November 10 2017

Silence (Five Minute Friday)

Silence is not a word most would use to describe me. I tend to talk to perfect strangers while waiting in line, make comments out loud to nobody in particular or share my unsolicited opinion on things. I can’t help it, it just happens. I just realized it sounds like I am describing a person with serious mental health issues. Hmmm, not sure how I feel about that.

Inside my head, there is not much silence either. I seem to hear negative feedback on my life in general, my writing, etc from what we will call my “inner editor” because “the voices in my head” sounds so much scarier. When I write, my inner editor gets diarrhea of the mouth and just won’t shut up. The constant barrage of negative comments I hear could stifle even the most creative person. Enter NaNoWriMo. If you want/need to write like I do, silencing the inner editor at least for short periods of time is crucial. Writing a fast draft of a novel in November helps me to stay focused on the task at hand while silencing the inner editor who would otherwise try to derail my efforts.

In order to meet the goal of writing 50,000 words in the 30 days of November while working full-time and trying to keep food in the house and laundry done, I must stay focused on keeping my butt in the chair and writing until my goal is met for the day. If I listened to my inner editor, I would constantly be revising the first sentence or paragraph instead of moving on to the next. I would end up with a very polished paragraph, sentence or even first page. That just won’t do! The whole idea is to get the words down so you will have something to edit later, like in December or January.
So, this short break from writing my NaNoWriMo novel for this month was brought to you by the word silence. Did you hear that inner editor? No? Then good, the silence has done its job. Now back to my regularly scheduled November writing plans. Until next time!

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Silence
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Five Minute Friday, NaNoWriMo, Writing | 2 Comments on Silence (Five Minute Friday)
November 3 2017

Need (Five Minute Friday)

What do I NEED? I need to get over this week-old cold and get back to some semblance of healthy again.

I need to be writing. It is November, after all. In November, more so than any other time of the year, I write. Not only do I write, but I write a lot. More than 50,000 words on a novel to be exact. That should be easy to figure out if you’ve been here before, but in case you still have no idea at all what I am blathering on about, it is NaNoWriMo!
NaNoWriMo officially started three days ago, but instead of writing I was working very long days and suffering from this darned cold. In case you can’t tell by the fact that I am writing this post on Friday for FiveMinuteFriday.com, which means I am writing it now, I am feeling marginally more human than any other day so far this week, so I am warming up my writing brain and getting ready to start my novel. In order to catch up to where I should be today, I only need to write 5,001 words before midnight. Not an impossible task to be sure, but an improbable one at least for today, because while I am feeling somewhat better, I am not quite up to that task yet.

Continue reading

Category: Blogging, Five Minute Friday, NaNoWriMo, Writing | 4 Comments on Need (Five Minute Friday)
October 21 2017

Discover (Five Minute Friday)

The word this week is discover. We don’t know what we can do until we try something new. Then we discover hidden talents within ourselves we might never have known existed. I didn’t really know I could be a writer until I attempted and won my first NaNoWriMo in 2013.

I didn’t know I could crochet until I took a class about 25 years ago, and then forgot how to finish the rug project I began in that class. It wasn’t until I got up the nerve to ask my aunt Mary to help me relearn one Thanksgiving that I discovered I could finish the rug. I promptly gave up crocheting again until one day I discovered something called Tarn (T-shirt yarn) and that it could be made of old t-shirts and crocheted into rugs. I knew I could make a rug because I had before so I discovered I had the confidence to find out more and let YouTube help me figure it out. After that second rug, I knew I was in over my head and needed live and in-person help.

So I searched the library website and discovered a group that would help me and met practically right around the corner from my house. I went to the first meeting even though I was scared and nervous. The ladies there were very welcoming and helped me figure out where I had gone wrong and how much I had to take out and redo (most of it). A couple of meetings later they announced they were going to make hats for charity. Not wanting to be left out I agreed to try and they agreed to help me by teaching me to read patterns. The rest as they say, is history because I discovered a new pattern or two online and began making hats. I’ve made a few scarves and even a triangle shawl, but I discovered I really like making the hats the best and from now on that is most likely all I will make.

What have you discovered you can do by trying something new?

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Discover
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Five Minute Friday, Learning, NaNoWriMo | 2 Comments on Discover (Five Minute Friday)
October 16 2017

Invite (Five Minute Friday)

The word this week is invite. So I would like to invite you, if you are reading this post, to take a minute to go back and read another post or two from my blog.

I would also like to invite you to write with me during the month of November when I am doing a new novel for NaNoWriMo.org. I would especially like to invite everyone to help hold me accountable to get my 1,667 words written each day and to strive to write even more so I can actually get to the finish of a new novel.

I would also invite you to check in with me about finishing up the office clean out. There isn’t a lot left to do except to deal with the stacks of paper that I never seem to have room for in the files and never know what to do with.

So, if any of you would like to accept this invitation to be writing accountability buddies, I would love it if you’d email me.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Invite
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Five Minute Friday, Goals, NaNoWriMo, Organizing, Writing | 2 Comments on Invite (Five Minute Friday)
October 7 2017

Story (Five Minute Friday)

Who doesn’t love a good story? I know I do. I love to hear them and read them and I try really hard to write them. That is the reason I am spending the month of October writing prompts for 5 minutes each day. (To get in the habit of writing more regularly) I am also spending some time each day trying to absorb all I can about the craft of writing and the structure of stories.

I have a little over three weeks to get my story planning act together and come up with a really good outline so this year I can and will not only win NaNoWriMo but finish the book. You see while I have won the challenge for the last 4 Novembers in a row, I have never finished any of those stories, YET. I am still learning and practicing the craft of fiction writing and each year I feel like I get a little closer to being able to write a novel worthy of publishing.

I have made a tough decision this year to set aside the Crafty Ladies series of books that I have worked on for the past 3 years and see what I can do with a shiny new idea for a stand-alone novel. All new characters, new setting, new plot…I don’t have the details worked out yet, but I am working on it and I will get there. It is kind of a relief to just have to plan and write one novel this time.

So, if any of you have a great system for plotting a novel or a great book on the craft of fiction novel writing, I would love it if you’d share it in the comments below (or you can email me if you prefer to keep your advice private from the rest of the world who might someday stumble upon my little corner of the blogging world and read it).

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Story
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Five Minute Friday, NaNoWriMo, Writing | 2 Comments on Story (Five Minute Friday)