You're Almost There

It’s the last day of NaNoWriMo. *distant sobbing* I know you’re tired. I’m tired too. But I know we can do this. I know we can push ourselves and finish strong. 

I don’t want to use up precious writing time, so I’m keeping this brief. You are awesome and inspiring. Remember that. Your wrists may be sore and your mind may feel burnt out, but you can rest tomorrow. To dredge up an overused metaphor, NaNoWriMo is like a marathon, and when it comes to long distance running, this is the final stretch. This is where you start sprinting. 

So sprint. 

All the Words // Part #3

If you are participating in NaNoWriMo, you are likely to enter a writing slump at least once this month. Please allow me to offer you some questionable advice on how to get more words on the page. 

Cut corners if you have to. Skip difficult or boring scenes that are bogging you down. If writing in chronological order is messing with you, write stuff out of order. Embrace structure, or don’t. Skip dialogue tags if you find yourself struggling with them. Or use too many, if you can’t decide which one to use. If you write a sentence and then think of a better way to phrase yourself, don’t backspace. Just write the sentence again the way you want to. You’ve written both those sentences, so keep the words. 

Don’t hold yourself back. You are just throwing ideas at the page and hoping some stick. Don’t expect to keep even half of what you’re writing here. Go into full mad-scientist mode. (But only in terms of writing. Please don't start dissecting people.) 

Be smart about your rest. All-night sprints are fun, but consider the long term consequences. This writing gig is a month long. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and you need to pace yourself accordingly. Make sure you get the sleep you need. 

Vomit words. It’s amazing what your brain can do when you release all restrictions. I know there are going to be purists who cry foul at this, but if you need to spend five thousand words describing scenery or narrating your character's thoughts, do that. It might help you dig up an idea or a plot point or a theme you wouldn’t have encountered otherwise. At least it will help you get to know your story world. 

This month, literally anything goes. Toss the rule book. Who even needs that? You are a mighty viking. You make your own rules. Stab people with your viking helmet if they say otherwise. (Please don’t actually stab people. I don’t want to go to jail.) 

If you are fiercely competitive, word sprints are your friend. Slay your competition. You are the alpha. Make it so. 

Embrace alternate locations. Write-ins are great because they are both social and focused. Coffee shops are helpful too. Going someplace specifically for the purpose of writing can work wonders for productivity. It’s like hacking into your mind and rewriting the code, but totally legal. Probably. 

If you are writing blog posts or essays this month, include those in your word count. They may not be part of your novel, but those are words you’ve written this month, and you deserve credit for them. That way the time you spend blogging and doing homework doesn’t have to be so discouraging. And you really want to encourage yourself as much as possible. I am giving you the green light on this. Remember, people sometimes get snippy and try to hold you to their rule book, but this is NaNoWriMo. Rules are for the weak. 

Positivity works wonders. So seek out ways to get yourself in a good mood. Or develop a healthy case of indignation over something and let it fuel more words. Use your emotions in a productive way. Learn what helps you write and then overuse it. 

What about you, my little coffee beans? What are some ways you combat writing slumps?

All the Words // Part #2

When it comes to NaNoWriMo, it can be easy to get distracted by other writers’ word counts. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s difficult to keep from getting jealous of those who are doing better than me. I see people going for the million and succeeding, people who make my writing efforts look first-grade level. That jealousy can transform into full-on discouragement. But NaNoWriMo is supposed to be a positive experience. So here are some tips for combatting envy and word count depression. 

Have fun with the imperfections in your story. Find a plot hole? Have your characters talk it out. Don’t forget to include disparaging comments about your writing abilities, if you are the type of person who likes to laugh at yourself. These scenes might make you smile when you get around to edits, and that’s not a bad thing. 

Block out stuff when it gets to be too much. If you find you can’t mingle well with other authors this month, don’t. Build yourself a safe place and stay there for the entirety of November. If the forums make you feel discontented with your own progress, get off the forums and use that time to write more words. 

Remember that everyone has their own typing speed. We have people who type quickly, and then we have the Slug Club, a forum for people who can’t type as many words per minute. If you can only type 30wmp, don’t compare your progress to those who can do 100wpm or more. You will feel like you’re failing, when you’re not. 

Find your tribe. We have a forum for overachievers. We have a thread for those dealing with chronic illness (and other health issues), those choosing to write their novels by hand, those who plan ahead and those who don’t, those who are writing multiple books at once, those who are NaNo rebels, etc… If you can’t find a thread for your specific need, start your own. Connect with people who understand you. 

Remember that everyone’s head space is different. We have writers with dyslexia, depression, PTSD, OCD, scizophrenia, etc… Learning disabilities and mental illnesses make writing a thousand times more difficult, so it helps to recognize that your starting point may just be further back than others’. This isn’t necessarily a fair race. 

Focus on your work ethic. One thing that helps to keep discouragement at bay is to focus on what you’re doing right. Are you showing up to write every day and putting forth your best effort as much as you can? Then be proud of that, no matter how little you might be managing to drag out of your skull during your times at the computer. Don’t get so hung up on numbers and graphs that you forget to appreciate what you’ve accomplished. 

When all else fails, embrace your competitive side and let the successes of others egg you on. That’s totally what I do. What could possibly go wrong?

What about you, my little coffee beans? What are some ways you avoid discouragement and envy during NaNoWriMo? What are some forums you like to frequent? What are some of your struggles when it comes to drafting novels? 

Do You: A NaNo Pep Talk from a Mere Mortal

Note: Today's pep talk is brought to you by my sister, Abby Brooks. 

