Nanowrimo #Fail (I blame you, Larry Brooks.)

I will not be crossing the Nanowrimo finish line tomorrow.

I have failed – utterly – to get 50,000 words of my novel cranked out in 30 days.

I blame Larry Brooks.

.

.

.

.

.

You see, a year or so ago, fellow Live to Write – Write to Live blogger, Wendy, introduced me to Brooks’ work on the theory of story structure. As I dug into his content – rich blog posts, in-depth ebooks, and honest-to-goodness print books (joy!) – my interest blossomed from merely curious to fanatically infatuated. I unleashed my inner student with her armory of colored pens and highlighters and dove into Story Engineering with gusto and gratitude. I made notes, underlined everything, and drew diagrams.

I cannot recommend Brooks’ work enough.

Reading his explanation of what makes a story tick was like learning the secret behind a mind-blowing magic trick. Once I’d seen it, it made such sense. It was inspiring. It made me want to try my own hand at creating a little magic. Real magic.

As November approached, I got the crazy idea to give Nanowrimo another go (I’d “won” in 2009, but skipped out in 2010 and 2011.). Despite being super busy, I was invigorated by the thought of creating a strong outline based on what I’d learned from Brooks. This year, instead of blindly hacking out 50,000 words of crap, I would invest my time in creating a halfway decent first draft with a strong underlying structure – something with real possibilities. I wanted something I would actually want to polish instead of, like my 2009 “novel” (and I use the term ever so loosely), something I would bury in a never-visited archive folder deep in the labyrinth of my computer’s hard drive.

I was pumped. I was tingling. I was bursting with ideas.

And then, life happened.

My uncharacteristically open work schedule suddenly filled back up to its usual full capacity and all the October hours I’d gleefully allocated to story planning were sucked up by urgent client projects. No matter, I thought optimistically, I’ll just plan on-the-fly. It’ll still work.

But, it didn’t.

I couldn’t take the pressure of trying to plan my book out so quickly. I wanted time to let the idea germinate and develop. I wanted time to play with variations on the theme and a variety of possible story threads. When November 1^st arrived and I was still without a plan, I found myself face-to-face with some major resistance. Though I did some work on character and location sketches, sample prologues, and a few opening scenes, I didn’t want to write.

I didn’t want to write.

It’s not that I couldn’t. I could have followed my 2009 playbook and just rambled away with no idea of where I was going (or why). I could have written random scenes and hoped that I might eventually someday stitch them together into a semblance of a story. I could have done a whole freeform thing and not cared one whit about the end result.

But I’d grown beyond that. I’d seen the truth behind the trick and I couldn’t unsee it.

“Play” writing has its merits – it can free your muse, tickle your fancy, turn expectations on their heads to reveal striking new plot insights and concept perspective. It can serve as a roundabout way to brainstorm a story. It can unearth important personal discoveries that contribute to the veracity and depth of your work.

What it won’t deliver (unless you are a massively gifted and highly experienced virtuoso) is a well-structured story that hits every mark in terms of concept, character, theme, story structure, scene execution, and writing voice  - Brooks’ “six core competencies” of the story craft.

I knew that without a plan (or the brain of, say, Stephen King), I wouldn’t be able to create the kind of story Brooks’ work had inspired me to write. I knew that even if I managed to get 50,000 words down most of them would never again appear on my screen, let alone be read by another human being. Though I hated to do it, I laid down my pen. It wasn’t an easy decision. I am not a quitter. But, in the end, I decided that my time would be better spent continuing to work on the bones of my story. Like a sorceress creating a creature from dust and light, I knew I had to start with the bones and build out from there. It was the only way.

So my Nanowrimo dreams for 2012 met a premature end.

And I’m okay with that.

In fact, I’d like to thank Mr. Brooks.

I may not have written 50,000 words in November, but because of what I’ve learned from him I know that the next 50,000 words I write will have a much higher chance of becoming part of a publishable manuscript.

I’m definitely okay with that.

What are your thoughts on plotting (designing your story based on a framework like Brooks’) vs. pantsing (relying entirely on your muse to drive the story as you write it)?  If you did Nanowrimo, did you have a plan going in, or just wing it? How’d that work out for you?

