NaNo 18: The Deep Breath Before the Plunge

Hey, look, I found a way to sneak LOTR into this post! 

So, I wasn't going to post before the event actually started, but I find myself needing to let out some fears before we embark on the mayhem that will be NaNoWriMo 2018. And, if I'm being honest, it's more for myself than anyone else--because I know, deep down, that in less than a week I'm going to be snowed under in a morass of self doubt and sleep deprivation that makes me question why I'm writing in NaNo.

I guess here's my answer now, future self:

You need it.

This is for you. Not for your ego, or your pride, but for your sanity--just like running.

Will you publish anything? Maybe not. Probably not, even, with how allergic you seem to be editing. And that's fine. But you know how much better you feel when you're writing.

It's your outlet for all those hopes and fears, doubts and worries, tensions and joys you accumulate all day. And while you were absolutely right when you signed up for that half marathon that you need to stop staring at your screen so much and enjoy the outdoors and be active, you also can't just ditch the whole creative side of your brain for nearly a year. You've been there. You've done that.

For better or for worse, you like stories. You grew up with them, learned from them, were shaped by them. And now, you need them to come out. It's how you get the tension out. It's how you subconsciously work through problems. It's how you bring to life all those random thoughts that flit through your head over the course of the day, and you feel better for it.

Deep down, you know this.

You also know you work better on a deadline.

Don't tell me you don't--I've seen just about as much of your past as you have. When was the last time you did something early? (Other than your tax return debacle--look how that turned out! <okay, maybe that's not a good example, but I'm sticking to it>)

You need some way to transform all your daily struggles into something you can actually grapple with, and this is the best way I've figured out. (If you find out something else in the next couple of weeks, let me-us?-know, okay? But I doubt it).

So write like the world depends on it, because you never know, it just might. The story world will depend on it, if nothing else.

Don't let your past failures hold you back. Last year was last year. Each day is new (even if you're like my current self and couldn't sleep last night and just decided to restart the day at 5 am and have now been up close to 28 hours straight. Still a new day. Kind of.)

I guess what I'm driving at is just go for it (Just do it is to cliche. And possibly trademarked.) Write. Write for yourself if no one else. The worst that's going to happen is some carpal tunnel.

From one sleep deprived R.M. to her audience (possibly including another sleep-deprived R.M.), good luck and happy writing!

NaNo 2018 Intro

I can't believe it's been a year since I've written anything in a WIP. I've...missed it. But I must confess, I fear sitting at my computer November 1st about to engage in the insanity that is NaNoWriMo and finding that my entire ability to write has disappeared.

That being said, I've found that doing things that I fear (because of the possibility of failure) are some of the most rewarding things I've ever done. And also the craziest, but, you know...

Will I write 50k? I don't know. That's a lot. And the years I really set out with 50k in mind tend to be the years I faceplant. Instead, I think I'm going to take my 2016 approach--the last time I won. I'm going to set out to write at least 6 days a week and shoot for a wordcount of 20k. It doesn't have to be a cohesive novel. I'm not going to plan it out. I have a main character, and a concept, and that's about it. We'll see what happens.

How will posting work on the blog? I'm really happy to have posted 3 weeks in a row now. (Wow, my life is getting sad. But we're improving.) I hope to keep it up. I'm thinking I might try some story snippets this year. My story idea is a little disjointed, which might make it good for some snippets.

Anyways, NaNo is about having fun. And if it keeps me busy and gives me a bit to think about other than work, I'll take it.

Even if my novel is essentially about anesthetizing mythical creatures. Because I have no life.

Are you participating in NaNo? What's your story about?

October Blog Update

Look at me! I actually managed to write a blog update post without it eating up a Tuesday slot. Here's a look at what's coming up at the blog over the next couple of months, as well as a chance for your input.

"Little Luther" at the 95 Theses Door

October

This October 31st marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation! As an unabashed Lutheran nerd, I'll be celebrating the occasion here on the blog throughout the month. Expect some pictures from Wittenburg, Germany, some music, and some other celebratory things. 

Meanwhile, in the writing realm, I'll be gearing up for NaNoWriMo. I haven't fully decided what project I'll be working on in November, but I'll be plotting it out in October. 

