Where have all the Flowers Gone?

That’s a question many of us may ask during November. I think at times we can let the challenge of getting words on paper run our lives, and from time to time we have to remember that there is an outside world with real people in it. This past week I’ve written more words in one week than I have in a very long time. Now I don’t know if it is because I’ve had six weeks off from writing before hand or if it’s the new genre, whatever the reason I’m enjoying my writing. The fact that my laptop internet is having a major male moment is a big help because I don’t have twitter deck popping up very few seconds.

I’m also taking time away from the computer, going for a walk each day to get the mail, yes it takes me a good fifteen minutes to walk up and back from my mailbox. Friday even in the rain, I went for a walk, took my trusty duck head umbrella my son bought me, it was like water off a ducks back or head in this case.

This year with my writing I have a new rule, if I’m on a roll “Please do not disturb” if not, I’ll be out to chat. It’s working just fine at the moment. Okay we are only one week in, but still, my family understand were I’m coming from and I love them for that, even our friend that are visiting know if my head is down and I’m typing ten to the dozen don’t talk to me. Most of the time because when I am at the computer I’m writing and procrastinating, I have the time to spend with family and friends. I’ve taken time to sit outside and watch the foals play together.

So I’m sitting on the 20K mark with today’s words to go on that, I’m feeling inspired and busting to start each day even if some have been slower starts than others. What about you? How is your month going? Are the words coming freely? More important are you taking the time to smell the flowers? And you know what? There is really only one person you need to please this month with your word count or pages edited and the is YOU!!!

Happy writing.

Sandie

Nano Envy

Yes, it's true, I'm suffering from NaNo envy!

It's only the first week, and I look at the word counts being tossed around and gasp at some of the numbers. And I'm not even writing new words for this month. I'm editing, but that is really a rather loose term for 'rewriting' my ms.

How do you find the time to get these words out? Have you bolted the door on your internal editor and chained your muse to the desk? And if you can do it for this month, why not all the time?

In between sprints have a think about what you've changed in your life to get through this month. Maybe the pressure of Nano has kicked your procrastination devil right out the window. Are others in the house shouldering some of the load? Wouldn't it be lovely if some of these changes were permanent!

This early on in Nano I thought it might be nice if we all shared some tips on how we're finding the time to write, or what tricks we're using to get the words to flow.

Here are some of mine:
- cook a giant pot of bolognese (or similar), and freeze meal size portions
- set the alarm for 30mins earlier in the morning
- have some nice rewards for yourself on standby
- join in some sprints
- close your eyes while you write - seriously! (I actually do this all the time now as it means I can't edit while I write, and it actually makes me more focussed).

So, what do you do?

And we're off and writing...

Whether, you're a plotter, or a pantser, or a skirtser (in Nicky's case), it's time to pick up your favourite writing implement and make a start on this year's Nanowrimo.

No more procrastination. The time is now.

A couple of late articles have been added to the online advice for Nanowrimo: The 12 Step Guide for Succeeding at Nanowrimo. And the downloadable Nano for the New and the Insane (put me in the latter category).

I've bought the nifty desktop version of Write or Die and after a couple of test runs last weekend, I'm truly in love. I wrote most of last year's Nanowrimo effort using the online version. In fact most of the 136k was churned out using Write or Die (64k during Nanowrimo itself.)

If you haven't got a title yet, you can try the Random Romance Title Generator.

I'm not fussed. I don't care if I have a title when I start. And as I'm writing number 3 in my Bilby Creek series, I know the town and a lot of the secondary characters well. This year's supporting cast includes:


















Chloe, Luke, Kirsty and Dylan will all be back. (If a story is set in Bilby Creek, Kirsty will make sure she's there, so I might as well humour her). And I'm sure Genevieve will also feature (though she doesn't have her own avatar yet).

So I have the characters, the setting, the idea, but I don't yet have a plot. I hope it will evolve in the writing.

Research I did earlier in this year included the following photos:





























I'm sure that gives you enough clues of the setting of my story. It will begin with a bunch of committee members dropping dead (no foul play - though that could make it interesting, mostly old age) -- so the committee needs new blood, and my secondary characters step in. And that's all I've got so far. Yes, I'm truly going to pants it this time. It's worked in the past, I hope it works this time.

How about you? Plotting, pantsing or just skirting around the issue?

Go, go everyone. It's November 1st and EVERYTHING is POSSIBLE.

Are We Excited Yet? NaNoWriMo ~ Hell Yeah!!

A big welcome to all our new members for this year's NaNoWriMo.

Are you excited yet? Yes, it’s coming up to that time of year again. It’s an adrenalin rush. Will I make it? What if I fail? Nah, I won’t fail. You know what it doesn’t matter if you do, as long as you give it your best shot and have fun. Now, to prepare you for the epic month ahead here are some tips. If anyone has anymore please add them in the comments.

1. Have an idea of what you intend to write. Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, you still need to have at least some idea about what genre you intent to write. I’m plotting this year, so that will be interesting. I’m writing book 2 of Cassandra’s ‘Scarlett House Series’.

2. Get your writing space sorted. Make sure you have plenty of room to work. Okay, this may be a mammoth job on my part. My office looks like it’s been a playground area for 20 or more kids.

3. Cook ahead. My slow cooker is getting a good workout this month with easy to re-heat meals.

4. Make sure you tell family and friends your writing times. If they ring or call round for a coffee or chat in those times ignore them, you’re not available. It can be done, I’ve done it. Yes, I’ve been told I’m rude, my reply is, “I told you I was busy.” You just have to be serious.

