The Friday Poem: Post NaNoWriMo
December 2, 2022 at 6:00 am (Editing, NaNoWriMo, Poetry)
Tags: NaNoWriMo, poem, victory, writing
The Friday Poem: The Writing Time of Year
November 4, 2022 at 6:00 am (Poetry)
Tags: Autumn, Fall, NaNoWriMo, writing
The Friday Poem: Preferred Formatting
December 3, 2021 at 6:00 am (NaNoWriMo, Poetry)
Tags: editing, NaNoWriMo, postnano
NaNoWriMo 2015 Word Count Inspiration Calendar
October 21, 2015 at 11:47 am (NaNoWriMo)
Tags: NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month
Hi Folks – I just put together a word count/ inspiration calendar for 2015 NaNoWriMo for my writer’s group so I’ll post it here in case anyone would like a copy. The first one is a .pdf but I’ll also include it as a .jpeg in case you want to set it as the background on your computer, the way I just did. It’s a simple one this year but I hope you like it.
2015NaNoWriMoCalendar<—– .pdf file
NaNoWriMo and Cafe Press
November 29, 2013 at 10:22 am (Writing Inspiration)
Tags: Cafe Press, creativity, NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month, novel writing, writing
Happy Post Thanksgiving/Last Ditch Effort at NaNoWriMo! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and you’ve already “won” NaNoWriMo. I enjoyed my Thanksgiving tremendously with both families this year but, as for NaNoWriMo, I’m still running behind. I am still running though. I have come a long way with this novel and I will finish. I have today off and a write-in planned for tomorrow. I know I can do it! Good Luck to all.
In other news, I’ve put my first Café Press selection of items together and they’re on sale today! I had posted this thought on Facebook, in the box above, that “Life is Strange, and so we write.” Several friends liked it and one said, “Bumper Sticker!” I thought, hey, I could do that. So I did a search online to make sure someone else wasn’t already using it. Then I went into Microsoft Publisher and made a text box, typed in the text, chose my font, chose the font size, chose the alignment and decided to put a border around the text. I saved it as a .jpeg and uploaded it to Café Press. They chose which items to place it on, including several types of mugs. I hope somebody out there likes it. The design is labeled Life is Strange – Write.
One good thing about being forced to write a little slower this month – I’m going to “win” but I won’t be finished and that’s okay because I don’t feel burned out on it. I’ll keep going until it is then I’ll do a basic clean up edit and put it away for a month or so while I work on other things. I want to finish this book and try to sell it but I’m not going to rush it. I also have my second novel ready to be written (first five chapters are already written.) And I actually had an idea pop into my head that may become my third novel.
I don’t even remember what I was doing but I began to wonder what our society would be like if we had grown up around a more nature centered culture. Could we have industrialized under those circumstances? If we did, what would it look like? Yes, it’s more questions than anything else at this point but it’s an intriguing line of thought for me and I think it may turn into something.
Life IS strange, and so I write. That is the great mystery and fun of it all.
NaNoWriMo and Word Choice in Characterization
November 23, 2013 at 10:48 am (Characterization, NaNoWriMo)
Tags: inspiration, NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month, novel writing, noveling, novels, writing
NaNoWriMo and Word Choice in Characterization
As I sit here, we are anticipating some winter weather tonight and I am looking forward to it. There is nothing like sitting inside on a snowy day with a fire in the wood stove and a warm mug in hand to write.
I must confess that I am well behind in my NaNoWriMo word count. The goal is 50,000 by the end of the month and I am just around 25,000. Yes, I am well behind but there is still a chance I can catch up, though it is a small one.
Basically, I would need 25,000 words in eight days. That works out to over 3,000 words per day. Granted, this is the weekend, so I will intersperse writing with everything I do. However, the 3 year old may have some different ideas of how we should spend the day and Daddy will be off hunting a good bit of the time.