My plan this November is to write 50,000 words. Just 50,000. A measly 50,000. A Weasley 50,000. What am I doing with my life? I’ll tell you: I’m living. I’m doing my job; I’m hanging with my friends; I’m spending time outside in the fall air and getting my exercise. I’m cleaning my house and making hot meals and OH BY THE WAY I’m writing a novel. This is a pep talk for people like me who cheer loudly when we reach 2,000 words on a given day, because that is really stretching it. This is a pep talk for writers who have a hard time celebrating their own achievements this month when they remember that the overachievers forum exists. Overachievers, Smover achievers, that’s what I say. Sorry, Liz. Please don’t poison my coffee.

It is a constant human temptation to compare ourselves to others. I do it all the time. See, I’m a fairly standard human being, who happens to have a ton of truly extraordinary friends. There’s the children’s book illustrator, the private investigator, the screenwriter and the philosopher. There are spy boys, musicians, poets, and writers. So. Many. Writers. Some days I wonder why I presume to do anything, to pursue anything, when my closest friends, and even my little sister, can do it so much better. 

When I play this comparing game with my circle of extraordinary friends, I lose sight of the fact that I, too, am a little bit extraordinary. I may not play guitar and sing for hundreds of people each week like my office mate, Taylor. But I do play the ukulele. On my porch swing. For the cat. I might not write poetry in my sleep like I once caught Belle doing, but I do write three or four pieces a year that I’m sorta kinda proud of. Same with painting and languages and knitting and running and blowing bubbles in chocolate milk etc., etc.. BUT LISTEN. The point is not that I don’t do each of these things as well as the next person. The point is that I do them. That alone makes me a little bit extraordinary. Do stuff, coffee beans. Each of you are a little bit extraordinary too.

I heard this saying while bumming at my house, watching Netflix: “You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.” Ai. Shucks. Ain’t nobody sacrificing no Grey’s Anatomy anytime soon. The way I see it, there are two types of overachievers in the world. The first kind is the most obvious. They drop everything except their coffee mugs and pound their keyboards for a month, and trade their sanity and the sound structure of their wrists for five shiny, new novels which they then edit for forever and then publish and get rich and drive their Lamborghini’s around. These people sacrifice everything else for their one, big dream, and they succeed through sheer, brute force. This is how I suspect my sister’s life will play out. Which is awesome. But I’m not like that. I’m the second type of overachiever. The type who could never pick just one dream. The type who could never sacrifice literature for music or music for fitness or fitness for writing or writing for beauty or…or.... I overachieve not in any particular area, but in the sheer number of areas I stubbornly continue to invest in. 

How is this a Nano pep talk? I can hear you yelling now. I’m saying Do You. Succeed on your own terms. Examine yourself. Set goals. Decided how much you can sacrifice without losing yourself and then by all means, sacrifice it. Don’t do less than your best. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that your best is the same as someone else’s best or that your best in any given area isn’t good enough just because someone did better. Just do you. Give yourself all the credit you deserve, and plenty of grace when you do honestly have to admit that you’re not living up to your potential. Ask yourself: What am I doing with my life? and by all means possible make sure that’s an answer you’re proud of. Maybe that means hitting 25,000 words today. Maybe not.

Here I go: 

It was a dark and stormy night…

Nailed it.

All the Words // Part #1

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo, and you find yourself struggling to get words down on the page, it helps to remember that you are free to write what you want. You’re writing a contemporary and you start feeling the urge to include a scene with dragons in it? Knock yourself out. You want to write a chapter in the POV of that one neglected potato at the bottom of the fridge? Do it. I dare you. Whatever keeps the words flowing. A lot of the stuff you write like this may end up getting cut during edits. In fact, count on it—give yourself the leeway to write for the sake of writing, not for the sake of immediate perfection. You will be able to polish later, but right now you’re trying to work loose thoughts, and sometimes you have to do that in roundabout ways that also happen to get you more words, even if they feel beyond ridiculous. 

If a tangent interests you, explore it. I’ve gotten at least five new novel ideas this way. When in doubt, include it in your story. And if you hate something you’ve written? Don’t go back and delete it from your total. Just write around it. I add a lot of notes to myself along the lines of: Okay, let’s just pretend the last chapter didn’t happen. So we’re picking up at point XYZ and moving on from there. 

There is no rule that says you have to limit the description you use in this draft. There is no rule that says you have to limit the characters or the plot lines. That’s for when you edit. If you have a ton of elements, and you know there are just too many for a proper novel, include them anyway so you’ll get the chance to explore them in detail. And then let the threads drop along the way if you find you need to. No harm done. When trying to decide what to write, err on the side of more, not less. You're not Hemmingway this November. You're Dickens. 

You are not trying to be masterful. You’re trying to unleash the full power of your creativity. (Okay, that sounded ominous.) 

Sometimes I’ll write a scene three times, back to back, each a look from a different angle, like I’m using a three-point turn to get my car headed in the right direction. Because later, when I edit, I will have three options to choose from, and I will be more equipped to evaluate which version I want to run with. This can also help pinpoint what might be off enough to give me a touch of writer’s block, all without taking the time to slow down and read back through to figure out where I’ve gone off track. 

Get crazy with this. Write fanfiction of your novel. Gender swap a few scenes, or gender swap the whole thing. Change up the main characters for a couple thousand words. Try to imagine and reimagine your story as much as possible, so you know it front, back, and sideways. It'll help you figure out what works and what doesn’t. Explore all the paths. Blaze new ones. Don’t restrict yourself. 

You are literally making this up as you go along, so embrace the flexibility this gives you to map out your story world in your head. There are no limits—don’t act like there are. Go where you will. 

