Tag Archives: NaNoWriMo

Stress, and day 6 of NaNoWriMo

Posted on by
10

It doesn’t matter what goals you set for yourself… getting that new job. Asking that hot girl out. Finishing that project by such and such day…. We are all going to have distractions, all have little things that set us back, or make the job harder.

Right now, stress seems to be the biggest one for me, and my goal of finishing NaNoWriMo, or more importantly to myself, finishing a full length novel.

And the stresses aren’t major ones. My tire was flat, I had to take my daughter to pick up her glasses, my normal back aches and pains. Nothing huge, but those little stresses add up.

Sometimes it’s best to just take a day off and relax. Breathe. Read a book. Listen to some music. Go out to dinner with your significant other. Sure, you’ll fall behind on the goal for a couple hours, but you can catch up.

Even if the only break you can get is taking twenty minutes to walk away from the entire situation and just do something that has nothing to do with your goal, you will return feeling fresh and invigorated.

Yesterday I was only able to put a hand full of words on the page. It was a struggle, and I decided the better idea would be to take a break. Finish the book I’d been reading. The word count wasn’t worth the stress. Not when I could take the few hours to pull myself together, and start fresh the next day.

That means I need to write 1800 words a day to complete NaNo on time, or just have some really good high wordcount days. Either way… I’ll get there.

Ouch! and Day 3 NaNoWriMo

Posted on by
4

Alright, fair warning. This ones going to be a little personal, and talk a bit about politics, and how it effects me personally. So if you hate politics, or just came here to hear about writing, you’re free to go.

It’s 6:30, and I just woke up with a splitting head ache, and a tingling sensation in my left hand. This isn’t unusual for me. I’ve been dealing with this issue for the last ten years. I know what will make it stop too…. A quick trip to the chiropractor for a few weeks and everything will be right as rain.

Nearest thing we can figure, it’s a slipped disk that is pinching a nerve. Not enough to do any real damage, just enough to cause the sensation of lost circulation in one arm, and severe head aches. The chiropractor sets everything back in place, and I’m good again. It’s actually been four years since I’ve had to go to the chiropractor, and I’ve only started having this issue again within the last eight months. I’ve been putting off going because of a lack of time and money. I take ibuprofen, hot baths, and try to stretch and pop everything back into place myself… but it’s taking more pills, and the stretching is working less and less.

What does this have to do with politics?

I live in the quasi area where I make too much to get public assistance with health care, but not quite enough to afford health insurance.

So a couple years ago when I had to get a root canal because my jaw was swelling with infection, I had to suffer for six months, hoping the antibiotics would do as much as possible until I could afford the surgery. Just over $1000 to have the tooth fixed, and I only had $500 in credit at the time, so I had to pay the other $500 up front.

Now, to be fair, I do usually have a little savings in case something like this happens. But at the same time my tooth was aching, my car was breaking. So I was broke, in pain, and unable to do much about it. A dentist was not on my list of things to do.

So now, with my back hurting, and causing head aches, I am loath to go to the chiropractor.

BUT! In January I finally get insurance. Thank you Obamacare.

I know there has been a lot of debate on weather or not it’s worth it, if it works, etc. etc. Well the exchange in Washington is working fine (at least was), and I got insurance that I could afford, something that I haven’t had in YEARS! But it doesn’t kick in till January, so I am patently managing my aches and pains until then.

On the NaNoWriMo front… I’m behind. Today is the 3rd day, so I have 3000 words to write today just to keep up. But today is daylight savings, and I’ve been up since 6:30, so I think I can at least get close to that 3000 words.

NaNoWriMo day 1

Posted on by
7

Looking forward to todays word count.

First, let me just say…. I’m TIRED! We went to a Halloween party last night, and got home at a reasonable hour (11pm). But then I kept waking up. I also had to get up at 6am to drive my SO to work. I was already awake, and had been for a couple hours so I didn’t mind that. But later, sitting at my desk at work, sipping a steaming cup of coffee…. boy did I want to be home in bed.

On the plus side… I loved my costume.

imageimage2013-10-31 20.16.31

 

I have had several people encouraging me to write a full length (80k+) novel, so that’s what I’m shooting for. I’ve been mulling over this story for the last few weeks, trying to iron out some of the kinks in the plot, and figuring out sub plots to add substance, not just word counts, to the story.I am prepared, I think, for NaNo. I have a full plot, it’s all set up in scrivener for easy writing.

It is a romance set in a fantasy land with mermaids, men that turn into hawks, giant squid like creatures with massive tentacled arms, and magic, lots of magic.

