5 Steps to Complete NANOWRIMO

 

The challenge; Complete 50,000 words in the month of November.  Don't worry it can be done without panic. 

First: Check out all the good stuff on the official NANOWRIMO website; https://nanowrimo.org/ They've got lots of inspiration and things to get you writing. 

Second: Plot your NANO attack. I don't mean plot your novel but you can if you're a plotter (not a pantser?) I mean plot your work time. Think of your life and where you can get uninterrupted time to write.  I once got up a half hour early to win NANO. That book is now up on Amazon: Soul Mates A Different Kind of Love Story At that time in my life I was in work by 8:30 am so I got up at 6:30 am and wrote for a half hour to an hour depending on how the story was moving. But it was getting up at that hour that gave me time to dedicate to my goals. 

So plot out your writing time. Make it a time when you can have some uninterrupted writing time. I chose morning before the family woke up but if you're more of a night owl go for it. What's your perfect time?

Third: Assemble your space. There's nothing worse than having to get up and clear dishes or toys off your table before getting to work. Truthfully, that has tanked my writing sessions more often than not. Got a desk? A table you can squeeze into a corner or any place you get on your laptop, tablet or however you write and be set to go when you sit down. Make it yours, make it comfortable and make it a place you want to go. 

Fourth: Get down the bones. Write your story. Get up & go to your special place and write. Decide if you're a plotter or a pantser. This is probably something you already know if you're been writing a while but the one thing to know is you don't have to be exactly one or the other. You can combine it. 

I get an idea and first write the blurb of the idea. You know that first inkling of a story that comes to you? Not the whole story but maybe a bit of the direction you're going. The blurb is kind of like that thing on the back of the book or in the book description that gives you a bit of the bones of the story. It doesn't have to be a lot just enough for you. If you like to plot then write down that outline. You don't have to follow it but if it gets you going, then great. If not, then change it as you go. The writing rules at this point are your rules. 

Fifth: Tell people. Join a NANOWRIMO group in your area. Find other writers either in person or online for encouragement and to help keep the NANO alive in your vision. Life gets busy and sometimes our goals fall to the sidelines when that happens. Connecting with others with the same goal can keep you on track. 

GO NANO! You've got this! 

Here....Comes....NANOWRIMO! Ready?

 
No, not ready and have no idea what story I'm going to tell. Could be anything at this point. 

Does NANO have to be fiction?  

    Why? The writer is in control so write what you want. Do you know how to calibrate antennas? Write a how to book. Love to cook and have a closet full of recipes? Write that cook book. (Don't forget the yummy photos) Got a life to tell us about? Write your memoir. Like making up stories and adventures? Write fiction. 

    I write fiction. So I'll think up some kind of murder, adventure or paranormal something. 

    I think it was the movie, The World According to Garp, where the man (Robin Williams 💔) sees a pair of gloves on the side walk and it prompts him to write a story.  The moral here; Ideas are everywhere. 

    When my kids were young and we'd go to a restaurant, or anywhere we had to wait, we'd play a What if game. I'd challenge them to find something in the room and I'd tell them the story about it. Pick up a spoon? Well, I'd say. This was the spoon that George Washington ate his oatmeal with on the morning he crossed the Delaware to fight the British in Trenton, NJ. In fact, since Martha gave it to him, after breakfast he put it in his pocket for good luck. He lost this spoon during the battle and it lay in the dirt for decades. Then when they were building this restaurant a workman found it and put it in the sink of the restaurant. And here it sits, on our table. George Washington's spoon. 

    The kids loved this game as sometimes the stories got pretty silly. (Don't ask how we time traveled and peeked in an outhouse to see Mrs Lincoln on the potty. Yes, some stories stay with you.) Soon the kids were making up stories and asking me to pick the item. Creativity explodes!

    The point is that there are ideas everywhere if you're looking. Remember to keep the "What if" in the front of your brain. Look around, take a walk, eyeball that stranger in the supermarket and think what secrets could be hiding in his closet. 

Okay! Don't scare people by staring at them! 

Be discrete. 

    Think of all the myths and stories there are out there. Can you bend them & take the winged Pegasus and make him human? What if? Or read the news and put something sinister behind the scenes. What if an angel lost his wings and was forced to earth to pay for his sin? (Wait, I already did something like that!) Someone gifts our heroine a plant and as she takes care of it she begins to see messages printed on the leaves. Magic or gaslight? 

    So look around, open your mind to the possibility that anything is possible and get ready for NANOWRIMO! 

  

Drop the Ego & Write What You Want

 It is said some people come into your life and quickly go, others stay a while and leave footprints on your soul. 

My late friend and writing buddy left a footprint I carry with me in my writing: Leave your ego in the back seat.

Translation? Don't let the worry of what others think stop you from writing your story. 

The ego is that thing between us and others. What will they think if I write this? Will they think I'm gross? A freak? Some kind of weirdo? To which writers should respond; who cares! 

Some will love your stories, some will hate them. You can't please everyone so don't let it stop you. Write what you want, critics be damned. 

My one book, Soul Mates (A different kind of love story) had a first review that stole my heart, "I laughed, I cried, I loved this book." 

