The #NaNoWriMo Survival Kit

Oh, man. ARE YOU READY?

In case you're STILL not ready for National Novel Writing Month (#NaNoWriMo) here is a handy survival guide for those of you writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

The very first thing you need is:

Caffeine

It doesn't matter your source. Energy drink, frappe, coffee, tea, but I guarentee you'll need it. Why? Because when you're pulling all-nighters to meet your 2,500 words/day goal, or because you went outside and jumped in a pile of leaves and now you're behind, you'll need something to shock your system back into the OH-MAN-I'M-SO-AWAKE-I-CAN'T-SLEEP-MAY-AS-WELL-WRITE stage.


The second thing you'll need is:

Food

Gone are the days of lengthy prep, and fancy dinners with the family. These days you need food. And not just any food. For the next month, stock up on QUICK stuff; mac and cheese (if you're a cheese eater), raemen noodles, frozen pizza, those frozen meals that have noodles and stuff. Take in those preservatives, because let's face it, time is money. Become BFFs with the pizza delivery guy. That way there's no prep, and no wasted time using the microwave.

Your time should not be wasted on frivolous things like food and bathroom breaks. You've got a novel to write!

 The third thing you'll need is:

Ache relief

This one is for the hangover. Not the self induced, I had too many margaritas hangover, but rather the, I've been sitting on my ass for the last two weeks, in the same spot on the couch, and I think my tailbone may be broken from so much use, hangover.

Your eyes feel like they're bleeding yet? Is your monitor guest starring in your dreams yet? Keep these on hand. Pop as necessary.

The fourth thing you'll need is:

Distractions

You're only human. You can only stare at a blank screen for so long before you call it quits. It's okay to take some time away from writing. Go outside. Go play. Fifteen minute break.

Or, if needed 2-3 hour break so you can watch Hunger Games, and be re-inspired. I mean, this movie was based on a book! How badass!

Caution: These distractions should NOT be literary. Get away from words, and counts. Go for mindless. The Nintendo DS is excellent for this. As is Connect Four. And reality TV.

The fifth thing you'll need is:

A Plethora of Comfy Pants

Sweatpants, pajama pants, those pants that look like jeans but are actually something else. Maybe a snuggie and no pants? Choose. Maybe don a hoodie. Don't shower. Don't wash your hair. Make a cup of tea. Sit down. You'll be here for awhile.



The sixth thing you'll need is:

Support

Surround yourself with positive messages. Things people have given you that mean something. Remember, NaNoWriMo is fun, it's hard, and you're not alone.

In my stash is a bookmark my friend Claire bought me saying, Careful or you'll end up in my novel, a coffee mug my friend Liz sent me saying, Be Brave Enough to Break Your Own Heart, and a sign my friend Amanda made me saying, Quiet Please, Memoir Writing in Progress. DO NOT Disturb!

Trust me, those days will come where you stare at your screen, your wavering word count, and think I can't do this! Make sure you have supportive things to look at to push you on.

The seventh thing you'll need is:

Someone Who Thinks You're Friggin Great

It doesn't matter who it is; co worker, spouse, significant other, twitter friends, dog, but you need someone who will be your sounding board. Someone you can call and say, "I think I just killed my main character's best friend." Someone who knows you are crazy, and they'll still love you anyway. They know you hear voices. They want to hear them, too.

I called my friend, Peter, the other day (he's a boy, so when I need a guy's perspective, I call him and ask really weird *usually obscene  questions and call it research). He actually let me read pretty darn close to the first two chapters of my UNEDITED novel.

My poor sister has been getting several phone calls a day, with me saying, "Dude, listen to this!" She's helpful because she'll bounce back with, "I don't think this is possible yet because..."

Have people to talk to, people who understand how much this project means to you.

And last, and possibly most important. Number eight on the NaNoWriMo Survival Kit:

A Writing Space

Do you work best in the library? At a coffee shop? In a basement where you've pushed two large chairs together so it somewhat resembles a boat? (If you didn't catch it, that last one is my writing space :) ).

Pick your space. Pick your drink and your food. Go to your space, and shell out 50,000 words.

This is NaNoWriMo, you only have so many days till the end.

Game on. Don't quit. Don't edit. Just write.

Also, if you'd like to buddy me, HERE I am. And if you want it, HERE are some tips for speed writing :)

Happy NaNo!

