NanoWrimo 2010

I am sorry to report that I will not reach the 50,000 word finish line today for NanoWrimo 2010. I could say that work was absolutely insane this month, I've been too tired to write everyday, and my Thanksgiving feast claimed my attention, but those all feel like hollow excuses.

I am surprised by how disappointed I am not to reach this goal. I did start, though. I did write a lot of those days when I didn't feel like it, too. Currently, I'm sitting at 25,025 words. My husband suggests that I give myself an extension until December 15th, which I think I will do. But I won't be able to upload my document to the site and get that awesome certificate that tells me I am a WINNER!

I guess I have learned my lesson. Next year I will take it more seriously.

In the meantime, I am back in the habit of writing regularly, which is one of the goals I hoped to accomplish this month. I also have another really fun novel in the works which I will continue to work on until I get to the end. And to me, that's something.

New Life

I got a new job - I really like it and I'm making new friends.

I have a new apartment, a new place to live. It finally feels like home.

I am living in a new part of the country, a beautiful part. The Washington D.C. area is amazing.

Life changes so quickly and sometimes it's difficult to adjust as fast. Things you value might move to the back burner for a while. Now that I'm adjusting, I am excited to get back to my writing and reading. I wish that it was already a solid part of my life that didn't fall through the cracks so often, but I guess that's part of being a writer. I have to choose to write and keep making time to write even when there is so much going on.

New life is good.

Monday Quote

Above all, have a good time. If you aren’t enjoying writing it, you can hardly expect someone else to enjoy reading it.

- Tom Robbins

Monday Quote

It is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane.

- George Orwell

Endings, Beginnings, and In Between-ings

I've had some major life changes the last month that got me thinking. My husband graduated with his MBA in May and took a job on the east coast. We took a month off to do some traveling and see family and friends before driving across the country to our new home. Now we are in Virginia and mostly settled again. He's finishing his first week of work today, and I'm in the thick of job hunting.

A big part of our lives ended when we left Arizona. We were there for 2 years, and although we knew we were eventually going to leave, we got pretty comfortable. We had a fantastic group of friends, which made it feel like home more than anything else, and I had a great job. When the guys graduated everyone took jobs in different places, though, so even if we had stayed it wouldn't feel the same. There were a lot of goodbyes and lots of promises made.

Then we had Summer of Road Trip. We drove from Arizona to Colorado to Utah to California and back to Arizona. Then we flew to Virginia and back. We packed up all our stuff and hit the road again stopping in Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. It was a lot of driving. And while it was awesome to see friends and family in all of those places, it felt like limbo. We didn't have a place to go back to and no emotional attachment to our destination. I don't think I could ever be a nomad.

Now we are making new beginnings. We're making new friends, finding new places, and generally having adventures. We're figuring out this new life and looking forward to what comes next. It's nice to be out of limbo, and all those goodbyes feel like forever ago.

These experiences over the last month were a little sad and stressful at the time, but I think that it will be good to reflect on for future writing. We have to have these personal experiences in life so we can understand what our characters are supposed to feel. My life makes my characters more genuine.

Do you have any life changes or experiences that have helped, hurt, or influenced your writing?

What's in a Title, Anyway?

After a couple rounds of edits on my work in progress I decided it was time to work on an acceptable title. 'NanoWrimo 10' was just not going to cut it if I'm going to really put this one out there.

The trouble is that there is so much pressure to have an amazing title. You want it to be clever, engaging, memorable, and preferably related to your actual book. And one that hasn't already been taken.

Fortunately, we have the internet. Not only can you search for already published books to make sure you're not duplicating a title, you can find great articles on titling. For example:

Rachelle Gardner wrote an excellent post about How to Title Your Book last month. She puts some emphasis on considering your genre, something I hadn't even realized might be important. I like her suggestion about giving yourself a lot of options, putting them away, then coming back 24 hours later to see them with fresh eyes.

Jacob Appel gives us 7 Tips to Land the Perfect Title for Your Novel over at Writer's Digest. I liked #5 about giving your title some depth, although I don't know how I'm going to do this with my own title. I thought #6 was important, too. You don't want to give away too much before the reader even cracks open the cover.

How do you title your work? Any additional suggestions that might help me and others? What are some titles you think are absolutely brilliant?

Life Distracting

Well! Where have I been!?

I'll tell you... life sort of got in the way of life. I do event planning, among other things, for my job and I had a huge event last weekend. It was a big deal and ridiculously stressful to the point that I was completely engrossed for two weeks straight. I thought about it all day at work, worried about it all evening at home, dreamed about it a night, woke up nervous in the middle of the night, then started worrying all over again. I am pleased to report that it went really well and all my superiors were happy with the results. I'm just glad it's all over. And I'm happy it went well.

