Tag: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 2019 ~ two week update ~

~ britneyshae ~ Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to Day 16 of NaNoWriMo! Hopefully it’s been another happy week for all my fellow NaNoWriMo-ers out there!

I think I told you all last week that I live for NaNoWriMo. It feels like it’s made for me. I am a fast drafter (and if that makes you jealous, just keep in mind that it means I’m a slow reviser because, whew, my first drafts are nightmares!) so getting 2,000 – 5,000 words a day isn’t too difficult for me (I averaged a little over 3000 words per day this NaNoWriMo).

You might have noticed what I did right there – averaged, past-tense.

That’s because, dear readers, I reached 50,000 yesterday! Woo hoo!! Not only that, but (despite my pantser ways), I was able to draft this “just for fun” MS in a way that it wrapped up clearly at the 50,000 word count. So I also finished my NaNo project!

As a reminder, in case you missed last week’s post, I wrote a totally for fun Christmas story with equal parts romance and gothic murder mystery. And a bonus love triangle.

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I thought about updating my aesthetic to match Act 3, which was ALL DARK, ALL GOTHIC, but I’m lazy, so here’s the same Christmas-y aesthetic from last week!

Okay, let’s get to the recap.

NaNoWriMo 2019 – Week Two

As I just said above, Act 3 got a bit dark. I went way off the notes I’d written during “Preptober.” Oh well, this MS will never see the light of day so it’s fine!

Here’s a day-by-day breakdown:

Saturday, November 9
Words Written: 5,045
Total Count: 29,107

I really killed it Saturday. I was trying to get to 30,000, because I felt like if I was in the 30,000 word count come Monday, I could definitely wrap this NaNoWriMo project up by Friday, which was my goal all along. If you’ll recall from last week, I was STOKED for a new project. But more on that in a bit.

To get this pretty hefty word count, I wrote 2,000 words in the morning and then sat down to do a few more words in the afternoon and got on a roll. Like I said, I wanted to push for 30,000, but whew, I was exhausted after that.

Sunday, November 10
Words Written: 4,247
Total Count: 33,354

I had brunch with a friend on this day, so I did 1,000 words before brunch and then 1,000 after. And then, you guessed it, I kept plugging along into the afternoon. I think my main motivation at this point was wanting to finish on Friday so I would write enough that the NaNoWriMo stats page reflected that I’d finish on November 15.

Monday, November 11
Words Written: 3,064
Total Count: 36,418

Alright. Monday. If I’m recalling correctly, I wrote my 1,000 in the morning, my second 1,000 on my lunch break, as was my NaNoWriMo plan (which I stuck very much with, thank you very much). I was able to get about an additional 500 words written during my lunch break, so when I got home that evening, I sat my butt down and forced another 500 words for the 3,000 total. I also wrapped up Act 2 and moved into my very odd and dark Act 3.

Also it snowed on Monday which is what I get for writing a Christmas story. *eye roll*

Tuesday, November 12
Words Written: 3,582
Total Count: 40,000

Okay, y’all. I did not set out on Tuesday to write 3,500 words or to reach 40,000 words. On this particular day, I got to work early to write my morning 1,000, went to update my word count on NaNo’s site… and discovered that SOMETHING WONKY happened with the site and it said I had 38,000 words, which was NOT the case. And at this time, I could not go back in and change my word count by day (they changed it later in the week, but ugh, it’s so complicated and took me FOREVER to do). Since I didn’t want negative words, I had to write greater than 38,000 words. So I pushed myself to get to 40,000. And then the site only reflected that I’d written, like, a little over 1,000 words. It was a sad day. But, hey, I ended up writing more than I might have originally written!

Wednesday, November 13
Words Written: 3,020
Total Count: 43,020

So by this point in the game, I knew I was going to have to continue to write 3,000 words+ if I wanted to reach 50,000 by Friday. So I wrote 2,000 in the morning and another 1,000 on my lunch break.

Thursday, November 14
Words Written: 4,066
Total Count: 47,086

Ah. Thursday. Oh, Thursday. So by this point I knew that in order to hit 50,000 words on Friday I would need to have a 3,000 word day and a 4,000 word day. So I again wrote 2,000 words in the morning and then another 1,000 on my lunch break… knowing I’d have to write another 1,000 at some point.

