Patchwork Thoughts - Writing a Novel & NANOWRIMO Prep

At this current moment my pup is sleeping on my feet and my husband is running around, getting ready to go off and teach school.  It's morning time and although I slept in, I am determined to get some writing in before work.  Writing these personal blogs has been pretty easy so far and they are serving as a main source of inspiration for my writing.  I'm so happy to report that I am 110% on board for NANOWRIMO in November!  My biggest fear, however, has been that I will lose interest by November or I will get to November and choke.  That's why I am using the next two months to prep myself.  That brings me to some very, very good news:  I have written my outline for my Nanowrimo novel!  For the sake of getting organized, I followed and outline system from Katytastic, a youtuber who has quickly became one of my favorites for writing encouragement! Here's one of her videos below!

I had to scrap my plot and raise it from the dead like some sort of Frankenstein of words, but I eventually got it where I wanted it to be!  There was a period where I was terrified because I realized I had no plot, just an interesting concept that occurs.  Luckily, plot eventually came.  I'm so happy I'm taking time to flesh out this story before jumping in.  Otherwise I'd be stuck probably 20 pages in with no idea what I'm doing and where I'm going.  Now that doesn't mean my plot isn't subject to change, I'm always up for that.  I just have a good idea of where my ending will be.  And god knows I struggle with ending stories.

Plot - check!

Characters - Check!

Setting - Umm...Check minus?

Another reason why I'm so glad I'm not writing this story until November is that I need to do some major research on my setting.  I've done some half-assed google searching along the way, but I really need to sit down and flesh out my landscape.  I need to know little, nitty gritty things like, the temperature, common natural features, the patterns of the ocean, history of the location and the impact of current events.  My biggest issue is usually I chose nameless settings or just make one up because I don't like getting anchored by reality.  This story, though will greatly benefit from all the little details being collected in a neat and organized pile.  There is a lot of research ahead of me!

Finally,  I have found the task of writing 1666 words per day (as is expected to complete NANOWRIMO) a little bit daunting.  Between work, lacking sleep, and trying to have a life, it's rather difficult to get that many words crammed into a day.  I'm making it a goal to start practicing now, but it's been hard.  For some reason that many words just looks so intimidating.  I have heard of writing sprints where you take a set amount of time and write as much as you can and I think that might be the key to getting over my fears.  I just need to get the words out and worry about perfection later.  Again, I'm so glad it's not November yet.  There are still a lot more dress rehearsals needed before the main show!

How is everyone else's writing going?  Anyone want to do NANOWRIMO with me?

Patchwork Thoughts - NANOWRIMO

I am doing it.  I am going to participate in National Novel Writing Month in November!  I know what you're thinking, "But Patchwork, it's only August!  Isn't it a little early to be saying your doing something in November!?"  You're right, November does feel like a million miles away.  Here's the deal, I'm announcing this now for a few reasons.

1.) Locking myself into a commitment
If announce to everyone that I am going to try to write 50,000 words in a month then I have a lot more eyes making sure I don't give up in the first few days.  I will be the first to admit I sometimes have have problems with my follow through.  I tend to think if a project isn't perfect then I don't deserve to do it.  I am going to try my darn-dist to not let that mind set hit me.  I will also be doing vlogs throughout the month reporting my experience.

2.) The next couple of months are going to go fast for me
The next few months are the busiest time of the year at my work. I will stay busy all the way until Halloween  This time is going to go fast.  I might not have time to talk about NANOWRIMO in the next few months, so I need to talk about it now.  I need to get myself pumped up and ready to write!

3.) I need to start making notes
The story I've decided to write for NANOWRIMO is the same story that I declared I was writing as my first novel.  I am not ready to walk away from that story and I don't want to suddenly put it on hold in November so I can work on something new.  The compromise?   Wait until November and work on my outline and notes in the mean time.  I still have a lot more research to do.  I have also found this really cool writing program called Scrivner that I'm learning more about.  I will probably do an article on that program to let you know my findings and if it's worth you looking at!

4. I want you to think about joining me!
YES!  YOU!  I want you to make a goal and join me in participating in NANOWRIMO.  Do you have a story you've been dying to get out, have you always wanted to try writing a novel?  Do you not have time to write the projects you want?  Join me!  Go to http://nanowrimo.org/ and create an account.  Once you've done that, you can add me as a buddy.  My screen name on there is Alexandra VanHorn.  Find me, add me, and let's get ready for November!  Leave a comment if you are planning to join me on this adventure!

Let's do it!  Let's write some novels!

Tootles!