Janis I. Monroe's Blog, page 11

Going Slow with NaNoWriMo

I hate to say it. I haven’t been NaNoing as much as I’d like. It’s strange how fired up one can be at the beginning of such adventures and then find themselves struggling to meet the word count each day.

At the beginning it’s as if all you can think about is NaNo and you’re so in love with the idea of writing and at the end of the month having perhaps a rough draft of your novel. The longing and excitement of this can cloud your judgment and take over the other part of your brain that is aware of all your other responsibilities including your job.

Even if I can’t make the word count each day (some days I may reach it or exceed), at least I am writing each day and getting into that habit so that, yes, there will be a finished novel in my future, just maybe not at the end of November.

Okay, so I didn’t always see it like that. I had a friend help me through my frustration and feeling down that I am already so far behind I fear it would be too late to catch up. I would be down and contemplate giving up, feel like everyone else is doing so much better than I am. Well…darn it! Pity party over! I’m tired of feeling that way, so the positive way is how I chose to view NaNo. If I don’t meet the 50,000 words at the end of the month, it’s OKAY! NaNo is not really a win/lose kind of thing. It’s a tool to be used to motivate you to get writing… STOP procrastinating (I am guilty here) and get writing! No more excuses!

I may be behind but I’m not out of the race. I still have some time to try for that word count. First I need to see how many words I need to make up and then go from there.

So here goes! NaNo Day #7, maybe you’ll be my lucky day!

Best of luck to my other NaNoWriMos! :)

NaNoWriMo Is Almost Here!!!

It’s 11:39PM as I start this blog. 21 minutes to go and NaNoWriMo will be here!

I have Scrivener primed and ready to go.

Am I using an outline? Nope! That’s just not me. I tried that several times and it almost never worked for me. I’m a total PANTSTER! Yup! I just winging it. Whatever flows from brain to hand gets written. Let that inner critic come out later. NaNo is almost here and I’m out to have fun with this task of writing!

Okay, so the momentum is high right now. I know that will slide later. Still, gonna roll with it and see where this journey will take me.

Are you ready for NaNo 2014?

How are you feeling as the clock ticks down?

What do you do to distract yourself as the time approaches?

I’d love to hear from you and how you deal with the anticipation of NaNo.

Best of luck to you all!

NaNo Prep Day 2 – End of Day

Early….very early yesterday morning at around 3:30, I woke up and tried to go back to sleep. I had these ideas for my NaNo story playing in my head. Lines of dialogue, POVs from certain characters, the story layout, a new occupation for a character, and a possible ending! You can imagine how excited I was when just the day before I was drawing a blank. Writer’s block is funny that way!

Now, I have debated several times on whether this story was the one I was meant to work on for NaNo. As you can imagine with little more than a few ideas I didn’t have much of a story, and was tempted to go with a story I had more background and character development for. But yesterday something happened that, to me, confirmed this story currently titled “Lucy from South Hampton” (a better title will come to me at some point), was indeed the story I was meant to be writing for NaNo.

I was at church and after service there was a celebration for a couple who had been married 45 years! They had a beautiful cake, of which, I knew I could have none. I am a Celiac. However, an elderly woman named Marie made a gluten free cake, her first time ever. She used one of Betty Crockers gluten free cake mixes and yes, you would think this would be so easy to do right? Well, if you don’t have an understanding of gluten free flours and how easily they dry out, then even a mix can be botched!

I thanked Marie for making the cake. It was very thoughtful of her. She said, “Well, you know it was my first time. I didn’t know anything about rice flour.”

“You did a great job.”

“Well, it’s a little dry,” she said eating a piece of gluten free cake.

I didn’t say anything, but the cake was dry and bit rough–like sandpaper–on the tongue. (Not that I’ve ever tried sandpaper on the tongue. Eeek!)

I looked at Marie. She is a small woman, a former school teacher, with white hair wearing a bright blue sweater. “I think you did a good job with the cake. It tasted good.”

“It was maiden voyage with it, you know.”

I nodded. But inside I chuckled when she said “maiden voyage”. At that moment, I thought of the maiden voyages the Olympic and Titanic that would be in my story for NaNo. My next thought was, “Yep. I’m supposed to write this story this NaNo-go-round!”

Nano Prep – Day 2

So today is going to be my day 2 of NaNo Prep.

I have a beginning to a story, but I’m struggling with a middle and an end. I have a few ideas but I need more. Hmmm…. Boy, howdy! I think I’ve got writer’s block. How ’bout that! If that isn’t one of the most frustrating things to have!

I need more plot and not sure where to go for inspiration or something to kickstart my imagination. I’m working in the early 1900s with the construction of the Olympic and later the Titanic. So I’m thinking, I’ll do some research about that era and maybe read some personal accounts of the tragedy and maybe accounts of those who have lost loved ones. There is bound to be something in there I can draw inspiration from.