P.S. I offer my most sincere and heartfelt congratulations to everyone who successfully crosses the Nanowrimo finish line this year (especially to my fellow Live to Write – Write to Live bloggers – Wendy and (hopefully!) Deborah. Way to go, girls!).

Jamie Lee Wallace is a writer who also happens to be a marketer. She helps her Suddenly Marketing clients discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time). Introduce yourself on facebook or twitter. She doesn’t bite … usually.

Read Full Post »

Winning at NaNoWriMo

          It’s November twenty-seventh, meaning including today there are just four more days to finish the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing a 50,000-word novel in one short month. As of this morning, I’m at 42,452, so it’s nip-and-tuck whether I’ll cross the finish line in time, but in my view, I’ve already won.

When I first heard of Nanowrimo a few years ago, I thought it was for amateurs. Then this year, I signed up because I needed a push. I got just what I asked for: incentive to sit at my desk and write daily, advancing the novel I’ve been working on for years.

What I’ve written isn’t a novel yet, but it’s part of a wonderful first draft that resembles a slightly overweight, middle-aged woman: blousy and untucked, hem crooked, lipstick wearing off, a bit florid in the face. Roots visible. Flabby, untoned, maybe even intoxicated, certainly out of breath – and very, very happy. At least I am.

What I have now is a fabulous mess. Oh, it started out a bit more controlled, just as I started out ahead of the curve, writing 2,000 words/day at the start of the month. But I knew what was coming: a trip that took me out-of-town for a week, followed by a week of preparing and celebrating Thanksgiving with a dozen house guests.

Given these major distractions, it’s no wonder I fell behind. But I didn’t give up. And that’s the magic.

So whether I cross the 50,000-word finish line this Friday or not, I consider myself a winner, big-time. Here’s a partial list of my prizes:

• The knowledge that I can write fast when I need to;
• I can write early in the morning, before the house wakes;
• I can write at the airport, while waiting for my plane;
• I can write in bed, before sleep, if I have to.
• I can mark places in the text that I’ll have to go back to and check facts later – and not stop to do research (i.e. procrastinate).
• I can spill ink, blood, sweat and tears on the page without worry,
• Because I’ll have plenty of time to clean up the draft as I rewrite it
• Again
• And again.

If my nano-novel is like a blousy woman, then that makes me a personal trainer who’s looking forward to the next phase, after the rough draft is finished. That’s when I’ll work her hard to get her into shape. I’ll help her lose words, tighten her prose, improve the condition of her characters, take hours off her plot, and make her something to look at.

Did you attempt Nanowrimo this month? If so, what did you learn about yourself as a writer?

Deborah Lee Luskin is a novelist, essayist and educator. Listen to her Vermont Public Radio broadcast about NaNoWriMo here. Learn more at www.deborahleeluskin.com

Read Full Post »

Must. Stop. The Voices. Nanowrimo internal dialog

There are anti-nanowrimo voices in my head.

Their chattering is a consistent and slightly ominous low murmur until I sit down to write. When I sit down at the computer with intentions to “crank” out however many words I’ve fallen behind, the volume of their commentary rises from a whisper to a ruckus to a veritable keening.

It’s not pretty.

There are three conversations in my head: one that’s designed to distract me from the task at hand; one that’s hell-bent on convincing me that I have no business writing anything, let alone a novel; and a third one that wants to edit, edit, edit until the proverbial cows come home.

