Hi All,
I’m up early this morning doing the Muse Online Workshop. I’m not sure how I’ll go with the live chats as most of them run from about 1am, if the insomnia is playing up I’ll be right. Somehow, I think by the end of the week I’ll be a mess if I try to stay up late every night. Anyway, they have a forum, so I thought I’d post the link here for anyone interested in having a look: http://www.websitetoolbox.com/mb/muse2008conference there are quite a few good discussions on there so it might be worth a look.
The other link I have is 30 Tip for 30 Days, tips to help you through NaNoWriMo:
http://devonsdownloads.tripod.com/30Tips30Days/30_TIPS_FOR_30_DAYS.pdf it doesn’t look to bad either.
It’s almost 6.30am; I’ve been up since 1.30 so if some of this is gibberish you’ll know why. Anyway, I thought I’d write about getting yourself prepared for the big month ahead. According to my nifty little book, I got with my ‘No Plot? No Problem! Novel-Writing Kit’ there's five steps in preparing to write.
STEP ONE: PICK YOUR MONTH: This is already done for us, we know our month, NOVEMBER!
STEP TWO: PICK YOUR PLAYER: Pick how you’re going to have cheering you on, giving you a shoulder to cry on or a boot in the bum when needed. You can have family members (if they write great, if not use them as a cheer squad) family are normally your biggest supports they are the one that want to see you succeed, friends – these are the one that enjoy pushing you, egging you on to achieve your goal. Then there are your writing pals, the one that understand what you go through each day trying to write a masterpiece. They understand what it is like to have characters nattering away in your head while you try to write one story and they want you to write THEIR story, RIGHT NOW!
STEP THREE: SPREAD THE WORD: Let everyone know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Who knows you might find someone around you that has their own story they want to write. Plus let non-writes know that you won’t have time for the weekly coffee drop-in, hour long chats etc.
STEP FOUR: FILL OUT THE AFFIDAVIT: I’m not sure where it is on the site, LOL. But if anyone wants one let me know and I’ll email you a copy on one I scanned. The idea is to sign it, get it witnessed and then you are locked in, ready to stick to your commitment.
STEP FIVE: THINK ABOUT YOUR BOOK: Take the next couple of weeks to think about what you are going to write. Make notes, outline and plot if that is your thing, do whatever you need to do so that come November 1 you are ready to sit at your computer and stat typing.
That’s it from me for this week, I’m off to bed to try to catch up on some sleep so I can be up by 8.30 to start editing and be ready for my next on line chat.
Catch ya later.
Sandie
6 comments:
Great post, Sandie.
Not sure about all the other steps, but I've been doing a lot of Step 5, more than I ever have in preparation for a book so far!
I would also add to it Step 6:
Take extra good care of yourself in the lead up to NaNo.
You're going to be frazzled, with erratic sleeping and eating patterns, so make sure right now you rest and get your mental and physical energies into the best possible shape.
You can't write if you're run down!
I'm not thinking about it yet, I have to finish EarthFall yet... arghghghghgh, I need a week away from everyone and everything and complete silence shattered only by servants coming in to hand me food or take away dirty dishes...
I've done all the steps except for step 4. But I don't think I need an affidavit - doesn't announcing it over several blogs count?
And yay, I finally got the cable for my alphasmart so I took it with me to Kempsey yesterday - okay got some more chapters outlined but it's not great to use as a passenger bouncing along in a van.
Took it to work today and got some strange looks in the tearoom at my 'new toy.'
so the thinking about my book translates into outlines for me. Roll on November.
I'll have to check out the 30 tips.
Good luck finding the servants, Nat.
Kiki, take extra good care of yourself? Mmm, I'll try but if not , I can always lapse into caffeine and chocolate for November.
Hi ladies, humm Kiki does that mean me having very little sleep this week is not a good thing? Never mind I'll make up for it next week. I hope.
Nat, I'm with you on the servant thing, I could do with that ATM. I'm still trying to get the first three chapters finished on 'We Were In Love'. It would help if I didn't keep changing things I think.
Okay Diane, I don't think I like you much just now. I'd love an alphasmart, I could do with one the first weekend of NaNo. Oh well, not to worry. I have my lappy at least.
I really need to tidy up around my desk so I can lay out my things and have room to move around. I'm doing up a large timeline tomorrow to hang on the wall so I know where I'm going with my dates and historcal facts.
Catch ya
Sandie
Um.... it's probably not good to mention I have the servant, right?
Anyway, I'm doing nothing towards Nano. I'm going in blind. Well, maybe, I might decide to finish something I've already got going. We'll see.
Great post Sandie but get some sleep, we all know what happens when you don't, you're not the Blog Queen for nothing.
RC
That 30 days 30 tips link is really good. Thanks for that, Sandie!
I'm surprised you managed to write so many words in this blog post at that time of the morning! You're a trooper.
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