it enough to write it in full. I mean, if the author hates it, the reader can’t help but hate it. I would much rather push back the release date than put out something that is crap.

In other news, I’ve signed up for Jill Jepson’s Review and Renew Writing Challenge 2015. I found it so helpful last year that I decided to do it again. It starts in January, so if you’re interested, you still have a chance. It’s free.

Thanks for stopping by y’all.

25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing

25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing

This article is one I re-visit several times a year to remind myself of the big picture. It can be easy to get lost in bad habits, especially when one works for oneself. Writers, and artists in general, need to take ourselves seriously, and this list is something I find helps me to do just that.

In other news, I burned the midnight oil last night and got caught up on my NaNoWriMo. 73% done! Woo!

Fun with Writing

Oh man, it’s been a great weekend. We had a Writers’ Circle meeting on Saturday during which I wrote a children’s story for the first time in my life. I didn’t think I could do it. In fact, I totally failed the first exercise we did out of complete ignorance for the genre. On the second try, however, I experienced one of the most lovely things that a writer possibly can: a “what if” storm. 

I’m not sure if there’s a technical term for it, but sometimes when you present an idea to a group of people, it just snowballs and imaginations come alive, suggesting other endings, suggesting a novel based on the story, chattering away about the possibilities that could spring from such humble beginnings. The pinnacle of joy for me is inspiring other people to make cool things of their own, like a gardener finally seeing the reward of his flowers blooming after sowing seeds and tending and hoping. I know I’m waxing poetic, but bear with me. Sometimes, in this life, we experience moments in which it all seems worthwhile, and when I do, I like to share them with the world. I like to write them down and put them somewhere for me to find later on when I’m out of coffee and feeling crappy.

In other news, today, I start the last runthrough of editing for Blood of Midnight: The Broken Prophecy before it goes back to the editor for formatting. It looks like I’m going to make my deadline afterall!

And last, but not least, I’m up to 63% on my NaNoWriMo novel and loving it. The dreaded Week Two seems to have had no effect on me. Score!

A Life Beyond Books

Yeeeep, I had to take a break from editing today. There were just too many other matters to be handled. Someone’s got to make the yogurt, wash the clothes, make the holiday gifts and today that someone was me!

I am, however, still rocking the wordcount in NaNoWriMo and if I win this year, I’m going to get myself a NaNo hoodie. Something to strive for! I’m considering posting up some of my NaNo book as it unfolds but I’m kind of sheepish about it. It’s so raw and unedited and … yeaaaah. Eep!

Rockin the Wordcount

I hit the 25% point in my NaNoWriMo today! I also went crazy and edited an extra chapter yesterday night. (Aka: 3AM this morning …) I’m really enjoying the story I’m writing so far. It’s way more intense and deeply personal than I thought it would be. A happy surprise!

I’ve also been successfully infecting even my friends who aren’t doing NaNo to write thousands of words. Mwahahaha! I shall spread my madness everywhere! No one is safe!

Make good art!

Milestones of Writing

I found a lovely little blog post I’d like to share with you here. It’s a post by Fiction Factor about word count in fiction writing and the benchmarks for each type of fiction. Take a browse over those numbers.

Now, the reason why I’ve linked this to you, is that I don’t like the idea of NaNoWriMo being a pass or fail, win or lose affair. A lot of people don’t write for NaNo because they know that the month is going to be too crazy for them to make the 50,000 word mark. Folks, I invite you to get that idea right out of your head.

If you don’t make the 50,000 word mark, do not consider yourself a failure. Instead of looking at what you didn’t do, look at what you did accomplish. If you only write, say, 8000 words, congratulate yourself! You wrote a novelette. Got really busy and only managed 2000 words? Well pat yourself on the back; you got out a short story! 

Look at these bench marks and celebrate each one. It doesn’t even matter if no one ever sees what you write this month. Practising your craft is never a waste of time. Ever.

Part of being an independent artist, or any manner of successful human being for that matter, is setting reasonable goals. So maybe this month is National Novelette Writing Month for you. So what? Write that novelette! Just don’t fall into the trap of “well I can’t do what everyone else is doing so I might as well not produce anything at all.” Write what you can and be proud of it. Now go make good art. Continue reading “Milestones of Writing”

NaNoWriMo: The Madness Commences!

I’m going to be busy for awhile. I will do my utmost to keep posting interesting stuff during this month while I edit Blood of MIdnight: The Broken Prophecy (I’m working on chapter 15 at the moment) and once again do NaNoWriMo! I was successful last year. In fact, I actually wrote two of them. Let’s see what comes of it this year.

If you’re not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. I cannot possibly explain it any better than these guys did:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6bun_pBjtE#action=share