So, while I’m trying to craft a single, salvageable sentence, my lovely and charming mind is doing this:

Distraction Mind:

• Maybe I should double-check and make sure that Carbonite is actually backing up my Scrivener files. Does it do that automatically? Perhaps there’s a help file I should check or a help desk I can call.
• Maybe I should visit the Nano forums. That’s half the fun, right? Why do Nano if not for the camaraderie?
• I should really find a new conditioner. This one leaves my hair all limp and tangled.
• My Q3 quarterly taxes are overdue.
• Are my favorite jeans clean?
• I need a break. I’m going to Facebook for some LOL cats.
• If I don’t email that client back, she’s going to be pissed …
• I’m hungry. I can’t write on an empty stomach – maybe just a spot of toast and tea …
• I should start my Christmas shopping soon.
• The cat’s shaking her head. I should clean her ears.
• I wonder if I should work on that other story …

Inner Critic:

• You are so far behind. You’ll never make it. May as well give up now.
• These other people are Real Writers. You’re a fraud. I bet they’re all tons better than you.
• You can’t tell this story. Are you kidding? You can’t even tell a simple joke!
• This is all a waste of time.
• You’ll never get published.
• That thing you just wrote? It makes NO SENSE. No one would ever believe that. Stupid. Rubbish.
• Do you even KNOW who your character is? I didn’t think so. Hack.
• What made you think you should write anyway? This is probably all a big mistake. Definitely.
• Why am I doing this again?
• It doesn’t really matter if I win or lose … won’t make a difference either way.
• You’re vain. SO much going on in the world today and all you care about is writing a crappy book? Lame.

Eternal Editor:

• If today is the 14th, that’s 14 days times 1,667 words per day = 23,338 words … so, if I’ve only written 12, 342 that means I’m 10,996 behind … which means … oh, crap.
• Spellcheck will only take a minute …
• Where’s my thesaurus?
• What’s the name for those things that girl put in my drink … is it a “tincture?” Where can I look that up? Maybe I should be a bartender.
• I should set up a reference chart and some character profile sheets and make a map and draw the interior …
• Should that be a comma, or a semi-colon?
• Does this make any sense in terms of story structure?

… you get the idea.

I’ve lost my Nanowrimo Zen. I need to get back to beginner mind. I need to wipe the slate clean, surf the waves of blissful ignorance, and just write – damn it!

My first Nano back in 2009 was a wild ride of I-don’t-care-what-this-is. I had no plot and no problem writing anything and everything – just to get the words down. This year, I’m much more hung up on wanting something that I can actually turn into a viable manuscript. I believe in the idea and don’t want to muck it up. Unfortunately, that fear is paralyzing me and sucking all the fun out of my Nano experience. I need to step away from my expectations and get back to being in the moment and not trying to ensure any particular outcome.

If you’re doing Nano, how are you faring? Are you having any of these conversations in your head? How are you getting your internal voices to shut the hell up so you can get back to work? Are you ahead of the Nano schedule? Behind? Thinking about giving up? What’s happening in your world?

Image Credit: Kaptain Kobold

Read Full Post »

Progress Report

Rather than wait until New Year’s Eve, when it’s too late to do anything about the year’s unmet goals, I took stock at the end of October. Despite grand ideas of writing a poem a week this year, I haven’t.

In fact, I forgot about that resolution until I reviewed my posts for this year. I’m not beating myself up about it, either. It’s a good exercise and a great goal. Maybe I’ll try again next year, even join a poetry group for guidance and support.

The single most important task I set myself in 2012 was to write one, complete, messy, first draft of a novel. To my credit, I’ve been consistently tunneling my way through two decades of notes. I’ve hit dead ends several times, most notably in August, when I deleted nearly two-hundred pages and started over (again).

Since then, I’ve been writing faster, with more confidence and more clarity, and I’d finished three chapters – almost 30,000 words – by Halloween. But I could see this still wouldn’t get me to The End by December thirty-first, and I knew I could write faster – if properly motivated. I needed something to nudge me to write with less fear and more abandon. As a reader of this blog as well as a contributor, the answer became clear: sign up for Nanowrimo. I did.

I put the 30,000 words of the first three chapters aside and restarted my word count with Chapter Four on the first of November. My goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of the month, which will leave me about another 20,000 to write by Christmas. If the draft is finished by then, I can put it aside to ferment over the holidays, when my family will be home.

Nanowrimo is more fun than I ever imagined, even though I’ve not taken advantage of any of its social offerings. I simply love viewing the bar graph at the end of the day, when I clock my word-count and see how I’m doing. It’s like having a boss who’s holding me accountable in a way I’ve not been able to by myself.