So then it took me an entire week to feel like myself again. Now it's been three weeks that I haven't hardly thought about my novel. I was good in some ways. I emailed it to some trusted readers so they had time to read it without me pestering for feedback. I also had a great break from it all so I can come back with fresh eyes. The problem, however, is that I'm having a difficult time getting back into the swing of things.

I have decided to start today. I am posting here for the first time in a while, besides my Monday quotes, and I'm going to pull out my manuscript again.

Gotta start somewhere, right?

Motivational Encouragement

I simply love my sisters. The three of us have always been close, we rarely bicker, and we have similar interests. This last weekend they were in town along with one of my brothers (love you, too, kiddo!) and we had a great time ice skating, watching movies and the Olympics, and hanging out. We also had some time to sit outside in the lovely Arizona weather and talk. Since all of us, at one point or another, have been interested in writing it came up in conversation.

My youngest sister is probably the most solid source of support for writing in my life. We often talk about the stories we're working on, the characters we can't seem to get just right, and where the plot's going next. I always feel more motivated to keep working after I've talked to her about my projects. And I get really excited to read the books she's writing, too.

My younger sister is one of those creative types who is constantly coming up with great ideas, hilarious stories, and amazing music. While we were talking this weekend she told me that she had enjoyed my NanoWrimo project from 2 years ago. I know how picky and opinionated she is about books, music, and movies so this was a great compliment. She told me she thought I should polish it up and move forward on getting it published. She actually self published a book of monologues several years ago so she has some idea of the possibilities. She also mentioned that Mom also liked that one, too, which is an even bigger deal since I don't remember the last work of fiction my mom read.

After that short conversation I felt energized and enthusiastic about my writing. I'm now in a hurry to finish edits on my current project and then get back to my old one, too. My fingers are just itching to mark up the manuscripts with all those lovely red notations and then take the next step.

Having people in your life who support your writing is so important! They can be a great source of encouragement and motivation as well as a source of feedback. Who do you have in your life? Is there anyone you can talk to about your work in progress? How have they affected your writing habits?

Enjoyable Edits

I'm in the thick of editing my current project and I love it so far. I feel like there's enough in my rough draft to eventually end up with a promising end product. Knowing I have something worth my effort makes it easier to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

I think my favorite part of editing is seeing all the red marks scattered across the page. I know it means more hard work in the future but I like seeing the results of my intense scrutiny. There's something about the chaos and messiness of all those marks that gives me a sense of accomplishment. It makes me feel creative and when I feel creative sometimes I have some great breakthroughs. Fake it til you make it type of a thing.

The farther I get into the manuscript the more I realize that I'm just beginning. My characters need strengthening, the plot needs tweaking, the dialogue needs expanding, and my villain needs major villianizing... This means that there will always be more to do but I hope that at some point I'll get it to a presentable point and ready for reading.

And your feelings on editing? Any tips or techniques on editing you could share?

Do You Dream?

I fell asleep ridiculously early last night and woke up again when my husband came to bed a couple hours later. In that short time I dreamed an amazing story with awesome characters, plot, and the best villain I've ever imagined. Just as the hero saved the day I was pulled back to reality and the first thing I thought was "I've got to write that down cuz that'll be an awesome story."

Then I washed my face groggily and it somehow all the amazing things my imagination had conjured rinsed down the drain with my makeup.

I can't remember anything about my dream except the feeling I had when I woke up. Even now my mind searches for an image or word that would connect to my sub-conscious and reveal those characters and story in my dream but there's nothing. Or rather, there is something but it's like mist that teases your parched tongue with water but never materializes into anything satisfying.

It seems that I must adopt the recommended habit of keeping pen and paper by my bed if I am to retain my sanity and ever actually write that bestseller novel.

Do you use dreams in your writing? Do you write down dreams or thoughts when you're half asleep?

There's Work to be Done!

Ever since the holidays I've cut back a little on my Twitter time and blogging. For some reason I just had trouble getting back into the swing of things after coming back. But I do want to continue to post here and I have finally gotten back to editing my work in progress.

In the midst of trying to cut down the number of unread posts in my Google Reader (over 400) I came across a post by Bonnie Kozek called Under the Influence: Writers and Depression and Choices Chosen written last March (thank you Publetariat). Having just surfaced from a minor bout of depression and having realized the effects it had on my writing, I read this article with interest.

