Nano Time

What are you doing reading this?

It’s November 1.


It’s Nano time.

Why aren’t you writing?

What are you doing on the internet????!!!!!


Guess what?

I’m not writing.

But there’s a reason for that.

Depending on what time you’re reading this, I am either asleep, or out photographing footballers, netballers, volleyballers, lawn bowlers, dart players, or I’m eating, or I’m taking orders for above photos and wondering when I can get home so I can sleep again.

And wondering when I can get started on my Nano novel.

Because Kirsty’s ready. She’s stamping her foot with impatience, glaring at her watch, wondering when I’m going to turn up at the keyboard.

Dylan’s ready to call lights, camera, action.

And Genevieve is ready for her close up, darlink!

But the author’s nowhere in sight.

This silly writer went and made a major commitment which spills over into the first days of November.

Which means, my fellow RWA Nanowrimo’ers, you get a head start on me. You can charge out the starting gate and be several lengths down the track before I even make it to the racecourse. (November also means Melbourne Cup so the racing analogies are going to come out.) So how far down the track will you be when I get here? (Hopefully regular word sprints are taking place in my absence).

I will catch up.

I’ve started late before.

I can do it.

I know I can.

I know I can.

I know I can.

Secret Weapons for Nanowrimo

While some of our Nanowrimo virgins are doubting their ability to write 50,000 words in a month, I'm here to assure them it's more than possible...with the Nanowrimo secret weapon - Word Sprints (or if you're feeling competitive Word Wars).

Sometimes writing 1,667 words each day can seem like a mammoth task and easy to put off and put off until you've reached the end of the month and you've got a huge number of words to write to catch up. So here's how to write, write fast and forget about the word count goal.

We run word sprints every day on the hour and half-hour on the RWA Nanowrimo group. Anyone is welcome to start the thread (I rarely start sprinting until night-time due to that day job that gets in the way of everything). For a word sprint, you choose whether you write for 15 minutes or for 30 minutes, and during that time you WRITE AS FAST AS YOU CAN! You will be suprised how much you can write in a short period of time. In fact, you may find that you can meet your daily quota with just two half hour sessions in a day. Then at the end of the time, report your word count back on the thread. There may be others cheering you on, there may be others sprinting as well. If you wish, you can then have a friendly word war to see which of you can write the most words in the agreed period of time.

I use a Talking Alarm Clock for my word sprints. At the end of the time, the wizard says Well Done and plays a song for me. You can download him here:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/talkingalarm.html

I have a few extra weapons for Nanowrimo in case inspiration strikes at times when I'm not in front of the computer.

For the middle of the night inspiration, I have my special pen and notebook sitting on my bedside table:

And now I have my new (old) Alphasmart which I have fallen in love with. (Sorry Sandie)

Plus when we move into our new building at work, I am claiming this room as my own.

It's actually 'The Quiet Room' as opposed to the Dr Phil or Oprah room or cricket room depending on what time of the year it is. I can guarantee that Alphie and I will be spending my teabreaks and lunch breaks in here during November.

So those are my secret weapons. Do you have any Nano secret weapons to share?

BTW, tomorrow we start HUNK week on the blog and just to get us in the mood, I have searched my photo archives. Enjoy!

I'll be back next week for Saturday Spunks with photos of inspiration for my hero Dylan.

Let The Challenge Begin

The starter’s gun has gone off and we’ll have thirty days to write 50,000 magical words. A novel, a creation of your own imagination. Your baby, a baby you will nurture and grow to love or hate at times. Characters that will become part of your life, at times invading your space wanting your attention and stopping at nothing until they get what they want. Yes we are in for a fun filled month of highs and lows, but through it all we will have each other. There will always be someone there to cheer you on or give you a cyber hug when you need it most.

I found an article the other day while I was tidying up around my work area. It was one written about Barbara Taylor Bradford in 1986. She was riding high on the release of her best seller ‘A Woman of Substance’ as a TV series. It was partly because of this article that I had originally started writing. Although I put it all on hold until the last couple of years. At some stage I’ll share with you a lot of what she said, but for now I want to give you her five D rules. This is what she wrote;

D for desire – the desire to want to write that novel more than to do anything else.

