Category: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo17 – The Good and The Bad

So, I have been gone for an entire month. I had high hopes of providing content and working on my 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month. As you can see, that didn’t happen. I found it too much to write for the blog and write this book I started for NaNoWriMo. I hope you enjoy this recap and I will see you next week.

Because I am mostly an optimist, let’s start with The Good.

  • I finished and reached my goal of 50,000 words. I won NaNoWriMo17!
  • I wrote the beginnings of three books.
  • The original story for this year was finished.

So, now The Bad

  • I wrote three different stories?
  • I did not write every day.
  • I didn’t connect with other writers as much as I would have liked.

Now that is over, I am just glad The Bad list wasn’t longer than The Good List! I was thinking of how terrible I felt the month went, as far as writing, so that was not a given. I started the month with a loosely developed plan that relied mostly on me writing by the seat of my pants. There is a name for this. It is referred to as Pantsing. I thought this was a good plan, and it was in some aspects. It just wasn’t enough to really be able to flesh out the story I wanted to write. Or I have the wrong idea about what I was trying to write. Fleshing out my plan for the story, how it would look, flow, and sound, would have probably fixed the first item on The Bad list. Combatting the second item on that list really takes me scheduling a writing time and sticking to it. I think I will just fit in the writing and it never seems to work well for very long. Many more experienced writers have talked about having a writing time scheduled and treating it like the time you block out for picking up the kids, or going to the gym. In other words, treat that scheduled time as important and not as something you can move around and ignore. Some writers use productivity apps to give them a visual reminder of what they want to accomplish and what they have accomplished. I find that doesn’t help me much because I feel like the set up takes way too much time. I am probably just being lazy. As for the last item on The Bad list, there was nothing I could do in preparation for this one. I of course planned to be involved in write-ins around town but life just conspired against me. Yes, I know life isn’t actually conspiring, but the phrase has a very nice ring to it. The month was just filled with personal fires that had to be extinguished and kept me from attending as many events as I would have like.

Frankly, I had an extremely hard time finishing this year. The story felt disjointed and like I never really knew what I was writing. I find that being able to write in the company of others, really helps to keep you going and inspire you too. I wouldn’t want to spend all my time writing with others, I am sure that I would find that tedious. But it does act as a refresher for your writer’s soul when you can write collectively. If I work on remedying items from The Bad list, I wouldn’t feel so sad about winning. I feel false about it. Yet, I do understand that I shouldn’t. Even if I wrote 50,000 words that will never actually make it into a story, I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days. Part of NaNoWriMo really is fostering a habit of writing and committing you to writing. It is like a kick in the pants to finish that story you have been working on at night, on you lunch break, and at your kid’s soccer practice. The one you feel will never be finished, the one you have shoved into the back of your mind and a drawer in your closet.

So, I am going to stop crying over spilled milk, as they say, and be content with what I did and endeavor to work on the stories until I feel they are finished. I am also going to write everyday in December too. There is no national event, but I want to work on writing daily by starting small. I didn’t make it in November, maybe I will in December. You all can keep me accountable.

 

Readying for NaNoWriMo

If you don’t have any idea what NaNoWriMo means, don’t fear, I will explain and you can read about my first involvement here. NaNoWriMo is an acronym for National Novel Writing Month. It is also a great website where you can be supported in your writing endeavors and share your dreams with other dreamers. At the NaNoWriMo site, you can sign up to participate in writing a novel in one month, track your writing progress, get support, and connect with writers online and in person. If you find yourself signing up, look me up and be my friend, I am JansheaAuthor there.

One of the biggest wins for me last year was discovering the rich bounty of writers in my area, and all the wonderful, supportive ways I could be involved with getting better at crafting stories. In the other months that I am not participating in NaNoWriMo, I can participate with local writers and online ones with the continuing writing camps held and months dedicated to polishing up your new masterpiece.

So, we are only in the month of September, why would I bring up NaNoWriMo now? Well, we have a bit over a month to decide what will be working on in November and many of us are still trying to figure that out. Some of us have pages of ideas and partially fleshed out stories, some of us write works for publishing year round and may know what is next on the schedule. Yet many of us could benefit from a little time to decide on a subject matter and start outlining a broad picture to work from. Now, I am not a huge outliner before writing, but in spending time crafting, I have found it a great help to have an overview of storyline, characters, setting, time, and possibly theme. It is much easier than you might suspect to forget the details when using names, dates, or familial connections. It brings the story to a screeching halt when writers get distinguishing details wrong during the course of a book. Readers are discerning, while the writer sometimes misses things from constantly reading the story. You can probably guess, I found this out the hard way in my own work.

As such, I am starting the thinking, deciding, and big picture work for this year’s NaNoWriMo. I found those little reminders and ‘atta girls’ doled out when participating, really felt good and helped with goal setting. Sometimes writers get lost in all the ideas and have a terrible time focusing. Occasionally I am even paralyzed to inaction from too many thoughts and poor focus. So, if you are like me, try starting now and set some small goals in preparation for the marathon of NaNoWriMo. If you are more put together as a writer than I am, feel free to share your skills in getting there! Either way, I hope you spread your wings with your writing this year. May you soar to a new level in  your writing.

I am starting with subject matter. I will spend the next week deciding exactly what subject I plan to tackle this November. What will you work on to prepare for NaNoWriMo? Let me know in the comments. I look forward to hearing from you.

Stepping Out of My Own Way


Have you ever heard that saying, “If you feel like you might throw up from nerves at the thought of doing it, you are supposed to be doing it!”? Now, that might not actually be the saying but I got the gist of it in there. When you are asked to share your story, when you are starting a new job or business or in my case a book; if you feel like you might just die from nerves, fright, and a general inability to actually do the thing you are supposed to, then you are probably on the right track. Sometimes I find it hard to determine if those feelings are a move in the right direction and you are just nervous. Or is this feeling a red flag waving just trying to warn you of the biggest mistake of your life so far! How can you tell the difference? 

I don’t have a really good answer, what I can say is that I am often, as many of you are, the most critical of my self. The work/effort/put your own thing here, never seems to be good enough, but since deciding to write again, what I have found every time I put my words out there, is that someone says something genuinely wonderful about it. And instead of throwing away those words as not meshing with my view of myself, I embrace and cherish every one of them and use them to bolster my lagging self esteem and view of my own gifts. I have watched lovely friends reach out and grab their dreams with both hands and I felt left behind, floundering in a morass of my own making. By starting a blog, sharing my words, and putting pen to paper on novel thoughts, I started climbing out of that sticky muck and embracing more of my authentic self. I hope with every post I can enhance my understanding of my self, my motivation, and my voice. I may not be an award winning author yet, but every sentence I craft leads me closer to the best self of my life. I am lucky to have such honest people around, they tell me when it is good and when it needs help. Sometimes lots of help.

So with that in mind, I have stepped out with pounding heart to join National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo. It is a platform where you and thousands of other writers are encouraged to complete a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. Now, I let the idea that I couldn’t possibly get that done to keep me from trying in the past. Not this year, this year, I have signed up and when this post goes live, I am going to start on the days words. I may not complete a novel, but I know I am going to get better by being involved with other dedicated writers, by habitually writing daily, by asking questions, and listening to answers. I hope your November sees you venturing out to grab your dreams too.