And then… well, let’s back up a bit. As you recall from my mention above, the reason I wanted to get to 50,000 so badly on Friday was so I could start focusing on the new project I’d come up with last week. Here’s the problem with the idea I’d had last week: I couldn’t figure out how to pitch it in a way that made it… um… worth anyone’s time. I had these vague emotions I wanted to explore, and essentially I was pitching it (to my boyfriend and my friend) as “a story about a girl dealing with change.” WOW. SO SPECIFIC. Okay, it also had a wakeboarding element and a punny team name and fresh water turtles. But that’s about all I had.

So here I am, rushing through NaNoWriMo so I can start working on this project but every time I took to my notebook to write down pitch ideas… it fell flat.

Then Thursday came. And while listening to a podcast, I suddenly got this idea for a rom com. Well, I don’t write rom com, so I tried to take the flicker of rom com idea and translate it to YA contemporary, aka what I do write.

The idea that followed is nothing like the original rom com spark, but… wow. I like it. A lot. And I’m VERY excited to work on it, way more excited than I was for my other idea!

Aka I needed to get through NaNoWriMo. So when I got home Thursday evening, I wrote another 1,000 words. The finish line was in sight!

Friday, November 15
Words Written: 2,358
Total Count: 50,444

Woo hoo! 50,000 words! My biggest challenge here was figuring out if I wanted to hit the 50,000 word mark at work or wait and do it at home. I wrote 2,000 words in the morning, wrote a few on my lunch break, and then, you know, because it was Friday, I ended up pulling it up at 3:30 and got to 50,000 at 4:00 p.m. *Kool-aid man OH YEAH*

I also typed “THE END” on this very strange gothic Christmas tale of romance and woe!

And that wraps up my 2019 NaNoWriMo experience! Which… is kind of a bummer. To be honest, my ACTUAL plan was to take it slow and easy, write 2,000 words a day, and finish around November 25, aka right before Thanksgiving. But, alas, I got carried away.

Going into next week, I’ll start outlining my new idea (yes, yes, I am a pantser, but it does save me time to have *~*some idea*~* of where I’m going – but I rarely, if ever, follow the outline). Although, to be completely honest, I outlined this NaNo idea (following the briefest, simplest of the 3-Act Structure) and I stuck to the outline until Act 3! (Then things went totally off the handle.)

I hope everyone is having a fun NaNoWriMo regardless of word count. I think sometimes we get caught up on whether we’re behind or not proceeding the way we hoped that we forget to have fun! Which is partially why I’m glad I wrote such a silly for fun MS this NaNo.

Good luck everyone!

NaNoWriMo 2019 ~ one week update ~

~ britneyshae ~ Leave a comment

Hello! Today is Saturday, November 9, 2019 which means we are officially on DAY 9 of NaNoWriMo! How is it going for everyone? Good? Great? Horribly? Meh? (If I, personally, had to describe NaNoWriMo 2019 in one word, it might be “meh.”)

When I woke up this morning to get my words in, I felt very much like procrastinating, which led me here to write down my first week recap (Friday, Nov. 1 – Friday, Nov. 8).

First, let’s do a quick background check.

NaNoWriMo 2019 – BACKSTORY

First things first, this is my – *gasp* – 11th year doing NaNo. Technically, it’s my 12th because in 2013 I logged my word count as I worked on approximately three projects at once but I didn’t quite make it to 50,000 words (your girl got to 47,000 and then called it quits). My first year participating in NaNoWriMo was 2006 when I was a senior in high school (oops, I just aged myself, didn’t I?) and I wrote my second full-length novel, a historical fiction YA set during World War II and let’s just say it was pretty horrible.

Regardless, for the next four years (aka all throughout college) I lived for NaNoWriMo. I am a fast drafter. Drafting is my favorite part of the writing experience. So NaNoWriMo feels like it was made for me. I raced against myself and my buddies year after year after year.

