Chris Baty's Blog, page 100
July 2, 2018
"I’m a late-in-life writer. I grew up voraciously reading any book I could get my hands on but never..."
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Claire Kann hails from the glorious Bay Area where the weather is regrettably not nearly as temperate as it used to be. Let’s Talk About Love is her debut YA contemporary novel, published in 2018 with Swoon Reads/Macmillan. A sucker for instant gratification, she also posts new stories regularly to Wattpad, including the two Watty Award-winning stories: The Scavenger Hunt and #Fatgirl Magic.
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June 29, 2018
Me, My Writing, and Mental Health
Camp NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! One of the most important things to keep in mind when you’re writing is making sure that finishing your project doesn’t adversely affect your mental health. Today, participant Lanie Goodell shares how she balances writing and mental health needs:
When I was first offered the opportunity to write this blog post, the topic of mental health and writing goals jumped out at me. After all, I’m a writer with both an AAS (Associate of Applied Science) and a BA in psychology. What a great fit! But then I got started writing and I stared at the blank page. The deadline loomed and the page remained blank. I realized that this was a prime example of how I stress myself with writing goals.
As I started writing, my day job got in the way. I had to fly out to the other side of the state for a site visit and ride-along inspection. During that flight, what I thought was a slight cold turned into something worse, resulting in thickening of the lungs and a severe asthmatic reaction. And my writing goals were once again put on hold. In addition, the day before the flight, my 12-year-old son spent the day in the emergency room. He’d caught his foot on the metal post of his bed and broke his foot. This taller-than-me, pretty much a teenage boy, needed his momma. His now-sick momma.
All of my writing goals had been shoved aside for the daily life events that so often overtake our goals. My frustration was evident in my lack of ability to put words on paper. My anxiety over missing a deadline I very much wanted to meet emphasized the white paper in front of me, the curser blinking a taunting rhythm.
The past week has taught me so much more about mental health and writing goals than I could have imagined. I’m sitting on developmental edits of my novel, until today I had this blog post pending, and I have a new novel started with a notebook full of plot twists and research. But I’m not meeting any of these goals. I haven’t written. I’m stressed—and that’s poor mental health.
“I realized that the best way to meet my goals, to stay mentally healthy while still writing, was to ease up on myself… My revelation has helped me realize that my writing suffers when I’m too hard on myself.”As writers we are our toughest critics. We’re harder on ourselves than anyone else in our lives. This is detrimental to our mental health. We suffer depression, frustration, anger at the blank page. We set goals for ourselves that we’re sure we can meet. We make those goals smaller when we realize we’ve bitten off more than we can chew.
I did all of these things in the past few weeks. I set goals that I didn’t meet. I chewed myself out mentally for not finding the time to work on my writing. I got angry with myself for not having the discipline to write. But a great thing happened when I sat down to work on this article. I realized that the best way to meet my goals, to stay mentally healthy while still writing, was to ease up on myself.
I sat and made a list of the things I wanted to accomplish. I ranked them in order of priority. And then I told myself whatever I could manage would be a success. What’s the saying? Life is what happens while we’re making plans. Goals are important. They’re essential. You need to have a plan for what you want the end goal to be. But one of the things we have to remember is that we’re human. Life happens. I’m late submitting this article. I spent yesterday in Urgent Care and I’m finally starting to feel better, ten days after getting sick. Words are no longer the enemy. I have stopped beating myself up for not meeting all of my self-imposed goals.
My revelation has helped me realize that my writing suffers when I’m too hard on myself. I lose my excitement, wrapped up in the drive to write instead of the passion that makes my writing interesting. Today, I feel free. I feel like I can accomplish my end goal… as long as I remember I cannot control the smaller details. Today, I have found my passion again.
Lanie Goodell has been writing since she learned to spell. She recently finished her first adult novel and looks forward to the day she can write full time. She has been published in three anthologies and has a children’s story pending publication in the inaugural issue of Prickly Pear Kids. A former teacher, Lanie loves crafting new worlds through words, creating written stories that play like movies as you read. For more about Lanie, visit www.meligoodell.com.
Top image licensed under Creative Commons from ChristinaMina on Flickr.
June 27, 2018
Want to start a new writing project during Camp NaNoWriMo this...
Want to start a new writing project during Camp NaNoWriMo this July but feeling a little nervous to try? Join our Young Writers Program Director Marya and Communications Manager Katharine to learn some tips sourced from veteran Wrimos.
June 25, 2018
How to Make Your Writing Three-Dimensional
Camp NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! If you’re wondering how you might be able to keep up your enthusiasm for your writing project through the month, writer K.R. Garcia shares some tips to help keep your excitement alive:
Writing is a two-dimensional art form. No matter the quality of the words you place on paper, they are still just black and white. In the time between NaNoWriMo events, it’s easy to push your novel aside and spend your time on more pressing or more exciting matters. But writing can branch off the page.