Mid Month Goals

It's Mid October. And look at this! I'm still alive!

It's like being on top of the world!

I'm still breathing!

Huray!!

With that said, now that I'm almost through the Month of Hell, it's time to start looking forward. National Novel Writing Month is November (that handy little #NaNoWriMo tag you see floating around twitter), and thus before I delve into a new novel, there are some things I feel I must do:

Wait for it....wait for it...

1) Finish editing the memoir. Find a cohesive ending that feels complete to me, and that chapter of my life. Take a deep breath, find a stiff drink, and keep my chin up.

2) Finish editing After Elizabeth, which...has been edited about a million times, but when agents say, "This is what I have a problem with," well, I'm going to listen.

3) Think. Do research. See if any voices start speaking to me. Take notes.

4) Start doing writing prompts to get the juices flowing. I recommend Old Friend from Far Away, and The Pocket Muse 2, and The Writer's Block.

5) Time management. Money management.

But really the big stressers are the editing. The memoir gives me anxiety attacks and insomnia. The novel just makes me feel overwhelmed. But once those are done, FULLY done, I'm ready for #NaNoWriMo

What about you guys? Any last minute things you need to tie up before diving in?

Wait to Write

Ever have an idea pop into your head and you think it's the most brilliant thing in the entire world? Jot it down, but wait to write the story. Personally, I don't even jot the idea down (and in the morning I'm super angry because that was pure gold, man. Pure gold!). I wait.

If it's something that sticks with me, something that won't get out of my head, the characters start to dance in front of me. I can see the guy on the lacrosse team who broke the heart of the girl who...(you get the idea). But it's not enough.

So I keep waiting.

At long last my narrator steps up to the plate, "We don’t know anything yet. I’ve been hearing this lie for the last six hours." (First line of My Sister's Memories). Sarah started talking to me when I ignored her for WEEKS. I'd started thinking about my NaNoWriMo project in October, but life got in the way, swallowed me, pushed me through a meat grinder...and writing took a back seat. But Sarah wasn't going away. 


(On an ADD moment, I appologize that formatting has gotten messed up, I'm not quite sure how to fix it...)


Anyways, so Sarah. I went under a bridge during the move to Maine, and started thinking of what it would be like to not remember all of my favorite bridges, or how hard it would be for my sister to see me go through that. How did this happen?
Since I was driving, why not cause a car accident. 


By the time I arrived in Maine, I had to find a place to live, get aquainted with the area, put in job applications. I still ignored Sarah until she started screaming in my ear. Until I knew Allie had survived the accident, but was in a coma. I knew her parents were dead. 


And then I started writing.


So..my advice for this lovely day is to wait to write your masterpiece. Sometimes the longer you're able to ignore them, the louder they get.

Length

If you're writing Young Adult novels...there are usually some guidelines to follow. Mainly the length guideline.

Most YA novels fall (from what I've read) between 60,000 words and 100,000 words. The good news is, if you're a little over, or a little under that's usually okay. But try to aim for those guidelines. I've heard that 40,000 is usually too short, and over 100,000 is usually way too long...but we're writers.

There are always exceptions to the rules.

Usually when I start writing, 60,000 is my end goal. Sometimes, I fall a little short of that, but that's okay...rough drafts (for me) are usually significantly shorter then the ending product. But it's nice to hit 30,000 words and say "I'm half way done! Wooo!"

So, as of today, I've finished My Sister's Memories (woo! Huray, my NaNoWriMo project is finished!), however, I'm at 54,338 words, approximately 200 pages. Which even to me, feels a little short. (There is one more scene I technically need to write in, but I'm really tired right now, and I can feel my creative juices dwindling). The good news is, a round of editing will probably give me about another 10,000 words.

Just wanted to pop in and tell you guys I finished, and throw some length guidelines out there for those of you who weren't aware of them.

Have an awesome night!

Ending NaNoWriMo

So, today is the last day of November, how'd your NaNoWriMo projects turn out?

Me? Well, I started writing My Sister's Memories way late in the game. And I mean..wayyyy late in the game. I started this project on November 11 (I only know this because I just checked), rather than November 1st. As stated in previous blog posts, I've been rather busy...Yuck.