Then I went to law school and let’s just say it became pretty obvious pretty fast that I was going to have to choose either NaNo or passing my classes and I suppose I made the smart choice and chose passing my classes. Which meant I had to take a NaNo hiatus.

In 2014 I was back and ready to rock… except that project ended up being a disaster. But, I managed to log 50,000 words, even though most of those words were on the manuscript that eventually got me my agent, not my actual NaNo project. In 2015 – 2017 I wrote a variety of projects purely for fun.

2018 was a different NaNo year because it was my first NaNo as an agented writer. Which added some pressures. And also I decided 2018 should be the year I beat my personal NaNo record of 50,000 words in 11 days and somehow wrote 50,000 words with a full time job in, wait for it, 8 days.

EIGHT DAYS. Look, I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone. (1) I legit had bruises on my wrists from where my hands hit against my laptop keyboard; (2) my back hurt; and (3) I was so sick of that manuscript that every time I tried to revise it I wanted to throw my computer across the room. To this day, it’s still not revised.

Which now brings us up to date. NaNoWriMo 2019.

NaNoWriMo 2019 – “Preptober”

I am a pantser, so I don’t do an official “preptober” other than figuring out my goals for NaNo and figuring out which project I want to work on.

The difference between this year and years past is I wrote a second book over the summer and finished up revisions in the fall. In fact, I turned my revisions into my agent the day before NaNoWriMo.

Which is to say a few things (can you tell I like lists?): (1) I was feeling a bit burnt out going into NaNo 19; (2) I hadn’t brainstormed or worked out what my new project would be following my most recent project; and (3) I didn’t want to invest myself in NaNo too much in case I had to do more revisions during November.

So, after much back and forth, I decided that my NaNoWriMo 2019 project would be something purely for fun, not for any other reason. Which has been a relief because when I start writing a bunch of nonsense for the sole purpose of getting my word count for the day, I don’t feel guilty about it or cringe and think Oh, this is going to be a pain to revise. Nope, I have the freedom to write complete and utter garbage because it’s just for fun!

The other thing I promised was to NOT race. Reminder, I wrote 50,000 words in 8 days last year. Meaning last year at this time, I had completed my NaNoWriMo duties. This year, my goal was to take my time. I still wanted to complete NaNo prior to Thanksgiving, so my official goal is 2,000 words a day, which, because I am a fast drafter, is totally manageable.

So what is my project, you ask?

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Um, well, it’s kind of embarrassing. When I was a kid, I had this character who I considered to be my male alter ego named Robin, and every Christmas I would write little Christmas stories about Robin and his family. Around mid-October or so, I got this idea for a story that would totally work in my “Robin universe” for a Christmas story.

And that, my friends, is how MISFITS & MISTLETOE was born.

Here is my poorly written, not super original pitch/summary:

When a bored college student is mistaken as the heir to a fortune, he decides to cash in. What he doesn’t expect to find is a family he desperately wants to be a part of. If he doesn’t come to terms with his own complicated family history, he might lose out on the thing he wants most: unconditional love. THE SCAPEGOAT x THE DEATH OF MRS WESTERLY

All I’ll really say is it’s turned into a bit of a murder mystery, has some gothic Daphne DuMaurier elements, and has this romance that has been a blast to write.

NaNoWriMo 2019 – Week One

Let’s start with some statistics.

As of November 8, 2019, my word count was 24,062. I am ahead of schedule, both NaNo’s schedule and my personal goal of 2,000 words a day. I will admit that I wanted to reach 25,000 by the end of Friday but I didn’t quite make it. I am averaging about 3,000 words a day but mostly thanks to a high word count on Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Otherwise, I’m mostly writing 2,000 words a day.

Here’s a day-by-day breakdown:

Friday, November 1
Words Written: 2,238
Total Count: 2,238

I had to write most of these words at work because my boyfriend and I traveled to Michigan for a family obligation. On a typical day, I’m able to write 1,000 in the morning while I drink my tea and another 1,000 at lunch. I could technically get 2,000 done at lunch but I usually need a Twitter break.