Everyone has ups and downs, good days and horrible days. I have struggled with depression throughout my life but thanks to strong religious beliefs, loving family, and wonderful friends it has never become a serious problem. I often tell myself that without the low days I wouldn't have the high days so in the end it's worth it.

I don't know why but I've always associated this with my inclination to write. They are not really connected but I've felt that my experiences gave me more to draw on for realistic characters and situations in my fiction. Or maybe I just bought into the tortured artist stereotype that Kozek describes. My desire to create is usually not diminished despite my moods until recently. Insecurity is the enemy of creativity because it makes you question the worth of your work.

Fortunately, I've pushed aside my doubts with my desire to write. They aren't gone, and I'm sure they'll surface again, but for now I'm going to try and get as much done as I can. I've got editing and research to do. I've got characters that need polishing and plot lines that need ironing. There's work to be done! There's no time for insecurity!

The Real Work Begins

Just a quick updated on my own writing. I finally finished my story that I started for NanoWrimo! It is such a great feeling and I was so excited.

According to the editing guidelines I posted last week I took a short break to have lunch after I finished then I started my first round of editing. This entails typing up my second draft because I always write my first draft with pen and paper. There is something magical about forming letters, words, and phrases with a writing utensil on the page. I write much better first drafts this way rather than typing.

I am madly trying to get all the 55,020 words into a word document so I can keep the momentum going with this project. Yesterday I realized that this is where the real work begins. Revising, reworking, rewriting, and manipulating what I originally had into something that could really be called a novel. It is going to be hard work and I can see that there is the potential for a lot of frustration and discouragement.

Yet, I'm still excited about it! And that, to me, is what makes writing fun. It's hard work, but I know it will be rewarding in the end and I will have a great time along the way.

Everybody Likes a Little Action

I have finished the main climactic action scene in my current project but I am far from satisfied with how it turned out. It need a lot of work, I think, and I fear that I lost the momentum of the action somewhere along the way. The problem is that I have no idea where to even start to fix the scene. Right now I still have some loose ends to tie up to finish the story but then it's into editing and that climax is going to need some attention.

James Scott Bell wrote a post over on The Kill Zone about How to Write Action Scenes that I found interesting. He sites Dean Koontz extensively and particularly refers to an action scene that lasts 17 pages. At first I thought it was crazy to have an action scene last that long - wouldn't the reader get bored and zone out somewhere in the middle? But maybe I'm putting unnecessary constraints and expectations on how my action scenes should look and flow. It would be awesome if I could keep my readers enthralled for 17 pages!

Bell offers a couple points of advice: "...take advantage of all the elements of fiction writing ­­–- dialogue, internal thoughts, description and action -- and use them to show us what's happening inside and outside the viewpoint character." He also urges the writer to quit worrying about reality so much and instead focus on the emotional effect of your fiction.

These are great points but I still have some questions: How detailed does do the descriptions need to be? How do I keep my reader engaged throughout the whole scene, even when there is more talking going on rather than action? Do multiple viewpoints help the story or hinder the flow?

What do you think? How do you write action scenes? What parts do you struggle with and how do you fix those parts in editing?

Link Line-up: Tips and Advice

When writing a novel it's good to start with the basics; part one and part two from George Angus give a great outline and some things to think about when starting a new project. I found the section on dialogue in part two especially helpful.

Once you've begun you're going to run into a few situations where you will have to choose which direction your characters and/or plots take. Jeremiah Tolbert has five ways to deal with the choices you make in writing. I usually don't worry about the paths I haven't taken, but I like the idea of keeping track of parallel document that tracks alternate paths. I also think I'll try outlining sometime.

I really like the Fuel Your Writing site and Dustin Staiger gives us 5 Tips for Tantalizing Writing. I have to keep reminding myself in my own writing to leave some work for the reader.

While implementing these tips be sure to avoid these 7 Deadly Writing Sins by Lynn Viehl. These are good things to keep in mind.

In the end, it really is all about the story so don't let it suffer while you focus on other parts of your novel. "As a writer, it is not words, but stories, that are your elemental tool. Stories are an enchanting magic that grip the reader to the page." From David Masters' guest post on Write to Done entitled 'Campfire Writing: Why Stories are the Writer's Elemental Tool.'

More great resources on everything you need:

Writing Tips and links from WeBook.com

5 Novelists' Websites That Offer Great Writing Advice from WebUpon.com

Nathan Bransford's Writing Advice Database

50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills from Smashing Magazine

Was any of this helpful? Do you have any tips that are helpful in your planning and writing?

Looking Back: Writing Journal

I was not paying attention and missed my 300th post! I also missed the 2nd anniversary of Book 'n' a Mug back in March which I did not realize until I went back to find an old post I'd written on keeping a writing journal.