November

It's NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. I know that I won't be working on Crossroads and its sequels this year, but I haven't decided what project I will be working on. 

Likewise, I haven't decided what posts I'll put up on the blog during NaNo. This is where I need your help. Is hosting word wars a good idea? Or are there too many other places to do that? Should I ditch the blog for the month? Should book reviews continue during November? I'd really appreciate it if you take the time to fill out the five question survey below to help me decide. Thanks in advance!

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NaNo Wrap-Up and Looking Ahead

NaNo Wrap-Up

NaNoWriMo did not go quite as planned this year, as you can see from my rather sad word count and plateau-ing graph. Not planning out my novel beforehand came back to bite me in the posterior.

However, the month was not a complete loss. I now understand my characters enough to actually be able to plot out a more cohesive story, which is far more than I could have said in October.  I'm still excited about the idea, so hopefully I'll be able to share a little bit of it with you over the next few months.

One highlight of the month was word-warring with Victoria, who convinced me to get up at oh-dark-thirty the day after Thanksgiving. (If you have the choice between word-warring with someone and going Black Friday shopping, definitely go for the former rather than the latter). It was quite a bit of fun. Shout out to her for figuring out the time difference between us and staying up late to write with me.

December 

Unlike last year, Christmas and New Year's don't fall on posting dates. (Yay!) That means posting will continue as normal, barring any unforseen circumstances. Please be aware that I may be without internet access or busy for long stretches of time, so I may be slow to respond to comments or emails throughout the next month. I haven't forgotten you!

Tuesday posts this month will probably be an odd assortment of topics while I get the blog organized for next year. It's likely that there will be an excess of sequel reviews for the next month or so; I'm scraping the bottom of my review barrel after NaNo. 

Early 2017

I know that we've got one month left of 2016, but I'd like your opinion on the blog and where I should take it in the next year. Please take a moment to fill out the survey in the right-hand column of the blog. It closes in about two weeks, which will give me time to make changes and brainstorm ideas in time to get them rolling early in the year. 

Got something on your mind that you can't tell me in the survey? I would love to hear from you through the contact form in the left-hand column. 

So far, my plans include weekly book reviews and one other post per week. Beyond that, I'm pretty open to suggestions. I'll be speaking more about my personal goals for the New Year at the end of December or in early January.

Thanks for sticking with me through November! Again, I'd love to hear from you!

NaNo Update

I apologize for the relative lack of postings this month. My schedule has been very different this year from years past and I'm trying to find a way to fit writing in.  I'm currently trying to finish up NaNoWriMo with a respectable word count, so I'll be out again today. 

However, we have an author interview this Thursday! We'll be joined by fantasy author Matthew Dickerson in celebration of his release of the second book of The Daegmon War, his fantasy series. You can check out my review of book 1, The Gifted, here. I will be posting my review of book 2, The Betrayed, on Friday.

 Next week, I'll give a little more of a NaNo update and discuss the postings for the rest of the year. (How is it almost December?)

If you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see on the blog in the upcoming months/over the next year, let me know using the contact form. I take your feedback seriously. Even if you'd just like to tell me that I'm doing something right, I'd appreciate it. (That way I don't go around trying to fix things that aren't broken). 

Thanks for your patience! Happy writing!

Nano Survival Guide: Week 4

This week is what I like to refer to as the Gauntlet.

Here in the U.S., it's Thanksgiving week. That means even less time to write, plus the danger of turkey-induced food comas. (However, there's more likely to be some free coffee hanging around the house).

Write in small chunks. Get up early. Stay up late. Drink coffee. You can pull it off.

Keep writing. You might hate your story at this point, but you can pull off the win if you're crazy enough.

If you've been following me on NaNo, you've probably noticed that I'm a bit behind. (There'll be a post on that later/next month). Take heart if you're behind, if your story is falling apart, and plunge forward. I've pretty much always pulled off my NaNo wins from farther behind than I ought to have. Being behind the week before doesn't mean that you can't do it.

(And if you're wondering why this post is so short, it's because I didn't get that far ahead in pulling posts together before NaNo struck. Procrastinators unite tomorrow?)

