Just a Quickie....

I'm in the midst of #NaNoWriMo2018 and happy to say I'm not only on track, but 4 days ahead. This allows me a stress-free Thanksgiving and a weekend visit with my sister. Here are 5 things I've learned this year during the craziness of NaNoWriMo:

1. I work faster and better if I shut myself in my office, working at a proper desk. There are too many distractions if I'm sitting on the couch (too near to the TV and people coming in & out, the fridge, etc. For me, isolation is key to productivity!
2. When I work on a comfy couch, being so tall, I have to dip my head to see the laptop. This has given me neck and back problems. Who needs that? So, another reason to use my beautiful office.
3. Stretch! I work about an hour, then get up and get a cup of tea, throw in a load of wash, etc. Sitting too long leads to stiff joints. 
4. Getting up is good for the circulation, but I don't want to lose my train of thought. make a few notes at the bottom of the page saying where I was going. As I do a chore, make that tea, I keep thinking about the next chapter/block of writing. By the time I get back to my seat, I'm fairly burning to get the words on paper. Bonus: if you can, incorporate your notes into the chapter/block rather than erase and you've added a bunch of words!
5. I had to break from writing because I needed a fact. Going onto the internet to find out what I need for this particular section of the manuscript can lead to getting lost down that rabbit hole. Key: set a timer so that you spend no more than 5-10 minutes searching. You just need that one fact, not pages of notes. If you need more detailed info, try to write around it, like a scene that comes later in the book, and research after you've hit your word count. I like to surf at night, on commercials while I relax in front of the TV. 

Now it's time to get in another 1,677 words so I stay ahead of the daily goals. 

Don't forget to update your word count!

Char

To Mountain Tops and Paths Not Chosen...

I have climbed the mountain. And won.

I finished my middle grade novel, a sequel to a previous NaNoWriMo project. 50,066 words. In late afternoon on the 30th of November. Was it a smooth ride? Heck no. But here's what I took away:

1- I digressed from my outline. The characters refused to comply with my wishes and led me down a different path. Obviously they knew the story better than I did, so I followed their lead. Good thing!

2- Even though we ventured on the path not (originally) chosen, we finished up in the same place. The ending was almost exactly like my outline, just a little more twisty.

3- It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, even with holidays, family and church obligations, author events and traveling, and plain housework. Someone told me, "You could do NaNo every month." If I'm inspired by a book, I probably could. Not that I'd want to. I'm taking December a little easier.

4- It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I'd planned on doubling up on the word count for several days so I could spend days prepping for Thanksgiving, enjoying Thanksgiving, and for days on the road at events. Somehow I ended up busting my butt on several days to catch up. After the first week, I was always behind. Nothing like a little motivation.

5- I'll continue to do NaNoWriMo. I may not finish (I actually didn't one year!), but I find it a good exercise in writing madly. When I get a deadline, I know how to handle the pressure, how to prioritize, and how to push forward through seemingly unpassable obstacles.

Now it's December and while I'm not writing as much, I'm still doing blog posts, marketing, and querying. I won't start revisions on this project until January, when I'm snowed in, the house is quiet and bare of decorations, and I can focus on all the ugly that lurks in the manuscript.

If you didn't finish by November 30th, that doesn't mean you can't finish it by the end of the year, so keep plugging along and we'll talk about revisions in January.

Char

There's Always Room For Improvement...

I'm pressed for time this week, so I'm going to admit my 5 biggest flaws; my writing flaws that is.

1.  I hate to revise. I don't mind once, maybe three times, but I hate doing it over and over and over. That's the business though; revise until you, the agent, or the editor are satisfied.

2.  Once I've worked on a novel for about a year, I'm done. I want to move onto something else. Of course I polish and revise and rework, but sometimes I take little breaks in between to work on a new shiny. I'm not one of those people who re-read a certain book every year.

3.  It bothers me when I'm told to cut some aspect of my work-by editor, agent, critique group, etc. that I absolutely love. I rave, rant, clean the house like a crazy person, and procrastinate. Then, I calm down and make the changes. Mostly. Some, I just can't bring myself to do.

4.  I keep writing down new ideas, even though I have so many projects in various states of progress. I have files full of ideas. I want to write them all, but unless I could just write them and let someone else edit them, they won't get written...

5.  If I could, I would just write and sign books at events. I hate doing the PR footwork. A personal assistant would be a dream come true. Would also keep my office clean.

I'm sure I have other faults, but I'm pressed for time. And I don't want to admit to anything else.

Now I have to go back to finishing those hated edits.

Char

What To Do....

I love the idea of this one manuscript.

 It needs work, possible major changes, but to throw out almost everything?

That's the advice from a trusted friend/well known ed/publishing big wheel. And from my agent.

What do you do when the advice is contrary to everything about the story, in no way fits or enhances your vision and you can't even think how to make the changes?

I don't want to throw the story away--I love it too much. But the changes... make it seem too much like everyone else's story. A few I can make, one I even had in the beginning, and it's feasible, but the others just aren't me.