What about you, my little coffee beans? What are some ways you maximize your word count for NaNoWriMo?

Embracing the Crazy

During NaNoWriMo, it’s not uncommon to go a little crazy. Sometimes you find yourself writing a scene where your characters mock you and question your parentage, or when they discuss all the plot holes and the reasons why you shouldn’t be a novelist. And you’ll find yourself agreeing with them. It’s great.

Even if that doesn’t happen to you, at this point in the month, you’re still bracing for the home stretch. If you’re like me, you’re probably tired and ready to take a good long break over the holidays. You may not even feel like you can make it to the finish line without collapsing into a pile of words along the way. Rest assured, this last bit can be just as enjoyable as the rest, provided you recognize the humor in it.

You’ll find yourself typing sentences like, “I see Jude, sitting on a log, rotted and covered with leaves, the log not Jude.” Instead of being a responsible adult (if you’re an adult), you may put off washing laundry until the last possible moment. You may even forget what day it is. Every time you open your word document, you’ll remember something important like the fact that you haven’t flossed your pet barracuda’s teeth in far too long, and maybe you should go do that instead of writing. Or you may suddenly recall the fact that you have something called a family (which doesn’t like to be ignored), and another thing called a social life (which must be maintained somehow—or so they say). Like a greedy dragon, you might catch yourself spending an obsessive amount of time staring at your word count graph and thinking about how you can make it OH MY GOODNESS SO MUCH TALLER before the end of the month. 

At some point, you may be ill-fated enough to glance at the date and realize how little time you have left between now and the thirtieth, which might lead to a (minor) panic attack. So you’ll get to work and you’ll write a few hundred words. Then you’ll realize that you haven’t checked your Facebook messages in, like, five minutes. After that you’ll remember you should check your email, and also your watched threads on the NaNoWriMo forums. You’ll drink coffee and more coffee and at some point you’ll wonder when you decided to skip the mug and start drinking directly out of the coffee pot. Eventually you may find yourself eating the coffee grounds themselves because it’s much quicker that way.

Or you might sit down to write and find yourself accidentally opening Netflix instead. It happens. No doubt your fingers are forgetting how to type properly by now, so you’re probably really proud when you manage to spell at least every other word correctly. When you compare your word count with other people’s, you freak out because it seems like everyone ever is ahead of you and you just want to beat them (and I’m not talking about stats here). You realize that as much as you’re loving your novel, it’s not loving you back. So you drown your sorrows in more coffee, and you spend ages finding new music online.

All silliness aside, I get it—this is the hardest part of the month. If you celebrate Thanksgiving, you’ll have to balance writing and eating and socializing, and that’s especially difficult if you’ve fallen behind. Not to mention (again) that you’re probably super tired already. And December is calling to you from just around the bend, reminding you of all the crazy busyness it has in store for you. So sprint now because you’re on the homestretch and you need to kick this novel’s bum. You can take a break from writing in December, but this is not December. Show the world who’s the boss, first. Then, and only then, do you have my permission to go insane.

Well, my little coffee beans. How is writing coming along? Are you looking forward to December, or would you rather petition the government to add thirty more days to November so you can write a bazillion more words?

Knocking that Word Count Dead

Ah, welcome to the third week of NaNoWriMo, where everything gets just a little bit more interesting. At this point, you’re probably tired, and, if you’re like me, you’re running behind on your goal (whether it’s the official 50K or whatever goal you’ve set for yourself). Others of you may be breezing ahead, throwing your cares to the wind, and having the time of your life. Wherever you’re at, it doesn’t hurt to think about getting some extra words written in case you find yourself unable to make significant progress over Thanksgiving.

Let me just say, as a disclaimer, that everyone’s brain is different. So the advice I’m about to give won’t necessarily work for all of you, and that’s perfectly okay. Remember what I said last week? The ultimate goal is to write the story. Your final word count at the end of the month will not be a meter by which you should measure your self-worth, or even your successfulness. Some people write slowly, and they need to write slowly, and that’s totally cool. Writing slowly doesn’t make you a failure. That being said, if you’re as numbers oriented as I am, here are some tips that might help you beef up your word count.

First of all, it’s important to keep in mind that writing, like a professional sport, requires a lot of practice and training. If you’re just coming out of the gate, you probably don’t want to count on pulling a 30,000 word day. Push yourself, yes, but don’t be angry if you fall short. Those just beginning training for a marathon shouldn’t expect themselves to be able to finish the whole race on the first try. If you’re new to writing, or new to writing thousands of words in a month, please don’t make this a miserable experience by forcing yourself to produce more than you’re able to. And don’t expect it to be fun all the time. Like long-distance running, it takes a lot of sweat and effort and focus, but the end result will be worth it.

My first NaNoWriMo (2012), I didn’t officially participate. Instead, I just kept track of what I wrote during November, and my count came to about 36,000 words. At that point, 36,000 words was a big deal—the most I had ever written in such a short space of time. When the next November rolled round, I decided to push myself a little harder, and I came to 160,000 words at the end of the month. Last year, I went into NaNoWriMo intending to one-up myself and write 250,000 words, but after a bit of warm up, I found I was able to go above and beyond that, and I reached 404,404 words total.

