Day 23: 4,644 words. This might have been the single most amount of words I've written in a day for NaNoWriMo ever. I just couldn't stop after I wrote the chapter I needed to write today. I couldn't leave my characters beaten down and at their lowest point without traveling that darkness with them. I... Continue Reading →
NaNoWriMo 2020 Week 4
Day 16: 1,669 words. Ended on another awesome cliffhanger. I like that. Day 17: 1,751 words. I wrote something in this chapter today that, before I wrote it, I had to turn to my husband and say, “this is going to be horrible.” It’s something I didn’t know was going to happen and it is... Continue Reading →
NaNoWriMo 2020 Week 3
Day 9: 1,696 words. It’s weird how quickly these first weeks have gone by. Usually it feels like it takes a lot longer to get to day nine, to close out act one and move into act two, but it’s just not the case this year. It’s positive, in that the story has got such... Continue Reading →
NaNoWriMo 2020 Week 2
Day 2: 2,040 words. I really struggled with being distracted during the day (supporting both my girls throughout their school day, laundry, etc.) but once I was able to focus, the words started flowing. I’m dancing through this space in the story where lies are clouding the communication between my characters and it’s leading to... Continue Reading →
NaNoWriMo 2020 Week 1
It’s the Friday night before the NaNoWriMo 2020 challenge begins and honestly, I’m more nervous about this year than I was the first time I participated. So much of the worry is steeped in the pandemic, in the general nerve and stress and worry that comes with doing any of our everyday things within the... Continue Reading →
NaNoWriMo Prep 2020 Week 4: Support
NaNoWriMo is not a challenge to be taken on alone, though the writing of it is, obviously, a very individual activity. Anyone who has written before, especially anyone who has taken on a large writing project, knows that having support is incredibly important. A few things. First, support doesn't have to come in the form... Continue Reading →
NaNoWriMo Prep 2020 Week 3: Believe
The most important thing a writer takes with them into the NaNoWriMo challenge, is the belief in themselves as a writer. Owning that belief in ourselves as writers is so incredibly empowering and important. It’s important because many of us for a very (sometimes very, VERY) long time will be writing without knowing when or... Continue Reading →
NaNoWriMo Prep 2020 Week 2: Structuring
NaNoWriMo is a great challenge whether you are a planner, pants-er or plants-er and each person within those categories structures their writing differently. See example, my abstract take on structuring a spooky graveyard cookie kit for my five-year-old. 😁 Planners are the writers who structure what they will write before the challenge begins on November... Continue Reading →
NaNoWriMo Prep 2020 Week 1: Resources
One of the most important pieces of preparing for NaNoWriMo is to gather my resources. Now, not all resources can be gathered in the same way. My resources are not just tangible things, like the books I love to reference or the word count stickers I use in my planner that bring me joy. My... Continue Reading →
Getting Ready: Same Goal, Different Circumstances
Preparing for the NaNoWriMo challenge is, like most annual events happening in 2020, familiar and very different. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is the challenge that writers take on to complete a 50,000 word manuscript in the month of November. The writing only takes place in the month of November which breaks down the word... Continue Reading →