NaNoWriMo, Charleston & Thanksgiving. An update.

Well I promised I'd give an update so here I am to admit defeat. I failed Nano this year. I did not make it to 50,000 words. I did not get even close. I got past halfway if that means anything to anybody...although I suspect it does not. My total word count at the end of November 30 was 26, 751. I come fully prepared to over explain why I didn't quite make to my goal. Get ready.

I stopped writing in week three.

Yeap. For the last nine days of November I was utterly useless when it comes to adding any new words to my manuscript because my husband and I decided to risk a trip to see his mother for Thanksgiving. She lives in North Carolina, so we had the great idea to first drive down to South Carolina so we could briefly enjoy Charleston before we got down to the business of Thanksgiving face-stuffing. What this meant for me is that all my routines went out the window because suddenly there was a whole city to explore and I really wanted to explore it. Unlike my husband, I can work remotely (the joys of being a copywriter) so I didn't take time off. This meant that I worked by day and was dying to join him in Charleston exploration by late afternoon to night. To commit to my daily word targets would have been to utterly miss the trip I was already half missing in a city that had been on my list to experience forever. And so no writing got done and I failed Nano.

What I lost in words I gained in food. An ode to Southern Cooking.

Everything is richer in the south. I knew Charleston would be a foodie trip and I can certainly say that in that respect, I wasn't disappointed. I ate all my feelings and they were delicious. I ate how disappointed I was at not accomplishing my writing goals and I ate how disappointed I was that I couldn't explore the city I was in because I had to work during the best parts of the day. I also ate because the food was delicious and it was plentiful. I don't remember having a single bad meal and seeing as food was the only thing I could really enjoy in the city after I officially clocked out, I can't stress enough just how grateful I am that Charleston had so much goodness to offer.

"If you can't write something interesting, then do something interesting"

This is how I'm choosing to see the back end of Nano. I didn't write much but I lived plenty , and those slices of life are going to deepen my well so when I do sit to write again- it will be a richer experience. Things that were highlighted for me on this trip were how much I enjoy talking to my husband. It's amazing how you can forget something so profound, but you can. We drove from New Jersey to South Carolina (including a stop in Washington DC), to North Carolina and back to New Jersey. Now you may or may not believe this- but we spoke THE ENTIRE TIME. I don't even remember us listening to music. We just talked and talked and it was lovely. In a silly way it reminded me why we're married, because sharing space is so easy.

Spending time with James' family, I also had the experience of seeing and feeling how much closer I am to them now. Being married is strange in that you're not just marrying a person but their entire family too. For most of us, that family consists of complete strangers that you have to get to know and vice versa. Naturally, even with the loveliest and most welcoming of families, it's a process. I had the quiet pleasure this Thanksgiving of observing how much closer those spaces between us seemed. I reveled in the insider-ness I felt. It was almost surprising to realize that I know the family dynamics now, I know so many of the stories. I recognized in them too a calmer and less concerned, even nonchalant approach to me. I'm boring now, I'm old news. I'm family. This single takeaway was the extreme highlight to my trip. That and the dramatically beautiful Carolina skies.

Finally- The end of NaNoWriMo doesn't mean the end of my book

That would be silly. I still fully intend to complete the manuscript I started, the writing of which I've been enjoying very much, I'm just going to now do so on a revised timeline. I love Nano for the daily writing habit it instills and that's the part I intend to keep. I am now weary of setting big goals, especially in the holiday month of December that we've just entered, but I will say that writing will remain a priority. I will update you all on how it's going when it makes sense (when I've made significant progress worth bragging about).

If you were writing along, I hope your Nano experience was more successful than mine, please feel free to tell me so. In other news, I'm officially back to weekly posts which I have missed and I look forward to seeing you next Thursday.

Take care,

Noni

NaNoWriMo- How It's Going

Let's just say, this cat pounding a keyboard like it's possessed gets me. That is all.

I thought I'd do an update seeing as we're halfway into #Nanowrimo. A quick reminder that the goal of Nano is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. Being hallway through the month, you would expect your girl to be halfway through this goal, wouldn't you? Well...let's discuss what project I ended up selecting to work on for Nano as well as how I'm doing with reference to the 25,000 words I should have written by now.

My Nano Project:

I decided to explore a romance idea I've had for a while. Yeah, I know- wild. I feel like 'romance' is misleading but it is the closest to the truth in that the central theme is romantic. That said, it's really a book about the psychology of relationships, or people in relationships. Who do we show up as in relationships and why? In what ways and to what extent do we create avatars to represent us in some of the most important relationships of our lives? What does that mean for the authenticity of our relationships and our sense of belonging within them? These are the questions underpinning the project. I know this may sound more like a self-help book from this shotgun description, but that's just my current inability to articulate the idea in its fullness. It is definitely a novel; I have my setting, my timeline, my cast of characters, and a briefly outlined plot. Loosely, we follow our main character through a string of relationships and as she tries to dissect her character within them. I'm excited to dive into it because of the intersectionality of so many ideas. I have no idea how those will mesh and I have to idea how the book will progress and what kind of end product that will create when its all said and done. I'm also excited and a bit afraid of the personal truths this process will likely reveal for me, but that's part of the joy.