Now, my point in mentioning these numbers is not to make those with lower word counts feel bad in any way whatsoever. So let me put some things into perspective for you. In all of those NaNoWriMos, as with this one, what I wrote was pretty nearly junk and I would die before I let anyone read those rough drafts. But, I would never have even reached the 50,000 word official goal had I been writing something quality. Which brings me, at long last, to my next point. If you want to beef up your word count, and you’re like me, you need to lock your inner editor up in a maximum security penitentiary for the month. Be aware that if you’re going to go for the higher word counts, you don’t have as much leeway to second guess what you’re writing. One of the biggest rules that I set for myself is that I can never go back and reword something, even if I absolutely hate what I just typed (although I may also write the alternate wording down so I don’t forget it). If I’m in the middle of a scene, and I decided it’s really not what I’m going for, I make a quick note to myself about it and then pick up wherever I left off before things went wrong. But I don’t delete anything.

One of my greatest joys in writing comes from the editing process, so the messier my first drafts get, the more fun I’ll have on the second. I try to keep this in mind as I vomit words all over the page. Remember, the official goal for November is to write 50,000 words—just 50,000 words—not 50,000 polished words, not 50,000 words of publishable manuscript. At the end of the month, no one has to read what you’ve written (or at least, I hope you’re not under that sort of pressure.) When trying to beef up your word count, type the first thing that comes to your mind, and then the next thing and the next thing. You’re allowed to stop and think, but you’re not allowed to stop and overthink, and you’re going to have a lot of trouble making headway if you spend too much time second-guessing yourself.

Another important aspect is good time management. I can be guilty of way too much procrastination—in fact, I don’t think I’d be as far behind my goal as I am if I’d spent more time holding myself to task. Part of good time management is taking advantage of every spare moment you have. Can you write on your phone? Do that when you can’t access your computer. Do you have five minutes while you’re waiting for someone to vacate the bathroom? Use that time. Are the kids napping? Write. Do you have ten minutes while the cookies are baking? Well, don’t just stand around doing nothing—TYPE. Do you feel like slacking off? Write anyway. Squeezing in five or ten minute segments whenever they crop up may not feel hugely important or helpful, but you may find you’re able to salvage more time than you think that way. Even if you only manage an extra thousand or so words, at least you’re farther along than you would have been. Remember that, like spare change, spare moments add up.

Now that I’ve talked about writing all the time, let me reverse directions and advocate taking strategic breaks. Let’s face it, your brain and your fingers are going to need rest, and if you deny them that, they won’t work for you as well as they could. Set a word count goal that you want to reach (something reasonable, maybe anywhere from 100-2,000 words), and write that amount. Don’t pause until you’ve written that. Then take a quick break to read something or visit your favorite social media sites or walk around a little. Then set another goal and make sure that you hold yourself to it. Don’t let yourself take a break until you’ve met that goal. And so on and so forth.

As for my final point, it may seem a little counterintuitive to a lot of you, and again, it might not work for everyone. But my advice would be to make sure that you get enough sleep. In fact, during NaNoWriMo, I let myself get at least an extra hour of sleep each day if I can manage it. The reason for this is that your brain will start losing some of its ability to function properly if you’re depriving it of rest. Even if you manage to snatch a few more writing hours by delaying bed time, you may not be able to accomplish much more than you would have if you had let yourself recharge. And let’s not forget that your word count won’t seem as shiny and awesome at the end if you don’t even survive NaNoWriMo.

When it comes down to it, whether you get a super high word count or a rather low count, if you have put the time into writing this month, I wholeheartedly applaud you because you are amazing.

 

So what about you, my little coffee beans? Any tips or tricks of your own that you’d like to share? What is your target word count for this month?

When Life Eats Your Word Count

When it comes to National Novel Writing Month, I am an overachiever. But, despite my best efforts, I can’t write all the time. Throughout November, I have to take care of the basic necessities, such as sleeping, bathing, and making coffee. Sometimes it’s possible to multitask and write at the same time, like while eating, but most of the time, there will be periods of hours or even days when life gets in the way of writing. And that has to be okay.

This month, I’ve encountered multiple obstacles that have interfered with my word count goal (505,505 words, in case you were wondering). As is always the case with NaNoWriMo, I wanted to have a really solid first week. I wanted to knock that word count dead. And even though I’ve already more than reached the actual 50,000 target word count on the website, I’m not pacing well for my own goal.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had to pack and clean and sort in preparation for moving, and that has involved a lot of time-and-energy-consuming work. It has also been emotionally stressful for me, as choosing what goes with me and what stays behind for now taps into some of my negative emotions from leaving Africa. (I’ve talked a little about this before.) And while writing can be a great way to blow off steam, it also requires brain power and endurance, and sometimes those two things just don’t come in abundance. Which means my word count is going to suffer.

So, what I’m saying is, you never know what’s going to get in the way of your progress in November (or whenever you choose to write your book, although I’m mainly referring to NaNoWriMo participants here). You’re not a failure if life grabs you and spins you around and keeps you so dizzy you can hardly pound out half of what you would like to.

Let yourself pick up the pace slowly. Ease yourself into this. You have a whole month.

Let me put it this way. I participated in Cross Country for multiple years when I was younger, and one important, invaluable thing I learned about long distance foot races was that I couldn’t afford to start out sprinting. In order to be able to run the whole race, I had to pace myself until I got within sight of the finish line. Then I could pull out all the stops and run at my top speed. Now, this isn’t a perfect analogy, since many NaNoWriMo overachievers will start off with a bang, but don’t feel bad if that doesn’t happen for you. It’s important to let yourself adjust so you don’t get burnt out. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you’re not as far along right now as you’d like to be.

Don’t break your sanity, or your health, because you want to reach a certain number. I will tell you right up front that my word count is very important to me, and I would rather do most anything than admit I can’t always keep up with some of the more aggressive overachievers. But it’s important for me to accept my limits. Where I’m at is where I’m at (deep, I know), and getting frustrated with that is not going to change anything. It won’t help me write more words. It won’t help me have more ideas. What it will do is distract me from my ultimate goal, and that is completing the rough draft of a novel (or, in my case, at least five novels).