Happy Writing and Happy Thanksgiving!

Due to the holiday, there will again be no Friday Fiction Fix this week.

The Writer is Out

Due to NaNo, I've had very little time to read, so there will be no Friday Fiction Fix this week.

Instead, I hope that you'll join me over the weekend occasionally for some updates on my latest attempt to get back on schedule. I'd love to word war with you or do group sprints over on the NaNoWriMo website as well.

  Hope your own writing endeavors are going great!

NaNo Survival Guide: Week 3

Just to be the one who falls down on December 1st.

And if you don't know what song this is referencing, here you go.

This is where the rubber meets the road, folks.

If you feel like you're behind, that you can't get enough sleep, that everything you've written is stupid, and that you haven't a clue where your story is going...

You're not alone.

(If you're one of those people who miraculously doesn't feel this way at week three of NaNo, congrats! Just pretend that you aren't so that the rest of us feel better. In return, we won't give you the stink eye. Deal?)

Whatever you do, keep writing.

Take half a day to re-plan if you need to. But keep writing. Stay committed to writing something by the end of the month. Remember, if you don't make it, you at least wrote something. And that's an accomplishment all of its own. You might feel behind right now, but you still have plenty of time to get caught up. I don't know how many times I've thought I was going to lose at this point, but managed to scrape out a win.

So may your coffee cup be full, your days be full of inspiration, and your hands free from carpal tunnel. (And may you get at least a little sleep).

Personal NaNo Update: I'm currently running several thousand words behind schedule after having a few days where I didn't have much time/motivation to write. I'm bound and determined to catch back up, however.

How is NaNo going for everyone out there?

NaNo Survival Guide: Week 2

Yay, you've survived the first week of National Novel Writing Month!

Perhaps it's going wonderfully for you. Maybe the words are flying onto the page, your characters are still behaving themselves, and you're managing to keep your caffeine consumption to a reasonable level.

Or perhaps things aren't going so well. Maybe you ended up with an extra class assignment, your car broke down, your characters are doing weird things, and you feel like you have writer's block.

Regardless, keep going.

Remember that the most beautiful thing about NaNo is that, as long as you put some words on the page, you've made progress. You may not write an entire novel. That's okay. You're still making steps toward a goal.

Perhaps this week you're struggling with your plot and you want to edit some things. Personally, I would encourage you not to go back and edit. Write a paragraph describing what changes you want to make and then carry forward. You might come back in a few months and discover that  you have some usable ideas within what you were going to throw out.

Keep writing. You've got this. Even if you don't write 50k, you'll at least come out of the month with more words than what you started with.

Good luck, and happy writing!

NaNo Survival Guide: Day 1

So, today's the big day!

You might have stayed up till midnight last night to kick off the month. (It's really sort of fun that you can finish off Halloween and start NaNo all at once).

Today is the first day in a marathon. Don't wear yourself out too fast! Get a solid start, put those words on the page, and don't forget to take care of yourself between writing sessions.

The rest of this week, focus on staying on track with your goals without wearing yourself out too quickly. I've burned myself early on in more Novembers than I can count. Personally, I shoot for about 2,000-2,500 words a day at this point in the game. It puts me ahead a little without wearing me out too much.

Here's to drinking coffee, getting sleep, and putting lots of words on the page.

When did you kick off NaNo? What's your writing goal for this week? 

NaNo Survival Guide: Preparation Week

This is the first post in a series that will start now and continue through November for National Novel Writing Month. I'll also be offering updates on my own writing. Happy NaNo prepping! If it's not for you, I hope you get a chuckle out of these posts anyways. If you're still on the fence about NaNo, make sure you check out this post. 

It's still October, but NaNo is coming quickly.

In fact, November will be here in just one week! To have a successful NaNo, I highly recommend preparing yourself for it. If you're a plotter, I would highly recommend the Snowflake Method. If you're diligent this week, you can probably whip out the better part of the plotting necessary.

Even if you're not a plotter, I've still prepared a list of things for you that can make writing those 1,667 words a day easier. After all, even though writers are superheroes, we still have to eat and do other responsible things.

Ready? Here we go!