Current word count: 17,009 words. This puts me 7,996 words behind here I should be. That said, since I've updated my writing process (which I've detailed below) I've significantly closed the gap between where I was and where I should be, and I'm on pace to actually be further than the 50,000 word goal by the end of Nano. So, I'm not too worried, but I absolutely understand the value of consistency for the reminder of the month.

My first mistake:

My goal was to write daily from 8-10pm. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. That did not happen. I learned or rather remembered quickly (because I've been here before) that my days are just not that predictable. They should be; the world is in lockdown, I work from home, it's dark and dreary out so-in my defense- expecting myself to be in one spot by 8pm daily was a fairly reasonable goal. I think it failed because I failed to account for laziness. I also didn't account for the sessions I would spend staring at the screen without putting down a single word. So in short, as with most things, expectations were slightly ahead of reality. However, I did manage to figure out a process that does work for me, and it even allowed me to write more than the daily goal with what felt like less effort, which has helped me catch up and make my way back from what was a backward slide.

Process update:

I now write twice a day, at a word count of around 1,200 per sitting. That's between 2,400-2,500 words a day. The Nano daily word count goal is 1,667 words. I know, I should have planned to do this from the beginning, but alas, I didn't. The good news is that this blog post will exist this time next year, and I'll be in a better place to start Nanowrimo in 2021. I think this new process works so well because it's essentially a productivity hack. When I tell my brain to focus for two hours straight and to make sure it hits the daily goal- it responds with a groan, but when I tell my brain to focus for just one hour and write as much it can, without the pressure of a fixed word count because there's another opportunity to write more later - then suddenly my brain is like 'meh, okay'. It's not rocket science, if a goal feels too big to tackle as is, just break it down into bite-size chunks that are easier to manage. A lesson for Nano, a lesson for life.

Anyway, I cant stay too long because...must write more words. But I did want to pop in and give an update. I also wanted to apologize for this being the first blog post in a month, although in my defense, it is Nano. By the way, my survival anime of choice is Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's amazing, you can never rewatch it enough and now it's on Netflix. That said, I look forward to getting back into my weekly routine starting in December (at the end of Nano).

Until then, happy writing and if you celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving in advance.

Noni

Preptober - 8 Steps to Get Ready for NaNoWriMo!

That's right, I've decided to participate in Nanowrimo again this year, probably because I'm a sucker for punishment and also because I love having a reason to push myself with regards to my writing. So, challenge accepted. For those of you who don't know, Nanowrimo is short for National Novel Writing Month and is an annual Internet-based creative writing project that takes place during the month of November where participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript between November 1 and November 30. 'Winning' Nanowrimo means that you completed at least 50,000 words of your manuscript, and that will be my goal. That along with connecting with more writers who are attempting to do the same as we cheer each other on through what I know will not be an easy process.

Last year, I learned about Nanowrimo I believe just as November started and had to basically figure out what I was going to write about as I began writing. In short, I didn't give myself any time to plan my manuscript, which although it didn't hurt me (because my natural writing style leans towards pantser with minimal planning anyway)- it didn't exactly help me either. So this year, I wanted to get in on this Preptober phenomenon that's popping up everywhere I look as all my writer people begin to prep for November. It's a no brainer- Preptober is using the month of October to prep for Nanowrimo so that come November, you're ready to immediately start writing. Winning Nanowrimo has a lot (almost everything) to do with momentum, so I cannot stress just how important prepping to allow yourself to start with your best foot forward is. So, in this post, I thought I'd share what I'll be doing to prep for the upcoming Nanowrimo in this month of October.

1. Choose a Project

This may seem like it's not a real problem, but you only have to talk to any author (or watch any of their Preptober videos) to know just how real it is. I would say that on average an author has at least ten underdeveloped ideas that they thought 'oooh that would make a for a great book' about at some point. Choosing a project means pulling all these ideas out, dusting them off and eyeing them to see which one you think would really make for a great story. Because you're going to be writing that story come November. The issue comes when you have more than one that you're drawn to, because ultimately you're going to have to reject some great ideas with great potential- but it must be done. Create a process of elimination, maybe you want to rework a previous project-that makes it easy. Or maybe you want to challenge yourself by writing in a completely new genre that you've never written in before; or you want to finally write a sequel to a book you wrote years ago. At the end of the day, you're the only one who can shrink your list down to one and I wish you luck with that. If all else fails, close you eyes and point. My advice: pick the project that makes you the most excited. You're going to need every bit of juice to carry you through. Whatever project you end up choosing, Nano is the time to dive in- use the momentum to propel you forward.

