NaNoWriMo Thoughts, Feelings, and Tips

Hi,

One day, I will get this blogging thing back to its hay day. In the meantime, I'll keep on keeping on. I've had a lot of new releases, and more to come. But I'm most happy that I've kept writing through the worst year I've had since...a long time.

Okay, NaNoWriMo is a huge writing online camp. You do fun things, reach out, meet up with peeps you might never have become connected to otherwise. I've become a part of a group that is so positive and means a lot. New for me. But I think, that in the hoopla of reaching that 50k words written goal, people forget the purpose. The purpose is to get you to write, to stretch your  comfort zone, to reach for a goal that might seem impossible. Now, it doesn't show it on NaNo stats because I didn't remember to finalize the official word count, but I've only lost one year that I've done it.

That's not to brag. In fact, I had to work very hard to do it with all that's going on. The thing is, use NaNo to do what you need it to do. I use it to get back into the habit of making writing a priority. If you don't win, but you wrote at least 5 days a week, you're a huge winner. You now have words you didn't have before. If you're a new writer, this is especially important. The first couple hundred thousand words you write tend to not be your best. LOL

Since I've made 50k words this year outside of NaNo, I've made a stretch goal of 75-100k. That's insane, but I'm at 38,627 and I haven't written yet today. (Too bad can't count blog and emails! lol I'd be way over my 100k mark :P). Do you see that number? I've been ill, my kids have been ill, I've had no money (can't go to write ins, stress of power being turned off, etc.), and multiple hours spent at doctor's offices, and I've still managed. How? I've worked late at night, cut sleep back to 6 hours...if I'm lucky. Remember those sick kids? Sigh.

In case you're new here, I have 5 kids, one grandkid, and one daughter in law. I have three still at home, and they are all in different schools. They have been bringing something home from each school, and like good little kids, have shared with everyone. I've not gone one whole week without someone being sick. I'm ready for it to be done now. ANYWAY.

The point is to push yourself further than you believed possible, to make yourself go. I had to change strides. The one I was on just wasn't coming. I have more wordage on the shorts (I'm putting together something for Carina, cross fingers) that were supposed to be extras than on my main project. However, the new project is moving along nicely. I hope to really push it the last week. I'm also hoping to get some write in time, time away from family responsibility to really focus on my writing. But even if that doesn't happen, I am going to make my 50k goal. I am probably going to make the 75k goal. The real stretch will be that 100k goal. Who needs sleep :P

For those who have struggled in the past, here's a past blog post with some helpful hints and tips to make it through a successful NaNo!

Don't forget, the biggest plus is learning how to consistently put out words, regardless of the count! The new friends, reconnect with old friends, is just a bonus!

As a closing, I'd like to remind everyone, I have a new tagline for my artistic life and a youtube channel (Only have one video, but have started the planning for more. It's a learning curve for me. LOL), and I've put out quite a few books available across many venues, and continuing to add more books to more venues. To keep up on everything, you can sign up for my newsletter on the side bar, or here.


That tagline? The Next Leonardo da Vinci. Or, The Next Leona-rdo da Vinci.

The newsletter encompasses art and writing, and any other skill I want to show off, but mainly art and writing. Please, come follow me! When I get to where I want to be, it'll be once a week. Right now, I'm working hard for once a month. :)

What to do when

you don't feel like writing? As much as I love writing, there are days I don't feel like writing. So what do you do then?

First of all, (and btw, when I say first of all, I'm assuming you've already consummed copious amounts of caffeine and have more handy!) you establish yourself a routine for writing long before this. For me, it's networking, answering emails, reading my writer type blogs, and recently I've even had to watch my comment thread closely. Which I lurv! It helps as I state on the 10 things for nano time that I do. It gives me time to remember things I have to do before start writing, and for my kids to know I'm going to be busy and hurry up and ask for whatever it is you need.

So, you've done your routine and still...nothing. Your muse apparently went down the drain with your shower water. Now what? First, try these things.

One, I always start my writing by rereading last 1-5 pages I did last. It does two things. It helps me catch weird errors and other editing issues and it gets me back into the mood the characters were at. So do that. You get down to the last paragraph of superb awesomeness you wrote (When NOT in the mood to write--NEVER EVER CALL YOUR STUFF CRAP EVEN IN YOUR HEAD!!!! I don't care if it's the worst stuff you've written in 3 years. On these days, you are not allowed to start arbitrarily deleting!! I mean, if you wrote, "Sh thuchks her sumb." you may erase and fix to "She sucks her thumb." and you may even make a comment her that the whole section needs to be reworked. See how I did that? Needs reworked. Not sucks. Not crap! Ahem,off the soap box and back to our regularly scheduled program.) and you are still not in the mood?

Here's what I do. I open up other MS I'm working on. Or have finished, and I start editing. NOT TRASHING, editing. A really nice hint that my friend @tamiklockau gave me? Save in drafts. I do it before all major work is done. That way, if in your present mood you OOPS and lose a scene that in your right mind you know is needed (I have done this!) you can simply go copy paste from other draft :)

Editing is a huge, major, super, uber important, gigantic part of writing. Did y'all catch that?? So, editing when your muse is gone, is still part of the writing process. The time isn't loss and you are still improving your craft.

The other thing you can do is research that you need. Whether it's for plot point on the story or grammar geeking, doing research is not always fun and can be a good thing to do when "not in the mood" to write.

But, hold yourself accountable. don't research "the big bang theory" unless you really are looking up the science for your book and not the TV show!!

Anyone else have hints and tips for what they do when "not in the mood"--FOR WRITING!! LOL