• Food:
• If you have to be an adult and cook your own meals, Crock Pot meals are your friends. I would recommend hopping over to the NaNo website and checking out this thread.  
• Stock up on granola bars, clif bars, trail mix, and other poppable, non-messy snack items. Keyboards and gooey foods don't mix. 
• Is your caffeine stock adequate? In spite of how much we all try to not stay up late in November, inevitably, we all get behind and have to pull a late night or two to make word count. My favorite caffeine sources include coffee, Chai tea, Earl/Lady Grey, green tea (good for the immune system, too), and Awake chocolate bars. 
• Planning Writing Time:
• November is really one of the least convenient times for NaNo. There's Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping to do, exams, final papers, and gobs of other obligations. You can't get out of all of them (nor should you try). Nevertheless, try to plan out your word count goals so that you can work in time for family or other commitments. I personally make a weekly goal word count that puts me ahead for Thanksgiving and accounts for exam studying.
• If you can, make a daily schedule of when you plan to write. I know that, if I have a novel well-planned, I can type out my 1,667 words in about 30-50 minutes so long as I'm not proof-reading as I go. Thus, I need to find about one hour a day to write on weekdays. I like to make a spreadsheet schedule and block off writing times. Even if they're only 15 minutes apiece, I can easily accomplish my goals without feeling swamped. 
• Plan out where you want to write. I love the library. It's quiet, has tons of information, plenty of comfy chairs, and easy access to caffeine if I need a break.
• Invest in a Facebook blocker. My favorite is Freedom. It's free and lets you choose one or two sites to block. You even get to choose how long it blocks the site. You can still log out of the blocker and use the site if you need to (I use Facebook for a lot of group messaging), but it's enough of a pain to do so that you don't want to do it all the time.  
• I also plan in a day or two for re-evaluating my plot. It's helpful for when you need to re-charge your writing batteries. These are often good for days when you have other commitments and may not have much writing time. 

• Encouragement:
• Week three is the pits. If you're anything like me, all the prepping has hit the fan at that point and you're left wondering why you ever though this was a good idea. I have a jar of pep talks that I keep on my desk for such times. It may or may not have multiple quotes from The Lord of the Rings in it.
• Set up writing times with friends now, before you get swamped. All day word war? Now's a good time to plan that. Katie Grace is the queen of these and puts me to shame. 
• Find what threads you want to follow on the NaNo site and have them ready to access. As I said, I like 15 minute chunks, so I like to follow the 15 minute word-war thread.

I hope you enjoyed this. Is there anything you would add to this list? 

Looking Ahead

Well, it's that time of year again. I'm stocked up on coffee, I've got a fresh notebook with some half-baked ideas, my fluffy socks are waiting in my drawer, and I've got a new YWriter word document waiting for me.

NaNoWriMo is coming.

This year, I'll be publishing a NaNo survival guide/pep talk series on Tuesdays starting next week and through November.

Ideally, I'll continue to have book reviews on Fridays, but it will depend on my schedule and how writing is going.

For now, I'm heading back to planning and catching up on sleeping and reading.

Are you doing NaNo this year? 

Summer Goals

But first, a note on Camp NaNoWriMo:

Well, NaNo didn't quite go as planned. You can pretty much see where I had a paper due or an exam to take when you look at my stats graph:

Now that exams are over, I'm looking forward to putting some serious elbow grease into Crossfire and cranking out the rough draft. The snowflake method has been helping me a lot so far, but we'll wait until it's all written to make a final verdict on whether I like it or not. 

Although I'm taking a summer class and working over the next few months, one of my summer goals is to make writing a daily, intentional activity. My summer goals are to finish my Crossfire re-write, do a rough edit on Fractures, and do a macroedit on Crossfire. After that, I'd like to brainstorm/plot out a new story or (if I'm not too burnt out on editing) do a microedit on something. 

The blog should be an exciting place, as well. On May 19th, author Jaye L. Knight will be stopping by for an interview as part of her Samara's Peril Blog Tour. I'll also be doing a review of the book, so if you're interested in Christian Fantasy, you might want to pick up Resistance, which is the first book in the series. 

Then, the week of May 30th, I'll be celebrating the blog's first anniversary with extra posts! 