Another confession, I have been going off on some mighty big tangents, working on short stories, and just plunking the thoughts down inside my NaNoWriMo document at the end. It’s not my novel but it is adding to my word count. With my limited writing time, I just can’t afford to ignore the short stories when they show up.
Anyway, I picked up an interesting book on Southern writers and artists yesterday at the library for inspiration. Of course the thing that caught my attention was a well known picture of Eudora Welty on the cover. I leafed through it then listened to the first part of the CD interviews on the way home. I’ve always enjoyed southern writing, the characters are so vivid, and I love listening to writers and other creative types talk about their craft and world view. If you’re interested, the book is The Storied South .
Characterization keeps coming up for me this week. Characterization through word choice was a major topic in writer’s group last night. Afterward, as I was sitting down to work on my novel, I wrote the line “I don’t know, but I kinda doubt it.” for my Professor character. As soon as I was close to done typing it, my brain had already edited to read, “I don’t know, but I rather doubt it.” (Yes, contrary to all admonitions to keep writing, I do edit little things like that as I go.) Just a simple word choice can make such a difference in a character and I think I was aware of what I was doing because of the discussion in group.
Then today, I had a library patron ask me what the most commonly used silent letter in English was. He amended that to be British English. Hmmm. That sent me researching only to find out that there is Received Pronunciation, also known as The Queen’s English, and Estuary Pronunciation, which is all the dialects that change every 20 kilometers and is how most people speak. That really gave me some insight on how hard it is to right proper dialect. Having an ear for that must be very difficult. (It also makes me think of the Car Talk guys on PBS radio who could guess where people were calling from a large percentage of the time after just a sentence or two. )
So, the answer? I didn’t come up with a definitive one. My best guess was that it was e. I said they’d have to consult a linguist.
What do you think? Do you have any tricks for bringing your characters to life? I could use some tips to keep me thinking.
In a NaNoWriMo Rut, or an Outright Ditch?
November 15, 2013 at 10:22 am (Writing Inspiration)
Tags: inspiration, NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month, writing
Okay, so NaNoWriMo is going a bit rough for me this year. I’m around 12,000 words when I should be around 23,000. Chalk it up to a nasty cold for me and the munchkin that is still lingering on. It’s left me with little inspiration. So, I’ve been thinking of things to help me get back into the game.
- Wikipedia random article – Just hit the link and write whatever you find into your story. First time I got a classic rock station in New Jersey and I happened to have my characters about to get into a car. When the ignition turned on a classic rock song blared out of the speakers and a discussion on music ensued.
- Cooking or baking – Made a new recipe yesterday I found on Pinterest, easy one bowl cinnamon scones. (Well, the way I made them used one bowl, and I was out of butter so I used olive oil. Then I put maple cream on them. Yum. Here’s the recipe.)
- Anything physically repetitive – rocking, washing dishes – I used to get my best thinking done while mowing the lawn with a push mower.
- Tell yourself, or someone else, the story out loud, It can help you think through problems and add to the story. Has always worked for me.
- Change of scenery – take your laptop out for dinner, lunch or a latte.
- Creative break – Watch a good movie or read a story or a few chapters of a good book. It might spark something for you.
- Another creative endeavor – I started a little quilted hot pad as a Christmas present (for I know not who yet.) Picking out the fabric, deciding on the design, cutting the fabric and sewing the pieces together by hand all give my mind a break and make me think in a new way.
Any other methods you use to get yourself writing again when things are slow or you’re feeling low? PLEASE, share them in the comments. Thanks!
Running Behind, But Still in the Running (NaNoWriMo)
November 8, 2013 at 6:12 pm (NaNoWriMo)
Tags: NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month, novel writing, noveling, writing
Well, NaNoWriMo is one week underway and I’m running behind. I’ve written about 9,300 words at this point, though I’m not done for the day. Unfortunately, my daughter and I both got a nasty little cold last weekend and the first week it was rather difficult to write anything much, between being tired with taking care of her at night and getting sick myself.
