NaNoWriMo 2015

I'm feeling better and drafting two novels, so I thought I'd give it a try. It can't hurt to have all that encouragement, can it? If you're doing the same and are so inclined, feel free to "friend" me there and we can all yell at each other to get our butts back in the chair so we can get our word count in.

www.nanowrimo.com/participants/pamalaknight

Wishing us all the luck!

NaNoWriMo Mike Check

It’s day 16 of National Novel Writing Month and I wanted to check in with my fellow NaNo-ers. Some of us are gleefully getting words down on the page at an alarming rate while others are struggling but managing to make it. To those folks I want to say GREAT JOB! Keep up the good work! You’ll get there!

However, the rest of this post is for those who find this month stressful to the point of nausea and their already tenuous wordcount, stifled.  Those who write the words, then delete those same words.  To you, I want to say, cut it out. Stop making yourself mental. Get the words out on paper because you can, and should, go back to edit them later.  Get all the ingredients for your fabulous soufflé of a book out on the counter with the cookbook picture of what it’s suppose to look like and start whisking.  You can’t tell that story to the masses if its trapped inside your grey matter and not written on a napkin or a file somewhere.  Just breathe, give yourself permission to write--little by little, word by word, sentence on sentence.  Watch how quickly things add up.

I know it’s hard to commit to this month’s rigorous pace but there’s loads of help to keep or get you back on track.  My latest lifeline was thrown from an article in PW, 5 Writing Tips from Chelsea Cain. Ms. Cain is the author of the Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell crime thriller books.  The series has been compared to RED DRAGON with serial killer Gretchen Lowell likened to Hannibal Lecter, and I can see how that might be the easy similarity.  A detective (Sheridan) visits a serial killer in jail (Lowell) but for me, their relationship is very different than the Lecter/Clarice Starling relationship.  Gretchen Lowell kidnapped and tortured Det. Sheridan for ten days and then, for reasons unknown, let him go and turned herself in.  Wow, right? I couldn’t WAIT to read the book when I saw the description.  Anyway, I’m getting off track here because I want to point those who’re struggling, in the direction of Ms. Cain’s excellent article on writing.   Take a look and see all the common sense awesome she shares.  Go ahead, I’ll wait here for you.

So, to recap—you have to write EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T WANT TO, so just get your butt in a chair and do it. You have to write THINGS THAT MIGHT SEEM CLICHÉ because really, everything under the sun has probably been done somewhere so don’t let that stop you. You have to write WHEN YOUR CHARACTERS ARE ACTING ALL CRAZY AND TRYING TO BOSS YOU AROUND, so let the voices in your head know that you’re the one in control.  You have to write THE SCENES THAT ARE UNCOMFORTABLE FOR YOU because your best work sometimes comes from the things that are difficult.  You have to write AND STICK TO THE DETAILS RELEVANT TO THAT PASSAGE because no one wants to read about a girl running from a killer who gets caught and murdered because she suddenly notices the lovely red dress in the shop window she just sprinted by.  So, lesson learned today?

You have to write.

NaNoFailMo

Okay, so I didn't make the goal of 50,000 words. Still about 15,000 short but I'm glad I tried. It was a great experience and I'll definitely sign up again. No excuses and I'm sure that there are plenty of other folks who were similarly afflicted but I did enjoy it. This first time out taught me that if I focused on getting the words out instead of how many words, then I could possibly get closer to or even attain my goal.

I'm not alone in my failure. Even mega-superstar historical author Carolyn Jewel missed her target. Her attitude about the lack of meeting a 2000 plus daily word count inspired her to open up her blog for fellow crashers to commiserate. In honor of Carolyn, who is seriously talented, and all the rest of us slackers, I give you Beck's international anthem that was probably running through everyone's head on or around November 30:

Bumps in the NanoWriMo Road

The month of November is a little more than half over and that means that we're that much closer to NaNoWriMo being over.

I have two distinct emotions surrounding this fact: YAY! and OMG, I've still got 30,000 words to write. Don't worry, I'm not of the mind that the product of the November writing sprint is going to be fit for public consumption (or any other kind of consumption for that matter) until a great deal of revision has been done. But, I still want to finish, if only for the satisfaction of getting to the end of a task.

Some of my nano buddies are way ahead or are far behind in their personal word count goals. For those, like me who might be suffering from intermittent writer's block or just the doubt that what you're producing is worthy, here's an excellent take written by Martina Boone and posted at her shared blog, Adventures in Children's Publishing. The advice is timely and relevant to all writers, not just those interested in Young Adult literature. There are loads of other excellent pieces posted there, so amble on over and take a look.

Taking the Plunge

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo proper, for the first time this year and I'm a little nervous. Last year, a modified version called NaNoReviseMo was the order of the day but this time, I'm going all out in order to try for 50,000 shiny new words instead of revising an existing manuscript.

The company is good at NaNoWriMo this year with many of my chapter mates from Chicago North, FFnP, Celtic Hearts and the lalala's also participating. There are bootcamps offered through Savvy Authors, Romance Divas and other places devoted to NaNoWriMo, including agent Nathan Bransford's entire blog from last week. Nathan might re-think his propensity for being helpful to budding authors when queries for all those first drafts land in his inbox in early December ;-). I suspect that agents all gird their loins or sharpen their teeth or whatever it is they do to deal with the slush piles when NaNoWriMo is over. After all, it's a good thing to encourage the masses to write, right?

Finally, the insanely talented and horribly funny Chuck Wendig offers up some advice, encouragement and a list of do's and don'ts in order to achieve success in getting those 50,000 words onto pages. Chuck also made me want a NovelBot but mine needs to do laundry as well.

Happy Samhain!