Finally, I'll be starting a new post series this summer on world building. Once I get an idea of how much work my summer class will be, I may decide to go to a three-days-a-week posting schedule. I'll keep you posted on that. (Pun may or may not have been intended.)

Anything you'd like to see as part of the blogiversary? 

Do you have any new goals you're pursuing? 

Hundredth Post!

Wow, I wasn't sure that I could make it this far when I started blogging!

*Throws confetti*

Spring is finally here and I had to take some pictures!

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot to tell you today. Camp NaNo is...happening? I've had a lot of papers to write this month (which is unusual; my program is more test-based) and my creative juices have been sapped. Staring at a blinking cursor in a word document has been my life for the past few weeks, so writing has felt like a bit of a chore.

As a result, I'm a little bit behind, but this should be my last week of papers, so maybe I'll get back into it here soon. I certainly hope so. If not, there's always May.

But alas, the end of papers means that the beginning of the exam crunch is coming. Thanks to some help from the wonderful Victoria J., posting will proceed as normal for the foreseeable future. As always, I'll keep you posted if I'm going to be slow to respond to anything.

So I apologize that it was a lame hundredth post. (Other than flower pictures. Do I at least get some credit for going outside to take those?) I do have some awesome blogiversary plans in the works for the end of May.

Also, I have a review of Tainted coming up this Friday, so you should totally come back to read that. Or buy it now. Either is a good option.

Thank you all for reading, supporting me, and putting up with the craziness.

We Write Books, Camp NaNo, and Guest Posts, Oh My!

For more on We Write Books, click here. 

So, something went right this month and I managed to balance my school life with my writing life. Look at me being a responsible adult. (I hope I didn't just jinx myself there.)

As of this weekend, I have most of my scene descriptions typed out for Crossfire and I'm on track to finish them this week!

That means I'll be participating in Camp NaNo, albeit in a limited capacity. Colleges don't seem to understand that April is Camp NaNo time and they laugh maniacally as they schedule exams during the first week of May. Thus, they ensure that their students will not become famous writers who are able to quickly pay off their student loan debt. It's an evil plan, I tell you.

All conspiracies aside, though, I have to study this month, which means I have to put writing on the back burner for a bit.

That also means I have 1-2 guest posting opportunities coming up. You can use the handy-dandy contact form in the left hand column to get in touch. I accept posts on Christian/clean sci-fi/fantasy movies and books, as well as posts on writing. I'm open to other ideas, too. (If you're looking for reasons to guest post, click here. (I promise I am not as creepy as the last gif. Pinky promise.))

Are you doing Camp NaNo? What's your word count goal? 

The Writer's Mind: Snowflake Method

This is a plotting/brainstorming method I tried out for Fractures, my fantasy NaNo novel this year. I'll talk about what I liked about it and what I didn't like quite as much.  I definitely learned a few things from it. If you're interested, I've also written another, more general post on plotting a novel.

What is the Snowflake Method? 

The snowflake method is a way to brainstorm a novel by starting small and making it bigger and more complex. It's based off of a concept called the Koch Snowflake, a type of fractal. Without getting into math stuff (yuck), here's a good little illustration: 

From here.

Essentially, it's a way of arranging triangles in a mathematical pattern that results in a snowflake picture that can be infinitely complex. If you like the mathematical jargon, click on the link in the caption.

Math and fun shapes aside, the Koch snowflake uses the same ideas as the Snowflake method. You use a big idea (like a triangle) and then keep expanding upon it to get a more complex story. 

Snowflake Method Steps

(Information was taken from here. I don't claim to have come up with this, because I'm a recovering pantser and still experimenting with plotting. The link has more detailed info if you're interested). 

1. Write one sentence that sums up your novel. 
2. Expand that sentence to one paragraph.
3. Write a skeleton outline of each of your big characters--motivation, description, one sentence character arc etc.
4. Elaborate on your paragraph of plot and turn it into a page or so outline. 
5. Flesh out your skeleton character outlines. 
6. Continue to flesh out your plot using info from your characters so that you have a several page long plot summary. 
7. Write a super detailed outline of your characters. 
8. Make a list/spreadsheet of every scene in your novel. 
9. Take that spreadsheet and write a paragraph of description for that scene. You'll have a skeleton book now (one paragraph for a scene).
10. Write the real rough draft, using your notes. 

