Ready, Set, NaNo!

This year will be the fifth year I’ve dived into the exciting waters of NaNoWriMo. I’ve won three of them, surpassing fifty thousand words. I quite excited about this year because I’m the most ready that I’ve ever been for NaNoWriMo. I have a good bit of my novel plotted, enough to get me started. I have great confidence that I’ll cross the finished line with an almost complete novel.

I never imagined that I would grow to love this challenge. The task seemed so daunting the first year I participating. Fifty thousand words seemed impossible, but I did it and I was hooked. Once I got past my initial fear of writing so many words in 30 days, I realized that NaNoWriMo has been a great way to develop as a writer.

I am not the same writer as I was in 2007. I shudder to think of how bad my writing must have been back then. NaNoWriMo has helped me improve my craft. When you write fifty thousand bad words, it’s easy to recognize when something is good. More valuable than improving my craft, I’ve figured out what kind of novelist I am. That alone is work all the effort.

As I NaNo’ed, I figured out my process. I figured out that I can’t work with a detailed outline of my novel ahead of time. I figured out that I must discover the plot as I write. That was a major revelation. I need to know my characters and their background, but during NaNoWriMo, I need to let them lose on the page and let them do what they do naturally.

Yes, I admit that this is not the ideal way for writers who want to move to a place of getting publishing contracts by synopsis only. I, however, cannot change my process. Heaven knows I tried. But each year, I find that I only need a general idea of the story before I get started. Having it all mapped out doesn’t work for me. I need to be engaged in the story just as my reader is, discovering the twists and turns as I go.

I think that’s the most valuable prize I will ever get from NaNoWriMo. Now that I know how I write, I can write all year round, discovering my stories as I go. 

Indie Life: The Fifteen Minute Break

I have recently rejoined the workforce. The journey has been a major life adjustment. I actually have to plan my life (ugh) and learn to be more efficient in smaller blocks of time…namely, my fifteen minute break.

I get two 15 breaks at my job. When I first started working, I was convinced that I would just have to find time once I’ve gotten off work to write. I convinced myself that fifteen minutes wasn’t enough to work on my novel. Two months in, I wasn’t really making more time at home to write and had to make that fifteen minutes work.

For the next couple of Wednesdays, I will be sharing a series of posts on how to be more effective with just fifteen minutes. I’m calling them the Fifteen Minute Break.

The first thing is to get acquainted with fifteen minutes. You might think it’s short like I did, but it’s long enough to get short bursts of work done. To get a real time feel, set your oven timer (or whatever buzzing device you have) to fifteen minutes. Do this a couple of times. The key is to get a realistic feel for how much time you actually have.

Also, you can time tasks to see how long they take. Here is a list of tasks that take fifteen minutes:

• Brushing your teeth 7.5 times.
• Preparing 5 packages of Oodles of Noodles
• Downloading upgrades on a PC (maybe longer depending on the age of your computer)
• Pumping two tanks of gas (take a friend)
• Playing 7 rounds of Tetris Frenzy
• A long shower (you’ll need lots of moisturizer afterwards)
• Going through the drive through a Chick-fil-a (but it’s worth it)
• The time it takes the officer to get out of the car after he’s pulled you over for speeding (don’t ask me how I know)
• Finding your phone when you’re late for work
• Getting through the “express” line in the supermarket
• Washing a load of laundry on quick wash
• Saving money on your car insurance (Never actually done it so someone else will have to verify)

Come back next week and I’ll talk about the tools you need to be more effective on your fifteen minutes break. 

Indie Life: Back to School

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…at least for parents of school age parents. It’s back to school time. Even if you don’t have children or your children have all grown up, there is something changes at the end of summer. Vacations and play are over. Time to get back to learning.

Since we’re in a season when so many are thinking about their educational pursuits, maybe indie writers should do the same. Now would be a good time to go back and focus on the basics: writing craft.

So much of our indie lives are focused on marketing and promotion. Or on getting our website in order or scheduling our blog posts, but what about our actual writing? How much time do we spend becoming better writers?

A well-crafted book is the foundational of a successful indie life. There is no substitute for it. You can promote to the high heavens, but if your prose doesn’t shine, it will all be for naught.

Poorly written book is one of the stigmas of indie books, and unfortunately, in some cases, it’s true. Since indie publishing is so easy now, anyone with some free time and a Word document can have a book live for purchase in a few hours. I have certainly read my share of poorly written indie books with poor sales, but our books don’t have to end up that way.

Putting time into improving craft can be very beneficial to not only your sales, but to your as a writer. Learning something new will put fresh wind in your writing sails. Mastering a technique can boost your confidence. Pushing to improve as a writer can also cure writer’s block and eliminate any feelings of stagnation.

How do we go about improving? Most of us can’t enroll in writing classes (but if you can, I suggest you do), so our education takes other forms.

Read. I’ve heard the advice of reading in your genre, but I would suggest broadening that to reading everything. Some elements of writing, like pacing and character arcs, can be learned from a well-written book from any genre. Read more and pay attention to what is working and what is not in the book. Take notes and see if it can apply to your writing.

Read writing craft books. If you have a library card, you can improve your writing. Most library systems are well stocked with writing craft books. Check a few and read them. Pick up a copy of Writer’s Digest. Many of these resources will present different suggestions on tackling a particular technique, but keep reading until you find one that works for you.

Do your homework. Now that you are armed with information, it’s time to apply it to your writing. This will require you to really take a hard, objective look at your writing. Most writers already know what their writing weaknesses are. Practice some of the tips you gained on your weak areas. And don’t forget your strong areas. Yes, they are already working, but look at ways to make them better.

Get critiqued. This is a challenging one because most of us have had some interesting experiences in critique groups. That being said, having someone other than your mother or husband critique is very helpful. Find two or three people who are broad readers, people who read all genres, and ask them to read your manuscript. These people are called beta readers. Even if they can’t tell you what exact technique you need to improve on, they can tell you when something is not working.

Our writing careers started with us learning about writing craft, and that learning shouldn’t stop once we’ve published. We need to push to learn and improve. Learn something new today.