In the end, even if my word count falls short, and even if I have to finish drafting one or more of my stories in December, that’s still okay. I will have written. That is the main point of NaNoWriMo. Sure, you must reach a certain word count in order to win officially, or, if you’re like me, a certain even higher goal which you must reach in order to feel like you have won. But the goal is just there to keep you moving and putting words on the page. So please, try to remember to take pride in what you do accomplish, and please don’t let an overly competitive spirit prevent you from having a good time.

Let yourself take breaks from your writing when you need to. Wash the dishes. Short sheet someone’s bed. Visit the NaNo forums and commiserate or celebrate with other writers. If you can, please promise to have a good time, and I will promise to do the same.

 

Let’s chat, little coffee beans. How are you doing this fine November? What does your word count look like? Are you doing well, better than you had expected, or worse? If I could, I would jump through the screen and give you a giant mug of coffee to help you along, but I guess I’ll just have to give you this virtual pat on the back instead. Happy writing!

Letters to My Fellow Wrimos

Writing Status: Unfortunately I haven't been able to get ahead as much as I would have liked, but in a few days packing and traveling will be over, so I'm hoping I can make up ground toward my goal then.

Note: To anyone confused about National Novel Writing Month, here's a link.

To: The Discouraged Writer Who Would Like to Get Published

Dear Writer,

I need your book. I need your words like I need coffee (and that’s a lot, in case you were wondering). You may be sitting there, at your desk or in your recliner or wherever, thinking sadly to yourself that no one will ever care about the stories you want to tell—that no one will ever recognize the beauty of the landscapes you craft in your mind. Not true.

I own hundreds of books, but my personal library remains incomplete without your voice, your inspiration, your insight. It’s missing the unique way you see and process the universe, the reflections and emotions that only you know how to express. It’s missing your heartbeat, and your soul. Without your contributions, the bookish world is a hollower place. Maybe some people don’t notice the void, but I do.

Whisk me away from this reality. Show me something better, or something worse—I don’t care. Just take my hand and lead me through your mind. Whisper about buried secrets and long-lost love and pain and joy and that feeling you get when you jump in mud puddles like a little kid. Tell me about leaves blowing in the wind, or your character’s first breakup. Demonstrate what it’s like to lead a kingdom or fight an illness. Help me view the world in a different way.

True, yes, I am addicted to many forms of story, and no, I cannot say you are the only one for me. But you are the only you. No other writer could replace your distinct vision. So please, don’t waste your time feeling sorry for yourself or doubting your skill or second-guessing your choice to write in the first place. Every moment that your fingers fail to type those wonderful words is another moment we all miss out.

Please don’t deprive us for much longer.

Sincerely,

A Reader

 

To: The Writer Who Writes only for Personal Amusement

 

Dear Writer,

Hey, you. Don’t worry—you haven’t slipped through the cracks. While I would love to see your beautiful words on the shelves someday, I totally respect your desire to keep your writing to yourself. You may never edit your books, or you may—but you don’t feel the same need/pull to get published, and that’s fine. The fact that you write just for the sake of writing, and for nothing else, says a lot. It says that you understand writing, that you appreciate it for what it is, not just for what it might get you. It means that you won’t feel that same pressure to conform to popular standards, to write more quickly, or to face the constant feedback that might sap your writing pleasure. It means you get to enjoy writing in its most pure and unadulterated form. In some ways, I envy you, not because I don’t want to get published, but because you will always be freer than me.

So, enjoy this month. Write that wonderful novel, the one you’ll keep tucked away in your hard drive and in your heart, the physical takeaway from a month well-spent. I hope you make the most of this time. I hope you discover new and exciting things about yourself, about this world, about everything. I hope you never lose your untainted love of writing, and I hope your personal appreciation of literature deepens. And, if you ever decide to venture out into the publishing world, then I will find a place on my shelf for your masterpiece.

Best Wishes,

A Reader

A Different Sort of Rat--One Last Pep Talk



 

Here we are, wrimos, on the final stretch—the very last leg of the race. And though we are exhausted, we are determined to sprint across the finish line with all the grace we can muster before we pass out on the grass at the end of the track. Likewise with our characters. All through this month, they have fought monsters and obstacles and deadlines of their own. This is called the RAT—the race against time—and it’s something that most books need. Usually they have goals with teeth—save the world in twenty minutes or it burns, become queen or the kingdom breaks apart, save the endangered owls or the housing development seals their doom.

You have not been immune to this rat race yourself. December is closing in, bearing with it promises of presents and holiday pounds and too much pie for anyone’s good. At the beginning of the month, you probably felt excited. Thirty days can seem an eternity to the hopeful writer’s mind. So much can happen within that span of time; books can develop and spring to life; love can begin and end. All of eternity seems encapsulated in this November collection of moments that has become all yours.

Yet, here and now, looking back at the preceding days, no doubt you wonder where they have gone, why they have rushed away in such a flurry of fluttering paper and clacking keys. The potential of time resources that you foresaw has now been tapped nearly to the fullest. Coffee is scarce. Nerves are taut. For those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, schedules are packed. But if you’re like me, you have so many stories left to tell—not even half the words in your head have been committed to paper thus far. This month will end, and it seems that with its demise, the glow of creating will fade, and life will return to its normal mundane routines locked tightly in the spinning of the world. All those bright moments in your head will fly off like faeries once the month is passed. A tough pill to swallow, huh?

