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Showing posts with label 000 words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 000 words. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 09, 2021

Double Timing NaNoWriMo Word Count


 I have two laptops. My old laptop is on my desk at home.  Most of  my writing takes place on that one. It's got a lot of stories and idea blurbs on it. 

Saturday, November 06, 2021

NaNoWriMo is Here! Are you Rockin' It?

 I'm a bit over 2000 words. Not really a great count for day 6 of NaNo, but its something. 

Here's the problem. 

This was a challenge to do from a randomly picked prompt. not my idea or something I'd usually write about.  So I spend a lot of time forcing myself into the shoes of my MC (main character) to come up with the next move. 

This time I also printed out a worksheet of the Hero's Journey to fit my story into. I've got some of it down but mostly I have no freakin' clue where I'm going with this story. 

And so I flounder... questions! Questions! Questions! 

What next? 

What should MC do now? 

How does she know this isn't just her imagination? 

Is the guy she just met one of them or will he help her?

Is she about to get sucked into a nightmare? how do I save her and let this get crazy? Should I? 

Oy! My head! 

Ok, NaNo, See in tomorrow at 7 am with coffee. 

Good luck out there you NaNo wizards. Write on, Write good, Write often. 

How's your word count? 


Tuesday, September 14, 2021

NANOWRIMO Approaches... Are You Ready?

 Love this time of year when we prep for NANO.  What? you don't prep for NANO? 

I guess it comes down to a plotter or a pantser or even a just give me an idea! 

Seriously, Ideas pop into my head all the time. I'm constantly writing scenes in my head that might never make it onto the keyboard. 

I think it was the World According to Garp where he sees the red gloves in the gutter and a story pops into his head? Correct me if I'm wrong, it's been awhile. 

That's where I think the stories hide. In those everyday things all around us. Stephen King says in his book, On Writing that he just puts too ideas together. Like for Carrie; Telekinesis and a girl who gets picked on in school. Easy, right? Rapid dog and mom trapped in a car with her son. Writer has accident and meets crazed fan. 

So for this year's NANO I'm going to take King's idea and merge two things together. I'm starting a list; 

Housewife and the devil meet

Old car and ....wait! That was King's. :)

Vacation on an island and contact is lost from the mainland

Man gets job in restaurant Owner is a ghost

Woman is murdered and haunts her murderer

Girl discovers secret passage in her new home discovers aliens

Woman buys a bracelet at a garage sale and can suddenly hear voices. 

The list is growing.... which to pick. 

Who doesn't love a good NANO challenge?  

So where are you going with NANO this year? 


Thursday, August 06, 2020

Soul Sucking Things that Get Writers

Covid 19 is a soul sucker. It's an on-edge feeling of fear, want & confusion. We fear the virus (or we should.) We want to be normal. To go back to our day to day life and to our old goals and ambitions. Right now all that is on hold. We face confusion every minute of the day. Information overload from all directions.
I was a that real job thing the other day when a man told me about those Americas Frontline Doctors who said that hydroxy-whatever can cure Covid. Wow, wouldn't that be great? So as soon as I could get to a computer I looked it up. A bunch of doctors said it's so. So I looked them up. Each. Individually. I wanted to know if they were people I should believe. 
First I saw that Facebook and Twitter had deleted the postings. hmmmm, why would they do it? 
Well it call came out that 2 of them were ophthalmologists and not regular medical doctors. One of them doesn't even have a license. The main speaker has publicly stated that she believes dreaming about demons can get a woman pregnant. 
Did I really have to read further? 

Ok so the ball of confusion is everywhere and by the time you research -- we are writers after all, that's what we do; research -- maybe an hour or two has passed. Then where are we? Certainly not writing or editing.  We all know social media is a soul sucker so now on top of all that we have Covid-land. So, how do we get our drive back? 

Back to basics; 

1. Schedule your writing time and go to it like a job. Every great writer does this so it's #1 on the how to get your writing mojo back. 
2. Close the door. Not just on the people in your house but on all that static from social media. DON'T OPEN IT! Consider it a demon ready to snatch your writer's soul. 
3. Set a goal. It could be 20 minutes it could be an hour. I like pages. Setting a goal by pages makes you get it done. I could daydream for an hour and then wrap it up. Done. But if I say I have to write 10 pages before I get up... well, then I'll have something to show for the time. 