2. Create a Story Outline

One you know what project you'll be working on, you can get started on the exciting business of creating a story outline to fully solidify your choice. Interestingly enough, this process may just highlight for you that this isn't the book to focus on after all. You may start to outline and discover that you're just not that interested in or excited by what happens next. This is a great thing to learn now, because you still have time to pull out your crumpled list of ideas and choose one that works better. Now do the work: create your outline; make a character list as well as character sketches; choose your setting; your POV. Map out where your story will start as well as all the major plot points from start to finish. If you need help plotting your book, I created a Free Workbook to help you do just that. Personally, this is as much planning as I like to do because it perfectly sets me up for success while still leaving the story open enough for me to wonder what happens next-which is vital for me as it keeps me excited and engaged as I write. It leaves room for the magic of the unexpected to happen, which I think only happens in real time. However, every writer is different, I know authors who like to plot out every scene before they start writing. You know your process best, do what's best for you.

4. Have a Nanowrimo Talk with the People in Your Life

You are a different person during Nanowrimo. Now that you've been warned, you need to do the right thing and warn everyone who's likely to encounter you during that time. 'I'm sorry in advance for being an asshole for a whole month' is not a bad place to start. Seriously though, having this talk is about explaining to your people that this is very important to you and the best way they can support you is by respecting the time that you've allocated to writing every single day. Figure out your exact writing block, communicate it and plan every activity around this. Preemptively, I'm thinking 8pm -10pm. This means everything has to be done before then, all work, chores and hanging out. If my lovely husband wants to take me out on a date, it better be at 6pm latest so I can be at my desk, writing at 8pm. Luckily for me, this doesn't affect my life too much- I suggest you choose a block that doesn't affect your life too much or you'll be fighting against the inertia of sudden lifestyle change on top of the already challenging task of writing 1,677 words per day. Not fun. If you live alone, maybe task a few close friends with checking up on you periodically just to make sure you're still sane.

5. Set up a Twitter Account or Join a Nanowrimo Forum

Completely optional of course, but I think support is vital. Attempting to write 50,000 words in a month is one hell of task and having a place to go where you can commiserate, get support, tips and hacks, and inspiration from others attempting to do the same thing is worth its weight in gold. I'm sure your spouse/ flatmate/ cat is very supportive- but at some point along the journey you're going to just want to join a group of people who really get it. We have been blessed and cursed with the internet, use it. There's no need to suffer alone and, for whatever reason, writers seem to have chosen twitter as their platform of choice. If you want community, go where the community is. Not to mention, this is a great way to make friends that share the same interests, friends that will last long past Nanowrimo.

6. Set Up your Writing Space

A practical point. You need a place to sit and write. Doing it in the same place (and at possibly the same time) everyday is a great way to train your mind to get into a rhythm and form a habit around your goal. Create a space that is comfortable (but not so comfortable it lulls you to sleep), make a list of the supplies you need and get them (notebooks, stickers, special pens, etc.). Set up your music if you like to work with it in background, clear your desk and clean the entire space. Have it so that all you need to do to start writing come November is sit down.

7. Set Up a Rewards System

You're going to need it. A rewards system is all about keeping yourself motivated. Nano is month long pursuit, so momentum is key. We're all going to be super amped to start and the first week is likely to fly past with stellar productivity. By mid-month things usually start to crumble and this is when you'll need everything you can possibly draw strength from. A good rewards system can be your saving grace. I'm choosing an episode of anime for every daily goal completed- I'm still shopping around for exactly which anime but more on that later. Choose whatever feels like a reward for you; maybe it's an episode of a new show, maybe it's giving yourself a gold sticker in your Nano notebook, perhaps it's a glass of wine or just going to bed. Your Nano, your rules.

8. Put Together your Nanowrimo 'Survival Kit'

This one is all about comfort. What will make your sitting down to write for a few hours a day more comfortable? Some suggestions: A scented candle or a diffuser along with your favorite essential oils; your favorite special candies or gum or whatever snacks you like really; tea- lot's of tea; a 'do not disturb' sign; a cozy writer's outfit because who has time for thinking about clothes anymore- historically mine has been pajamas but I would also highly recommend a onesie. I think I may get a onesie.

Well, this is what I'll be doing in the month of October. If you're prepping for Nanowrimo like I am, I hope this helps you to get ready. I'll see you on the other side.

Sending you my best,

Noni