Wordcount: 3332
“Walk with an animal walk and take in everything around you as prey.” Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones
NaNoWriMo 2018 – 1 Down, 29 to Go
Happy First Day of NaNo!
Wordcount: 1,657
Time confetti. Stolen moments. Today I wrote in the car before walking my son to school, while I waited for my latte, on the train, at my desk before leaving for work, sitting on my kitchen floor before the PTO meeting, and while waiting for my daughter to fall asleep. Get it done writers!
Onward to Day 2.
NaNo Prep
Hello NaNo Preppers!
We are in the final days before NaNoWriMo 2018! I have been diligently (ok, not always so diligently) working through my NaNo Prep materials this month. I have an idea, some characters, my characters have some issues. And … I think that’s as good as it’s going to get. Every October I set out intending to be super organized, starting NaNo with files of research, character profiles, and a detailed outline of scenes to write. And every Halloween at midnight I throw up my hands in defeat and just dive in. I am a wanna-be planner. In truth, I’m a plantser (half planner, half seat-of-my pantser). What did Elizabeth Gilbert’s mom used to say? Oh yeah, “done is better than good.” So I’m calling it. I’m done with NaNo Prep.
So what’s this year’s project, you ask? It’s called To Rebehold the Stars (thank you, Dante). And I don’t really know what genre you would fit it into (please, please, don’t say chick lit), but it’s basically a coming-of-age novel for grown ass women. In it, a handful of women approaching (or slipping quietly by) the age of 40 realize they have worked very, very hard indeed and achieved much in their lives, but always on other people’s terms. They take the chance, at life’s natural midpoint, to redefine themselves (or to define themselves for the first time) through creative pursuits, through things they’ve always wanted but denied themselves. But they must battle that most deadly of foes: the belief that what they want–purely for themselves–has no value. Oh, did I mention that these women have been through some serious shit? And life does not stop throwing fireballs at them just because they’ve decided they will reclaim their identities. Oh no, folks. These ladies are going to have to lean on each other. But first, they need to find each other. Stay tuned.
NaNo Prep – Week 1 Recap
Hi writers! It was a busy first week of October for me. I posted my second NYC Midnight Flash Fiction entry on the contest forum and have had fun responding to feedback from other participants and reading their entries. I signed up for a noveling conference next month and have been trying to read at least one novel from each of the authors who will be presenting there. And I’m gearing up for an intense 48 hours this weekend as the NYC Midnight short screenplay contest kicks off.
And then there is NaNo prep! I’m loosely working my way through two texts this month in preparation for National Novel Writing Month in November: Lisa Cron’s Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel and the workbook Ready, Set, Novel. So far, the two dovetail nicely. Chapter 3 of Story Genius is called “The What If?” (see last month’s posts for summaries of chapters 1 and 2, which lay out Cron’s story-writing philosophy) and Chapter One of Ready, Set, Novel is called “Storming Your Brain.” Both challenge you to tease out from that nagging little kernel of a story idea you’ve been carrying around a bunch of potential novels. This is always the nerve-wracking part for me; committing to one idea when there are so many others floating around. What if I choose the wrong one and wind up hating it in November?
But that isn’t really how it works. I’ve gone into NaNoWriMo as both a serious plotter and a pantser (NaNo speak for someone who does no planning and simply sits down on Day 1 to write by the seat of his or her pants) and I can tell you I have never regretted a moment of planning. You are not rigidly stuck with your outline, notes, doodles, random thoughts, character sketches, or other NaNo prep work. You will still be surprised by the directions your writing takes during the month. But a little planning significantly cuts down on the amount of time you will stare off into space (or at a blank notebook page or blinking cursor), wracking your brain for what to say next.
This week I’m diving into Chapters 4, 5, and 6 of Story Genius, titled “The Who?”, “The Why?”, and “The Worldview,” and Chapter 2 of Ready, Set, Novel, titled “Creating Your Characters.”
Not into these books? Here are some other NaNo Prep resources you might be interested in:
- The folks at NaNoWriMo have a whole workbook full of exercises to get you thinking about your novel that they use with their high school student participants.
- They are also offering a few webcasts this month, including one this Thursday, October 11, on NaNo Prep, and one on October 15, focused on how to find time to write every day.
- And you can check out the new weekly podcast Write-Minded, by NaNoWriMo executive director Grant Thornton and Brooke Warner of She Writes.
- Are you a checklist person? Check out this one by Deborah O’Carroll.
Happy prepping writers!