Hey, guess what, it’s October now! Which means that, in addition to trying to get as much out of Madeline as I can before I have to shift gears and pushing the heck out of World Unknown Review before the October 31st deadline, I’m going to start getting all my ducks in a row for National Novel Writing Month. I’ve decided whole-heartedly that this is finally the year that I win, after many, many years of participating and never quite making it. There are a few factors working in my favor this year: it was this year that I decided that, if I wanted to achieve my dream of writerly greatness, I had to put my writing first and foremost. I have also given myself a very tight deadline for the book in The Slayer Saga, so it’s imperative to get this draft written if I want a high quality product in August, and, most importantly, I have the ambition and the drive to do it. I’ve been making really great strides with being a more efficient and quicker writer this past year, so I’m extremely stoked to charge forward and take the win this time.
October, then, will be filled with a little bit of prepping. Soulless came out to about 20 chapters, and, since I’m really big on consistency, I would like Heartless to be 20 chapters, too. Each day of October, I’m going to plot out each chapter, which gives me a little wiggle room for fixing things at the end of the month. I’ve also already done my math for November. One of the challenges of NaNo for me is that I can’t write on a computer; I do my best writing by hand, which makes word counts a biiiiiitttcchhh. It’s a double-duty, then, to write, and then transcribe. But I figured out how many words on average I write on a page, and, at that rate, I need to write 6 to 7 pages a day to make the 50,000 goal. So, once November hits, before I do anything else that day, I will write 6 pages of Heartless. No email, no blogging, no phone games, no nothing, until those six pages are written. Just me, a notebook, a pen, and several cups of coffee.
I’m really, really stoked. This is going to be an excellent year for me and NaNo and The Slayer Saga.
Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? What’s your game plan and strategy? What will you be working on? Let’s get that excitement built up, everyone!
L.S. Engler 
I’m planning as well. Luckily, it’s the type of story that’s really straightforward, in that it sort of plots itself. It’s all the nuances and background stuff and character work that’s difficult. It’s like I have the bones but not the meat.
Wow, writing by hand! That’s crazy. I enjoy plotting and outlining by hand, but I hate transcribing it. So I usually suck it up and do my notes on the computer because it makes things easier in the long run. Whatever works though, right?
Everyone’s different, yeah. I just don’t feel connected to the story the same way when I try to type it out. There’s something about the physical act of moving a pen and literally “creating” the words. Everything I write on a computer usually feels so hollow to me, and the transcribing works like a little mini-edit, because if something doesn’t work how I originally wrote it, I can change it there as I type it. A longer method, sure, but it works for me.
And putting that meat on those bones is one of the most fun parts about writing, for me, especially when the meat seems to take on a life of its own. Good luck!
I’m still trying to figure out why you have to do all that work, writing first, then typing. LOL
You know, there’s always excitement in the air when NaNo draws near. It almost (I said ALMOST) makes me want to do it again. But I’ve been there twice, and I just don’t have time anymore.
I KNOW you can win this year!
I just cannot write on a computer. I don’t know what it is, but it’s never the same and it’s all rubbish when I try to start a story at the keyboard. The story just comes out of me better with a pen, and it’s not too bad. I see the transcribing as a great way to clean up and edit the first draft.
That’s probably the same way I feel about using voice software to dictate it. I haven’t been able to embrace that yet.
Really sending you kudos and rooting for you to finish it this year. Such a wonderful feeling when it happens! Good luck!
Thanks! I almost wonder if I’ll even know what to do with myself and a win after so long, but, yeah, definitely going for it big time this year.
Hey! So this has nothing to do with this blog post exactly…but still kind of. I don’t know if you read Kristen Lamb’s blog http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com) but you should. Anyway, she just put a post up about doing an online book launch which also links to online course for marketing your book – http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/10-tips-to-organizing-a-kick-ass-online-book-event/
So…naturally I thought of you and your efforts with Soulless. I definitely think you should check it out. Even if you don’t need the advice for Soulless maybe for your next book…and if you already follow that blog…well, that’s good because it’s an awesome blog.