Survive NaNoWriMo

A little joke to kick off our month of madness.

10 Things to Know to Survive NaNoWriMo By Sara

10. Coffee. Drink lots of it even if you hate the stuff.

9. Friends. Forget you have any. Ignore them. Beg forgiveness in December.

8.Write everyday. If your fingers feel like they are about to fall off take some aspirin and suck it up.

7. Tell your family you can only be bothered in the event of life and death situations. Give them slightly more expensive presents than usual this Christmas.

6. If your muse refuses to cooperate steal someone else's. Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

5. Make your characters suffer. The more suffering you can dream up the more words you can get down.

4. If you get stuck kill a character, have aliens invade or a bomb go off. That should be good for 1,000 words. Okay now you only need 49,000 more.

3. I don't care if you have to cry and type but cry while you type.

There are no breaks for emotional breakdowns, put it in your work. (If you watch Project Runway you will recognize this piece of advice.One fashion designer told this to the other one a few seasons ago.She said, "I don't care if you have to cry and cut but cry and cut.We are on a deadline." or something similar to that.)

2. Know that 50,000 words is all that is required to win. Not 50,000 pieces of perfection that add up to a masterpiece. If they end up in the right place- cool. If not, that works too.

And the number one thing you need to know to survive National Novel Writing Month....





1. Remember you can always burn this manuscript later.

The Day Before

I am using my last day before NaNoWriMo kicks off to do line by line editing of Come Back to Me. It is the first short story I ever finished, a 10, 000 word romantic suspense tale.

Come Back To Me Blurb

Alexa Evans had walked out of five lives so far. Whenever The Hunter got too close she fled from whatever small town or big city she was hiding in and changed her hair, her eye color, and even her name.

She settled in Chicago and became Allie Cook. Months passed and she started to feel safe. So safe she took the biggest risk of her life and, ignoring the stalker that had nipped at her heels for years, she fell in love with Spencer Roark.

But The Hunter always comes back for more. And when he did she lost her love, her identity and her memory.

Now she must run for her life one last time and this round the stakes are higher than ever before because Spencer is right by her side, in love and in danger, with The Hunter closing in.

Months have passed since I finished this story so I hope my fresh eyes will be able to make the prose a little tighter. I am trying to cut out every word that is not necessary. Already I have completed my edits on the Prologue and most of Chapter One.

Then tomorrow starts my journey to write 50,000 words in a month. It seems insane. Yet It was quite a rush last year, the scribbling away scratching out words that to this day no one else has seen. The story I wrote, Tripping Over Myself, is gritty. The main character, Jasper Patterson, is a pot smoking teenage boy on the verge of manhood who moves out of his mother's home and tries to make something of himself despite his tendency to sabotage his own life. And there is a love triangle in it. He meets a young girl who comes from an abusive home and falls for her. While an old friend of his is pining for Jasper to notice her.

But I never quite made it to 50,000 words so hopefully this years story, Nikolas and Simone, will be my first successful NaNoWriMo.

So if you are participating drop me a comment and we can commiserate. It should be a crazy wonderful ride.


Song Lyrics
I never made promises lightly and there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left we'll walk in the fields of gold
We'll walk in the fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down among the fields of gold

You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in the fields of gold
When we walked in the fields of gold
When we walked in the fields of gold

Sting

Brand New Aspiring Writers

If anyone stumbles along this blog who is just starting out on their own personal writing journey I hope you read this entry.

Writing for me has been like chipping a face into the side of a mountain. The only problem is that I don't know what the face will end up looking like when I am done. Yet the daily chipping away that was once painful, but neccesary for me all the same, has now become soothing as I learn a little more every day how to mold this art to my whim.

This is all to say, "Do not give up before you start to see the payoff."

I wrote weekly entries on this blog for months and no one knew I was here. I was screaming into the dark. I started a MSN Group for Aspiring Writers that three other people joined. Three. And I was responsible for 90 percent of the posts there. I would laugh now if it didn't frustrate me so much at the time.

But now I have online writing friends and a thriving Yahoo writers group. But the best part so far has been I am starting to control my writing and to see the inner workings of this mystical art form.

So if you are just starting out write, write, write and reach out for help. Who knows? Maybe in a few years you will have own own face on the side of the mountain and what all this struggle was for will be revealed in what you have created.