Over Thanksgiving I wrote a decent amount, which was really nice. While the Penet family was watching football, I was usually physically present in the room, but hanging out with my characters. Baxter for awhile was chilling on my lap, napping, and I was typing away. (Actually, as I write this, he's laying next to me..thankfully rather than ON me.) I easily wrote 10,000 words over Thanksgiving before having to take close to a week long break that involved leaving VA, going to MD, getting stuck in a horrific traffic jam in CT, stopping in MA, and finally arriving in ME.

Oh, also this month I managed to put my car in the ditch not once but TWICE, and run over something huge in the highway that managed to rip out my O2 censor (my check engine light is STILL on). Nonetheless, I press on.

Tonight is the first night I've been able to pick back up, and I've almost written 4,000 words. It's been difficult because my new roommate keeps trying to talk to me, and there's a basketball game on the TV, plus, I have just natural ADD...

With the end of the night coming in about 15 minutes, I'm hoping to wrap up my NaNoWriMo Project at 20,000 words, and then have it actually done sometime in December. So far, I'm really, really liking the story.

I'll keep ya'll posted on my progress.

Happy end of NaNoWriMo! :)

What Now?

I get to a point when I'm writing that I see the end (sort of) and something in the middle (sort of) but I've just written myself into a hole. Literally, I'll be writing and thinking "Yea, I got this, look at how fast I'm writing," and before I know it, I'll sit there at the screen and think, "Shit, what now?"

Sometimes I'm able to just play on facebook or twitter for a bit and get myself and my characters out of it, but sometimes the hole swallows me and it takes a little bit more to get out.

It's usually at that point I just keep asking "What now? What happens next?" It's also usually here that the crappy, quick, incoherent writing comes out so I can get back to the good stuff. But I'm okay with that. I'm okay with writing poorly. When I was at PNWA one of the panelists said something along the lines of, "Most everything you write is going to be crap. And that's okay." That's kind of the mindset I have. It's understood, you have to write crap to be able to write well. Me? My first draft is ALWAYS crap. Second draft is like mixed soft serve ice cream. Some of it's good, some of it's bad. Then...my final draft is what I start sending to agents.

But before all of that, before the draft is even finished, how do you go from being stuck in a hole, to crawling out? For me, I take time away. It's why for the more shallow holes I can go just play on some other media source. Sometimes that'll trigger something, or just allow my brain to slow down and stop getting frustrated. If that doesn't work, I step away from it. I go out with friends, take Baxter for a walk.

As you'll see, sometimes he just really wants to go...

If when I come back, I'm still stuck...I know I have to start writing again. (It happens sometimes, that I take too much time away from the work, don't think about it enough...etc. Oops!) The biggest thing that helps me is going back, sometimes only a couple of pages, sometimes all the way to the beginning and re-reading, getting re-acquainted with the roots of the story. I always find something I can add or take out. Once I catch up to the last line I'd written, I remember where I was, plus, I just added in that whole section (holy crap! 2,000 words! Yes!). Seriously, that happens sometimes.

This is why I'm not a plotter. Because as I write the story, it evolves, and I'm able to go back and make it stand for itself. Sure, sure, I have an idea when I start the story, I have situations I know I'll want to write in. But...it's connecting the dots and just going with the flow where the real writing (for me) comes in.

Happy NaNoWriMo!

Why We Love Characters

I fell in love with Bella Swan (shh don't tell anyone) because she had flaws. She has low self esteem. She trips over crap all the time. She's plain. Those are things I took away from the Twilight Series. 

Why?

Because -I- have low self esteem. Because I trip over crap, all the time. Literally, plus, now that I'm off crutches (YAY!!) I step wrong, and scream out in pain. To the point a boy this last weekend linked his arm through mine and escorted me inside (which was wonderful). I love Bella because I'm plain. I too wouldn't think I would deserve Edward Cullen. 

So think about it. Why do you watch the shows you watch? Why do you fall in love with characters in books?

At PNWA, I did my pitch. I would see editor's and agent's eyes light up when I talked about a 17 year old girl who was abused by her parents, who was stand-offish...who moves out of her parents house with no direction. But--she is sure to take her teddy bear with her. 

It's the quirks we fall in love with. The ordinary, the comical problems that they have, that we can relate to. The flaws that they hide from the rest of the world, but they expose to us.

So..
How's your character development coming? Why would people love your character? Why do -you- love your characters?

