Hillary DePiano's Blog, page 45

Writing is work. It will require sacrifices to finish your novel. #NaNoPrep NaNoWriMo What to Expect series

This entry is part 4 of 3 in the series What to Expect During NaNoWriMo

You’ll have to make sacrifices and prioritize your writing.

This comes as a shock to many people with dreams of writing anything at all so let’s just get this out there right now: Writing is work and it takes time. Maybe you have a job, kids and a variety of other hobbies and, hey, the rest of us do too so we feel your pain. But if you’re really going to do this thing, you’re going to have to make sacrifices and make workin...

Writing a novel is both fun and difficult. #NaNoPrep (NaNoWriMo What to Expect series)

Writing iseasy. Writing ishard.

You’ll hear two different voices throughout the month. “NaNoWriMo is so much fun!” say that people for whom it’s going well. Meanwhile, the people who are having trouble are complaining that NaNoWriMo is stupid, impossibleand way too difficult. Unfortunately, they’re both right. NaNoWriMo is what you make of it. It can be a ton of fun and a creative flurry or it can also be absolute hell, if you let it be. In the end, it all depends on your attitude. Writing 50...

Writing a novel is both fun and difficult. #NaNoPrep NaNoWriMo What to Expect series

This entry is part 5 of 2 in the series What to Expect During NaNoWriMo

Writing iseasy. Writing ishard.

You’ll hear two different voices throughout the month. “NaNoWriMo is so much fun!” say that people for whom it’s going well. Meanwhile, the people who are having trouble are complaining that NaNoWriMo is stupid, impossibleand way too difficult. Unfortunately, they’re both right. NaNoWriMo is what you make of it. It can be a ton of fun and a creative flurry or it can also be absolute hell, if...

Starting is hard. Everyone is terrified of the blank page. #NaNoPrep (NaNoWriMo What to Expect series)

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You’ll probably feel a overwhelmed, especially in the beginning.

After all the anticipation, the beginning of NaNoWriMo can sometimes be killer on your creativity. You’ll be staring and that blank page with this feeling that all of your ideas have completely left you and you have absolutely no idea where to start. Believe it or not, that’s totally normal. You’re not alone. We all feel this way when starting a new project, especially under a deadline. Just don’t let it...

Starting is hard. Everyone is terrified of the blank page. #NaNoPrep NaNoWriMo What to Expect series

This entry is part 2 of 1 in the series What to Expect During NaNoWriMo

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You’ll probably feel a overwhelmed, especially in the beginning.

After all the anticipation, the beginning of NaNoWriMo can sometimes be killer on your creativity. You’ll be staring and that blank page with this feeling that all of your ideas have completely left you and you have absolutely no idea where to start. Believe it or not, that’s totally normal. You’re not alone. We all feel this way when...

Tips for keeping a new idea fresh when you’re stuck working on something else

I’m so excited. I can’t wait to start my NaNoWriMo novel. I want to be writing it RIGHT NOW!

Shiny New Idea

Usually, when people complain about having to wait to start their NaNoWriMo novels, I point them to this post and all the reasons I recommend just going ahead and starting it early(which is allowed!).

But this year, that’s me! I’m buried so deep in book launch stuff for Sell Their Stuff and The Love of Three Oranges (one-act version)so, though I’m chomping at the bit to work on

NaNoWriMo rule change: you CAN use an existing project (just only count words written in November)

You may NOT be a NaNoWriMo rebel after all!

There’s been a change in the rules and they’re subtle so you might have missed them. Let me address your attention to this page from the official help:

Do I have to start my novel from scratch on the first of the month? Can I use an outline?

Traditionally, NaNoWriMo works best when you start a brand-new project. It may be an arbitrary distinction, but we’ve seen that novelists do better (and have more fun) when they’re free from the constraints of exis...

Manually add past NaNoWriMo novels to show your victory & participation history in badges

NaNoWriMo veterans, there’s something different with your profile this year and you’re going to want to take note. You may be missing victory orparticipation badges from past years!

Wrimo profiles used to have a field where you could input every year you’d participated and every year you’d won. This would add little badges to your profile proudly showing off every year you’d done or won NaNoWriMo. If you’ve looked at the newly relaunched 2014 site, you’ll notice that this now pulls directly fr...

My new Work in Progress, nicknamed Clone Rocker, will be my 2014 NaNoWriMo novel

WARNING. This post contains Justin Bieber.

One of the strangest pregnancy side effect is weird dreams.Like, dreams so vivid and dark thatyour doctor actually warns you about them ahead of time so you don’t think you’ve gone completely insane. So, like, next level weird.

Yeah, that’s a thing.

Anyway, when I was pregnant with my daughter back in 2012, I had many of these crazy dreams. I’ve always had strange vivid dreams but never anything like these. Writer that I am, I tried to take notes on as...

Programming note: new posts every Monday and Wednesday at 8 AM EST

Looking for today’s post? I’m changing up the posting schedule. From now on, new posts will go up here, on Unpublishable Pennings, every Monday at 8 AM EST while another new post will go up every Wednesday at 8 AM EST over on The Whine Seller.

Unpublishable Penningsused to be Tuesdays and Thursdays while The Whine Seller was Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but I don’t know when, if ever, I’ll be able to go back to posting that manynew posts a week so this new schedule just made more sense for...