Thankfully, NaNoWriMo is more of a marathon, a race of endurance, than a sprint, so there’s always time to catch up. In fact, I don’t recall them offering it before, but I see in my stats on NaNoWriMo.org the breakdown of how many words I would have to write daily in order to finish on time. It turns out it’s only about 100 words more per day than the original 1,667. Doesn’t seem so terrible when you think of it like that.
This past week I’ve had a couple discussions with people about what 50,000 words means. It’s not really a whole book, is it, they would say. Perhaps not, but it certainly can be. I listened to Neil Gaiman read The Ocean at the End of the Lane some weeks ago on audio CD and it was brilliant! The other day I received the hard copy so I could write a review and stared at it in shock. This is a very small book, but it certainly didn’t seem that way when I listened to it. It’s only 178 pages, probably somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 words.
That seemed particularly significant in the midst of NaNoWriMo where those 50,000 words are the goal. I looked at the book and thought, here is an example of something of that length. It makes me wonder how many words were in the first draft, whether it was longer and edited down or shorter and added to in the rewriting and editing phase. Yes, I’m still getting over my shock. It does not read like such a small book. It is very much a big book.
May we all write big books this month.
Let the NaNoWriMo Festivities Begin!
November 1, 2013 at 7:50 pm (NaNoWriMo)
Tags: editing, inspiration, NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month, novel writing, writing
Okay, so I’ve been shocked at how much attention my NaNoWriMo calendar has gotten but I’m glad people are enjoying it. I’ve set it as the background on my own laptop, as one poster said he was going to do with it.
Last night I submitted my entry for the Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition. I wanted to let go of it before I started NaNoWriMo. To be honest, I was utterly sick of it and ready to be done. I’ve been editing it and nitpicking for the last two months, but it taught me a lot. I think one of the failings in my writing has been my lack of follow through in editing to that degree. I’ve written some good things and I’ve had some good ideas, but to really create something someone is going to want to publish, you have to be willing to go the distance with the editing. I did that and let the story go. We’ll see how it does in the competition but I’m not going to hold my breath, I’m on to the next thing.
This month is all about creating without editing. I’m about 2,300 words in and so far it isn’t really flowing, it doesn’t feel inspired. I have an outline so I’m working with that but trying to remain flexible. I’m working on a re-imagining of my Biomalware story. I have two story summaries that are guiding the idea.
“As genetically modified crops take over and biodiversity dwindles, a menacing reality looms. For half the world’s population these crops aren’t food at all. They are… Biomalware.”
The other guiding idea is more human centered.
“When Sam’s two-year old daughter, Maddie, becomes sick he must find answers before it’s too late, but can he succeed when the opposition is a huge corporation with the full weight of the U.S. government at it’s disposal?”
Of course, these are just ideas and the story is changing along the way and as I learn more about the topic. It’s science fiction but also a medical thriller and, of course, there’s a bit of a romance in there too.
And – to kick off NaNoWriMo on the right foot, I received my rejection e-mail from the Sustainable Arts Foundation today. *sigh* I suppose it doesn’t mean much one way or another – they received over 1,500 applications and only give out half a dozen, with giving concentrated in the San Francisco area. It was a long shot but I’m glad I did it. I might try again next time.
Right now I’m licking my wounds and trying to concentrate on NaNoWriMo. I believe I have a good idea and a good outline if the writing can live up to it. That comes in time, though. Right now it’s all about getting the words on the page.
It was definitely heartening to have EIGHT people at the kick-off write-in at my library. That’s the best turn out I’ve ever had for a write-in. It was inspiring to look at so many people sitting there just creating.
Happy writing everybody!
Inspiration and my Favorite NaNoWriMo Pep Talks!
October 26, 2013 at 12:30 pm (Writing Inspiration)
Tags: first draft, inspiration, NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month, novel writing, procrastination, writing
If you’ve found this page in my blog then you’ve likely already made the decision to join NaNoWriMo and write a novel in November. (Thank God! I don’t want to be alone in this!)
