lori sizemore

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: you make me write crap, NaNo. You make me make bad novel decisions. You take away my ability to brainstorm between chapters. You make me rush through characterization. You make me pack filler in that will only get ripped out later, having taught me nothing about my novel. You make me into a bad writer.

However, to everyone who completed NaNo, to everyone who participated–I applaud you.  You wrote and that’s damn fine.

Want the awesomest “writing” program I have ever encountered?  Then you need Write or Die – Desktop Edition.  It’s rocks so hard, rock stars are jealous.  First, let me tell you, you can use or try it online, for free.  (I love free).  It took me one session, in which I wrote over a thousand words in half an hour to know I wanted to own this genius piece of software.

It motivates in three ways: gentle mode-a box comes up reminding you to get back to writing, normal-annoying sounds start playing (it’s incredibly maddening), and kamikaze-your words start untyping themselves.  In all three, the screen starts turning red.  You can also set a word goal, a time goal, or both.  I have to tell you, basic as it may sound, watching those words add up at the bottom of the screen and avoiding the red screen of badness is powerful.

At least give it a try, if you’re like any writer I know, and struggle to meet your goals.  Make it work for you.

P.S. Thank you, Dr. Wicked!

Yes.  You read that correctly.  After much nail-biting and teeth-gnashing online, I wrote a synopsis.  I’m tempted to use lame web animated fireworks.  That’s how proud/excited I am.

Want to know how I did it?  Fine.  I’ll tell you.  But, I suspect, it’s one of those things that you can read a dozen articles about, but eventually you just have to hunker down and write the damn thing.  Much like writing a book.

1. I went through my book and summarized the turning points and points  of conflict.  This was 12 pages long.  A crazy length for a synopsis.  Some editors or agents will take ten.  Some will take five.  Most want 1-2 pages.  But don’t despair!
2. I included my GMC in the first paragraph or two, when introducing my characters.  It’s the easiest way to explain who they are, what they want, and what’s in their way.
3. I highlighted my turning point scenes.  If you’re not writing to turning points, here’s a clue.  Those I trimmed a bit, but mostly left intact.
4. What was left, the ‘in-between’ I pared down, summarized, but with a goal of maintaining my voice throughout.
5. Look for what must be included, look for what must be included that you can say with less words, and look for what is not absolutely essential.  Don’t include subplots, don’t include dialogue (more than a line, but I advise against it).

Things to remember: Write in present tense.  Include the ending–don’t ever leave a hook and suggest the editor/agent read your book to find out.  Practice–just like writing, it’s okay if it’s bad at first.  You can fix it.

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 it to be particularly financially gainful.  It is still cool.  That’s right.  I’m a writer, y’all.

And NaNo, I thought it was about winning.  About writing those fifty thousand words.  But it’s not.  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.

I probably won’t win.  I have three kids and a full time job and a husband who works a bajillion hours so a lot of the household responsibilities fall on me, after my 40.  That’s my life, and I like it, but it may mean I don’t get to 50k words in 30 days.  But I’ll write every day.  And I will write without analyzing what I’ve written for perfection and fretting over the way I don’t do description so much in a first draft or my characters seem to really be saying “really” a lot.  I will write for whatever small amount of time I can pull away and actually accomplish writing–I can thank Dr. Wicked for that. (Write Or Die.)  And I will revel in the fun of writing, the creation, the characters speaking to me, the excitement of watching my story unfold without once thinking, “I’m such a bad writer.”*

So NaNo is like what they teach us when we’re kids.  It’s not whether you win or lose (although you rock out loud if you win, go you!), it’s how we play the game.

*I’m not actually a “bad” writer.  My inner editor just likes saying so.   A lot.  You know how that is.

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.

WordPress doesn’t like my “live” badge, so I’ll stick this one in here.  Yeah, I’m going for it.  My goal: 2k words daily.  I’ve never written a word without planning the hell out of it, so I’m kind of excited to try this.  Check the twitter updates on the left to see how I’m doing.

On the first day of NaNoWriMo (second day?) I want to talk about distractions.  You know.  Those things that help you release stress or avoid writing–whatever.  Books, of course.  Most of us read emails and tweet and facebook.  But more personally, what’s your avoidance crack?  Mine–The Sims 3.  It can occupy me for hours and make me forget all about my goals for the day, week, or even the month.

What gets you back on track?  Music and housecleaning do it for me.  The music usually gets my creative juices going and the housecleaning is just tedious enough to make me prefer sitting down and pounding something out, even when it’s a struggle.  It’s also one of those “mindless” activities that let’s me think about my story.

How about you?