Category Archives: NaNoWriMo

Writing on the go

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November is one of those months when I find myself wanting to write away from home more and more. For one thing, participating in NaNoWriMo means that I need all the writing time I can get. It’s not just that though. It’s the cold and gray I think as well. I just get the itch to go somewhere else.

So, how do you keep up with your writing when you’re on the move?

Don’t forget the old standby, pen and paper. Whether it’s a moleskine, a nice notebook or journal or something you pick up from a Dollar Store. This is a cheap and handy solution. The only problem I have with this is that I need to type it into the computer at some point. One year I did a lot of my NaNo novel this way, and my husband was nice enough to play secretary!

Almost as cheap, but higher tech, is a USB thumb drive. If you’re not sure what I mean, check out this froogle search. It’s simply a storage device that plugs in to your USB drive on your computer. This is easier for me than carrying a laptop. I attach one of these to my keyring, and anywhere I am, I can plug in to a computer and write. And since I’m saving directly to the USB drive, I don’t have to worry about uploading and downloading my files. This works great if you’re working on a computer that isn’t yours (library, office, etc.). Of course, the catch is that you need access to a computer (obviously).

A laptop is an obvious choice, and I was lucky enough to get one of the new Dell Minis.  It’s small enough to fit nicely into a zip up Bible cover!The keyboard takes a little getting used to, but after about an hour with the typing tutorial included (I got the Ubuntu version of the Mini), I was fine. Battery power is great, screen size is good and the brightness is great. It’s a wonderful little writing laptop. The one thing you might want to know before buying is that the ‘ and ” keys are in a wonky spot. Rather than relearn where they are, I simply replace them with > and << >>. Then a simple search and replace fixes all my apostrophes and quotes.

I’m almost tempted to say that this is a “woman’s” laptop because of the size of the keyboard. While I can type on it comfortably, my husband finds it almost impossible to use. His hands are pretty large, even for a man, so that’s something to keep in mind.

I’ve been able to write on the Mini for a couple hours at a time without having any problems with my hands tiring…well no more than usual. I think my speed suffers a little, but I’m a pretty fast typist. I hit around 90 wpm, but on the mini I’m probably getting 70-75 wpm. Still, that’s not too shabby, and I’m willing to take the hit in speed to get the convenience of a laptop that’s so small and light. Besides, it looks very cool too. (I’ll post some pics of it in action this week).

What kinds of things do you do to write while you’re away from home?

Dust off those novels!

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It’s that time of year again, and to be honest, I almost FORGOT. That tells you just how busy (and preoccupied) I’ve been.

March is NaNoEdMo. That’s National Novel Editing Month.

If you participated in NaNoWriMo in November or just have a novel in a drawer that needs work, then consider signing up. The rules are pretty simple: spend 50 hours in March editing your novel. If you have more questions, then go here.

I think editing is much more difficult than writing the rough draft, and having some motivation to put butt in chair and pen in hand every day is a good thing. I’ll be participating this year, and we’ll see what we get by the end of March.

If anyone else is interested, post a comment here. My username is jkay on the site, so look me up!

Edited to add:

Here are a few tips to get started…

  • If you like to work from paper, then print your novel now.
  • Buy whatever pens, sticky-notes or other supplies you’ll need.
  • Clean off your desk or work-space.
  • If the novel is unfinished, spend the next couple weeks writing. If you can’t finish it, at least jot down some scene ideas so you know where things are going and how it will end.
  • Make a list of your characters with name, age, description and a few crucial notes. This is especially helpful if the novel has sat untouched for a while.
  • Make a one page outline of major scenes so you can see where the plot is going and decide what needs to be changed.
  • Talk to your family about delegating some work next month. You’ll need almost 2 hours a day to make the goal, so think where you can get that time now.
  • Practice getting up earlier if you plan to do that to get more writing time.
  • Consider having lunch at your desk and getting some editing time there if that’s do-able where you work.
  • Have fun with it! Spend some time socializing with your fellow writers as well; don’t forget that this is meant to be enjoyable.

NaNo Postmortem

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Well, I didn’t make 50,00 words this year, and surprisingly, I’m not really upset about it.

For one thing, I’ve got a pretty decent novel underway. I’m happy with it, all 30k or so words. Here’s my take on how things went and what worked (and what didn’t).

  1. I went back and did some serious rewriting about a week in. That lost me two or three days and about six thousand words. However, it also made the novel a lot better.
  2. I re-read the previous day’s work and did some minor edits along the way. It helped me get back in the “flow,” but overall, it was probably a waste of time.
  3. I just didn’t spend as much time this year writing. I missed a few days entirely, and with a goal of almost two thousand words a day, you can fall behind very quickly.
  4. I followed an outline, for about a week. Then, I realized there were problems and re-worked the whole thing. I’ve done the first 30,000 without an outline, but now I’m finding that I need one.

I do have something else going on that’s taking a lot of my time and attention, so I’ve been lax on writing and blogging. I’m not quite ready to talk about what’s going on, but maybe soon!

I should be back to a normal posting schedule now. So, please stick around. I have some interesting posts and changes to the site scheduled for December.

Gloom, Doom and Despair

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Ah, the dreaded NaNo update.

With five days to go (including today!), I’m sitting at just about the half-way point. Will I finish? Even I have to be realistic and say that it’s going to be tough, but I’m still plugging along. I spent about two days reworking a big change in the novel, and that cost me time and word count. Yes, I know I’ve said a zillion times that’s a bad idea, but I just couldn’t resist this time.