Nanowrimo has also helped me give up tight control, which has little place in a first draft. In order to pound out two thousand words daily, I’m writing a little more wildly than I had been before, and this is okay. There are eleven other months in a year to chisel away and give the story the shape and polish I aim for. Right now, I’m delighting in simply writing. And I’m pleased to think that I’m again on track to reaching the goal I set at the start of the year.

The point here isn’t about Nanowrimo – that’s just a tool I’m finding helpful in meeting a larger goal. What I’m so proud of is that I haven’t given up because I might not meet my goal. Even if I don’t “finish” by the end of December, I’m going to end the year trying.

How are you progressing toward the goals you set for this year?

Deborah Lee Luskin is a novelist, essayist and educator. She lives in southern Vermont. Learn more at www.deborahleeluskin.com

Read Full Post »

The Everywhen

We’re a week into National Novel Writing Month (NaNo), and I’m way behind. I have written in my calendar on November 10^th: “16,667 words” because that’s a third of the way through the month and a third of the word count required to “win” Nano. It’s now November 7^th and I’ve only written 5000 words.

But you know what? I’m not worried.

I’m a little freaked out that I’m not freaked out.

The last time I did NaNo, I worried about it every day—even the days I had blocked out as non-writing days.

This time, I have this weird feeling that I’ve already won. I don’t mean I’m delusional, I just know that I’m going to win NaNo. It’s a done deal. By November 30^th, I’ll have 50,000 words written.

With that knowledge, I’ve taken time to write when I would normally be doing other things, but I’ve also made the decision not to write (for NaNo) at certain times. Like now.

Knowing I’m going to win NaNo has not made me “lazy” about it, I just don’t have the anxiety that I’ve had in the past over completing almost any task or goal.

This is a shift that I’ve noticed in my entire life, not just in my writing life.

For example, right now, my husband and I are actively trying to get out of debt. When I saw that a Vitamix blender I’d love to have cost hundreds of dollars, I realized it wasn’t in my current budget. But I didn’t feel deprived because I know I’ll have it one day. It feels like I already do. It’s just in a closet in my future, waiting for me to go get it.

One of my greatest teachers, Martha Beck, talks about “the everywhen.” That’s how many ancient cultures think of time, rather than time as a linear construct. Albert Einstein has said: “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

I know I’ve taken us off to the land of woo-woo here, but I find this whole concept very helpful. If my NaNo novel is a part of the “everywhen,” any steps I take in the present moment can’t help but lead me to my (future) win. Therefore, I can take steps from a place of peace and joy, rather than anxiety and tension—which is how I felt in 2008 when I was afraid, all November long, that I wasn’t going to finish my 50,000 words.

This time around, I’m working from a place of peace and confidence, and keeping the tension and anxiety on the page, where it belongs.

It’s like I’ve answered the question: “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” I’d win NaNo, that’s what!

If you knew your writing goal was already achieved in your “everywhen,” how differently might you approach your current project?

Diane MacKinnon, MD, is a writer, a life coach, a mother, and a physician. She is currently working on her second Nano novel and hoping to connect with other NH wrimo’s at a write-in on November 24th at Rodger’s Memorial Library in Hudson, NH. For more information about the write-in, please click here.

Read Full Post »

Eeny-meeny-miny-Nano

Welcome to November, known to writers around the world as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This is the month when somewhere close to 300,000 over-caffeinated aspiring novelists put their normal lives on the back burner and crank out 50,000 words each in the 30 days between Nov 1st and Nov 30th. It’s an insane and exhilarating experience that’s been happening since 1999 when freelance writer Chris Baty founded the event with some other crazy writer friends.

My first Nanowrimo was in 2009. I completed the challenge, cranking out 50,000 words of crap before midnight on November 30th. I wasn’t disappointed that the event didn’t deliver a product I could work on editing and eventually submit somewhere. That wasn’t the point. For me, the point was about seeing if I could actually write that many words in so few days, AND if I could get over my Type-A self and just write, damn it!

In 2010, though part of me longed to go for a repeat victory, I decided not to participate in Nanowrimo. I wrote a post explaining why I had to bail on Nano that year. In 2011, I avoided the question completely by pretending ignorance of the event.