You can keep your writing inspiration alive by bringing it into other areas of your life.
Do you take pictures? Sculpt? If you cook, you could craft a delectable imitation of your main character’s favorite meal. If you draw, you could sketch your characters or, if you’re daring, make a map of your novel’s world.
Do you play an instrument? I play the piano, and on occasion I have composed entire scores for my stories. You could also embellish your novel with other kinds of writing—poetry, song lyrics, fables, an origin story for the pebble your main character kicked down the road back in Chapter 5, and so on. There are many ways that you could incorporate your other interests into your novel.
Keep in mind that, although these projects could be used in your novel, they do not have to be used that way. They are intended primarily for yourself. If you do these projects for more eyes than your own, they may bring more stress than relief and distract you from your novel.
“Creative side-projects can give you enough immediate reward to carry you along the writing path.”The goal of these synergistic creativities is for you to reignite your interest in writing. When I play those compositions mentioned earlier, it puts me in the writing mindset. Painting your novel on a three-dimensional canvas may open your eyes to its complex beauty. Seeing your novel in a different light, or a different medium, could inspire you to dive back into those pages of black and white and add some color to it.
Why does this work? Writing is a complex art form. For the painter, the cook, or the musician, reward can be immediate: a lovely brushstroke, the right flavor, or harmony between notes. For writers, reward can take forever to reach. Creative side-projects can give you enough immediate reward to carry you along the writing path.
Why is it important to keep your interest alive? Without motivation, you can’t get very far. Though writing offers more long-term rewards than short-term, when you do finish your novel, the feeling of accomplishment will be everything you imagined, if not more.
K.R. Garcia has been creating stories since before she could hold a pencil and has participated in eight NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo events. An avid Agatha Christie reader, she writes mainly in the mystery and adventure genres. She coaches a class for young writers at her high school in Texas. When she is not writing, she enjoys classic rock, psychology, and music boxes. You can find her on Twitter at @katerpillar43.
Top image licensed under Creative Commons from Tom Small on Flickr.
June 22, 2018
Camp NaNoWriMo
It’s almost time for Camp NaNoWriMo to begin again! Join us this July for more fun writing adventures. Pack your Creative Backpack and get ready to work on your creative masterpiece with three simple steps:
Announce your project. Set your own goal from 30 up to a million—and don’t forget, you can track words, hour, minutes, pages, or lines!Join a virtual cabin with up to 19 other fellow writers. (Already in a cabin? Post a hello on your cabin message board!)
Get ready to write! We’ll be hosting Virtual Write-Ins every Monday to help you figure out how to get started on your writing project—and how to push through to the end once you’ve begun. With different writing prompts, themes, and discussions every week, you’ll bust through writer’s block in no time.
June 20, 2018
This week, we hosted a great tweet chat with our July 2018 Camp...
This week, we hosted a great tweet chat with our July 2018 Camp Counselors! They’ll be around through the next session of Camp NaNoWriMo to dispense real-time words of wisdom and advice as your work on your writing projects. We gathered a few of our favorite pieces of advice from their tweet chat to help you get your writing momentum rolling!
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Quote tweet from @NaNoWriMo: I often have the problem where I start really strong and then fizzle out, and I’d love to hear suggestions for keeping a steadier pace throughout the project. #CampNaNoAdvice
Claire @KannClaire: This happens to me, too. When I begin to lose momentum, I immediately look at my outline because something must have gone wrong. If it’s not exciting to me, it won’t be exciting to anyone else so I adjust my scenes, plot, stakes, etc to get myself back on track #CampNaNoAdvice
Kirstin Chen @kirstin_chen: From my experience, writing a book is overwhelming no matter how many times you’ve done it. I try to focus on one major goal per draft, so if this is a first draft, my goal is: JUST GET TO THE END. There’s so much time to clean things up later! #CampNaNoAdvice
Jessica Strawser @jessicastrawser: The word “momentum” = key. That means keep going. I usually aim for 1,000 words minimum a day when I’m trucking on a project, but ANYTHING you can swing is better than 0. And: Try to stop sessions when you *know* what comes next. Makes it easier to pick back up. #CampNaNoAdvice
Quote tweet from @NaNoWriMo: Counselors, what’s the piece of writing advice you most wish you’d had back when you were starting out? #CampNaNoAdvice
Gloria Chao @gloriacchao: Own your weird!!
Embrace what makes you unique & use it! I used to try to imitate what was out there but didn’t find my voice until I embraced my unique background as an MIT grad, a dentist, a Taiwanese-Am child of immigrant.