D for drive _ the drive to get started.

D for determination – the will to continue whatever the stumbling blocks and difficulties encountered on the way.

D for discipline – the discipline to write every day, whatever your mood.

D for dedication – to the project until the very last page is finished.

Finally there is the sixth D --- to AVOID!

This D is for distractions – perhaps the most important D of all, the enemy of all writers, whether would-be or proven.

So ladies at the end of the first day of our challenge call back and tell us how your day went. How much writing did you achieve? Were you happy with your day’s results? Are your characters playing nice or being pains in the butt?

I’ll update your word meters Monday morning; you will be surprised at just how much of a boost you’ll get from seeing a word tally under your name.

Don't forget to call into each others blogs from time to time and offer support and encouragement to your fellow challengers, a little support goes a long way.

Have fun, enjoy your month of writing and we’ll be here through the week to cheer you on, or give you that cyber hug you may need. The most important thing is HAVE FUN.

Hugs
Sandie

Writing marathons, word sprints and stealing time

Okay I must be crazy. I've said yes to writing another 50,000 words in June. As if doing it in November isn't enough.



My real life writer friends think I'm crazy and not one of them has dared take up the Nanowrimo challenge with me. (I can barely get them to commit to 100 words a day). But they admire my prolific output. Because with the training I have had from four Nanowrimos challenges, I am becoming a prolific writer. Just not a prolific editor. So at the moment, I have four complete first drafts (ranging from 50k to 110k each), one almost complete at 53k (approx another 6k to go), and a halfway there story of 25k.



I have a full time job, plus I give up a day a month to do the accounting for my father's business. So how do I manage to find the time to write?



As Anna Jacobs said in the seminar at last year's conference: 'Life won't give you the time to write. You have to steal it.'



So I do steal time and I make the most of all the little pockets of time available to me because it all adds up. Fifteen minutes here, fifteen minutes there. Waiting for the doctor, waiting for my partner to pick me up after work, grab some time in my teabreak. Maybe it wasn't the smartest time to write a skydiving scene when I was waiting for my blood pressure to be measured (had to wait another ten minutes and test again) but there you have it....that's how I write.



I'm also a big fan of 'word wars' and 'word sprints'. During Nanowrimo last year and in 2006, I would get online and challenge a writer friend in Canberra to 'word wars'. I could write 1200 words in half an hour. We would use this Talking Alarm Clock to time ourselves. You can program the wizard to congratulate you when the time is up, and even play a song from your music library.



I'm a pantser although I generally get to about 3/4 through the story and then I have to write the final scene (or at least outline it). I liken it to taking a joyride but towards the end of the ride, I need to decide on a destination so I can work out how to get there, so I just haven't driven around in circles the whole time. While I'm doing a writing challenge, I don't spend much time looking back, I don't edit, I just try to keep going forward. Sometimes this means that I write scenes out of order because I write the scene that is calling to me next.



Probably the hardest thing I find with a writing challenge like this is that after 50k, I still have more to write, but I'm usually pooped from all that writing. (Especially if I write over 6000 words on the last evening as I did last year) and then I have to motivate myself to finish the next 50k words without the amazing community of writers all striving for the same thing.



So when I finish the first draft of Beyond Happily Ever After, I will have finished 3 first drafts in 2.5 years (I'm with the Band started November 2005). I possibly may have finished 4 first drafts in 4 years but I'm not sure when I started writing 'Making the Cut'.



I have no idea what I will be writing yet in June, but I think in May I will set up an Edit in a Month challenge for the others of us who have completed first drafts that need editing.

This picture is me holding my 2006 Nanowrimo effort Diary of the Future. Luckily the whole story was told in just over 50k as it is young adult. Lulu.com that year offered a free copy of your novel if you had completed the 50k so I did a quick edit, designed a cover, and have my name on a real physical book - the only copy that exists at this point.