I don't want that.

Non-fiction is so much easier. Yes, research, but the facts are the facts. Writing about the Titanic? No matter how or why, it sunk and no non-fiction piece will ever tell you otherwise.

Fiction is where anything can happen, Unless it doesn't fit in with what the publishing world wants. I feel like my story has to be someone else's.

So do I kill the story?

For now, it goes in the drawer. Maybe I need some time, distance, and consideration. I just can't write someone else's story because the words won't flow.

Goodnight, sweet tale, perhaps we shall meet again in the near future...

Char
picture courtesy of Microsoft

Catching Up--and Sprinting Ahead

I'm ahead on my NaNoWriMo word count. By the estimate on the NaNo site, I should be done by November 29th.

I want to be done sooner.

No, I'm not trying to overachieve, or hoping to say I was the first done, or gloat when others talk about the daily word struggle.

I'm antsy. I see the story and I just want it written because there are story ideas lining up, like airplanes on the tarmac, waiting for takeoff.

I don't think I'll live long enough to write all the stories from ideas that are jotted down in my notebooks, swimming in my head, or that invade my dreams. So many ideas, not enough time... Even if I lived to be 100 (and there's a very good likelihood of that since I come from a line of long-lived relatives), I still won't have enough time. Immortality, which is sadly unobtainable, would be the only way I could write down everything. Maybe.

Stuck? Hey, so was I, two days ago. How did I get past it? Did I mull it over while doing something else? No, my garden is nothing but dead stuff and that's usually where I do my mulling. Now it's just a place to be depressed until spring. I can't sit in front of the words on my laptop when I don't know what comes next. That just frustrates me and makes the writer's block seem insurmountable.

So I just skipped it. I went around the blockade, the writer's wall of doom.

There was a scene that would come later in the book so I just started writing from there. Eventually I'll have to stitch them together, but as Aragorn says in The Lord of the Rings when the companies of Middle Earth are about to face doom at Sauron's gate and their courage may fail, "Today is not that day." I'll worry about piecing it all together on a snowy cold day in January when I start serious edits. (December is off limits for editing and writing if I can get away with it. If a book deal comes through that requires revisions, well, I'll hop to it.) But for now, writing that scene has jumped started the creative pulses and the race is on to finish. And as I wrote, my head swirled with how to incorporate the new scene into the manuscript. Sometime it does come together that easily, other times, not.

The successful hurdle of this block has let me stay in the race at my own pace. I'll wait for you at the finish line--unless you beat me there first.

Keep writing, and NaNo NaNo!

Char

Put It On The List

To Do

• vacuum
• put pool stuff away
• paint shed window
• caulk kitchen counter
• clean all curtains/drapes

This is just part of one of many lists. I like lists. They help me keep order, taming the chaos of so many things that need to get done. With a list, I can see exactly what needs to be done, which task is more important, which one I can do in a certain time frame, and add on whenever something new needs to be done.

And it lets me see the satisfaction of accomplishment with every item I cross off. Sure, some days only one thing gets eliminated--but it's a big one, like 'finish manuscript edits.' And then there are days with lots of cross offs--like make a phone call, send a particular email, dust the living room furniture. They are easy-peasey things, but I still feel good when they are done. 

I have lists for everything: household chores, errands to run, signings to set up, writing tasks, yardwork, etc. It's a great matter of pride to crumple up a list that has nothing left undone. 

Do you use lists? If not, what works for you? Share it with us.

Char

Don't Get Too Comfortable...

It's Monday. Sometimes I like Mondays because everyone's out of the house and I enjoy the serenity and chance to work (mostly) undisturbed.

But it's Monday. That means I have to drag myself to the pool.

Swimming and writing evoke the same feelings for me; I love to do both, but each one has aspects that make me a first class procrastinator. For swimming, it's getting out of my toasty, pillow-soft bed. Creaking elbow and aching (formerly broken) toes are telling me that it's okay to miss one day. And that first dive into the water, when it's snowing and freezing outside? That takes a bit of masochism to do it three times a week.

With writing, it's the revisions. Once I know what to do it's not a problem, but forcing myself to sit and think about a plot problem (currently) is worse than going to the pool. But procrastination for avoiding sitting at the desk to fix edits can be good. While I turn over the problem in my head, I clean, do laundry, run errands (because gardening when you still have almost a foot of snow on the ground doesn't make sense), and talk to the cats. (Sometimes that helps!). When a great revelation hits, though, and I know it's going to require going through every last damn sentence (numerous times, ugh), I procrastinate (like now although Mondays are new blog post days, so I'm not really procrastinating, right?).

Logically I can reason that going to the pool regularly is good for my health (summer's coming! bathing suits, ack!) and I sleep better because I'm exhausted. So getting the edits done means I can work on sparkly new project(s).

It's just that I'm so comfortable... not going out in the cold/not sitting at the desk.

But no one ever got anywhere important by staying comfortable. So I'll get my cup of chai latte and tackle those edits.

What do you need to get 'uncomfortable' enough to achieve?

Char