Saturday, November 2
Words Written: 2,078
Total Count: 4,316

Saturday was full of family time in Michigan with my boyfriend’s family. Both of his brothers were in town. I managed 1,000 words when I first woke up in the morning and then we had some downtime before lunch so I wrote another 1,000.

Sunday, November 3
Words Written: 5,979
Total Count: 10,295

I was pretty excited to reach 10,000 on Day 3. That felt like a huge accomplishment to me even though I’d vowed not to rush. I think I was essentially getting ready to wrap up Act 1 at this time. Part of the reason I was able to get such a high word count was because my boyfriend had a meeting at school so I chilled and wrote while I waited for him, which gave me about an hour and a half of uninterrupted time. As a bonus, I couldn’t log onto the internet which kept my distractions limited. Because I was on such a roll, I got home that afternoon and kept writing.

Monday, November 4
Words Written: 2,005
Total Count: 12,300

On this particular day I went back to my weekday plan of writing 1,000 in the morning and another 1,000 at lunch and then… happy that I’d reached my goal, I didn’t write again in the evening.

Tuesday, November 5
Words Written: 3,874
Total Count: 16,174

I’m actually surprised this was such a productive day for me. In the morning I was on such a roll that instead of writing 1,000 I wrote 2,000. Then I wrote another 1,000 at lunch. I’m surprised I was able to get close to another 1,000 that evening because I went to a happy hour, squeaked out my near 1,000 words, and then watched The Little Mermaid Live (which I didn’t hate if I’m being honest – but what can I say, I love that movie!).

Wednesday, November 6
Words Written: 3, 832
Total Count: 20,006

Let’s be real here, I just wanted to get to 20,000 words. Again, 1,000 words in the morning, 1,000 at lunch, and then I was able to get nearly 2,000 additional words before I left work for the evening (staying late). But, something happened that hurt my productivity.

I got a new idea for what I think will be my next manuscript. You know, the one that I’ll share with my agent and the one that I hope will someday go on submission to editors. That sort of idea.

But more on that in a bit.

Thursday, November 7
Words Written: 2,037
Total Count: 22,043

Okay. Now that I had this new idea swirling around in my mind, working on my silly Christmas NaNoWriMo project was not nearly as enticing as, say, working on figuring out the nooks and crannies of this new, exciting project. Still, I forced myself to stick to the plan: 1,000 in the morning, 1,000 at lunch.

Also, my boyfriend’s car had to go into the shop and, um, my car has been in the shop (because I scratched the whole backseat passenger side door), which meant we were down to one car between us, a rental car only I’m allowed to drive. So I had to pick my boyfriend up from the auto shop, take him to school, drive home, stream Nancy Drew on the CW (of course), and then go pick boyfriend up again.

So obviously I was too distracted by life and by this exciting new novel idea to work on NaNo. But hey, 2,000 words is 2,000 words so it’s FINE.

Friday, November 8
Words Written: 2,019
Total Count: 24,062

Alrighty. Friday was tough because I had to take my boyfriend to school in the morning (his car was still in the shop and mine is stuck in the shop until TUESDAY) but I still got my 1,000 words in. Then lunch came but oh no, I did NOT want to work on NaNo because by this point I had a whole playlist for my new novel idea and I was much more into brainstorming character names for said new novel.

My friend pointed out I could definitely just stop working on this “just for fun” NaNo project and start working on said new exciting project, but I’m also not quite ready to dive into a “serious” project. As a reminder, I just turned revisions into my agent on another project on Halloween and we still have to do line edits (and that’s assuming we don’t have any more actual revisions to do) to get that one in shape. So in the meantime, I’m still plugging away on NaNo project for fun.

Anyway, got another 1,000 words done at lunch with every intention of revisiting to reach 25,000 words. Instead of revisiting it after work, I left work early to pick my boyfriend up, took him to pick his car up, went to the grocery store, and then we may have done some wine tasting at Whole Foods (we fancy).

And let’s just say I bow down to anyone who can drink wine and be productive because when I drink wine my productivity goes OUT THE WINDOW. So no, I did not touch NaNo again.

But hey, it’s a new day, a new week. (*ahem* I may only have the minimum 2,000 words done for the day. But it’s OKAY.)

