Tuesday, November 17, 2015

NaNoWriMo and the Writer that Time Forgot


We are in the swing of National Novel Writing Month, Welcome November!!! Not only do we have Thanksgiving to look forward to, but the abundance of creative activity adding to the written collective. It is amazing to see how many people are taking part and how far they have come in such a short time. It's only the 17th for crying out loud...

NaNoWriMo's official website has an amazing assortment of helpful tools and advice for their participants from famous authors to NaNoWriMo champions. I wish I had the time to check it all out. I've noticed that once I get started on something that time flies by and I look up to realize I've been at it for hours. I get lost in the world I am building and don't come up for air unless some outside necessity makes itself know. Truthfully, sometimes coming back to the real world is a jolt, as I am my protagonist, and my heroine is just another reflection of me.

On another note, I have switched books for my novel, instead continuing to work on Lost Lady for this month, though I have started on the Knave and the Rose. The reason for the switch was that I realized that out of all of my outlines for the Chronicles of Odde series(Nine Books), The Knave and the Rose was the book that I had the least idea about. It made sense to change gears and focus on something else while I let the plot unfold a bit more in my head. Along those lines I am editing what I have on book two, The Lost Prince. I am about 3/4ths of the way done on that novel which was my last NaNoWriMo project. Still have some plot bunnies to work out there. Editing will help me get my thoughts in order before moving forward.  

Since the weather has finally made a turn and a chill is in the air, you would expect that I sit down to my computer with a cup of hot coco or even coffee, though I am not a coffee drinker. Hot tea of any variety sounds lovely as I write this, but no, I am an iced tea girl. Sweet Tea or Regular I drink it year round, and find nothing more enjoyable than a good iced tea. Many fast food chains make it easy to pick up a good drink while I'm out and about, but there are also some places that I never return too. There iced tea tastes as if it were some powdered monstrosity sold by the barrel. A good Iced tea is my reward for going out and getting stuff done! I only mention it here, because I have two iced tea cups sitting at my elbow, and I wonder if other people have a beverage of choice, or maybe a snack food that helps their creative flow.

While editing I like to print out copies of my work, usually Via Staples. My reward points came in and they have a good coupon this month on presentations. I like my draft double-sided spiral bound with had vinyl covers, and this time I added tabbed pages that tell my were each chapter is for easy reference. The extra page will also give me some space for notes as I decided to forgo double spacing and did single space to save money. We'll see how it goes...

 Printing is also a time that I back up my drafts. I usually send emails to friends and tell them to save my drafts. They are most obliging. I would burn cds of my files but I have noticed that I never really keep track of them. The cds get relegated to a bin, and then eventually end up in my shed were I store all of the stuff that is too good to be donated or thrown away. I have commented on this tendency before and will not do so again, but realizing this about myself, having the copies out in the cloud or internet seems a much better idea.

I have no advice that is unique or extremely motivating to give to my fellow writers other than to quote the famous Nike add, "Just do it!"

I wish you all the best of luck, and inspiration in all its forms and fancies. Write On!

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