December will come and snatch away the thousands more words that you so wished to write but couldn’t. Your work of genius will sit abandoned in the dusty archives of your computer—finished or unfinished, it matters not. The window has passed for fantasies such as these, and it is time to move on and answer the call of reality. Can’t you already hear the phone ringing? Perhaps you believe that if you don’t get those words in your head written down before the close of November, you may never get another chance. For some, that may encourage you to write like your life depends on it. Because it does. (That was mostly a lie.) But for others, and sometimes I hold myself among your group, the fear and the gravity of this reality is enough to freeze you in your tracks with dread. And while you sit unmoving, time rushes by in the never ceasing whirlwind of commitments and obligations.

Regardless of where you stand on this matter, November is almost over. Nothing can change that—not even coffee. Our kitchen is filled with smoke from my German apple pie, and the strawberry rhubarb is sizzling nicely. Soon pumpkin bars will join the mix. And the cooking, yeah, it’s eating my word count. So is blogging. That’s life. The thing is, you’ve worked yourself hard all month. Now it’s time to relax and enjoy family and these moments that, like this NaNoWriMo, you will never be able to retrieve or redo if you miss them the first time.

At this point, you may be asking if this is a pep talk or a stress talk.

Here’s the crux. No one (at least no one important) ever said that you couldn’t keep writing after November. Many of you already plan to. Good on you. Sprint to the finish line—yeah—but the race doesn’t have to end there. Oh no. After all, you wrote a novel, and I’m sorry to tell you this (not really), but it’s not over yet. Unfortunately, if your work of genius is anything like mine, it has a face only a mother could love. You may think it’s fresh and exciting, but it is probably going to take many drafts and tons of revisions before anyone else will see it that way.

But in the end, where’s the fun without a challenge?

News from the NaNo Front

Hello wrimos, I see you made it out of week two alive. Congratulations. Sorry to say this, though, but it’s not over yet.

In fact, we’ve only just begun. Because week three…

Oh yeah, I lied about week two…

Week three—there’s the kicker.

All the way through week one, you probably soared on the winds of an exciting beginning and a fresh mind ready for adventure. Then, of course, week two came along—right out of nowhere—and boxed you around the ears a bit. I imagine your head is still ringing. Dreadful sorry.

Unfortunately, I’ve been hearing some rather disturbing news from the writing front. From the snippets of tattered notes brought to me by my fearless carrier pigeons, I have caught wind of a desperate situation. So I stand before you today, observing how nice you all look in your NaNo uniforms, designed specifically to help you blend in with your room and disappear from normal society. Bravo for your ingenuity! And I especially love the Viking helmets—nice touch, those. But I also see something else that reminds me of my own reflection in the mirror, all gaunt from lack of sleep, with those over-caffeinated eyes that seem to stare into my soul. *shudder* Most of you look a little battered, a little down for the count, if you ask me. Sure, some of you have a charming freshness about you and a ruddiness to your cheeks. You’ve been running full tilt, having the time of your life, and the exercise suits you. It really does. So I would like to award you an honorary medal for your bravery.

But war is never as glorious as they make it out to be, and many of you understand that, now more than ever. Come, sit. I’ll grab bandages and cocoa—we can talk about it if you like. I hear the forces of writer’s block have been converging on our location—I suspect foul play on the part of a few inner editors. Also, I realize the plague has been sweeping through this camp and taking down our numbers. Last week, I myself became a statistic. After all, there’s nothing like a good old head cold to wreak havoc on your word count.

So today, troops, I would like to address two issues. Afterwards, you will be free to line up for the chocolate buffet. (I hear there will also be coffee, but don’t quote me on that.)

The first problem smacks of OCD. You see, if I write a certain number of words on one day, then for goodness sake, I will—I must!—write exactly that many words (or more) the next day or else THE WORLD WILL END! I admire those of you who can skip a day without suffering an aneurysm. Unfortunately, I am not like you. On Thursday, I looked ahead at THE ARMY OF COMMITMENTS that was blackening the horizon, and—fueled by the sound of distant, clanking armor and the feral snarls of word-count-eaters—I wrote almost double what I normally write. As I did this, I told myself that I was building up padding so that I could relax on Friday.

But is that how it worked out? No. Of course not. You are talking to Liz, after all, not Superman. Because the next day, I looked at my graph, saw how much ahead I was, and decided to up my goal (for like the fifth time this month). The surplus was nice, but my brain wasn’t going to let those extra words go to waste. And this whole new dynamic started to throw a wrench into my enjoyment of NaNoWriMo.

So you know what I did? I slacked off—I made myself. I went to bed early, having written just about half my normal daily count. Did it bother me? Yes, of course—but not as much as I would have expected. Far less, in fact. I almost felt good about it—lighter and freer. And the next day, rested and invigorated, I popped out of bed, wrote extra words that more than made up my deficit, and enjoyed my time immensely. On Sunday, I slacked off again. Then—wonder of wonders!—I did better on Monday.

You can probably see where I’m going with this. If you’re feeling tired or trapped—take a break, read something, rest. Treat yourself like a human being rather than a workhorse. Eat ice cream and check your social media platforms and dance while washing the dishes. Make cookies. Procrastinate with intentionality. Writing takes discipline—yes, of course. But working yourself to death isn’t going to do you any favors. And if you don’t make your goal of one million or whatever…? Let me let you in on a little secret. You are not going to die. Not from that.

 

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The second, and more disturbing issue that I have been hearing about is the sad malady of novel malnutrition. Like scurvy, this seems to be a common occurrence during war. Chances are, you may have started out with a robust, beefy storyline that really tickled your fancy and made your fingers fly. But at around 25K, some of you came to the realization that your wonderful book was actually going to be a novella. You suddenly felt as though you were choking and drowning and spontaneously combusting at the same time. I feel your pain. And sometimes, the sad truth is that your fantasy trilogy really is only a short story.