That, my friends, wraps up my weekly NaNoWriMo check-in. We’ll see if I have an update for you next week. Obviously I’d love to write another 25,000 words and reach the 50,000 goal so I can start focusing more on this new project that I’m 100 times more excited about, but we’ll see. If I had to guess, I think this week will see lower word counts, which is fine.

However, I am at the midpoint and this midpoint is pretty exciting, so that might get me going. I still want to write another 1,000 – 2,000 words today but I’m also reading HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS by Erin A. Craig and it’s SO GOOD. So what I’m saying is there’s a good chance I’ll spend the rest of the day reading instead of writing.

WHICH IS FINE.

I hope you all enjoyed my weekly check in! How is NaNoWriMo going for you?

Also, if you’d like to be buddies or see more about my project, my NaNo username is endless-story! I am always looking for new friends. 🙂

(Bonus: when I made my NaNoWriMo account back in 2006, I was obsessed with the manga/anime/live action film “Nana,” including the song “Endless Story” by Yuna Ito for the movie. Hence my user name!)

05.18.17 – Writing when your life is incredibly busy

~ britneyshae ~ Leave a comment

I’m currently in the middle of moving and exactly a week today I begin my travels for my much-awaited Disney Baltic Sea Cruise.  Boxing up all my stuff, moving it into my new apartment, and prepping for Europe in two weeks?  Plus working a full time job that’s fairly demanding?  However am I supposed to write?

Before I list out some ideas on how to sneak in a few words despite a busy schedule, I do have to admit that sometimes I do “writing activities” that aren’t actually writing but make me feel like I’m being productive.  I’ll touch base with fellow writers on Scribophile and do some critiques of other writer’s works there.  I’ll hash out some ideas with friends while we’re hanging out or via email.  And I’ll complain about writing to my boyfriend even though I’m not actually writing (that’s productive, right?).  Even 15 minutes of critiquing someone else’s work on Scribophile helps me earn points (or “karma” as it’s called on Scribophile) which allows me to later post my work for critiquing.  So ultimately it’s still about my work.

Anyway, without further ado, here are a few of my personal tips for getting some words written despite a crazily busy schedule.

(1) Utilize that lunch break.  Get an hour for lunch?  That’s an hour you can be writing.  Or even thirty minutes you can be writing.  Or, heck, fifteen minutes.  Whatever you can squeeze in.  I pack my lunch every day and once the noon bell rings I eat at my desk and pull up my manuscript.  My productivity level varies, but I will tell you that I was averaging 1000 – 3000 words on my lunch break during NaNoWriMo.  Not too shabby.  Bonus points?  Your boss might assume you’re working.

(2.) Skip the TV watching.  I know, I know, it’s great to just get home from a long day at work and mindlessly watch some TV.  My guilty pleasure is The Bachelor (not afraid to admit it).  But the Bachelor is only on Monday nights (starting next week yay!) so what’s my excuse for the rest of the nights?  Instead of watching an hour of mindless TV, limit yourself.  Don’t Netflix binge.  Watch one episode or even a half of an episode.  Or write during commercial breaks.

(3.) The Self-Control App.  Have you ever found yourself without wifi connectivity on your laptop and discovered that you’re actually way more productive without the interwebs at your fingertips?  The Self-Control App works the same way, while allowing you to use Spotify or Pandora, which are websites I use for some inspiring music while writing.  I had a roommate during law school who used this app when she was studying for tests or finals, and I used it daily while studying for the Bar Exam.  It’s helpful not only in that it blocks out your distractions (which you can set yourself to create the ultimate distraction-free setup) but also, for me, acts as a timer and lets me know when I can take a break.  For example, during my study sessions for the Bar Exam, I set the Self-Control App at 2 hours.  I would study nonstop for those 2 hours and as soon as the time was up and my web applications were unlocked, I took a fifteen minute break to check my email and browse through social media and what have you.  It works that way for writing, too—only got an hour to write?  Set that Self-Control app up for an hour to keep yourself on schedule.

