NaNoWriMo...the march continues

By -




If you're a writer, the gossip is all about what you are doing as part of National Novel Writing Month. The goal: 50,000 words in 30 days. Simple math breaks it down: 1666.66 words a day. Doable, unless you slog at the keyboard like I do. For me, 1500 words in one day is a huge deal and frankly even that pace wears me out after a few days. Thanks God for Happy Hour to recharge the batteries.






Now in full disclosure, I'm not really participating in NaNoWriMo because I have a manuscript due before Thanksgiving and I'm about ten chapters shy of finishing. And unlike NaNoWriMo which discourages you from editing if it interferes with the word count, I can't turn in my manuscript without beating it with my harshest editorial club. If you're intimidated by the blinking cursor on your monitor, there's a saying to help prod you into starting those first words: Give yourself permission to write crap. Well my first draft is so full of crap that I have to wear rubber boots and muck out my writing space every afternoon.


For the rest of you NaNoWriMo-renos, try these strategies to keep the words flowing:

Write what you love. Unicorns, cupcakes, serial killers, old flames you'd like to see baked into cupcakes by a serial-killer unicorn, have at it.

And conversely, challenge yourself to write something different.

Keep plenty of hot drinks handy, especially coffee. Especially coffee. I don't consider that I've got a buzz going unless my teeth are chattering.

Steal! And by that I mean shamelessly take from every experience. Car wrecks, rejection, watching a foe get his due, anything and everything is manuscript fodder. You know you're doing it right when your BFF is laying out her heart about her cheating rat-bastard boyfriend, then she gives you a look and asks, "You're going to use this in your story, aren't you?" And because you write fiction, you lie and tell her, "Of course not." But you will. Good writer.

We even have a theme song and music video, so we must be official!

>

Over at the League of Reluctant Adults, we welcome a new member, Kevin Hearne, and we're busting at the seams with pride over his debut novel, Hounded. Unlike the rest of us mortals, he didn't get an ARC but an ARE, Advance Reader's Edition, because he is Mr. Hearne and so very special. Awesome cover.


And there's more about another Leaguer, 10 Things You Didn't Know About Carolyn Crane, over at the Amber Scott Project. Among other things, Crane was a licensed boiler engineer and wrestled rooms full of sweaty men. Click through for details.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE WRITE PRETENDAS

By -
Image
WE at the League of Reluctant Adults are pissed. Miffed. Put out. Thoroughly riled. We don't often get political, nor do we often get angry. But an angry Leaguer is an UGLY thing. Just look at Mark over there, all snarly with rage. Why are we angry, you ask? BECAUSE WE DIDN'T GET BOYCOTTED. There's this group calling itself "The Write Agenda," who claims to be a bunch of authors looking out for other authors. In reality, we're pretty sure they're a bunch of con artists who got mad at people calling them con artists. Why? Because they attack two of the best friends an author or an aspiring author can ever have: Writer Beware and Absolute Write Water Cooler . Here's John Scalzi's breakdown of what this Write Agenda is, and why they're doing what they're doing. For those not in the know, Writer Beware and Absolute Write Water Cooler are free services that collect information on agents, editors, and publishers. They report on thin...
Read more

Carniepunk Giveaway and Tour!

By -
Image
So, I'm sitting in my kitchen working at my laptop, as far as you know, when the doorbell rings. As any normal human being would, assuming there was a solicitor at the door or a sappy-eyed child selling diet-busting candy, I reached for my gun and slipped to the floor to avoid detection. Creeping across the hall, I lifted my head just in time to see the bestest shit-brown truck that ever existed barrel away leaving a puffy beige package on my doorstep, just like an unwanted baby...or THIS... YESSSSSSS!!! Carniepunk ARCs came!!! Now, some of you may know that this literary wonder was the brainchild of my friend and fellow Reluctant Adult, Kevin Hearne, author of such Iron Druidness as HOUNDED and star of a certain Single Ladies Dance Spectacular, featured here (feel free to witness that particular madness as you continue to read toward the inevitable contest): As excited as I am about my story in CARNIEPUNK (July 23rd), THE SWEETER THE JUICE (a post-apocalyptic zombie h...
Read more

5 Great Horror Movies to Rinse the Bad Taste of Ouija Away

By -
Image
In my ongoing effort to save you from studio horror movies cobbled together from the compressed shit of Hollywood burnouts, I bring you alternatives to OUIJA! #insteadofouija OUIJA has hit DVD/VOD and there's nothing we can do about that but don our gas masks, hunker down and pray for dawn. A horrifying prospect, but at least we can be entertained while waiting for the fallout to subside. Here's a few fantastic 2014 horror movie releases to make you feel like the world is still worth living... OCULUS seems to be a secret to this day. Despite some great buzz and a truly inventive style of storytelling, bouncing back and forth in time so fast the audience is left in a constant state of unease. The story wraps itself around a rapidly deteriorating family relationship brought to the brink of insanity by the presence of a haunted mirror. And that's where things get weird. The acting is pretty above average and the horror set pieces are jarring. OCULUS wasn't my fav...
Read more