Just my old girl who gives me this look all the time that says....
"What are you thinking?"
She is my "in house" buddy during this month. Everyone else is leaving home everyday to go to school and work so she will get my words... my ideas... my frustration and joys. She will be here to endure it all with me. I suspect she will be hiding under the bed for the majority of the time. LOL Anyway, here we go!
I decided, sorta, to do the NaNoWriMo this month around October 15th but I was blogging and living life and getting other things done so I did ZERO preparation. I have done this one other time and it wound up being an autobiographical memoir instead so I let it go. I have never finished a real work of fiction so I decided to spend the first few days of November reviewing some resources and doing some planning because Pantsing this is NOT AN OPTION FOR ME! I need a direction and some goals and purpose. I am definitely a planner. Since I am not a published writer outside of blogging I am just going to share my process and at the end of November I will share my results and future plans.
I am checking out videos by people with great information on writing fiction.
The NaNoWriMo You Tube Channel is loaded with stuff to get you through the month and is constantly being added to.
Here is the NaNo blog link.
Kristin Martin has a great video collection on elements of writing. She is a published author but I have not read any of her stuff outside of blog and video stuff she has shared.
BoHoBerry shares her bullet journal organization for the NaNoWriMo Challenge
Megan at PageFlutter shares her notes, journal and all of her process with us.
Look who else shares about NaNo.... it's John Green..... Natalie Goldberg.... and from the founder Chris Baty
I am doing some note taking in a new notebook I started just for fiction writing stuff.
I snagged a Character Archetype chart to add to my notes.
Become a Better Writer Quotes to inspire you!
I am reading some books this month...
The books...
No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty
Room to Write by Bonnie Goldberg
Becoming a Writer by Dorthea Brande
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
The Right to Write by Julia Cameron
(also wrote the Artist's Way)
I also have one on the way I found for about $4.00 after having it on my wishlist for years.
It is by Maeve Binchy and is entitled The Maeve Binchy Writer's Club. She is one of my favorite authors so I really am excited to read her take on writing.
I have no idea if I will make the 50,000 words.
I do know that I have already scrapped the first 2000 words I wrote yesterday. I will keep them in the NaNo file on my computer but the story is changing and I have decided to go a different way after just one day and a little more planning this morning. I don't pretend to think that anything I write is great but it is practice at this point. I don't think you can ever practice too much on any craft so I will write every day this month no matter what happens at the end of the month. I will shape a notebook to be usable past the next 30 days and start some habits that can make me better over the coming years. I am almost 50 with only two children out of four still at home. I have more to do and I think writing could be part of that so this is good practice and a time to learn some new skills. I don't ever want to stop learning. At the end of 30 days I will have a better picture of what I want to do with this but for now I will show up and write and read and listen and learn. None of that ever hurt anyone. Stay tuned for more adventures in NaNoWriMo from my little computer in Texas.
Thanks for stopping by!
Are you doing NaNoWriMo and want to buddy up on the website?
Leave me a comment with your name or link on that site and I will run right over and add you! You can also find me there at Academy252.
Good for you. I, too, am using this year's nanowrimo as an experiment. I am a planner by Nature, but find that I spend more time planning than actually drafting my manuscript. So this year I am playing with various techniques, including ppantsin, not intending to win nanowrimo, but to experiment with what works and what doesn't work for me. I also want to strengthen my daily writing habit. If I can come to the end of November with a more solid writing habit and a better understanding of what does and doesn't work in my fiction writing, I will consider it a win.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! If I am a better writer, I win.... if I am more structured with my time, I win... if I develop better writing habits, I win! There is so much more than crossing a finish line for us to glean from this experience. I love that about this thing!
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