NaNo-Ready

ONE MORE WEEK TO GO! ARE YOU READY??!   I AM! Let the month begin, already!  

Camp NaNoWriMo Frenzy (with STUDENTS!)

A FIVE STEP PROCESS TO NOVEL WRITING As if participating in NaNoWriMo during the month of November (and WINNING!) wasn't a lofty enough task to take on, I've decided to invite my students to take the ride to CampNaNoWriMo during the month of April. While some had entered my second semester Writers' Workshop class relieved...

Post NaNoWriMo: Thank You, Scrivener

So, you've written 50k+ words for NaNoWriMo... NOW WHAT?  It's nearly a month post-contest. I've continued writing. I'm up to 96 K words, about 400 pages in-- 200 ish more to go. Although, now, I really am not mindful of the word count at all; in fact, I just looked it up to provide you...

NaNoWriMo 2012: OUT!

Well, I made it through the month of NaNoWriMoing w/ my final count at 65, 256. Not too bad. Not anywhere close to completing my book, but well underway. I'm thinking best seller! 😛 "If you dream it, it will come." The most important lesson I learned is that, even during one of the busiest...

Day 24 :Reaching Goals, NaNoWriMo Style

I was turned onto NaNoWriMo by a colleague, who was challenging her Writers' Workshop class to set a writing goal for November in the young adult division; she suggested I participate too, since she knows I love to write novels. I was ambivalent, at first, for two reasons: it occurs during a busy month (Thanksgiving...

Day 14 Update

Day 14 32k words 3 chapters 106 pages I've been writing for four hours because over the next two days, I won't be able to work much on my novel. I know I should look at these next two days as a reward, which I do and I'm looking forward to them, but I'm also...

Switching Gears

With more than 50% of my count in and more than 50% of time left to get there, my focus has turned from just trying to get to 50k to trying to complete the first draft of a novel. I have to admit, that I'm completely invested in my characters as they are really taking...

NaNoWriMo Strong

I'm a week in and going strong. This is what I've learned so far... 1) I can be self disciplined when I want to be 2) I can exceed the goals I set for myself 3) I need to give up the idea of "just right" and instead "just write" 4) The support of family...

Day 5: Coffee, Write, Run

Somewhere, I read some suggested rules of successful NaNoWriMo-ing which included writing abundantly, eating healthy, drinking plenty of fluids, sleeping well and exercising. At the time, they all seemed pretty obvious-- good daily practices whether you are writing 1,667 day (or more) or not. Sub-consciously, at first, I've been heeding them. While exercising is not...

Day 3: Quantity over Quality

3 days into NaNoWriMo 2012: 6757 words. While I'm pleased with my progress, I've hit my first obstacle today. Writing quantity over quality is a near impossibility for me. I write. I edit. I write some more. This writing sans editing is killing me. For the first two days, the words just flowed. I was...