And if you are a brand new aspiring writer make sure you check out, and consider joining, my yahoo group. The link is in the sidebar. All new writers who are friendly are welcome.





Song Lyrics

When you think happiness,
I hope you think: That little black dress,

think of my head on your chest,
and my old
faded blue jeans.

When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think of me.

oh, think of me.

You said the way my blue eyes shined
put those Georgia stars to shame
that night.

I said, "That's a lie."

Taylor Swift

National Novel Writing Month 2006

Well it happened. The first flakes of snow fell for this season. Some were happy about it. Others were grumpy as hell. I was the latter.

Anyway, back to why we are all gathered here, I plan to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. And I am currently gathering ideas to possibly use. I do not use plot outlines so all I will have to go in is a vague sense of where I hope the story will go.

My first idea has the working title Nikolas and Simone. Since you can only write your NaNoWriMo novel in the month of November I can not use an idea I have already been working on.

Nikolas and Simone would be a love story. They would be two people who are soulmates but don't realize it until they are broken up. I want the story to have a magical once in a lifetime feel to the love affair set against real life everyday circumstances that stand in their way. Basically they will mess up a lot of lives if they choose to be together but they will carry the scars forever if they choose to walk away from love a second time.


Will I end up writing that story next month?

Don't ask me I just live in this body. The muse makes the writing decisions.

October Goals

This month I hope to

1. decide on a a couple of story ideas for NaNoWriMo. I need at least one strong idea and a back-up. Because an idea can be vivid in my mind and when I try to write it... nada. So if the first falls flat I need a quick replacement. I didn't quite reach 50,000 words last year so this one might be my first successful completetion of NaNoWriMo.

2. help to organise a group story writing challenge at my yahoo group. Any member can participate. When the story is done I will post it here.

3. complete more of my short stories.

So do you have any writing goals for this month?

Song Lyrics of the Day

essential and appealed,
carry all your thoughts across an open field,

when flowers gaze at you
they're not the only ones
who cry
when they see you

You said "You don't know me,
you don't even care,
you don't know me,
you don't wear my chains...."

By augustana

October Poems

I put two poems about October on my poetry blog. One is called A Midwest October and one is called The Season of Atonement.

I only wrote them because I was inspired by the kind responses to my October Comes Quietly post.

Oh no, another blog. LOL

I started a blog to showcase my poetry. So stop on in if you get the chance.

It's peices of me spilled on the screen for the world to see.

http://shewritespoetry.blogspot.com/

October Comes Quietly

I think for me October will be filled with planning. I need to finish as many as my writing projects as I can before November first. Once NaNoWriMo starts I will be consumed with that for all of next month. Then comes the holidays. I won't be able to think straight until Feb. and any writing I get done in winter will surely be a miricle.

I love the holidays as much as anyone but the older I get the more stressful they become. I moved from being the kid who gets to watch the cooking, cleaning, and spending of money to the adult who must do all those things and the fun gets sucked out of the season a little more with each added responsibilty.

Anyway, I am trying to make October last. Back in August I was praying to just make it to September because the end of summer rush in my home was testing my sanity.

Now I want time to slow and ease gently into winter.

Where I live we, or at least me and the other sane people, like for it to snow the first time on Christmas Eve. A white Christmas is a lovely thing but beyond that the piles of snow can stay up in the sky as far as I am concerned.

It can snow in October here or not at all untill January. Then it may snow as late as March. The saying is There are only two seasons in Chicago- winter and construction.

Maybe that saying appiles to many places but it is true of where I live. So everyday without a drop in tempeture or a snowflake falling down on my head will be a joy for me.

And while the leaves are still hanging on for dear life to the trees I will be holding tight to this slow paced time of year, between summer and the holidays, and hope I can accomplish enough now to hold me till the winter rush is over.

Like the squirrels do it is time for this writer to start storing up nuts for winter.


Song Lyrics of the Day

Oh I swear this town gets smaller everyday...


most folks here
they don't dig too deep.

They can't dream too big
cause they've got fields to keep.

I could walk away and leave my family.

Or get buried alive in this legacy.

Angel carry me, oh so far away.
May my body never... touch the ground.

And If I promise you that I'll be back someday,
will you set me free so I can

fly away?

Sugarland lyrics