:)

Taking Things For Granted

I drove to Maine last weekend, and during one of the training segments, the wonderful people at Sunday River had us draw random things to coach the group on. Things like:

How to brush your teeth
How to shower
How to put on a pair of pants/snowboarding boot/ski boot
How to tie a shoe
Doing Jumping Jacks
etc

It gave me the moment to think about how once we learn something we just go on auto pilot and don't consider how much effort goes into routine things.

So now, I had surgery on Wednesday. I've been on crutches ever since. Today is my first day without them, and I have a severe limp. I have to concentrate on the exact placement of my footing because if I step wrong I usually scream out a curse word and stop motion for a solid five minutes. This week I've learned that I take things like; walking, being able to carry a plate, bowl, cup, take my dog down stairs, etc for granted. I've never given much thought to what I physically am able to do, or how much effort I put into daily life until now.

Tie this all into writing now. Writing a poem or short story is like learning to tie your shoes, brush your teeth. There's something that needs to be said, and you say it. Then tackling a novel is like learning to walk. You have to go from point A (the beginning) to point B (the end). Every time I've written a novel I take these steps for granted and expect the story to carry itself. I think it's why now I'm grateful to have gone to PNWA, AWP, and LitDay where they spoke about the ability to show and not tell. It's like coming off crutches, something that carries the story until the story can carry itself.

So, good luck and keep writing, keep walking :)

Stalling

So...let's be honest here....I still haven't started my NaNoWriMo project. I have ideas rolling around in my head, I have a semblance of a plot in there, but I haven't opened a word document in a long, long time. Why?

In the last month, my entire world has fallen apart. Then, I've had two surgeries (one was actually today). I'm recovering from both (no worries, they were quick, expecting a full recovery from both). I've traveled from North Carolina to Maine...about 1,000 miles. I had a job interview, put my car in a ditch...etc. I'm trying to find a place to live up there. I'm stressed out...which means...

A lot of vegitating on the couch and rediscovering the show 24 on my friend's Netflix. Also--I'm homeless in North Carolina...which is terrifying. None of this is conducive to wanting to take on a project of another novel. Will I write another? YES. Do I have time for it now? Maybe.

The goal is to start tomorrow. But I'm going to give myself some leeway. Why? Because this is real life and it's not as neat as I'd prefer it to be.

14 Hours Later

I drove from North Carolina to Maine yesterday. The 12ish hour trip turned into a 14ish hour trip due to a two hour long traffic jam in the middle of Connecticut...

At midnight.

Needless to say, when I arrived in Biddeford, I was exhausted...and passed right out. Since I woke up, it's been constant motion, which is also exhausting.

However, some good came from this long drive. The first thing was the cementing of my NaNoWriMo project, which in my head is being called My Sister's Memory. I haven't started it yet, but I had 14 hours to come up with the plan and I've told a couple of people about it and they said go, so I think I will. I have the drive home (tomorrow) to give it further thought. Maybe then I'll start writing...and speed writing at that.

A few hundred years ago my sister bought me a voice recorder that somehow disappeared within the last year (which sucks because I had a lot of ideas on it...). Because I no longer have it on hand, and it's not safe to write and drive, I will call my voicemail box and leave myself messages something like:

"Lynne, this is Lynne. Here's what you're thinking of for a story."

It sounds weird, but it helps when I wouldn't have another way of remembering.

The second good thing about the duration of the trip was how much music I got to just sing my little heart out to. Some of my favorites were: Adele, A Day To Remember, Taylor Swift, and Our Lady Peace. 

The third good thing about the trip was that I just had a lot of alone time with myself. It's nice sometimes to be trapped in a car, with you and only you, and give a lot of thought to what you're doing with your life/what you want to be doing. I feel like it's a re-centering of myself.

Needless to say, I enjoy long car rides :)

Welcome, NaNoWriMo

A few weeks back, there was a YaLitChat about this, and I had no idea what they were talking about...so I bailed out. Everyone was talking about it, but no one was explaining it.

It wasn't until I read Becky Wallace's blog post that I started understanding what the hell NaNoWriMo was. Basically it's National Novel Writing Month. Which means, as of yesterday tons of writers across the country (globe?) are participating. Which means, you have through the month of Novemeber to write a stellar story. I haven't been able to start quite yet due to things like:

Moving
Work
A trip to Maine tomorrow

But I've been mulling over some thoughts and hopefully will be able to bust out another novel. (Even though some of the others still need work....shh..don't tell anyone).

Anyways, good luck writing this month!