Now it’s 2012, and I’ve decided to make a run at Nano’s brass ring for a second time. I feel slightly more prepared this time (I have an idea and some characters and I have also just finished reading the section on structure in Larry Brooks’ excellent book, Story Engineering (more on that later). I’m about to brush up on Scrivener and give that a trial run. I am also completely prepared to abandon all my plans and just write ANYTHING to reach my 50,000 words. I’m in a good place.

Before I start to tune out the rest of the world, however … I’m curious to know how many of you are also participating, have participated in the past, or might participate in the future.

Note: Nano starts TODAY – Nov 1st – and it’s NEVER to late to join up and start hammering those keys!

If you’re still unsure, check out all the great resources and pep talks on nanowrimo.org. I also recommend Ali Luke’s post, 4 Reasons You Should do NaNoWriMo … and 4 Reasons You Shouldn’t. 

Do you have Nanowrimo stories to share? How about a pep talk for your fellow writers? Any final words of advice? Give it all up in the comments.  

Jamie Lee Wallace is a writer who also happens to be a marketer. She helps her Suddenly Marketing clients discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time). Introduce yourself on facebook or twitter. She doesn’t bite … usually.

Read Full Post »

Dialogue With The Internal Editor

Lisa Jackson recently wrote about  Shutting Off The Internal Editor For 30 Days by participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, or NaNo, for short).

You’d think NaNo’s built-in time pressure would be a good enough reason for my internal editor to become silent, but the rule-following librarian that lives in my head seems to be able to keep on talking, no matter what. The last time I did NaNo (in 2008), it took me three hours to get my daily word count done on November 1^st.

While I did get faster over the month, I don’t have that kind of time these days. Last time I did NaNo, I had no children at home. Now I have a toddler to chase after and when he goes to bed, I’m ready to go, too. And those precious early morning hours I used to take for granted are now filled with cars, trucks, pancakes, and battles over teeth-brushing and socks.

So I’ve figured out another way to quiet my nemesis: I’ve been dialoguing with her.

Here’s how you can do it, too.

Exercise: Dialogue with the Internal Editor (adapted from an exercise in Lifelines, by Christina Baldwin)

1. Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the center.
2. The left-hand column is for your writer self. The right-hand column is for your internal editor.
3. Write “I want to write without editing” in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column, write “You need to edit as you go.”
4. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and then write your (writer’s self) response to your internal editor’s first statement. Once you’ve done that, see what your internal editor’s response is. Keep going until you get to a turning point.
5. If you feel stalled, re-write the original two sentences and start over. Or just keep responding “You can’t make me edit as I go” in the left-hand column. Eventually, the response will change.
6. Keep writing until the dialogue feels complete.
7. Repeat daily or as often as feels helpful.

The first time I did this exercise, last week, I did a lot of repetition of “You can’t make me.” It was all very juvenile. But then something shifted. I got to a place where the response to “You can’t make me,” was  a list of conditions:

• Don’t show the first draft to anyone.
• Don’t throw anything out.
• Don’t get hurt.

Don’t get hurt? Where did that come from?

It turns out my internal editor, like my inner critic, is all about safety. Unfortunately, she doesn’t understand that safety is not worth my soul—but I do. Once I got to this point in the dialogue, everything changed.

My writer self was able to reassure my internal editor.

The next time I did this exercise, I got to the heart of the dialogue much faster. By November 1^st, my internal editor and I should be in sync—at least until December 1^st.

How do you deal with your internal editor?

Diane MacKinnon, MD, is currently a full-time mother, part-time life coach. She is a Master Certified Life Coach, trained by Martha Beck, among others. She is passionate about her son, her writing, and using her mind to create a wonderful present moment.  Find her life coaching blog at www.dianemackinnon.com/blog.

Read Full Post »

Shutting off the internal editor for 30 days

Oops, I did it again! Signed up for National Novel Writing Month, that is. How could I not? It’s addictive knowing I can get 50,000 words down in 30 days.