A few reviews down, "this is about animal abuse." 

Note: it's not about animal abuse it's a story of a dog who goes through a tough time and get's rescued. I've worked in dog rescue for over 15 years and have seen a lot of sad stories and helped to save hundreds of dogs. I've seen and heard of more animal abuse than anyone should ever see and none of it gets any easier. Your heart breaks a million times as you bring in the starving, hurt and mentally damaged pups. We make them better and adopt them into good homes. I'll take that heartbreak because it keeps their hearts beating. 

Did I respond to that comment about animal abuse? No. Did I want to? Of course! First of all I believe the reviewer didn't finish the book because the dog wins in the end. Besides that? I'm not here for their opinions. I just here to tell a story. Many stories. If If I take that stuff as a hit to my ego, that ego might whitewash my next story. 

Who cares what cousin Suzy might think or how your Auntie might judge your book poorly. They didn't write a book and you did. 

YOU DID IT! 

First they judge you, then they laugh, then they're telling people how they know you. 

So toss that ego in the back seat and write on. 

P.S. The dog in that picture is doing great. Here's what she looks like now. God Bless the Rescuers.

6 New Short Stories Up on Amazon - Kindle Quick Reads

 

Kindle Short Reads - Let's Write!

  Did you know you can write and publish short stories for Amazon Kindle? 

I've been hearing about the Kindle Short Reads for a while but finally investigated. And tested. 

As far as my research took me, these can be a few different lengths, needs to be approved, and just like every other Kindle book has to have a cover. 

Word count categories: 

15 min read: 11 pages
30 min read: 12 - 21 pages
45 min read: 22 to 32 pages
60 min read: 33 to 43 pages
120+ min read: 65 - 100 pages 

To test this I went through a few of my dozens of short stories. (All saved and filed all over my computers - someday I have to get organized.) 

I picked a creepy old story I wrote about a year ago. Went to Canva and did a quickie book cover, and popped it up on Kindle Short Reads. Took maybe twenty minutes to a half hour.  

Two things I wish I had done; 

Picked a better background picture. Done better font. 

This cover was done in five minutes. I should have slept on it. 😝  

Escaping Pigwell was 14 pages in a Word doc, double spaced, Courier New. (Yes, I should have used Times New Roman - the standard) On Amazon this story came up as 10 pages/1964 KB. I did put it through as a word doc and not a pdf. Keywords I used the basic read tags like Horror, murder, etc but also added "short read" so Amazon would tag it appropriately. 

Pricing is your choice, of course, but I opted for .99 cents. 

Since this went up so easy and went live just a couple hours later, I'm going to put up more. Sometimes I have an idea and it never makes it to book length. Now there is an place for all our stories and people who look to read them. 

In my search of these short stories I saw some shorts by Dean Koontz, Debbie Macomber, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult. So know, if you decide to publish a short, you'll be in good company. 

So if you want a dark creepy read check out Escaping Pigwell on Amazon

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Editing without Screaming

That dreaded "E" word. The BIG YUCKO  of writing our brains out. 

Edit. 

Truthfully, I have multiple novels written, but not edited. They sit on a shelf, in a box or wasting away on the hard drive. Happy little stories, scary little stories, weird little stories. All just hanging out awaiting the edit. Every now and then I stumble across it and think it this was a good story. I should finish it. 

And yet it still sits in the drawer collecting dust. 

So, I recently made a deal with another writer to edit each other. We have a phone session every Saturday morning and beat each other up...er... I mean, talk about what the story needs. She reads my 3 or so chapters, I read hers and we do a basic spelling/grammar check but more importantly we talk about story structure and plot points. The building blocks of  fiction. 

Those structure/plot issues are the biggest. Did this make sense? Does the timing work? How could the MC not have seen that clue?  Some of this frustrates and we gently argue our points but mostly, in the end, the editing partner points out the weak points I didn't see in my head while writing. This is a big help. 

Got an editing partner?  How's it working for you? 

Using a Planner for Writing?

 Last time I bought a planner was 2020 and we all know how that worked out! Yikes! But that was for my business, separate from writing. A business covid crushed. 

I was almost afraid to purchase a new planner, but it's always best to look forward, right? 

Here's to 2023! 

Sending positive wishes 

for a great year to the Universe. 

What to use a planner for in writing? 

   Starting in January, one of my resolutions was to get 2 to 3 more books published on Amazon. Writing everyday. 

   Hard part?  Getting the time alone to write - yes, I need to be alone. (There's a reason King wrote in the laundry room with a typewriter on his knees in those early years -Recommending Stephen King's On Writing if you want to learn more)

Is this planner to set a schedule? No. 

Keep notes about the story? No. 

This planner is maybe 5 x 3" and would not fit the notes. 

I'm using this planner to track writing/editing days. Once I finish writing for the day, I print it and edit those pages. This is for two reasons. Editing the pages a day or two after writing them, and before going back to story creation, keeps the details fresh in my mind. 

With the planner I can see where creativity flows and how to keep it going. Its a bird's eye view of the writing process. 

 I have 3 printed chapters sitting her now and I've got to get to the editing process. 

Time to get to work (No matter what the cat on my keyboard says)