(4.) Leave your house.  Guys, I cannot tell you how many times leaving my house has increased my productivity levels.  When I’m home, all of a sudden I’m looking for any excuse to do anything other than write.  Oh, does the whole house need to be clean?  I’ll start cleaning.  Oh, there’s the TV glaring at me.  I’ll just watch one show.  Just one.  Etc. etc. etc.  When I’m home, there are distractions all around me.  Family members, boyfriends, roommates, etc. etc. etc.  I know this list is full of tips on how to write when you’re insanely busy and it’s hard to find time to leave the house, but if you have an hour free, it’s an easy way to practically ensure you won’t spend that hour watching TV or cleaning out the fridge (that can always be done later, trust me).  Plus, if I’ve gone to Starbucks, or Panera, or Barnes & Noble’s café (my personal favorite but their internet is always sluggish), that means I’ve spent some money on some drink.  I don’t want to feel like I’ve not only wasted my time but also wasted money.  So it’s an extra incentive to get to work.

(5.) Reward yourself.  I don’t actually do this, but I’ve heard it said time and time again that if you know you’ll get a reward, you’re more than likely to want to earn that reward.  Set up a reward system.  Maybe you treat yourself to a writing session at Starbucks after you’ve written a certain amount of words where you’ll get that venti iced chai tea latte with soy (my go-to).  Making goals and rewarding yourself isn’t just about the rewards—it’s also about the goals.  Just setting up a list of goals in and of itself helps you see your project big-picture and see where you need to go.  Write it out.  Then you can see how far you have to go but also see your progress.  And progress is rewarding in itself, am I right?

And there you have it.  My tips to being productive and getting some writing done even when you’re insanely busy.  I will make a confession though: other than the writing on my lunch break thing, I haven’t been utilizing any of these tips.  But making this list helped remind me that it’s important to be productive, and while it’s hard to start now with a vacation looming over my head, I can’t wait to get a fresh start in June!

Happy writing!

04.08.17 – Camp NaNo

~ britneyshae ~ Leave a comment

I signed up to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo for the first time this year, setting a very reachable goal of 10,000 words for what was my 2015 NaNo novel, On the Inside Looking In (OTILI).  I’m probably 80% through the first draft, but I’ve been “stuck” for a while, only writing a few pages intermittently.  OTILI is a project I have a lot of excitement about, though – it’s sort of a YA thriller about returning to the small-town the main character spent her childhood in, only to realize the town has a weird hierarchical order, which apparently was strengthened after the murder of her mother’s classmate.  Here’s a draft of a query-like synopsis I jotted down on my iPhone during a hockey game:

Brie Thompson’s mother has disappeared. This isn’t unusual – Carrie Thompson has disappeared and reappeared throughout Brie’s life, leaving her in the care of her step-father. This time is different though: Brie’s maternal grandparents have fought for her custody, and Brie let them win.

Now Brie has been plucked out of her senior year of high school and brought to Bonnyville, Illinois, her childhood home and the small town her mother grew up in. Brie is thrilled to leave her life behind and return to Bonnyville, finally living the life she always wanted to live. She instantly connects with her childhood best friend, Bethany Lewis, the daughter of her mother’s own childhood best friend, Bridgett. Life with Bethany seems perfect…until things start to seem a little too perfect. Weirdly perfect.

It’s minor at first: the town’s weird obsession with order, Bethany’s assurance that Brie must be a cheerleader and follow every high school stereotype, and the utter distaste displayed toward Brie by the honor students in Brie’s AP classes. According to these honor students, Brie is “one of them.” One of the “chosen ones.”

As Brie urges to befriend these classmates, and especially the cute, melancholy Sawyer Hartman, the town’s inner-workings begin to unravel, and at the heart is the unsolved murder of Sawyer’s older sister… a murder Brie’s mother allegedly witnessed 18 years ago, only to later claim she never saw anything at all.

ON THE INSIDE LOOKING IN is the story of a small-town whose residents never leave, trapping everyone in with order and secrets.

I’m so excited by the premise!  (Is it normal for a writer to get excited by her own novel’s premise?)  Now… if only I could get the ending wrapped up in a nice, tidy manner. It’s going to be a lot to edit, too.

Guess it’s time to get to work!