So, in honor of this anniversary I am reviving the aforementioned post because I want to start keeping a writing journal again. Below are Gregory Martin's 5 things to include in a writing journal entry from the April 2007 issue of Writer's Digest.

1. Date and time when you are sitting down to write. This will help you track your most common times for working and help you see the times you are most productive.

2. How long will you work? Set a goal to work towards. This can be a length of time or a certain number of words, if you'd like.

3. What you plan to work on. The more specific you are the easier it will be to stay focused and accomplish what you need to during your session of work.

4. How it went. When you are done be sure and describe how it went. Do you feel good about what you accomplished? Was it difficult or did it flow smoothly?

5. When and for how long you'll work tomorrow. If you set another goal for the next day you will be more likely to write. This will, in turn, help you build up a momentum to keep writing every day.

I tried this method for a while a couple years ago but when I stopped writing regularly I forgot about the journal. Now that I want to start writing every day again, I think that this will be a great tool to help me keep that goal.

Do you keep a writing journal? What do you include in each entry? How does it affect your writing?

Write, Edit, Revise, Repeat

As I mentioned yesterday, I cannot wait to start editing my current project. I wrote it for NanoWrimo so now that the dust is settled I'm interested to see what is left. At the same time, I'm a little nervous because I've become so comfortable in the writing part that I don't know where to start with editing. Besides the beginning, I guess.

Lucky for me, and you, I've found some great advice on this very subject!

Take a Breather

Almost everyone agrees that it is beneficial to take a break between finishing a first draft and beginning the editing process. This makes sense to me. I have seen how characters and plot lines will sort themselves out while marinating in the back of my mind. When I come back to them I can see where they need to be tweaked and revised to fit better with the end product. However, I need some time to step back and look at the draft as a whole. The recommended amount of time to wait varies from 15 minutes up but a break is definitely suggested.

Slash the Trash

This is a phrase I heard often, always in a British accent, my senior year of High School. Just off the top of my head I know there are several passages in my work that need major trimming. Cut out the sections you know people will skip over and the parts where you wax a little too eloquent on a particular setting or character description. Look at every word - are they all absolutely necessary? Or are you missing some important ones? Cutting is important, but so is adding where you need to.

Read it Aloud

This is actually a technique I have not yet used so I will refer you to others. I fully intend to try reading my draft out loud for this project.

Writer's Community lists 5 reasons why to read it aloud:

1. Make sure your readers will 'hear' things they way you intended.

2. Helps you catch mistakes.

3. Helps you pay attention to the nuances in the language.

4. Establishes your 'voice.'

5. It prepares you for readings

Mary E. DeMuth at The Master's Artist also recommends reading aloud because you will find errors but give 3 other reasons, too:

1. You find you pet words, the ones you use too often.

2. You catch awkward sentence structure.

3. You catch repetitive themes.

Ask a Friend to Read It

I've done this plenty of times and I always seem to choose really kind friends. It's great for my ego but sometimes I want a little more constructive criticism. Thanks to Gary Smailes and BubbleCow I have the perfect how-to list when asking friends to critique my novel!

- Give them permission to criticise.

- Explain what you want.

- Look for specifics and 'framed' feedback.

- Be prepared to ignore.

- Listen to the critique with an open mind.

- If you have to explain then it's time to rewrite.

Checklist & More

Joe Nassise wrote this checklist for when you start revising on Genreality. It is a great place to start when you want to start editing. Can you answer all these questions about your novel?

There's also a great post on revision on Allen & Unwin with a couple of book excerpts, including another great list of things to think about.

Here's the BubbleCow post that lists Tips to Writing a Great Second Draft of Your Novel.

And the Fuel Your Writing post on The First Step to Being a Better Writer.

What do you think?

What do you do when you're editing and revising? Do you enjoy this process or is it a struggle for you?

Breakup and Makeup

It has been over a week since the end of NanoWrimo and last night I finally sat down to work on my novel again. I reached the 50,000 word goal but still have a couple of scenes to go before it's finished. After last night I am really wishing I hadn't taken that week off from writing...

My characters are a little upset with me. They felt abandoned and stranded in a stressful and climactic situation. So they're not talking to me.

On top of that, my inner editor is banging on her cage and I am tempted to let her out. I can't wait to go back and start editing this project to see if there is anything good there and find out how to make it better. I've grown attached to these characters and I want to work on perfecting them and their story.