5. Stay off the internet during your writing time. Facebook, Myspace and Twitter will survive without you for a few hours a day.

6. Turn Spell check and the editing tools off during November or at least the WIP you working on the month. If you don’t you’ll spend half your time editing and not writing.

7. If you reach your word count for the day treat yourself to a small reward. Set major milestones and select a reward when each one is met. They don’t have to be big rewards, a coffee and biscuit or chocolates (okay that will not be one of mine) or a long soak in a hot bubble bath. Anything that will give you a boost.

8. Have your house sorted so there is very little housework to do during November. Or better yet get someone else to do the work.

9. If you are a member of a lot of online groups go no mail on the ones that are not needed or at least go digest.


10. Believe in YOURSELF.



That’s it for me. I hope you have a great November. We’ll have blogs posted during the month to help motivate you and your word graphs will be updated each Saturday. More details on that will be posted on the loop. In the mean time happy planning/organising.

Sandie

The End is Here

What? It's the last day? No way, I swear I had another week here somewhere... Look it might have slipped down the back of the couch, hold on I'll pull it out in a second.
Ahh, no, it is the last day. I came in here with such massive hopes and dreams, and I accomplished a few of them. Some others will still have to be tackled.
I ended up writing 22,000 words on my current project. I also edited 150 pages of another mss that has been re-requested by an agent (crossing fingers), and I wrote a few blog posts along the way. Life was always getting in the way, but I'm much further along in my current WIP than I thought I would be, so hooray for that!
So my family can relax a little now, mummys not going to get upset if she can't reach her word count.
What about you? Did you accomplish what you thought you would? Are you still plugging away? How are you going to celebrate your achievements?
Me? I'm going on a road trip to see hubbys rellies with the kids. Fun. But I will go shopping in Brisbane which is a joy.
I don't get my full body massage until I finish this WIP.
Congrats to all the girls who participated. It's great to share the writing experience with others who understand the need to shut the door and type away.

The End is Near

June has been a big month for us all and not just because of the 50/30 challenge. Whether you reached your goal or not, remember you have more words on the page or pages/words edited than you might have if you didn’t take the challenge. If you have accomplished that, than you are winners.

Last week had its ups and downs for me. Computer and internet problems saw me doing a lot of writing by hand (which I still have to type into the computer). Family issues saw me diver for cover for a couple of days, but I’ve come to the decision that, there is nothing I can do about this problem at the moment so I’ll think about it later. (Oh, isn’t that very Scarlett O’Hara of me. LOL)


I’ve posted my new round of Fallen Angel Reviews on my review site if you’d like to have a look (okay they are the links to my reviews, minus two because of technical hitches) http://www.sandiehudsonreviews.blogspot.com/ .

My editing is moving along okay, but I’m going to have to go back over it all again. (I HATE EDITING!) Just thought I’d share that with you. July is going to be editing month for me, yep the writing is getting pushed to the back of the computer and all my finished WIPs are getting edited, if it takes me into August and September to do them I will. What is Diane’s saying? “Write, Edit, Submit.” So that is what I’m doing. What about you? Are you going to do the big edit thing in July? How close are you to submitting? Have you submitted and waiting for word back?

On a personal note, thank you all for a great month, as always it is a pleasure writing with you all and don’t forget to gear up ready for NOVEMBER – NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH. I knew you’d like to be reminded about that now.

Happy writing.
Sandie

A marathon sprint to the finish line

This is the toughest 50ks in 30 days challenge I've done. My brain is in too many places. I just haven't been focused on this story, and I used my broken alphasmart as an excuse for lack of output.

But today I will marathon write. To finish the challenge closer to the 100% mark than the 50% mark which is where I am now. What do I mean by marathon write? I mean sprint, rest, sprint, rest, sprint, rest. Most of the day. There'll be some breaks here and there for food, for reading the newspaper, for fulfilling my blogging obligations, for living up the to the title bestowed upon me by my writers group of 'the world's greatest secretary' (the handmade chocolates they gave me are decadent).



Currently in my story, I have a teen distressed because her ex's new girlfriend is throwing a party the same night as her rave, a fairy godmother who dares not use magic to assist her because she's been snorting the fairy dust that evening (don't drink and fly!) after discovering her time-shifted Prince Charming had escaped and ended up drunk in a strip club. Hang on, I thought this was supposed to be young adult.

So yes, I do need to get back to them. But I still haven't found my groove: I'm pantsing this one, but maybe I should have plotted. And the other seven manuscripts in various states of development are calling me. I so want to edit. And that is something I never expected to say or write. But after a fabulous course on Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues with Margie Lawson, and receiving feedback from the Valerie Parv Award, my mind is itching to edit and rewrite. Cinderella is waiting patiently. Kirsty McInnes is waiting not so patiently.

Yesterday, I won 2nd prize in my writers group Performance Writing competition. It was a radio play that I started to write fourteen years ago, pulled it out of the file (didn't even have an electronic copy), dusted it off it, reshaped it, took it back to the essence of the event, and gave it a resolution. Never throw away your old idea, your old manuscripts, your old characters -- you just never know when you can resurrect them and use it again. The time was right for that one.

Ladies, we have three days left of this challenge. Make the most of them and finish the 50ks in 30 days, knowing you did the best you could. Whether you make your goal, or not, you will be a lot further along then when you started on June 1st