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Category Archives: NaNoWriMo


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Welcome to the Crazy that we Call November

tumblr_mctpaoujxl1qk32z8o1_500The trick-or-treaters are all gone, and only a few candy wrappers were blowing around the empty street this morning. I’m debating whether to put away the Halloween decorations today or wait until Monday. It seems like they should stay up through the weekend. I even hit the half price section of my major discount retailer this morning for a few strands of orange lights and a three foot tall monster yard decoration. Oh, and a couple of bags of half price candy. We ran out last night and I’m a candy addict, I admit it.39677b717efbbcd1367b367cb27c2f6c

So now that another holiday is officially in the books, the craziness that is November begins. We start the month with the vestiges of Halloween, and the candy and mess (think rotting pumpkins) it leaves behind. As soon as we get that all put away, we turn our attention to Thanksgiving. Who will be coming over, what dishes should we serve? And if you live at my house, how shall we prepare the turkey? Fried, smoked, or roasted? Decisions, decisions. Then, the day after that’s all done, as we’re enjoying leftovers, we turn our attention to Christmas. Up goes the tree, and out go the crazy black Friday shoppers. No offense, but I enjoy sleep way too much to get up in the middle of the night to fight crowds and spend money. No, thank you.

Mix into all of that a little thing called NaNoWriMo, where you challenge yourself to write a whole novel in November, and another little thing called NaBloPoMo, where you challenge yourself to blog everyday, and you have a recipe for madness. The really weird part about it all? I did it last year (oh, and threw in a very early Chanukah to boot) and honestly, I LOVED it! I blogged everyday. I wrote a manuscript of over 50,000 words. I cleaned up from Halloween, celebrated Thanksgiving, celebrated Chanukah, and prepared for Christmas. I also taught full-time and parented a teen and maintained a relationship with my fiance. I rocked it!

So here we are back at November 1. I’m in a new home, but everything else is the same. Do I think I can do it again? Why not! I won’t know unless I try, so by golly I’m going to try. Hang on to your hat, because November is here!

 


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To NaNo or Not to NaNo

crest-bda7b7a6e1b57bb9fb8ce9772b8faafbNovember is rapidly approaching, and I’m starting to get lots of e-mails from the folks over at NaNoWriMo. For those of you  unfamiliar with NaNo, it’s short form NaNoWriMo, which in turn is short for National Novel Writing Month. The NaNoWriMo folks have claimed November as theirs, and invited the whole wold to join them. Last year I accepted that invitation, and I wrote the manuscript of a young adult novel. In a month. Yes. I did it.

That manuscript is still very raw, in fact I haven’t done much of anything with it. I know so much more about writing now than I did a year ago, and what I’ve learned has left me feeling somewhat overwhelmed at the prospect of all the revisions that lay ahead. Gulp. But does that mean I can’t write something new? Of course not!

Completing NaNoWriMo was a huge accomplishment. It showed me that I did in fact have at least one book in me, and that I could find the time to create it. It also showed me that even when I was feeling stuck, I could make myself move forward. It was an important lesson. Of course it wasn’t without its freak-outs along the way.

Another lesson that it taught me was that I spend too much time on activities that give me nothing in return. I think many of us do. My main time sucker (and maybe yours too) tends to be surfing the internet. Watching tv is a big one for a lot of people too. Still, no matter how busy I felt, I was always able to at least put in at least twenty to thirty minutes on work days, then fill in with some extra time on the weekends. I knew that skipping days would stress me out too much in the long run, so I avoided it at all costs.

So now here I am, Mid-October, and decision time is looming. Yes, I think I’ll try it again, and this time I’ll incorporate some of the information on story structure that I’ve learned over the past several months. I have a new character that I need to get to know, and I need to create some really interesting things for her to do and say. I also need to stock up on Hot Tamales, they are my go to candy for writing inspiration and energy.

Hopefully this year’s 50,000 plus words come more easily than last year’s, but I’m not counting on it. Writing a novel is a really difficult process, but by announcing it, I’ve just taken the first step. Wish me luck!


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Cleaning Out The Drafts

Talk about crazy, here I sit going through my various stuff, seeing what I ‘ve written and trying to figure out if there are any trends. I also took a little time to sort through my spam folder, and figured I would wander over to my draft folder too, just to see what was collecting cobwebs over there.

Imagine my surprise when I found this post, completely done, with illustration inserted and everything. Why on earth didn’t I publish it? I wrote it on the 21st of November, in the thick of NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, so all I can think of is that my poor tired brain must have been completely fried. I wonder if I thought I hit the publish button but didn’t? Weird. Anyway, since it’s done and I’m doing some end of the year clean up, I present a nearly month old blog post, originally entitled NaNo No No.

tuesSo here we are three weeks into NaNoWriMo and I have over 33,000 words written. I survived my NaNoWriMo Freak-O and have learned the important art of correctly backing up files. I have also been a good little NaBloPoMo participant, posting at least one blog post per day since November 1.

Let me tell you, that’s a lot of words. Oh, I know, for some of you it’s a drop in the bucket, but for this girl, it’s a lot. Today I composed two blogs posts and wrote a piece for my writing class. When it came time to work on my novel, I just couldn’t quite do it. I hit a wall. I needed a break.

So here’s the NoNo: I did not work on my novel at all today. Not one word. So what? Give yourself a break, I think. But the deadline won’t give me a break. I really want to get my 50,000 words written before midnight on November 30. Whining about it here won’t get it done. But it’s laaaaaaate. And I’m tiiiiiiiired. Oh jeez. Time to give it up for a few hours and come back to it later. I will get it done. I’m the little engine that could. Look out, the weekend is coming! And then, no more no no’s.