What do you do when you have writer’s block? Is there anything you go to that helps get the creative juices flowing?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave comments below the post.

Thanks and happy NaNo Prepping!

 

NaNo Prep – End of Day 1

Yesterday I had set out to rework my story Facade, however, the new ideas I had for the story didn’t work out like I thought. It’s funny how ideas come to you, they sound great, and then when you try to work them into the story you realize the ideas were not as great as you thought. How frustrating is that?!

The ideas I had would have called for a major rewrite of my story which would allow me to use this story for NaNoWriMo. Thing is the ideas would change the story so much that a major plot would be eliminated and therefore all the action and suspense that went with it. I would have been left with maybe a beginning of a story but a HUGE whole after that. I had nothing… And going over this made me realize I really liked the plot I already had and that it worked so much better.

So this means I will set this story aside. Thankfully, I already had another story idea in my bag. I pulled it out and started working on that last night. I’m liking it so far. I don’t have a title yet, but it takes place in the early 1900’s in South Hampton, England. I am thinking of the title “The Three Sisters”, but I think that will be a place holder as it really doesn’t depict the message in my book. If you haven’t guessed already by the time, place, and prospective title of the story, the three sisters refers to the White Star Line luxury liners Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. At least the Olympic and Titanic will have a part but not sure how far the story will go, or how much either ship will be involved.

Hmmm…. Thinking…. Thinking…. Lots to do so best get to it!

How are you coming along on your NaNo prep? Have you hit any road blocks? What do you do to overcome them? Feel free to leave comments below. I’d love to hear what you have to say.

God bless!

Prepping for NaNoWriMo 2014 – Day 1

Good morning, everyone! Or good evening, depending on where you are in the world.

It is a misty morning here in the North Woods and I can’t think of a better way to spend a day than listening to good music, with scented candles lit, and prepping for NaNoWriMo! Yep. It’s about that time again.

I have a fictional story I started for Camp NaNo a few years ago, but I got stuck when the book wasn’t going where I wanted it. So I took some good advice and stuffed it away for awhile. I thought of the story often and prayed I would get ideas that get me on my writing path again.

Well, my friends that day has come. I pulled out the manuscript, dusted it off and I’m looking at it with fresh eyes. There is going to be some major rewriting and it will like writing a new book almost. The plan for the day is as follows:

Read through book
Mark what needs to be changed (characters, ect.)
Make an outline (not really a fan of this, but in this case, I may need one.)
Update synopsis
Make Book Cover

I think that may be it, at least for now. It’s a good start. Of course, I will also be visiting the NaNoWriMo site’s Nano Prep page which has good articles for beginning your novel, committing to it and planning it.

I would love to hear you prep for NaNoWriMo, or even if you don’t do NaNoWriMo, how do you plan out your novel? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Word Progress Meter

If you’re looking for a word progress for your projects outside of NaNoWriMo try writertopia. They have a couple of meters on their website. I am currently trying one on my site. I am using the one of the little raisin-like guy (reminds me of a California Raisin) and you get to not only update your wordcount but also this little guy’s mood. The moods rate from 0-7:

0 = very frustrated

1 = ready to shoot computer

2 = shocked at what’s written

3 = sleeping

4 = watching TV

5 = logical and calm

6 = working at novel

7 = joyful

I guess when the book is finished he celebrates by having a beer! lol

I have a feeling I’m going to have a blast with this little guy!

 

Why I Quit Writing

Why I Quit Writing by Joe Bunting touches on what I think EVERY writer goes through at some point in their writing career. I know I have been there soooo many times! I keep telling my husband maybe I should just quit. I’m stuck I don’t know where to go and then we start talking and BOOM in the middle of a conversation I get hit with something, tell him to hold on a minute while go write it down. But then, as soon as I start writing I KEEP writing just as Joe says has happened to him.

I think we get frustrated and at times, suffer from self-doubt. We just don’t see how things are going to turn out and that can be disheartening. But, we will never know how a project will turn out if we never finish it. We might be surprised and we often are.

We do know a couple of things, we love to write, it’s in our blood, and even though it can feel like torture during the moments of writer’s block, once that book is finished, we feel on top of the world!!! It is so worth continuing on through the tough stages to reach…THE END.

Thanks, for your post, Joe!

Playtime with Amazon’s Search Engine and Selling Prompts

Playtime with Amazon’s Search Engine and Selling Prompts. by Jason Matthews is a great article on how to use Amazon’s search engine to generate keywords for your book. The keywords can be use in your title, interior book content, and in the keyword section of KDP. I think this would work for Create Space as well.

Some great advice here and something we Indie Authors need to keep in mind.

Thanks, Jason!

14 Ways to Write Through Writer’s Block

14 Ways to Write Through Writer’s Block.

I love the tips this article gives for writing a blog post when you want to say something but nothing comes to you. Some good ideas to jumpstart the creativity and write an amusing blog post.

Thanks, Jenn & Kate!