Write the story only you can tell. #CampNaNoAdvice
June 18, 2018
How to Balance Writing with Everyday Life
Are you missing the energy of Camp NaNoWriMo and can’t wait for it to start again in July? If you’re trying to find time in your hectic schedule to sit down and write, participant Nicole Maharaj shares some tips to help you balance your writing time with your everyday life so you can finish your writing project:
When Camp NaNoWriMo ends, many participants are left with either a project that is mostly done or one that still feels unfinished. This year, for example, was my first Camp NaNoWriMo, working on a project I haven’t looked at since 2011. Surprisingly (to me at least), I was able to write more than I usually do, ending up just 10,000 words short of my original goal.
Now, just a couple weeks before the next Camp NaNoWriMo session begins, I’m at 52,000 words with no end in sight. Although you can create your own goal in Camp NaNoWriMo, I usually aim for the requisite 1,667 words a day (that is, 50,000 words per month). But for a lot of people—myself included—sometimes getting that amount written down is harder than it should be. A lot of writers have other responsibilities: Children, spouses, work, friends—all have a way of getting in the way of your writing. Personally, I’ve learned that if I change my goal from a daily one to a weekly one, I get more done.
I’ve never been the kind of person to get words easily down on computers. I’m sort of old school in the way that I work best with pen and paper, especially since inspiration can strike anywhere. The first draft of my 2011 project was forty pages, all long hand, done while traveling back and forth from college. So for me, rather than tracking my word count every day, the easiest way to set goals is by planning chapter by chapter. I usually make a goal on Sunday to set where I want to be in my novel by next Sunday. That way, I have a whole week to plan scenes, have characters randomly appear, and villains fall to their doom, instead of trying to rush through 1667 words in a day.
“Every writer needs to find their own way of working through writer’s block—or in my case, writing in infinite circles I can’t get out of.”The other thing to remember is to take breaks from your writing when you need to. I noticed during Camp that while trying to get words down on paper, there were phases of my writing when I was just writing myself in circles. Now, because I’m not in Camp, I’ve learned to figure out those moments and to take a break when that happens, because all that writing in circle does is ensure I have over 1,000 words that will never make it past the editing floor.
For example, during the past week I noticed this was happening, so I stopped writing completely and did something else creative I haven’t done in a really long time: I made some art. Really weird art with aliens and monsters, but art that eventually helped me look at how I was writing my scenes in a new light. Now, I have a much better idea of how to write my next chapter.
Of course, what works for me won’t necessarily work for everyone else. Every writer needs to find their own way of working through writer’s block—or in my case, writing in infinite circles I can’t get out of. Especially as summer is approaching, with its distracting days of BBQ’S, family gatherings, beach excursions, and long walks ahead. Even if you can only get a couple of pages every so often while in the pursuit of other interests, you should still try to make time to write.
Nicole Maharaj has been writing since she was thirteen years old. Her first published piece was a poem and short story published in a textbook in her first year of high school and has two e-books currently online via Tablo Publishing; The Prince’s Vow, and Hunter’s Bar which share the same universe, as well as most of the characters. When she’s not in that universe she’s working on her first attempt at Science Fiction: Thorns. Her author penname is Katherine Drake.
Top image licensed under Creative Commons from CollegeDegrees360 on Flickr.
June 15, 2018
Camp NaNoWriMo Young Writers Contest: Honorable Mentions
In April, the Camp NaNoWriMo Young Writers Contest challenged writers to submit a 300-word story that began with a storm. From over 600 fabulous entries, we chose two Grand Prizes and three Honorable Mentions. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we did!
Violet is cooking breakfast when she hears Nana hollering from outside. It’s raining, and the droplets leaking from the ceiling echo in the tin pail next to her. The scent of mildew and bacon hangs heavy in the air, and at the sound of her grandmother’s voice, Violet flinches. She turns off the gas and runs out of the kitchen, her feet slapping against the tile. Nana doesn’t like to be kept waiting.
Her slicker hangs on a coat hook in the foyer. She pulls it on and rushes outside, slamming the door behind her…
“It’s a pretty heavy storm.” His brows furrowed skeptically at the rain beating against the window. “Are you sure you need soup now?”
I nodded and snuggled down further under my mountain of blankets. “I’m having intense cravings for warm soup,” I said and coughed dramatically. “Plus, it’ll help my throat.”
“I can’t believe we’re out of Ramen.” He sighed and glanced at his watch. “I’ll make a quick trip down to Walmart. It won’t take long.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
He grabbed his coat, keys, and umbrella, pausing momentarily at the door. “See you soon, sicky.”
He never made it back home…
The wind and rain swirls around me. My tattered cloak whips behind me in the wind. My red dragon, Ember, whines next to me. Alexandria Knight here, beast tamer extreme. Lightning strikes next to me. I can tell immediately that it’s no natural lightning. It moves, scouring the ground, like it’s looking for me. Ember shoots a bolt of flame into the lightning. It dissipates. I touch the brooch keeping my cloak on to summon Shadow, my faithful wraith.
