My NaNoWriMo Tool Box

I'm slowly compiling a list of the things that are most crucial to my success over this month of Word-trackery.

• pens. My favorite are the Pilot Precise rolling ball, extra fine. They are nice and smooth and you can get them in a multi-color pack which keeps note-taking creative and fun, and can help organize my thoughts into category-by-colors.
• notepad. Small enough to fit in my purse and be used on the sly in case I hear a snippet of dialogue that strikes a creative chord, or see a crazy hat that I must write about.
  
• Google Calendar phone app. Set with reminders to track my Write-ins.
• Advil. Can't allow a headache to cripple my word count.
• Big Train Vanilla Chai. Gotta wash down the meds with something, might as well taste good and keep me awake, to boot.
• water. It's imperative to keep hydrated, which can help with avoiding the dratted headaches in the first place. Much as I love the taste of Vanilla Chai, nothing quenches like a tall glass of good water. And, yes. Thanks to my momma, I am a water snob. Aquafina, Dasani, or Sparkletts are the dessert waters of the H2O choices out there.
  
• VOICE RECORDER!! This is one of my favorites. I discovered while writing the first book in the series that long bouts on the road are a goldmine for talking myself through plot road blocks. Simply turn off the music and ruminate out loud about all that could happen and usually the best course will outshine the rest and cause me to look ahead with great exuberance toward the night's writing appointment. But it is crucial that I record this brainstorming train of thought because, invariably, I will forget some of the details I was most excited about and then sit and waste time trying to remember them again when the time comes to write!
• laptop. (with a charged battery for when I'm not near an outlet.) For those valuable opportunities to sit down and plug in to my manuscript.
• Scrivener for windows-- with NaNoWriMo presets. What a great manuscript processing tool. You can set each text document with a goal, and it will track your progress in the footer with a bar that begins blank, turns red, then yellow, then green when you are in the final stretch of the day's word count goal. Nice visual encouragement.
• headphones. To listen to music in public, so as not to be disturbed by chatty strangers.
  
• thumb drive. to back up my writing, lest I lose everything. *gasp*
  
• timer. To keep my fingers tapping away, or limit my research time.
  
• backpack. A way to lug all this stuff around with me.

And that is how I've been able to manage so far. We'll see if I realize any other items of necessity as the month goes on.

A NaNo or a WriMo?

I have 2 days and just over 8 hours left before NaNoWriMo 2011.

National Novel Writing Month was founded 1n 1999 by Chris Baty author of:


He and twenty-one friends took on the challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Some reached the goal. Others didn't. But the bug has spread worldwide.

This year, I'm joining the many ambitious writers who will take part in the frenzied, somewhat-social-but-not-so-much-that-it-holds-you-back, word-count focused event which is NaNoWriMo.

Now, because it is word-count focused and not really content focused, we are supposed to be at ease in the process, not needing to get every. word. right. Right now. But this also means we have to shut off the internal editor that wants to analyze each chapter, page, paragraph, sentence, word, punctuation, formatting, font choice. On and on.

I'm taking on the challenge of beginning the second book in my YA series. The first of which is in the final revision stages in the hopes that I would have sent out a query letter by the end of October. When fishing for an agent, the bait has to be set just right. This causes me to overthink things. I have to remember that in order to get a fish on my line, my hook does have to eventually get wet.

So, I'll be doing double duty for the first part of November-- finishing up my chapter summaries; crafting a tight, intriguing query; and making sure my sample chapters are in tip-top shape. As well as dive in to the highly-caffeinated NaNoWriMo world of words on paper. Okay, screens, too.

The participants of NaNoWriMo are sometimes called NaNo's, sometimes WriMo's. Since NaNo sounds like my trusty little mobile .mp3 player, and WriMo rings slightly of an over-large, thick-skinned herbivore I'm not sure which I relate to. By December 1st, I would love to say I "won" the challenge. But I'll settle for I "survived."


November's motto:
Write Now, Ask questions later.

As Long as it Takes

Lately, I've felt beaten down every time I miss a self-imposed deadline for myself, and then I have to remember: Life Happens.

I went on a snow trip to Park City, UT last week and hadn't been on a snowboard in three years and it had been five years prior to that. With that much time in between I feel like I'm re-learning everything: balance and strength, confidence on both edges, boldness to cut turns (and wouldn't you know I'd be goofy-footed on top of it all).

I'm a cautious snowboarder, as well, which tends to make me nervous that some other riskier newbie is coming up behind me and is going to plow me over. Yeesh. But I returned in one piece, with wonderful soreness to prove what a great workout it was out there.

So what does this have to do with writing and deadlines? Let me draw a bit of a comparison...

BE CONSISTENT

Writing takes consistency. If I wait too long in between I can feel like I'm learning all the basics over again. But, man! When I give it the time, even if I've been slacking up until that point, it feels SO GOOD to get the kinks worked out and exercise those atrophied muscles, and maybe even labor with some that I forgot I had.

KNOW YOUR WEAKNESSES

My first attempt at snowboarding I caught the wrong edge and landed on my backside, clutching my wrist to my chest, unable to take a breath. And I was at the base of the mountain. I had to sit out for the rest of the weekend and was convinced I'd broken my wrist. I later found that it was only a bad sprain, but my manual capabilities were drastically diminished afterward.

Since then I have added wrist guards to my repertoire and fall with a lot more confidence. :)

In writing, I know that I have difficulty showing emotion rather than telling my reader what the character is feeling, so I add tools to my repertoire-- I make a note when I read a good example of showing emotion. If I watch a TV show or a movie that is rich with emotion I can exercise my craft by attempting to capture the emotion of the scene in words.

When I reinforce my known weak spots, I give myself the opportunity to turn them into strengths.

GET A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS

I have funny friends. I have clever relations. That used to discourage me. I'd think, I'll never be as naturally funny as Tim, or Danielle, or Charissa, or Kate and I'd lean toward shutting down. Can I just say-- that's stupid. (Or as Danielle would say, "That's tarded again.") It doesn't matter if I don't have Tim's quick wit-- I have time on my side when I'm writing a book. It's okay if I'm not situationally clever like Danielle, or vocabularily astute like Charissa, or don't possess a humorous outlook like Kate. I don't have to be those things. I can make things up as I go-- or I can borrow.

On our snow trip I needed a good jacket and my friend had one. In fact they gave me the newest one they owned and it served me well. So well, in fact, that I had to unload some of my own layers in order to not overdo it with the warmth.

Having cleverness and wit that surrounds me is a blessing, and, luckily, with friends who are generous, I can borrow from their stores and bring character and situation to life on the page in a way that pays tribute to the inspirational people in my life.

WORK AT YOUR BEST PACE

Next, I needn't worry about those who are sweeping past, and maybe even cutting fancy turns and whizzing by like a pro when I'm flat on my derriere. Again. I push myself up, brush myself off, and stop trying to be someone else. It doesn't matter how many times I fall, whether I fall up the mountain or down it, no matter how many barriers appear to be in my way, no matter how many times I catch the wrong edge or seem to lose my bearing on the peak. My work will take as long as it takes and when I finally arrive-- when I've reached the bottom of the mountain-- I'll have something to show for my work that no one else has written... and as so many professionals remind me... that no one else could have written.

So, I press on.

Write on, writers. Write wisely.