Day 1 - First Steps!

Lao Tzu once said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

We have 30 Days.
We have massive goals.
We have skill and determination.
(We have the number for the local takeaways. ^_^)

We're ready to go.

Bring on the words!

1 Day to Go! My Life and 50K in 30 Days Guidelines.

While I should have been frantically freezing pre-prepared meals, sharpening my pencils and selecting my playlist for the kick off of 50K in 30 Days, I've instead been arguing with my router (I won that round - yes, I should have access to the internet, thank you very much!) and taking care of a sick toddler.

It's funny - sometime it feels to me like life gets in the way of writing. I keep forgetting it's the experiences in life that make writing possible. So I've not written much over the last week, but if I ever have a character who needs to look after a kid with the worst runny nose in history, I'm going to know exactly how she feels. ^_^

So Wednesday it all starts. Here are a couple of frequently asked questions:

Updating Word Count
Every Sunday, send your word count (or edit count) through to me at my email address and I'll update your word counter here on the blog. I'll do my best to have everyone updated that evening, or at the very latest by Monday evening.

Sprint Sessions
Spring are short (or short-ish) intense writing sessions broken up by periods of chat and various other forms of jovial relaxation. Every evening at 8pm, I will be running at least one sprint session through the RWA chat room - the sprint sessions will be simulcast over the Twitter hashtag #50K30Days.

Guest Blog Posts


Will be definitely happening! The first one is from the fabulous Nikki Logan will be our first sucker volunteer and her post will go up this Friday night.

If you've got any questions that have been niggling away, email me or ask away in the comments!

Welcome New Participants!

Thanks to the power of mass online communication (ie. email) we have now got close to 75 participants for this year's challenge! That's an amazing number of people, and it means that we're going to have a really brilliant community to cheer each other on. ^_^

If you sent me an email yesterday or this morning, you will have your word count widget on the blog and your invitation to join the Google Group by this evening. If you haven't recieved your invite by Tuesday evening, please email me and let me know because it probably means the internet goblins have hidden your details. Darn those internet goblins.

Defeat to the Internet Goblins! 9 Days to Go!

Have you got a plot?

May is flying past at a rate of knots, and the kick-off to 50K in 30 Days is less than a fortnight away! 


I'm always worried that I'll sit down all ready to go on June 1st and find myself staring at a blank page, frantically hoping words will jump onto it. So I've chosen a specific manuscript that I'm going to work on over the month. I'll be writing a Regency romance set near the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and my heroine is a French woman who goes undercover as an English actress to spy on the British war plans. 

If you don't already have something you want to work on, here are some excellent resources to help you plan your novel:

• Seventh Sanctum have a romance-specific plot generator! 
• "This story starts in a tourist town in South America. In it, a brave cab driver falls in love with a religious merchant - all thanks to a theft."

• The Snowflake method is an interesting take on how to do extremely detailed plotting before you begin writing. You can find it on this site. (Though I note they also try and sell you the software - still, good free information.) 

• Some writers find it helpful to read through the key aspects of story-telling that Joseph Campbell outlined as the hero's journey. 

• If you write Regency novels, there is an extremely detailed plot generator here. And I mean REALLY detailed. Right down to what number child they were and character likes and dislikes. 

• Prefer to get your title first and work out a plot that fits? There is an excellent romance title generator here. 
• "Fleeting Flames", "A Winter Stranger", "The Nightingale and the Voyagers". 

Anyone else have any great resources that help with plotting? And do you know what you're planning to write this June? 

Countdown to June!

It's back again in 2011, the 50K in 30 Days!

The premise is simple, just set yourself a word count goal for the month of June, and then report back with your word count each week. We'll be having writing sprints in the Romance Writers of Australia chat rooms (join now if you're not already a member!) and blog posts from brilliant authors full of all the motivation, advice and the butt-kicking you need to get writing.

To sign up, just comment below with your word count, or send me an e-mail!

NaNoNotNow

I'll be honest. This NaNowriMo has turned into NaNoNotNow. Yep. I've failed miserably. So miserably I've even stopped counting. So miserably I don't even recall when I last opened the file. So miserably I haven't even visited the official site for weeks, let alone read the forums. I haven't even been doing my usual forms of Nanowrimo procrastination.

This year I won't be racing to the finish line, because it feels as if I've been running in the wrong direction, and I've lost sight of the racetrack completely.

But I have learned a few things from this particular November:

• for Nanowrimo to work for me, I need to be working on something new with no fear of how it reads - it's got to be about getting the story down on paper. Fresh.
• pantsing can work, plotting can work as long as I'm open to stuff happening all by itself.
• this is not the month to edit or rewrite or worry about finished product.
• this is not the month to write new scenes and squeeze them all over the place into my manuscript.
• this is not the month to totally scrap a secondary plot and try to find a replacement that makes sense and works with the primary plot.
• words don't write themselves especially when I'm trying to beat someone else's score in a game on facebook.
• you need to stay engaged with your story for the word fairy to sprinkle her fairy dust
• backing up is good - thankfully the death of my laptop did not equal loss of scenes or words, but it might have if I'd written anything in the last week.
• taking a week's holiday in November is good for wordage. But alas, I went to work every weekday of November this time.

So what will I do different next year?

I will spend the rest of the year doing the editing, rewriting, submitting, clearing the decks so that June (for 50ks) or November (for Nanowrimo) are clear for the unencumbered outpouring of a shitty first draft. I will be happy to know that it will be a shitty first draft that requires a lot of work, both structural and other editing.

So tell me? Has it been NanoWriteOn for you? Or NanoNotNow? What was your 2010 Nano experience?

Diane

NOVEMBER 1ST ~ NaNoWriMo

November 1st, and so it all begins again. It’s NaNoWriMo time and are we excited? A Little scared? Do you have that nervous energy that bubbles up from deep down threatening to consume you? If you answered to one or all of these question you’re in the right place.

Writing a novel or part of a novel within the month of November along with hundreds, even thousands of other people is an experience well worth sharing. For the RWAus members it is a time for bonding, sharing, encouraging and listening when things aren’t going to plan.

Talking of plans – did you plan, plot and dissect your novel ready to start writing today? Or are you flying by the seat of your pants and waiting to see where your characters or story led you?

Whichever way you go, remember to have fun. Don’t stress, don’t put more pressure on yourself than you need to.

If this is your first NaNo congratulations for joining in and good luck with your first NaNo journey. For those who are repeat NaNoers, welcome back and may November bring you many wonderful words for your novel.

For now:- LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!

Sandie