I’m an official ‘participant,’ and on or before December 1, I plan to be an official ‘winner’ for 2012.

If you have any inkling at all about wanting to get a story out of your head and onto the page, I recommend NaNoWriMo. Even if that dark voice in your head starts whispering things like:

• You don’t have the time
• You’re already over worked
• You haven’t found time all year for your writing so what makes you think now will work?
• Ha! You think you have a good enough idea for a novel?
• There’s a long holiday weekend in November and you have to cook, clean, travel, visit, watch football, or be a couch potato.

What I love about participating in NaNoWriMo is shutting up that dark voice – and I bet you can turn off your internal editor, too.

I visualize my ‘dark voice’ as a yard gnome (I have nothing against yard gnomes in the real world), and stomping it with a large boot. But like the googly-eyed talking Twinkies, er, minions in the movie Despicable Me, (or the upcoming Despicable Me 2) my imaginary yard gnome doesn’t shut up, no matter what I try — EXCEPT during November.

In November, there’s some type of force field that separates me from the dark voice in my head when I’m writing fiction. And I think it works for a lot of other writers, too.

This is directly from http://www.nanowrimo.org:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000-word (approximately 175-page) novel by 11:59:59 PM on November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

NaNoWriMo is free and you can be as involved as you want with other Wrimos (the name given to other, um, crazy people who have signed up) in your area or online.

You can try “word wars” where people agree to start writing at a certain time (top of the hour, quarter past, half past, etc.) and for a certain length of time (15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.) At the end of that time period, post your total words, and see how you compare to other writers. Competition can really kick those endorphins into high gear.

Honestly, there is just a feeling of freedom knowing that the internal voice has no power and that the words can flow onto the page. Editing can start in December, but for November, how about joining me in getting at least 50,000 words down?

Lisa J. Jackson is a New England-region journalist and a year-round chocolate and iced coffee lover. She loves working with words, and helping others with their own. As Lisa Haselton, she writes fiction, co-blogs about mystery-related writing topics at Pen, Ink, and Crimes, has an award-winning blog for book reviews and author interviews, and is a chat moderator at The Writer’s Chatroom. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

Read Full Post »

To Lie Fallow

Fallow: –adj, 1. (of land) left unseeded after being ploughed and harrowed to regain fertility for a crop. 2. (of an idea, state of mind, etc) undeveloped or inactive, but potentially useful.

It took me a few different dictionaries to find this particular definition of fallow. The first few definitions I read mentioned fallow as “left unseeded” but didn’t mention the part about “to gain fertility for a crop.” That’s the most important part, to my mind.

There are times in our lives as artists that we put out a lot of content or product. Times when our energy is high and we create and create.

Then there are times when we must lie fallow. Not because we are lazy or uninspired, but because we must “regain fertility” in order to create again.

For the past few months, I’ve been in a very creative place. I’ve written an e-book for blended families that I’ve been thinking about for years, I’ve created and delivered teleclasses and in-person classes, I’ve blogged and journaled and created an outline for a nonfiction book I want to write.

When I was on vacation last week, I fully expected my creative output to continue. My son and I were alone together in a comfortable rented house and I expected to enjoy being outside with him (we were near the beach) and I expected to work on my creative projects when he was sleeping.

But that’s not what happened. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel like doing anything. When my son napped the first day of our vacation, I cleaned the kitchen, then started prepping food for dinner. That’s when I noticed that I didn’t feel like writing.

That never happens!

Rather than berate myself for my lack of motivation, I just observed. I asked myself what I wanted to do.

For a day or so, the answer was, “Watch TV.” I went with it: I saw an episode of The X Factor, which I’d never seen before but totally enjoyed. I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, listening to all these hopeful young people singing their hearts out.

On Wednesday, I didn’t feel like watching TV anymore. I wanted to read. And journal. So I did.

By now it had occurred to me that perhaps I needed a little downtime. The word “fallow” popped into my head and it seemed to describe how I was feeling. I remembered the times I’ve run a marathon: I don’t usually run for a few weeks after I finish. I “lie fallow” for a while before I get itchy to start running again.