But in many cases, all you need is a simple vitamin injection. You’ve been writing fast and furious. Now it’s time to slow down and look at what’s gone wrong with your novel. Your story of a frog trying to find his way home after escaping a little boy’s room may have had so much potential in your mind. But Ferdie found his family in chapter eight, and now your only recourse seems to be writing a 25K epilogue in which you meticulously describe the party thrown for him upon his return.

I’m here with the daring suggestion that maybe your novel doesn’t have enough conflict. Yes, Ferdie got home—yay, Ferdie!—but did you really make him work for it enough? Sure, there was that part you especially liked about the housing development and the belligerent construction workers, and that other bit you didn’t like so much about the swimming pool incident and the rabid pelican. (Seriously, do birds even get rabies?) But, he pretty much just hopped along and weathered these issues. And then he got home, 25K words too early. Stupid Ferdie.

But what if he gets to his little rotten log, and he finds that no one’s there? What if his whole family has been captured—by the same boy!—during his absence, and now Ferdie must save them as well? Or, what if Ferdie returns to watch his family celebrating at his funeral, to see his fiancé marrying another frog, to find his possessions stolen? Or what if they are happy to see him, but, mid-celebration, those construction workers from the housing development come along and start surveying his nice little woodsy habitat? Or! What if Ferdie has come back angry, plotting his revenge on the frogs who made it possible for the boy to capture him in the first place?

I realize you’re tired, and at this point, it’s easy to rush to the end, write the climax, and call it a wrap. But I’m challenging you, today, to call your story’s bluff. What you have might be a false climax. There might yet be plenty of good stuff to come. You just have to dig for it.

So that’s your assignment for today, troops. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to dredge up all that ammo from the slushy ground of the battlefield where you dropped it when you beat a hasty retreat, because you’re going to need it in a few minutes. Writer’s block is swarming the camp, and it’s up to you now to save us all. Good luck.

Welcome to the Land of No Return

No doubt you’ve discovered week two of NaNoWriMo, my current home. In fact, I see those muddy footprints you tracked all over the carpet, and I also see the discarded pile of coffee cups that seems to be growing even as I look. Oh my. Of course, I would offer to give you a tour, but since your laptop looks quite natural plunked onto that desk in the corner with the inspiring lava lamp, I realize I might be a little late for that. Well, welcome anyway. And next time, make sure to wipe your feet on the mat—that is actually what it’s there for. Or so I’m told. I, for one, do not venture frequently into the great outdoors, because why would I do that when I could merely rule a hundred realms within the confines of my comfy chair?

Oh, you say you’ve already been here five days? How embarrassing! Still, I’m not surprised I didn’t notice you sooner. You see, I’ve been shunning all forms of real civilization and carrying on conversations with nonexistent people in my head. But I digress.

Perhaps, though, you don’t know your way around this place quite as well as you think. Allow me to point out some interesting oddities. For instance, come join me in the kitchen, and we’ll inspect the contents of the fridge. See this coffee creamer? It’s Pumpkin Pie Spice—no surprise there. But you may not have noted the brand. International Delight is rather lovely, don’t you think? It’s much better than Coffee Mate, which I call Paper Mate because it doesn’t actually taste like a substance I should be ingesting. There’s also orange juice, and grape juice, and V8, plus lots of milk. Frankly, I think there might be a cow living in this fridge somewhere, because that is seriously a LOT of milk.

Ooh, come take a look at these cupboards—aren’t they marvelous? Let’s look at the tea—Earl Grey, Raspberry Royale, Pomegranate Green, and Chocolate Mint Oolong! They are a caffeine rush just waiting to happen.

But we’ve lingered too long down here, and I’m sure you’re eager to return to your laptop. Or your notebook. Or your papyrus scroll or cuneiform tablet or… Perhaps it would be better if we moved on.

When I am writing, I like small enclosed spaces and rainy days and that perfect blend of darkness and brightness, like the wedding of moonlight and shadows. Here’s a handy dandy tool to help with the mood. Be mindful, though, the thunderstorm can be rather frightening when cranked too loud. Cozy, huh?

Somewhere in this house, there is a newspaper I would love to show you, but the page with the article in question is the only one in the entire pile that I seem to have misplaced. Though perhaps I had help from the gremlins who also stage a multiplicity of phone calls during lunch break. Who needs phone calls? (If you haven’t read “The Murderer,” a short story by Ray Bradbury, I suggest you do so posthaste.) What was I saying? Oh yes, newspaper. I was procrastinating yesterday—a fine art that was developed long before NaNoWriMo but only reached its true glory when the site began in 1999. First I read an article about con men in the early nineteen hundreds. Then I skimmed one about Ebola. And then, I stumbled upon this little jewel. I mean, seriously—I live in Maine. Maine is full of deer. Due to an unfortunate grocery shopping incident, our new Subaru Forester now answers to the name Deerslayer. But shooting a doe with a rack is about as common as meeting a woman with a beard. Though not quite as awkward.

Well, you’ve been kind to me on this abbreviated tour of NaNo week two, also known as THE LAND OF NO RETURN. The inertia of a new and shiny story idea has probably begun to wear off, like the thin nickel plating on that expensive bracelet the salesman assured you was solid silver. You may well be rolling in great vats of words or struggling just to manage twenty. Regardless of where you are, you are most likely getting tired. I know I am. Even though I’m maintaining a steady speed, I still feel like I’m losing ground. This is because I’m forging into the wilds of a rough draft where anything could happen, which could be either good or bad. And right now I’m thinking bad. A few days ago, I accidentally began the long slow process of killing off one of my favorite characters, and now I need to think of a clever way to save her life, or else a meaningful way to let her die. So you see why sleep and sanity are absolutely out of the question right now.