Pros and Cons

I didn't quite follow the above instructions, due to the fact that I started too close to NaNo to complete all the steps. I basically did steps 1-5 and then wrote my rough draft. I'm considering trying to do an entire book this way at some point (perhaps for one of my novel re-writes). Maybe I'll meander less from my intended plot. I basically re-designed my story halfway through NaNo (my perpetual problem with plotting; I never seem to follow my plot). 

Pros:

• I actually knew a bit about my characters. This is abnormal for me. It was wonderful to have  an idea of how they should behave.
• My plot wasn't a complete mystery. I had a beginning, climax, and ending planned out. Again, this is abnormal for me. 
• I spent less time brainstorming while writing. I mainly had to figure out the little details between point A and point B, rather than trying figure out what point B was. This made NaNo less stressful. 

Cons:

• I still managed to deviate from my plot line. I realized that, if I followed my outline, I'd get to the climax far too quickly. So I added in a bit of pre-climax action...and it took over the story. For like 30,000 words. Maybe this would change if I got to steps 8 and 9 next time. This is why I'm interested in trying it again. 
• I didn't feel like I really got to know my characters. Characters are one of my perennial struggles. They tend to sound the same, act the same, and behave irrationally. While doing the character outlines helped me a bit, I felt like they were just paper cut-outs. I think character development is something that I'll perennially have to edit into my story. 
• It takes a lot of time. I got all excited about my story...but I wanted to write it before I was really done with plotting it. I got that wish, due to NaNo. In the future, I don't think I'm going to do this with NaNo coming up too soon, though it certainly helped me to exceed my NaNo goals. 

Plotting in the Future

I think I'm going to try the snowflake method all the way through at some point. I'm really intrigued  by the idea of writing one paragraph for each scene. I'm just always hesitant to plot too much, since I have a tendency to throw it all out the window in the middle of the story. I hate to put that much work into plotting if I'm not going to use it. 

If you're interested in trying this method out, you might be interested in ywriter, a free writing program. It allows you to put paragraph descriptions of your scenes together, as well as character notes. I didn't use it this NaNo, but I've used it in the past. My main complaint is that it formats things differently than Word, which can lead to some real editing nightmares. I also dislike having to edit in it. 

Are you a plotter or a pantser? How do you plan out your stories?

NaNo Wrap-up and Blog Update

Looking Back

Wow! Is it really December already? 

After a last minute file deletion scare (Dad was super awesome and remote accessed my computer from over a hundred miles away and fixed it without a sweat), I won NaNoWriMo 2015 at about 4:30 on November 30th. 

Looking back, I'm still shocked that I did it. If you'll recall, I set out at the beginning of the month to write 30,000 words. Here I am, with 50,000 words under my belt in a tidy word document with more typos than I'd like to see in a lifetime. 

I've learned quite a bit from this NaNo. I haven't won a "real" 50k month since my first one in 2012 and I've taken a bit to reflect on why I was more successful this time around:

• I wrote something every day. Sometimes it was only 50 words with my eyes closed, but I wrote every day. 
• I didn't give up, even when I wasn't sure I could make it. Looking back on previous years where I didn't meet my goal, I often flatlined around 40k. This year, I wrote close to 8,000 words in the last two days. The last thousand or so were really hard, but I made it. 
• I didn't sacrifice sleep. If I was tired, I made sure that I slept. I took care of myself, made my schoolwork a priority, and wrote when I could. I think one of the reasons I've burned out in the past is because I would refuse to take care of myself. If something is taking your time to sleep away on a regular basis, it's hard to enjoy it. 

The story itself is in rough shape. I went down a rabbit trail about halfway through and didn't even reach the climax I had so carefully plotted out. It's going to be a longer work than I've written before, most likely. But, it's an epic fantasy. Short doesn't belong in the same sentence, unless it's describing dwarves or gnomes. I plan to continue working on it as I have time over the next few weeks, which brings me to....