“Shadow, something’s wrong with this storm! It’s not natural.”
June 13, 2018
Camp NaNoWriMo Young Writers Contest: Grand Prize (Middle/Elementary School)
In April, the Camp NaNoWriMo Young Writers Contest challenged writers to submit a 300-word story that began with a storm. From over 600 fabulous entries, we chose two Grand Prizes and three Honorable Mentions. This week on our blog, we’ll be sharing those winning stories with you. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we have!
Pitter patter, pitter patter.
The sounds echo through the room, surrounding me in a gray, looming light as I lie in my bed. I turn my head toward the window that is covered in streaks of droplets that slide all the way to the bottom of the pane and leak into my room.
I get up from my bed and open the window, letting the rain whip into my room with a deafening scream.
I’m not worried about this rain, even though it’s been raining for weeks on end. Some years ago, global warming went through the roof: warmer than it’s supposed to be in 50 years, and it’s all happening at once.
But it’s supposed to stop soon.
I crawl out onto the sill and close the window behind me. I take the leap to the fire escape and nearly fall the five stories to the ground from our Los Angeles apartment. I hold on and pull myself up and start the climb to the roof.
I climb the slippery metal stairs that creak below my feet, grasping to the cold rail. I finally make it to the roof and look out towards the ocean as the rain falls to the asphalt roof below me.
Pitter patter, pitter patter.
I come here a lot to think. About anything, really. Just think. And stare, out into the large blue. That builds up a wall so suddenly it can’t be. I take a step back. What’s happening?
A wall of blue, coming straight for the city; towards me. I can do nothing but stare as the wave starts to crash through Los Angeles, knocking down buildings, heading faster and faster towards my apartment, racing above my head. It reaches me, higher and higher.
I hold my breath.
Pitter patter, pitter patter.
Ainsley A. likes to write in her free time after school, but is also an avid reader and loves science-fiction and fantasy. She plays soccer (her favorite sport besides robots, if that even counts), and loves writing random bits of illogical, weird things that come to her mind, which sometimes lead to her story ideas. Ainsley is currently in 6th grade, and her favorite subject is Social Studies. (She also may have a slight obsession with space corgis.)
June 11, 2018
Camp NaNoWriMo Young Writers Contest: Grand Prize (High School)
In April, the Camp NaNoWriMo Young Writers Contest challenged writers to submit a 300-word story that began with a storm. From over 600 fabulous entries, we chose two Grand Prizes and three Honorable Mentions. This week on our blog, we’ll be sharing those winning stories with you. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we have!
It was raining in the Library. Ropes of sloe-black ink slithered from the rafters like roots in a desert.
Cashmir, the janitor, scratched his graying tuft of hair. “Looks like another pipe’s burst, Frank.”
Frank, the ferret, poked his wriggly pink nose out of Cashmir’s pocket. “I swear to Joe; don’t they pay someone to keep this place up?”
“That’s us, Frank.” Cashmir flipped the peeling red switch and with a creak-pop-squelch and a low thunder roll, the emergency ventilation system coughed itself awake. A slimy river of ink skittered over his shoe, muttering to itself in a language long dead. “Looks like the basement’s flooding.”
“They don’t pay me enough for this,” Frank grumbled, burrowing down indignantly.
“They don’t pay you at all, Frank.”
The Thought Library was the nexus of every nascent pondering in all the universes, and Cashmir was Head Custodian. Naturally, he barely made minimum wage.
“For a Thought Library, there sure is a lot of ink,” Frank observed.
“Yep.” Because what were thoughts without ink to give them life? That, Cashmir reasoned, was why people put engravings on tombstones. Thoughts died, but the written word was life eternal.
Here lies Cashmir…
…and then what?
“…and it makes such a flimflamming mess…”
Well, thoughts often did.
“What do they think they’d do if we left, huh? What if we just up and disappeared? Who’d fix their pipes then? No one, that’s who.”
Cashmir came to an abruptly disturbing realization. For a man who practically ran the Thought Library, he’d contributed very few thoughts of his own.
What if they just disappeared?
What would he leave behind? Is this how he would be remembered?
Here lies Cashmir…
Cashmir abandoned his toolbox in an oily swirl of ink and began to write.
Megan is a word-enthusiast with a passion for writing, reading, and the theatre. Megan will be entering her senior year of high school this fall. Her other interests include corny TV, fresh strawberries, and too-loud music; she also enjoys borrowing far too many books from the library and falling asleep while reading. Megan is currently working on a total rehaul of an ancient draft, but she is easily and frequently distracted by the thousands of new ideas stirring in her mind.
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