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Writing Words - writing it is the only way of getting it written
I just realized this and thought I'd share. Bit scary, really.
16 weeks - that's not much. I'm nowhere near where I wanted to be with the editing process of last year's novel, and I'll have to start planning this year's soon.
Did I say it's a bit scary? I take that back, it's actually very scary.
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There is lots of advice for aspiring writers - by successfully published writers, by editors and literary agents, and by people such as moi who'd like to join the first group one day. There are as many different approaches to writing as there are people writing about writing. There is one piece of advice, though, that you will find no matter where you look: If you want to make it as a writer, you have to write. Ideally every day.
So let's assume you do that. You sit down every day when you get home from the day job and write. Because you know it is the most important thing if you want to improve your skills. Does that mean you never get any time off?
I think it is important that you take a vacation every once in a while. But be precise about it. You can't just not turn up at the office every time you feel like it, you have to take vacation there, too. That's exactly what you should do when you take a break from writing. Allow yourself a few days off, maybe even a week. My experience is that the breaks should not be too long - the longer you go away from your writing routine, the harder it will be to get back into it.
A week away from writing may well work a treat, though. You may find that you are looking forward to getting back to it at the end of your vacation. You will return with new ideas and fresh determination to finally write that masterpiece.
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I can't believe how quickly time flies. It's March 1 on Saturday, which means NaNoEdMo has as good as begun.
NaNoEdMo is a good thing for people who need a challenge to get on with the editing. While I love that kind of pressure during NaNoWriMo, I have never had much luck with NaNoEdMo. I don't enjoy editing, but when I get down to business, I want to do a good job. I don't want to go through endless round of editing what I edited. I guess that's why I dropped out of the challenge within the first week whenever I decided to do it.
This year, I'm doing something else. I'm not going to pretend I'll make it this year. Does my 2007 novel need editing? It sure does, and I will edit it. But on my own terms, and in my own time.
November is NaNoWriMo, so what is December? Well, NaNoFiMo, of course - for all those November novelists who want to finish their novel before they lose touch with it. Certainly a good idea, but December is too busy for me every time, I have never finished my novels in December.
Then there's NaNoEdMo in March - an excellent opportunity to fix all these continuity errors and fill in the holes in the story you frantically produced in the previous November (though you can any other manuscript you think need a good edit).
Another excellent opportunity to finish or edit your novel, or even write something completely new, presents itself in April with April Fools. You choose your goal yourself, that is what I like about the challenge. This year in April, I edited my 2006 NaNoWriMo novel - an awesome experience, I can tell you.
In June it's time for Script Frenzy, which is brought to you by the same people that are responsible for NaNoWriMo. Only this time, the challenge is to write a screenplay.
JulNoWriMo is the July version of NaNoWriMo - for all those people who can't make it in November or who can't get enough of the on month novel writing madness.
If you look around all these sites, you will find many more writing challenges throughout the year, including year-long adventures like NaNoWriYe and NaNoPubYe.
Whatever you do, keep writing!
I Win!
I still need to write about 500 words to wrap the story up, but I am officially down with the office flue now.
I am crawling towards the end.
This November has been interesting for a number of reasons - I will go into detail soon. I have shown, though, that it is possible to write 50k words in (less than) 30 days even if you have no clue what your story is. I'm sure I am repeating myself here, but the only thing that matters is that you sit down and write.
I am taking tonight off. I have worked on my NaNoWriMo Novel every day up until today, and I deserve a break. Also I have the feeling that stepping away from the story for a day is going to do more good than bad.
I spent a lot of nights writing like a headless chicken. In the first week, I had basically no idea where I was going. The least I can do is write a somewhat thought out ending now so that I have an aim when I start editing the first draft.
1,111 words today.
I'm trying to find a way to wrap the story up so that I may call it a novel - first draft - at the end, which will turn into a proper novel one day, after many many many hours of editing
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I went to London today to treat myself, but was so tired (related to the housemates from hell, don't ask... ) that I nearly fell asleep in Starbucks. But watching people was inspiring, in a way.
Participating in NaNoWriMo has taught me a few things, but the most important one is this: If you want to make it as a writer, you have to show up for work. Yeah, this is stating the obvious, but a lot of people - my pre-NaNoWriMo 2002 self included - harbour the romantic notion that a writer only works when inspiration strikes.
Sure, inspiration is a wonderful thing, and it makes the writing life a lot easier. But people who only write when they feel inspired to write something aren't writers. Writers are those people who sit down to write even though they would much rather watch the football, surf the internet or stay in bed. Writers are those people who show up for work even though nobody pays them for it (yet
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The end is in sight. When I started out at the beginning of this month, I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it this year.
I didn't have a well-developed novel idea; I was busy at work and the workload has not decreased in the course of November, rather the reverse; I had plans to go away for a long weekend. Well, the story developed as I wrote it - I found out a lot of things I was completely unaware of, and if I put a lot more work in, it might actually be worth reading some day; I managed to write every day despite the fact that work wipes me out every day, and most of the time I enjoyed writing, too; the long weekend in warm and sunny Portugal was canceled (now that was not necessarily a good thing
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Have a feeling I am getting sick. Writing tonight was rather painful, but now I am only 5,764 away from 50k. Unless I get a nasty flu, I should get there by Sunday night.
I am still on track to make 50k this weekend, despite yesterday's 248-word glitch. One thing is for certain, though: I won't have wrapped up the story by then, and I doubt that I will get it finished this month at all.
But that was not the point for me this year, anyway. My life has been turned upside down this year - partly by events I didn't have any control over, but also because decisions I made (like, say, move to another country), and these changes have kept me from writing. I needed to get back to a daily writing routine, and I am determined to keep writing daily once NaNoWriMo is over. Even if it's as little as 248 words.
Not a good day, obviously.
A little over 1,000 words today. Mondays are particularly hard for me, but the important thing is that I sat down and wrote even though I felt like spending the evening on the couch.
Guess who wrote the NaNoWriMo pep talk this week? Neil Gaiman! That alone would have been worth it...
This is my rather weird take at this week's Fiction Friday: Pick an existing character. Give them a nickname, but don’t wimp-out and make it a common one. Now tell the story of how the nickname came about.
Shortly after 20:00, Kirsten walks into the restaurant, followed by Karena and a man Carla doesn't know. Nick phoned in earlier to let them know he would be there around 21:00 with two business partners - important ones he wants to impress, too. Rory and Mike brought their friends Daisy and Lilac. Daisy is really called Daisy, but Lilac's real name is Heinz. How he came to be known as Lilac, nobody knows. Lilac always says that he is going to tell the story about his nickname, but then he doesn't. This has lead to a lot of speculation, including the suspicion that Lilac came up with the nickname himself because he hated Heinz so much. Which would be a perfectly reasonable explanation, as far as Carla is concerned. Lilac is thin and not very tall, and he looks much more like a Lilac than like a Heinz.
I always wished for a job that made more use of my creative skills. Now that I have such a job, I almost wish I didn't have to be so creative all the time. I often feel I have to recharge my creative batteries to get any writing done. It's a classic careful what you wish for ...
You have to resign yourself to the fact that you waste a lot of trees before you write anything you really like, and that's just the way it is.
J.K. Rowling
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