Stay strong my writer friends. You are creative and the world needs your words. 

Saturday, November 02, 2019

NaNoWriMo Begins

NaNo is here! Wo0T!
Yesterday I was tooo crazy busy but got some words done today. So since NaNo is  a worldwide challenge I'm going to try to post my progress here every day or so. To the right is my word count.
Wish me luck!

Before NaNo I wrote a quick blurb for the story. Now I have no idea where to go with this story so it's a bit of a challenge.
Premise?
Woman stumbles into a grounded angel and they fall back into a bar where wayward angels meet. This gathering of angels have been put back to earth to earn their wings. They're a rag tag bunch and the woman can't be sure if they'll help her or not. One catch; she's trapped and can't figure out how to get out of the bar and back home.

Day 1 of NaNo, 231 words
Woman (Casey) is running from a mugger and runs right into an angel. They fall back into the bar that only angels can enter or even see.

Lordy! This is going to be a hard story to write.... Hello NaNo challenge!
See you tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Where to Find Ideas for Your NANOWRIMO

Face it. There is a lot of pressure with NANO. We want to write the story all the way through to hit 50,000 words. We want to write that book that's been peculating in our brains. But what if....

The dreaded "What if..."

We have no story idea. Nothing is coming that could form into a plot. Our brains that usually has stories starting everywhere we go....goes silent.



Been there, multiple times. So where do you go when your writing brain wants to take a vaca?

1. Google. Of course you can find anything on Google. I've always thought Google and Amazon are taking over the world. If you need it, Google can tell you where to go. Just type in Writing Prompts.

2. Writers Digest. This is one of my favorite mags and they have a great article about prompts right here.

3. Another site is Awesome Writing Prompts on tumbler --> Here

4. My fav is the everything idea shop aka Pinterest! Just type in writing prompts and ka-powie! You got a whole page of them. Awesome!

5. Then there's the awesome advice from the Aimless Writer; 10 Prompt to Start Your Novel.  :)

So if you're looking for something to do the best NANO ever... just pick one and start writing down some ideas to go with it.

15 days till NANOWRIMO.  Tick Tock.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Slow Go for NANOWRIMO?

I get depressed when I look at my NANO word count. Then I visit the NANOWRIMO facebook page and see I'm not the only slow poke. Lots are faster/further than I and lots are with me or behind me.

Hey! At least I got something down on paper. Now if I only had more hours in the day.

Usually, when i write something I kind of have an idea where the story is going. Maybe I don't know everything, but I know most. Sometimes I get the ending before the beginning.

This NANO I took one sentence that I scribbled down a few months ago and decided that would be my start. I tucked that little piece of paper under the arm of my Edgar Allen Poe action figure and refused to look at it until November 1st. When I finally looked....nothing came to me. However, in the spirit of NANO I forged ahead and just started writing. Now, 6000 words in I still don't know what to do with this story. Edgar has been no help. ;)

I spent an hour last night changing the main characters names. Then changing them again. Googling names by country and by popularity and basically wasted the night. I think that was my sub-conscience's goal. Waste time and hope to write SOMETHING.

When I get stuck I usually stop and think; How can I torture my main character?
A strange phone call in the night? Meet a creepy neighbor? Discover something bizarre and off the main point of the story. (What if you were investigating a murder and in the process discovered something really weird about someone you thought you knew?)  Would I want to keep that in the story later? Who knows! But I'm going for a word count here, baby! 50,000 by November 30th! That's 18 more panic filled days of writing.

It's after nine and I have to work in the morning...that real-life-gotta-eat-job that so interrupts my writing time. Come on! Let's NANO!

So??? How's that NANOWRITMO gig treating you? What's your word count?


Go Indie or Publishing House?

 Like the song says; You can buy your own Flowers.  Yet still we hesitate.  Agent - Publishing House - Indie Okay, getting an agent who can ...