Why oh why did I let it sit for a week? Because I was celebrating my success in reaching my word count goal. I got bogged down and crazy busy with work. I ran out of clean dishes after a month of not cleaning them and I had to clean my house. These are valid reasons!

Yet my novel won't listen to reason. "You found time to write almost every day of November even with other distractions. You didn't really have anything to celebrate because I'm not done. You really did not have 10 minutes to spare in the last 7 days?"

I hang my head in apology - I am sorry. I'm back now so can't we be friends again, my dear novel?

Link Line-up

Coming up on the end of the year and we've past the end of Nanowrimo so here are some links to keep you going right up until January 1, 2010!

Do you have to sacrifice a great deal if you want to be a great writer? John Scalzi says you just have to give up an hour of television a day and you'll be off to a great start. And you don't necessarily need to suffer for success, either.

Need some tips or just some motivation to keep going? Marelisa Fábrega give us 54 Tips for Writers, From Writers over on her Abundance blog. I love the quotes from Annie Dillard and I am totally going to go read that book.

I hate writing dialogue because I feel like it is never as witty or quick moving as the novels I read. Laura Cross lists 12 Characteristics of Great Dialogue that helped me see how to improve so I'm working on getting better. This post is geared toward screenwriting but I think it applies to any dialogue you're writing.

Writer's block, dare I even say it, haunts all of us. Dani Shapiro gives us her thoughts on writer's block and they definitely drove the rain cloud from my window! "If writing is, as I believe it to be, an act of courage--the daily triumph of faith over doubt, willingness over insecurity, hope over cynicism--then the inability to do so for days on end is a failure not of character, nor of biochemistry, but of nerve."

I know this time of year we are usually thinking about pie rather than cake, but these 17 Amazing Sci-fi Themed Cakes really take the... well... you know.

So Now What...?

This seems to be the most common question NanoWrimo-ers are asking these first couple days of December. I feel it more than I'm asking it, though, mostly because I know exactly what comes next.

November was awesome and I met my goal of 50,000 words, but I did not actually finish my novel. I have a couple more scenes to go so I don't really feel like I'm done yet.

Then there's the editing. I know for sure that while I love this story, it needs some major work and rework. This year I'm going to try really hard to edit as much as I need to so I can end up with a finished product. My last few novels from past Novembers are still filed away just waiting for some polishing. I need to commit to them so I can finally have a finished novel that I feel comfortable sharing with friends and family. Otherwise they won't ever believe I am a writer and I don't know if I will truly feel like one, either.

After that there are more stories waiting to be told.

And more editing.

And more writing.

Which just makes me want to quit my job and write all day for the rest of my life! Maybe I'll also eat some food and pay attention to my husband. I'll probably hang out with friends and family, too. Looks like I need another November to get anything done...

Frustration to Revelation = Writer for Life

Today is the 24th day of November which means that at midnight tonight I should have written 40,008 to be on track for the 50 mark next Monday. *Groan* Next Monday... that is way too soon. My little beauty currently sits at 34,508 words. It's not impossible, I know - I would only have to write about 2,600 words a day to make it on time. That's not so bad, right?

Except that I have no idea what I'm going to write after the scene I came up with last night.

It has certainly been a roller coaster ride so far. Life always seems to get in the way of our goals and set us behind schedule. My husband has been out of town a lot this month, which was great alone time for writing but I wanted to spend the weekends with him while he was home. There were several days that I missed writing even one word and that is definitely something I regret. Even just a couple of sentences would have helped, I think. It's about balance, though, and I don't regret spending time with my husband.

He asked me a couple weeks ago how it was going - yes, he's very supportive - and if I was having fun. I had not thought seriously about it since the first couple of days so I thought out loud with him for a minute. Here's what I realized:

"It's going pretty good and even though I'm behind I don't feel hopeless yet. The first few days were great because I was so excited and the story flowed really well. I still feel good, though. I feel like I'm accomplishing things and working toward a personal goal I set for myself. I am happy when I'm writing. I love this feeling."

I have always wanted to write. When I was 4 years old and getting ready for kindergarten I would fill pages and pages on a legal pad with M's and W's. When I was in sixth grade I wrote a story about a white rabbit named Snow White. It was 100 pages long and everyone in my class was in awe. The desire and drive has come and gone over the years but then I did NanoWrimo 2006. I did not make 50K but I actually finished a story. It was huge for me. I won 2007 but got bogged down in editing and let it fall by the wayside. 2008 was a train wreck. And this year has been an epiphany.

I feel more like who I want to be personally when I am writing. I am happier, I feel motivated and excited, I accomplish great things, and I enjoy it even when I'm discouraged.

I think I can officially say I am a writer for life.