Looking Ahead

Next week (December 7th) I will post as normal (Tuesday and Friday).

The week of  December 14th is my exam week. That Monday, I have three exams (7:45 AM, 1 PM, and 8 PM), followed by an exam on Tuesday. Suffice it to say that I will not be posting on Tuesday the 15th because my brain will be mush. However, there will be a normal Friday post.

The weeks of the 21st and the 28th, I am planning on only posting Tuesdays due to traveling and Christmas and New Years and eating too much sugar.

And that brings us to January! (Scary!)

I will be scaling back on the "What is..." posts starting in January. So, what type of topics would you like to see? Friday Fiction Fix will still be sticking around (I do welcome suggestions for those, as well!)

What is a Word War?

If you're doing NaNo and feeling behind, Word Wars are one of your best tools to increase your word count in a flash.

The goal of a word war is to compete to see who among a group of writers can write the most words in a set amount of time. My favorite length of time to war is 15 minutes, but I've seen people war for as short as five minutes and as long as a whole hour.

Do any of you participate in Word Wars? How do you stay motivated to write?

If you're ever looking for a word war buddy, just let me know! I hang out on the NaNoWriMo site frequently in the evenings (ET).

NaNo Halfway Update

Well, it's been a crazy month.

I've put the pedal to the metal, burned the midnight oil on a few occasions, and burned the candle at both ends more than once--but I haven't burnt out yet.

At the beginning of the month, I said I'd set out to write 30,000 words in a novel I had actually plotted out a bit (feel free to faint right now; this normally doesn't happen).

Miraculously, I've done a lot more writing than I thought I would. My typing speed has improved significantly since last year. So, instead of being able to only type about 500 words in a 15 minute word war, I've been typing 800 or 900.

Which means that it's taking me less time to type my novel for NaNo than I expected. Like, 20 minutes or half an hour of writing a day instead of 45 minutes or an hour to meet word count goals.

So, being stubborn and not one to be told by my more rational self that I should do things in moderation, I decided that I should try to write all 50k this month (so long as I'm staying on top of the rest of my to-do list and still getting 7 hours of sleep a night).

I know I'm crazy. But a lot of crazy stuff has been happening this month--I've surprised myself with my ability to motivate myself, my grades, and my ability to meet goals when I set my mind to it in various aspects of my life. I like the results I get when I push myself and I actually feel better than just trying to scrape by with the bare minimum (most of the time; I'm still human--don't worry). So I've decided to push myself a bit with my writing, too.

Granted, this might change by the end of the month. I might realize a project is going to take longer than I thought, that my grades were a fluke during October, or I might get a sinus infection that knocks me out cold for a week straight.

But right now I'm shooting for 50k. Because I think that we'd all amaze ourselves if we tried to see how far we could actually go.

To the Nano'ers out there, how's your month going?

What is NaNoWrimo?

The wind has a bite to it now. People have been walking around in costumes for the past week. Readings of Edgar Allen Poe and other frightening stories lend the air a scent of mystery.

But, more importantly for (many) writers, there's something special that happens after Halloween. Because October 31st is followed by November 1st.

Duh. Of course--no month has 32 days and November follows October. What's so special about that?

Halloween at midnight sees a special transformation in many writers. We turn from our normal selves into caffeinated, word-warring participants in National Novel Writing Month, affectionately abbreviated as NaNoWriMo or NaNo.

Essentially, the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in the scant 30 days of November. (That's a scant 720 hours, if you're wondering).

Why would anyone do this?

It's the perfect time to shove your inner editor into her office, broom closet, or personal yacht. There are literally thousands of writers across the world writing in this insane event, developing a certain level of camaraderie And it's a way to crank out a nice rough draft.

Granted, symptoms may also include talking to characters, caffeine overdose, editing withdrawal, and the occasional sleepless night, but I've written some terribly ugly really nice first drafts that I later edited into some novels I'm working on turning into something that might one day be worthy of publication.

This year, my college program is really demanding, so I won't be shooting for 50,000 words. (School is my priority right now). But, I'm shooting for 30,000. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a nice little word count widget going on one of the side columns.

Have any of you participated in NaNoWriMo? What are your goals for this year?