This all sounds fun to me, and kind of scary to be trying something so massive so soon after finishing “Forgotten Ones”. But the end result will be so worth it!

For an 80k+ word book I will also be getting an editor, one way or another. Which means it won’t be out any time soon as I will want to take my time and do things right. But it will be out eventually, and hopefully be a the best quality product I have put out.

But… I think I’ll put the first chapter out sometime after NaNoWriMo and a complete edit. So at least you can look forward to that.

Rainy NaNoWriMo

Posted on by
Reply

I have a hot cup of tea, the steam wafting up in ribbons of creamy goodness, and the rain is falling just outside my windows. The slick black pavement, and vibrant fall leaves… all of it just makes me want to settle down with a good book, and read.

I love the rain. It’s a calming force that washes the world clean. Everything smells fresh, and the world looks a little clearer after a good rain.

If only it wasn’t so cold.

For the last week I’ve been writing the plot for my NaNoWriMo book. I want it to be my first full length book. (Well, first finished, edited, and published.) That means I’m shooting for 80k, 50 of which I’ll write during November. Finish the rest, and a lot of editing, come December.

This is a major undertaking for me, and a big step in terms of publishing. Everything so far has been novellas and short stories. It’s time I did something full length.

I’m also going to keep working on some of my short stories, and hopefully publish a few more, but my main focus is going to be the NaNo project.

And what is my NaNo project this year? So glad you asked!

“The Mermaid’s Curse” is a paranormal romance. A young mermaid has been cursed by a powerful entity seeking a physical manifestation on land.

I’m still working out a few of the details, and a lot is going to change over time. I will probably share a few of those details, and maybe a first chapter here as NaNo continues.

And yes, this one also has a battle scene but the focus is more on the relationship between the mermaid and a young man who has vowed to protect her at any cost.

Should be fun.

Hooray!

Posted on by
Reply

This morning I did an interview on Buddy’s Writing Show. We discussed “Forgotten Ones”, how I got into the whole self publishing biz in the first place, and a bit about my own podcast. It was a great interview, and I was really honored to be his first guest.

Keep an eye out for more episodes. Buddy already has a calendar booked with more guests.

“Forgotten Ones” is 2.99 for just a few hours more. It will be $4.99 after tomorrow. 

Also, I’m prepping for NaNoWriMo. I’m looking forward to it, but at the same time I am not very confident that I am going to finish this time.

I worked for three months on “Forgotten Ones”, a 30k word book. I actually wrote the 3000 word synopsis back in May, and it sat on my shelf till August. I actually wrote it in Aug, and Sept, and edited in October. Published it on the 18th.

So… two months to write, half a month to edit…. on just 30k words.

I think it will work a lot better with two projects going because when I get stuck on one I can work on another. That is what has usually kept me writing steadily, and when I get to the end of the month I have to finished projects.

I’m still pretty sure I’m going to work on one of my paranormal romance stories. But I’ve got a few to choose from… so we’ll see.

Keeping up the word count

Posted on by
4

I tweeted this morning that I’d written 12,000 words this month. That’s 500 a day, on average. Some days I did more, some days I did none, but over the average it’s 500 words.

spreadThe one thing that keeps me writing (almost) every day is my spread sheet.

Each day I add the words I’ve written, and what project I wrote on. Each day I add little pink highlights if that number is zero. I hate those zeros. I also keep blog and writing separate, but I do track both. And both show up on my graph at the end of the month (writing in blue, blog in red.)

The trouble with a “zero” day isn’t that I got a zero, it’s that the next day I don’t write as much. And if I have two “zero’s” in a row I have to struggle all that much more to get some words out.

I actually started this about February. That’s when I realized I was struggling, and I needed more accountability to myself. Something I had in spades during NaNoWriMo, but lacked afterward. I no longer had that nifty little graph showing my progress, or the bar creeping forward saying weather or not I “won”. So, I decided to make my own graph.

It took a few tries to figure out exactly what I should have on my graph. As you can see there is an “edited” column that rarely gets anything put into it. I’ve edited quite a bit this month because I am rewriting sections of “Rage War” in between writing “Forgotten Ones” and finishing up a short story. But I never really think about the edited pages, I just want to track what I’ve written.

I’ve also forgotten to add my word counts for a couple of days. Every time that happens I am extremely disappointed n myself. This has become an incredibly important part of my writing. It’s tracking my growth and accomplishments as I move forward.

Soon after figuring out my own graph I discovered “The Magic Spreadsheet” from Mur Lafferty. I really like her version, and how it gives you points for each day you reach your goal, but I’ll stick with mine for now. However, maybe some of you would like to try it out.