Seriously though, I really believe that everybody has a story to tell. I’ve met so many people who tell wonderful stories but most have never bothered to put them down in writing, like my father, and it’s really hard to write someone else’s stories down for them.
How you tell that story is up to you. I also very firmly believe in NaNo Rebels – write poetry, a memoir, short stories, a script, whatever you fancy, just write those words down.
For some of us, writing is what we we felt we were always meant to do for the rest of our lives, but that isn’t necessary to NaNoWriMo. It’s okay if you’re doing this because you want to get your memoir down or just want to give it a try. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, or a right or wrong reason for doing it.
It doesn’t matter whether the manuscript ever sees the light of day, just joining us on this endeavor is going to put you in touch with your creativity in a way you’ve never experienced before.
There have been quite a few official NaNoWriMo “Pep Talks” over the last six years. Sadly they are not all created equal. Some ramble, some need editing, and some have really good advice. The advice can be useful but when I want a pep talk, I want a PEP talk! I’ve been making a list of my personal favorites.
(2009 was a short list but the two I chose are some of the funniest I’ve read.)
Obviously, the best inspiration comes from reading material that directly relates to your novel in November. For me, I’ll be looking at articles and books, pro and con on GMOs, that inform my fiction. I’ll also be watching movies that are in the same genre I am writing.
(Where will you glean inspiration from? Please take a minute to comment and share!)
Whether you’re getting ready for Nano and want to procrastinate a bit, are looking for some much needed encouragement or want to bookmark this page to pop back in when you’re two weeks under way and feel like you’re foundering, here they are – my favorite pep talks in all of Nano land.
2007
Author – Neil Gaiman
Favorite line – “You don’t know why you started your novel, you no longer remember why you imagined that anyone would want to read it, and you’re pretty sure that even if you finish it it won’t have been worth the time or energy and every time you stop long enough to compare it to the thing that you had in your head when you began—a glittering, brilliant, wonderful novel, in which every word spits fire and burns, a book as good or better than the best book you ever read—it falls so painfully short that you’re pretty sure that it would be a mercy simply to delete the whole thing.” Sounds SO cheerful, doesn’t it?
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/neil-gaiman
Author – Sue Grafton
Favorite line – “Perhaps you’re suddenly uncertain your immediate family will appreciate your rendition of their annual drunken Christmas antics that result in all those accusations, renunciations, and slamming of doors. “
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/sue-grafton
Author – Sara Gruen
Favorite line – “But today, I am going to jump around and write only the fun bits! I’m going to write about food fights, and disastrous sex, and escaping in-laws, and apes with unlimited credit! “
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/sara-gruen
2008
Author – Chris Baty
Favorite Line – “November 16: The second half of NaNoWriMo dawns. Writerly confidence builds. Your book comes to life, and characters start doing interesting, unexpected things. Nice. Weird.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/chris-baty-2008
Author – Meg Cabot
Favorite Line – “But how long until some other story idea comes along and twitches its enticing little characters at you, and you decide to abandon this new one for it? How many words will you have then?”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/meg-cabot
Author – Janet Fitch
Favorite Line – “When in doubt, make trouble for your character. Don’t let her stand on the edge of the pool, dipping her toe. Come up behind her and give her a good hard shove. “
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/janet-fitch
Author – Jonathan Stroud
Favorite Line – “This wasn’t the moment for genteel self-editing. This was the time when the novel had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into existence, and that meant piling up the pages.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/jonathan-stroud
2009
Author – Maureen Johnson
Favorite Line – “What’s nice about NaNoWriMo is that you are traveling with a posse of thousands, all of you making your way over the mountains, through the valleys, across the creeks. You are fighting off the beasties.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/maureen-johnson
Author – Gail Carson Levine
Favorite Line – “My techy friend spent hours tinkering with my computer. She’s assured me that it will combust if I try to reestablish connections to the internet and email. The single thing I’m keeping is my cell phone in case I start to go into cardiac arrest, but the keys are smeared with battery acid, except the 9, the 1, and send. “
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/gail-carson-levine
2010
Author – Chris Baty
Favorite Line – “Incite change. If your story is losing momentum, juice it up by inflicting some major changes on your characters. Crash the spaceship. End the marriage. Buy the monkey. Change is scary because we have to figure out what comes next. But feeling afraid is ten times better than feeling bored, and your book will benefit from your risk-taking.”
