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It’s that time of year again, when all of your writer friends start asking about your daily word count and offering up encouraging motivational quotes. Basically, everyone is writing but you. Well, and me. If you’re as determined as I am to not write (like that’s a necessary part of being a writer–whatever), here are some ideas to place in your procrastination bank. Play a game I, for example, sometimes play life simulation games. You know, like that Kim Kardashian superstar-for–no-reason-at-all game. I’m the one in the glasses (to show that there’s more to me than my amazing pouty lips and stunning eyes). You’ll noticeRead More →

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At the begininng of Nano, I wrote a post about getting “it”–what Nano is about. It’s about writing.  Just writing for the love of it and with the abandon we deserve, the abandon to write badly, but to have written. And I still believe that.  I still believe getting into that habit of writing daily, of thinking about your story as often as you can–even when you aren’t writing, storing up those ideas like a squirrel in winter–is crucial to becoming a good writer.  And I believe in not editing yourself, constantly.  It’s sort of a relief to just write.  So, good did come ofRead More →

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Today is the last day to get in those 50k words.  As you can see by my word count meter (on the left) I’m not going to make it.  It’s not that I haven’t worked every day; it’s that 1700 words a day doesn’t work in my process.  I have to take notes, then write.  Sometimes I need to brainstorm.  Sometimes it’s a trickle, sometimes it’s a torrential downpour. This blog post by Maggie Stiefvater is a Dear John letter to NaNo.  This is exactly how I feel: You are not a bad concept. You’re a bad concept for me, NaNo. This is why: youRead More →

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It amazes me how supportive nanoers are to one another.  When I tried this a few years ago, I felt so alone and couldn’t see my way through it.  But interacting on twitter, though it can be distracting, has shown me how supportive other writers and NaNo participants are.  I’ve received more than one reply to my tweets of frustration or success.  If you’re NaNoing, definitely follow the #nanowrimo hash tag there.Read More →

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This is the first year I’ve participated in NaNo.  I’ve thought about it a couple of times.  Once I started but dropped out early, citing the reasoning that it just didn’t work with my “process.”  But, I think I get it now. It’s sort of like when I actually became a writer instead of a person who wants to write.  At first, I wrote because it would be cool / financially gainful / fun (ha!) to write a book.  But then, it wasn’t all that fun–at least some of the time–and odds are not in anyone’s favor to actually sell a book or for itRead More →

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Turns out, this whole “just write” strategy is actually very difficult for me.  I can’t seem to stop looking up the page and thinking, “Dude, this is crap,” which I always do and sometimes it’s not. But, for me, that’s the whole point.  To learn to let go and let what I know, both learned and intuitively, about craft and my muse do what they do. So, yesterday–a slow start.  Today?  It’s anybody’s ballgame, baby. Also: Very awesome article about the costs of rewriting those sentences.Read More →