The good news is, the novel is coming along very well. It’s roughly plotted, so I have a notion of where I’m going with it. While I think that’s made it tighter, I have to wonder if that’s slowed me down a bit as well. Still, I’m going to try to hit 50,000 by Friday night. This is my fourth year doing NaNo, and I don’t want it to be the first one I didn’t finish.

How are your novels going? Anyone hit 50,000 yet?

Plot, Write, Re-Plot…

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I’m still plugging away on my NaNo novel. Something has happened that, frankly, I halfway expected. Although I had a scene outline coming in the NaNo, the novel has strayed quite a bit off track.

What do you do when the novel (or the characters) have a mind of their own? For me, the answer is to allow them to “have their head” so to speak. So, I’m making progress on the novel, but I have no outline to speak of. Although I’m concerned about making my word count, I’m more concerned with writing another novel that needs a complete rewrite (like last year!).

So… I’m going to take tomorrow night of from writing and spend the night re-plotting instead. Yes, that will put me behind, and I’m already a bit behind where I really wanted to be. However, I think it will be worth it.

Anyone else facing something similar?

Also, just to let everyone know that my short story, The Betrayed, will be appearing in a few months in Bewildering Stories. I’ll put up a link as soon as I have it.

National Novel Writing Month: Week Two

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For me, week two is a little less fun than week one. By this time, the novel starts feeling like real work, but it’s still going well. I’m usually a bit ahead on my word count, and things are coming along smoothly.

All the tips for week one still apply, of course, but I have a few extra as well.

  1. It’s easy to start losing momentum during week two. Maybe you decide to take a night off, or you don’t make your count a couple days in a row. Remember that week three is usually tougher, so do everything you can now to keep the words coming.
  2. Getting to know some of the people on the NaNo forums can be helpful, but it’s very tempting to spend too much time there. Limit your forum time to only AFTER you’ve gotten your word count for the day.
  3. Week two is when I start to have plot problems. Maybe a character goes her own way or disappears entirely. I’ve written someone into a corner and have no idea what to do. If you’re stuck on a plot issue, then feel free to skip it and work it out later.
  4. Here’s another trick I use for finding out what happens next. Step one, list your character’s three major personality traits. Next, list the traits OPPOSITE those. Finally, have your character react as if he possesses those opposite traits. Often real people do things that are out of character, so why not?

How is it going? Post a note below to let everyone know how you’re progressing.

NaNo Poll Results

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First off, the poll results I promised

  1. Everyone plans to continue blogging during NaNo
  2. About half of you plan to stick to your posting frequency, about half plan to reduce frequency or length
  3. Only 2/5 have stockpiled posts for November.
  4. For those who have written ahead, about five posts seems to be the common answer.
  5. Finally, everyone plans on blogging about NaNo to some extent.

Thanks to the participants!

Here to Create

Write Stuff

Adding Chaos to the World

Diary of a Network Geek 

Independent Stitch

LJ Maggie 

My NaNo update:

My word count is 7043, and I wanted it to be 10,000-12,000 by now.

I’m not where I want to be in terms of word count, but a lot of personal things (good things!) have been going on lately, so I’ve been distracted. I’m hoping to catch up in the next few days. My knitting is suffering horribly, and I’ve been thinking that I can’t even remember my last knitting post. I promise some pics soon! I have several cool things on the needles… if I can just get time to knit.

National Novel Writing Month: Week One

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Okay, you’ve started the novel. Maybe you’re already making great headway. Your word count may even be ahead of schedule. Kudos!

This is my fourth year of NaNo, so I feel a little bit qualified to give some tips on how to make it through the month.

Week one is exciting, even exhilarating. You’re writing a NOVEL, and it feels fantastic.

  1. Take advantage of that excitement, and do all the writing you can. Exceed your word count every day if you can. When you get a great idea for later, jot it down.
  2. Don’t start thinking the entire month will be this easy. Believe me, it won’t be.
  3. The whole month won’t be as fun as week one either, but don’t let that bother you. You’ll have days when you hate NaNo and wonder why you ever had such a phenomenally stupid idea. That’ll pass too. Keep writing.
  4. If you’re floundering in week one, all is not lost. Everyone hits their stride at a different point; you’re just a “late bloomer.” Keep writing.
  5. Resist the urge to edit! You’re ahead on your word count, things are looking great, so you’ll just rewrite that one scene…. Don’t do it! Before you know it, you’ll be caught in rewrite hell and your word count will be stuck.

Succeeding at NaNo is as much about hard work and perseverance as it is creativity, but then again, so is writing in general! Stick with it, and post your tips for making it below.

Five (more) blog posts for November

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Read the first entry in this series, blog posts for November.

As promised, here are five more ideas for blog posts that will help you get through NaNo unscathed.

1. Look to your archives.  Choose one of your older posts and revamp it somehow. Don’t forget to link to it!

2. Head over to the NaNo Forums.  There are plenty of topics under discussion. Answer something, add to the discussion, etc. Don’t forget to post a link to your post. However, do this sparingly or you’ll come off as trying to milk their site for traffic!

3. Respond to others’ posts. Take just a few minutes (really, a few!!) and browse through some posts in your RSS feed. Write a note about those and link to them.

4. Post some photos. Everyone enjoys looking at pictures, and most of us have quite a few stashed away somewhere. Post a few on your blog.

5. Ask your readers a question. Ask for input on the blog, what they’re doing, etc. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, ask them to talk about their holiday plans or tell a favorite family story.