Usually I’m calm, laid back, chill—except when it comes to answering the phone and killing massive spiders the size of mimics. But I’m starting to get anxious now. The newspaper is calling to me. My music collection is begging me to come sing along. In a great feat of avoidance, I made cookies yesterday. And then I walked for forty-five minutes to “clear away the cobwebs in my head.”

So I’m really saying this for my benefit as well. While it’s nice to distract yourself reading about the Bubonic Plague (which is still around, by the way), and the bloke who wanted to get swallowed by an anaconda (we must be terribly bored people), your novel is calling to you. Or maybe that’s just the trance induced by twelve too many cups of coffee. Be that as it may, now is the time when fear is at its strongest. And now, when you most want to quit, is the time that you cannot let doubt win. Because if you walk away today, in the height of your glory, you will regret it forever. All those unwritten words will eat a hole in your brain. Literally. (Okay, not really.)

So go out. Write. Conquer. Make a glorious mess, because with no mess there can be no further glory (or so I tell myself). Drag that book kicking and screaming into this world if you have to. Show it who’s boss. And together, we’ll make it through this. Then, when it’s all over, we can eat as much ice cream as we like, right before we sign up for rehab to treat our caffeine addictions. Wait, what?!

The Avengers, NaNoWriMo, and the Benefits of Writing Two Books at Once—A Message to my Fellow Wrimos

Status:  Since no one asked me to write a NaNoWriMo pep talk, I have taken it upon myself to do so. And to my non-writing readers, I promise, come December, I will write about something other than books for a change. But for now, it’s November, and this is what’s on my mind. Also, be forewarned of mild Avengers spoilers.

                       

Glossary of relevant terms: 

 

Wrimo—An intrepid adventurer on the path to 50K words.

Nanoverse—The universe of NaNoWriMo, known for its magical properties and slightly insane inhabitants.

NaNoing—The act of participating in NaNoWriMo.

 

Yes, it’s that time of year again, that magical month of crazy and unexpected happenings. Which reminds me of the day I actually found the end of a rainbow (with no pot of gold—of course.) But let’s not talk about that.

I’m sure most of you have seen The Avengers. If you haven’t, now’s the time. Because today, the Avengers are going to give us a pep talk about writing…  Or something like that.

Consider: 

1)      The world is in peril. (But isn’t it for every wrimo in the nanoverse?)

2)      The stakes are high. (Um…because…50K, and then you have overachievers like me who are then overshadowed by the over-overachievers who make 100K on the second day. Shame on you, whoever you are.)

3)      Failure means consequences. (No success—no book. Those are pretty steep consequences if you ask me.)

4)      A superhero (because let’s face it, that’s what we wrimos are) must join with his friends (writing buddies anyone?) to save the world from destruction. (Here is where I refer back to my original point.)

See, it’s all there. You wrimos have embarked on your dangerous battle against Loki (your inner editor) to save the world from the…okay, so it begins to break down here. But hopefully you get my point.

Not only does The Avengers parallel your journey this month, it also applies to your novel and its plot. No doubt, your characters are striving against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The stakes are high, with tangible consequences. (And I’m generalizing here, because literary novels are different, and also much harder to write in a shorter period of time.) At some point, your character will go through “the long dark night of the soul”, in which he feels he will surely fail. (Spoiler alert:  I’m thinking of Agent Colson’s death and the following events.) You yourself may feel that way somewhere between 25K to 35K (or try anywhere in your novel, when you’re me and you realize that you’re not freaking out and you probably should be freaking out because THAT’S TRADITION, ISN’T IT?)

Though I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, since we all have different writing habits, I personally am working on two books at once. Tada! I have now revealed the true depths of my insanity. But here’s what I have found. At first I was seriously concerned that I was off my rocker, that writing two novels at once was akin to eating two pies at once—delicious but deadly. However, come Day Five at 50K plus, I know something I didn’t on Day One. By adding another story, I have more than doubled my efficiency, for this reason. Last year, I spent ages staring agonizingly at the screen, wondering why the muse was taking so long on her coffee break. I mean, seriously, ten minutes is plenty. I had one story on which I focused all my energy (which wasn’t a bad thing—I got it done), but I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what happened next, getting mired down by doubt and dry-brain-syndrome. (It’s totally a thing. You’d know that if you ever did NaNoWriMo. Am I right?)

This year, though, when I get stuck on one book and need to take a step back, I don’t have to walk away from doing what I love. I can simply switch to my other story, tap away at that until my brain cramps, and then switcheroo again.

Before I leave, because yes, I am in a hurry to get back to my NaNo baby (sorry guys), I would like to make a tie-in. When The Avengers came out, the movie makers had built up to it with Captain America and Thor and Iron Man and The Hulk. While one movie comes out, another is in the works. There’s some overlap. Here’s the part of the show, I know, where you’re expecting me to make some deep comparison between this and my dual-NaNoing strategy with a swift last-minute tie-in to something coffee-related. But all I have is this—the different movies kept us interested, kept us waiting for the next one. That’s what happens with my two books. They feed off each other, like little baby piranhas (or not really). They are their own entities, of course, with different characters and different plots, but they keep me intrigued—they keep me moving. So happy NaNoing you wrimo Avengers. And knock that word count dead.