Link – http://http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/chris-baty-2010
Author – Lindsey Grant
Favorite Line – “All together, let’s laugh in exultation at our total domination!/ MuahaHAHA!/Now let’s go do some writing.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/lindsey-grant-2010
Author – Holly Black
Favorite Line – “There aren’t good books and bad books. There are finished books and books that still need more work. Please don’t let wondering if there’s a market for your book or wondering if the book you’re writing is genius or evidence that you should be heavily medicated get in the way of the writing. “
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/holly-black
Author – Lemony Snicket
Favorite Line – “Think of all the things you could do with your time instead of participating in a noble and storied art form. There are things in your cupboards that likely need to be moved around.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/lemony-snicket
2011
Author – Chris Baty
Favorite Line – “Sadly, the older we get, the harder it is to find time to visit these wild places within. Between school, work, and family, the days just get away from us. There might be an hour of writing here or a few minutes of dreaming there, but it’s usually sandwiched between tasks and errands. The roar of that creative ocean becomes a distant sound that occasionally drifts in through our windows at night, reminding us of a place we once loved, and keep meaning to get back to./ But you know what?/ This November, we’re going to the ocean.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/chris-baty-2011
Author – Rachael Herron
Favorite Line – “Every day I white-knuckled it, and on November 30th, I wrote my 50,006th word. The words The and End were two of those. After a few months of lying in dark rooms recovering, I picked it back up and gave it a real ending. “
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/rachael-herron
Author – Erin Morgenstern
Favorite Line – “I want to mix you each the beverages of your choice, cocktails or sodas or tea or foam-topped espresso drinks that all magically maintain perfect drinking temperature. Bring you truffles or tira misu or chocolate-covered popcorn and give you wrist massages while whispering these encouraging, fortune-cookie bits of wisdom-esque whatnot garnered in my years of NaNo-ing”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/erin-morgenstern
Author – Lani Diane Rich
Favorite Line – “You’re not signing up for this challenge because you want to type a lot in November./ You’re doing it because you have a story to tell, and that’s a big deal.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/lani-diane-rich
2012
Author – Chris Baty
Favorite Line – “…we’ve realized the whole “fair fight” thing was a dumb idea, and partly because we blew all of our harassment budget on yesterday’s spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to crash every word processor in Manitoba.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/chris-baty-2012
Author – Grant Faulkner
Favorite Line – “It resembles a canvas that a gaggle of preschoolers are fingerpainting on together. Then, while the teacher isn’t looking, the ornery little devils find a box of feathers, glitter, Cheerios, pasta shells, and they toss it all into the mix.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/grant-faulkner
Author – Marissa Meyer
Favorite Line – “The trick to landing an excellently unexpected insertion is to not go with the first idea that pops into your head—too often, that is the domain of clichés and the all-too-expected. Rather, try making a list of at least twenty things you would enjoy writing about right now. It doesn’t matter if it has anything to do with what you’ve written so far (you can always drop in some nice foreshadowing during revisions), and the whole point is that you’re about to insert something fun, unique, and exciting into this draft.”
Link – http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/scott-westerfeld
Author – Scott Westerfeld
Favorite Line – “Make a list of all the varieties of aliens you can come up with. (And if it’s less than 3,000, then THE PEARS ARE LAUGHING AT YOU, MY FRIEND.)”
Melora Johnson's Muse 