Whatever method you use, the best advice I can offer is just to try new things. Find out what works for you. I know authors who keep a writing journal in paper, and jot down a note every day. I know others who blast it out on twitter, o reddit. Still others keep writing journals on a blog. But I do know that it won’t hurt for you to try to keep track and figure out what you are really doing.

I would love to add time of day to this… but my scheduled doesn’t allow that right now. It’s too chaotic. Chalk that up to a dream for the future.

Charting Progress

Posted on by
1

It has been a long time since I shared my progress in writing every day, but I think it’s important, at least to me, because it is an act of accountability. I hope it also serves to inspire others to start on the journey of “writing every day”.

A few things I learned….

  • Completing a project is like coming to the edge of a cliff.
    • Once you reach the edge, where do you go? I am starting to see little ledges and paths below so that I can just continue to write on another project, but this takes practice.
  • Editing, formatting, book covers, and marketing SUCK!
    • I don’t mean they suck, as in they are terrible, I mean they suck time away from writing. Some of these things only take a few minutes a day, but editing… man that’s a time suck. At which point I write a lot less.
  • When I’m stuck, I need to switch projects for a little bit.
    • As long as I continue working on the “PRIME” project a little every day I have given myself permission to go nuts on something else, often adding 1500 words to another project in my list, or coming up with another idea for later.
  • My word count is improving!
    • The best part, that rising blue line marking “average word count” is going up and up and up, and it’s awesome! I am really close to 1000 words a day on average. If I keep this up eventually I can write a book a month instead of short stories.
  • Can’t wait for NaNoWriMo this year!

chart

 

Stats

Posted on by
2

I happen to love numbers. And anyone who has watched some videos from vihart might understand why numbers are so fascinating. They can draw pictures, tell you stories, and draw a world on a flat surface. Music is math! Art is geometry. Words are symphonies played out with the written language.

One thing I learned from NaNoWriMo is that I love to watch the numbers going up. I love to see how much I wrote each day, and try to beat the number from the day before… or at least writing more each day.

I started keeping my own set of numbers to help me write without the help of NaNo forums, graphs and news letters.

I have a database that tracks how much I wrote on what projects (including this blog, though the blog is not added into the graph below) and I am trying to track how many hours I spend on each project each day. Reminding myself to punch in and out of the little app on my phone that charts the time isn’t always easy though since I write in 20 min spurts several times a day.

feb graph

The graph shows my daily word count, with red dots for every day I skipped. Since I hate putting in those red marks I’ve actually been writing more. I even added in the blue line which is my guess (hope) of future progress upward.

Speaking of progress. “Osiren’s Tears”, which I did for NaNo, is half way through the final edit. Then I will start looking for an editor to clean up my spelling and grammar before I publish it. I still have to polish the cover, but hopefully that won’t take long.

As for “Small Bites”, I’ve decided to break it into four mini books, each with three short stories. They will be put out as 99 cent volumes, then I will put up the entire “Small Bites” book with all twelve stories for $3.99 once they are all finished.

Once I have all of these up I will feel comfortable trying KDP select and start offering a few titles for free.

Writing is a long process, but I still believe it is worth it.

End of NaNoWriMo

Posted on by
Reply

In a few short hours NaNoWriMo will be complete. Many people have already sent in their verification and “won”, including me. Some are going to be drinking coffee and scrambling for those last few words at midnight. Others had life get in the way, or lost interest along the way.

If you completed your challenge, congratulations! You deserve it!

At the conclusion of NaNo I now have two completed stories. One is 20k words, and the other is 30k. I also have the beginnings for a new sci-fi romance that just popped into my head today, and I got another 1500 words on that, and a complete outline.

But more importantly, I have a good habit of writing. Something I lost a while ago, and have been working on getting back for the last year. I hope that this has started something great.

I’ve decided I need to write or edit three pages a day, at least, if I really want this to be my “day job”. It doesn’t sound that difficult at the moment. Then I have those days where I have to cook dinner, or take children to doctors appointments, or days where I’m just sick, or tired, or fed up with life.

I’m rather happy with this NaNo. I’ve seen people who didn’t understand it, didn’t support their spouse, or thought it was ridiculousness. I am so grateful that my boyfriend pushed me to keep going. I can’t wait to start editing this, and hopefully have it up on amazon within a few months.

Falling Behind

Posted on by
1

Ever since I decided that I was going to make a real effort at this “writing thing” I constantly have the feeling I am falling behind. Never so much tonight as I look at my NaNo word count and realize how behind a really am.

50,000 words in a month, and I am behind by 4,000.

Well then… nothing like a deadline to get a person motivated, right?