Tips for NaNoWriMo

Well, October is over the half way mark and for a lot of people that means gearing up for this year's NaNoWriMo. If you aren't familiar, November is National Novel Writing Month. Every year thousands of people sign up online and pledge to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. With daily word counters, a supportive online community and pep talks from some fantastic writers, it's a great way to blow your writer's block right out of the water. After all, there's no better silencer for the inner critic than a looming deadline. Unfortunately, I won't be participating this year, I'm deep in editing land, but I was a winner for the June Camp NaNoWriMo and so I thought I'd share a few of my tips and tricks for anyone who's considering giving it a try this year.

1) First off, do not fall behind. Hit your targets every day, right from the start. Don't assume that you'll be able to catch up on the weekend when you have all that free time. You won't. Believe me. You just won't.

2) However, if you do fall behind, don't give up. Yeah, I know what I just said, but falling behind doesn't mean you get to throw in the towel. Dig deep, throw in a few very late nighters and you'll be back on track.

3) Have an idea of your story before you start. No, you don't have to have it all mapped out ahead of time (unless you want to) but have a general idea of the characters, the plot. It'll keep you from staring at a blank page, wondering where the hell you're going with all this. Use this time before the start date to chew on your story, let it start building in your head and then let the momentum take you.

4) If your story just isn't working, change it. NaNoWriMo is the perfect chance to experiment with your writing. Think about it, with no time to care about the rules, you can be free to just create. (Because really, that's what it's all about.)

5) Please remember: Although it's called National Novel Writing Month, at the end you will NOT have a finished novel. What you will have is a rough draft and a very satisfying feeling of accomplishment. Don't get me wrong, completing a 50,000 word manuscript in a month is extremely impressive, but don't forget that there's a lot of work to follow. I won in June 2012, and I'm still editing. And frankly, I will be for a while. Every rough draft needs a ton of work before it's suitable for an agent, a publisher and the general public.

6) Have fun! I know that sounds like a cliche, but it really is fun. Incredibly stressful fun. But as your fingers race over the keyboard, pounding out word after word, an undeniable feeling of elation begins to envelope you. It's magic!

All right, good luck and God bless! I'll see you on the other side.

A New Lesson

This past weekend was a really productive one for me. I edited a few pieces of writing and finished the initial read through of the rough draft of my novel. Now I have a large stack of notes and a manuscript that's waiting for me to get down to business, and I have to say, I'm pretty excited.

I've written novels before. This is actually my fourth time writing the initial rough draft of a book. And as they say, practice makes perfect. (Although I'm far from perfect). My previous attempts all taught me something different. The first time taught me that I could do it. The second taught me about plot, what a story needs to be taken to that next step and how to tell when it doesn't have it. My third taught me about ideas, that they aren't as far away as you might think. And this time, I feel like I have a project worth getting excited about. This plot is much stronger than before, the characters are more developed, and I have all those practice runs to thank for it.

Don't get me wrong. This manuscript still has a long way to go. After intensive editing from myself, I plan to submit it to a manuscript evaluation service. I plan to put it through the ringer as many times as is necessary, until it's ready. Because now it's time for a new lesson, a lesson in editing. And I'm a very eager student.

What about you? Did you spend the weekend chipping away at the NaNoWriMo block? What are you learning through the process of creating a first draft?

Must Submit... Must Submit...

Due to last week's abundance of flash fiction, I'm going to try and keep things a little more real this week. Although as soon as I wrote that, a quote by Ray Bradbury shot into my head. "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." I love that quote. It's on the wall in my office. Nevertheless, I feel it's important to change things up, keep it fresh.

It's been a rather tiring month so far. I've been keeping up with my challenge for Submit-O-Rama, although I'm a little behind. I'll have to submit twice today to be where I should be, and it'd be nice to submit more to be ahead for the week. Between housework, taking care of the dog, a full time job and trying to commit ample time to writing, editing and submitting, it's been a bit much. Not that I'm complaining. This is what I want. This is what I have to do if there's ever going to be a hope in hell of writing being my full time job. (Ah! How glorious that would be!)

And to be honest, I've really enjoyed the Submit-O-Rama challenge thus far. It's really forced me out of my shell. I've had to scour the depths of my writing for good material, had to bend, twist and cut it into presentable pieces and send it out into the world. I've had to research markets, read past issues of possible publications, write queries and pitches. All things I'm out of practice with. After all, the writing is the easy part. It's fun, imaginative and a great source of entertainment and soul searching. The editing, research, pitching and inevitable rejection, those are the hard parts. The parts we all want to avoid. The more I do them, the more practice I get, the easier it'll become. I'll get better at it and (hopefully) increase my chances of success.

I particularly like these challenges in the winter. The weather is already cold and it's just October. These challenges make the months fly by, give me a source of ambition and determination when I'd otherwise just stay curled up in bed, miserable and waiting for spring. I've even been thinking about competing in NaNoWriMo again in November, although in a different way. I've been slowly editing my book since the middle of August, but I was thinking I might use NaNoWriMo as an editing marathon rather than a writing one. I respond really well to deadlines and word counts, especially when they're online for all to see. It might just give me the kick in the pants I need to really give my book the attention it deserves.

But in the mean time, I'm all about submitting. And I plan to finish the month triumphant.