The same thing happened with my writing. On the very last day of my fun and relaxed vacation, an idea for a novel popped into my head so vividly that I grabbed my iPod and recorded about 5 minutes worth of material without stopping.

Now I have a story to write when NaNo begins. I can hardly wait!

How do you feel about your fallow times?

Diane MacKinnon, MD, is currently a full-time mother, part-time life coach. She is a Master Certified Life Coach, trained by Martha Beck, among others. She is passionate about her son, her writing, and using her mind to create a wonderful present moment.  Find her life coaching blog at http://www.dianemackinnon.com/blog.

Read Full Post »

NaNoWriMo 2011 complete, but not done

This is a nice follow-on to Lee’s post yesterday about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

I’ve done NaNo several times before, not always completing, like last year, but I have ‘won’ a few, like this year.  

One year my goal was the 1,667 words per day for 30 days. I didn’t always achieve the total, but was able to make up for one day’s shortfall the next day, usually.

Another year, I wrote as much as I could when I had a couple free hours, that might have been the year I wrote 25,000 words over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

I’ve finished well before the midnight November 30 deadline, and sometimes not that much before the deadline.

A few years ago, I discovered “word wars.” It’s a fun and wonderful way to get some words on the page. It’s an online (like all of NaNo is) competition between 2 or more people. It was as simple as going to the Word War thread and adding a post “I’m going to do a 20 minute sprint at the top of the hour (“:00″). Who’s in?”

Or I could say “:15″ or “:30″ or “:45″ – to show what time I was starting. Since NaNo is international, using the minutes to indicate the hour was all that was necessary.

So at whatever the designated time, writers would set a timer, write until the timer went off, and then post their total words to the thread. And like all of NaNo, it’s all on the honor system. It was a thrill – whether I had the highest word count for the sprint or not. The thrill was knowing there were others out there typing at the same time.

Those word wars that year got me where I needed to be. There are even word wars between states and regions now. It’s a lot of fun all around. I didn’t commit to any word wars this year, but I used the concept to get my novel written.

My novel started out as a humorous type tentatively titled “New Hampshire: Yes, We Still Have Four Seasons”. It turned out to be something I’m currently calling “How to Beat Procrastination with a Very Large (Invisible) Stick and Only a Little Bit Screaming.”

I may have written 50,000+ words on it, but it’s just starting to come together. I have a lot more writing to do and then the editing will begin.

Oh, I have to mention that I didn’t start the novel until about 3 p.m. on Black Friday. I finished by 10 p.m. on Monday. Less than 4 days. I didn’t start on Friday with that intense goal, trust me.

I decided to write in 30-minute increments. I used a timer, started it, typed until the timer went off, then took a break. Sometimes I could do 2 or 3 sprints at one sitting and then get up for a stretch, and sometimes I paused at 15 minutes, but I did all 50,000 words in 30-minute timed increments, except for 2 untimed sessions.

In the past, I’ve used Microsoft Word for my novels, this time I saw that Scrivener was available as a trial for PC, so I downloaded it. They are having a 50% discount for NaNo 2011 winners and I’m going to take advantage of the discount to purchase the software.

I hadn’t been able to use Scrivener before now, since I’m not a Mac person (I hear a lot of gasps from readers), but I’ve seen other writers use it and it’s an incredible way to organize a novel.

Seeing the discount for NaNo winners was a main motivator for me to ‘win’ NaNo this year. I admit it.

My official NaNoWriMo 2011 word count is 50,255. 30-minute writing sprints are soon going to be a part of every day.

NaNo can be addictive and more and more writers are finding they can’t wait for each November to roll around. So, there are now numerous artistic challenges out there for writers.

If you completed NaNo this year, or any past year, what was your strategy?

*****

About Lisa Jackson

 Lisa Jackson is an independent editor, writer, journalist, and chocolate and iced coffee lover. She writes fiction as Lisa Haselton, has an award-winning blog for book reviews and author interviews, and is on the staff of The Writer’s Chatroom where she gets to chat with best-selling authors, non-fiction writers, publishers, and other writing professionals on a weekly basis.

Read Full Post »