Tag Archives: nanowrimo

NaNoWriMo!

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Because I cant help saying “yes, and” to any challenge that crosses my plate, I’m doing NaNoWriMo again!

I’m very excited!  This will be my third year doing NaNo, and this time I am not nearly as prepared, so it’ll really be an adventure. (Eep!)

crest-05e1a637392425b4d5225780797e5a76For those of you who aren’t familiar, NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) happens every November, when people across the country (and the world) sit down at their computers, laptops, typewriters, or notepads and commit to writing 50,000 words of an original novel.  It’s actually pretty fun (difficult and time consuming, sure, but also fun, especially if you were the kind of kid who thought doing elaborate school projects was fun).  Some professional novelists use NaNo to get a jump on their next bestseller (Water for Elephants is a famous NaNo novel), but most people who participate just do it for their own entertainment, like me.  (No one is ever going to read my stories.  I just about die from embarrassment even thinking about it!)

I took a writing course at my local community college last year to help prepare for NaNo, but this year I’m flying solo.  I don’t have my entire plot mapped out, but I think that’ll be OK.  I hope!

I might not know where my story will go, but I bet there will be knitting involved!

Have you ever tried your hand at writing fiction?  What other creative projects do you enjoy?

NaNoWriMo 2014

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It’s November, again!  And you know what that means: it’s NaNoWriMo time!

nanowrimo-crest[1]Last year, I did NaNoWriMo for the first time, and it was so much fun!  I never finished my story (because plotting is hard.  My main characters kept ending up in jail.  And it’s difficult to save Chicago from a jail cell).  But, I more than passed my 50,000 word goal for the month.  I learned a lot about my writing style, and how to maximize my productivity.  (I know it’s weird, but it turns out that I am most productive when I work in my car.  Something about not being able to access the internet, combined with a not too comfortable seat.  Who knew?)

This year, I’m  feeling pretty good about my prospects.  I am taking a creative writing class about writing a novel, and while some of the information is pretty obvious, I’ve learned some things that will really come in handy.

I’m working on a small-town murder mystery, this time around, and my goal is to actually finish the story, not just make it to the 50,000 words.  So keep your fingers crossed for me!

But what that means for you, dear readers, is that I’m going to be busy writing away on my novel, and might be a little slow to respond to comments, emails and other shout-outs.  I haven’t forgotten you, and the posts will still come, although they might be a little shorter than usual,

Wish me luck!  I’ll see you all in December!

Because I Haven’t Got Enough on My Plate

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nanowrimoHave you guys heard about this cool group of online nerds called NaNoWriMo?  It’s short for National Novel Writing Month, and it’s an organization of folks that get together (in real life and online) during the month of November and they write first drafts of their novels.  It’s 50,000 words in 30 days and it’s kind of insane.  But also, amazingly popular.  This year there are almost 300,000 participants (of course, not everyone finishes, but still).

I heard about it years ago, back in high school (which is now more than 10 years ago…eep!), when a friend of mine attempted it.  I thought it was sort of crazy, sort of cool, and promptly forgot about it.  But, this year, I thought hey, why not?  I’m only working part time, after all, and I do like to write.  And, I thought, it might be a good way to exercise some creative parts of my brain that I don’t use too often.

Anyway, if you notice the blog being a little neglected this month, comments going unanswered, a few less patterns going up, that’s what’s happening.  I’ve only just started, and I don’t know if I’ll reach my 50,000 words by November 30.  And even if I do, I have no doubts that story will be way to terrible to let other people see it.  But, I thought it was a cool concept, and a great way to get my creative juices flowing in a totally non-crafty way.

What do you do to stretch your creativity?