National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

This is what I'm up to -- writing 50,000 unedited words during the month of November. My count currently stands at 3972 which means I have a long way to go and I'm behind. The daily goal is 1667 which means that by the end of today, I should have 6668 words finished. I'm shooting for 7000.

Want to join in the fun? Get encouragement from the Kindred Heart Writers (my online writing group.

Then sign up at the National Novel Writing Month website.

NaNoWriMo Pep Talk

With only four more days to go before the exuberant madness begins, I want to share wise advice from instigator Chris Baty, author of No Plot? No Problem!

"It may be counterintuitive, but when it comes to novel writing, more preparation does not necessarily produce a better book. In fact, too much preparation has a way of stopping novel writing altogether. As reassuring as it is to embark on your writing journey with a mule-team's worth of character traits, backstories, plot twists, metaphors, and motifs, it's also a 100 percent viable strategy to walk into the wilds of your novel with nothing but a bottle of water and a change of underwear" (p. 82).

"As you plan your novel this week, remember, above all else, that your novel is not a self-improvement campaign. Your novel is a spastic, jubilant hoe-down set to your favorite music, a thirty-day visit to a candy store where everything is free and nothing is fattening. When thinking about possible inclusions for your novel, always grab the guilty pleasures over the bran flakes. Write your joy, and good things will follow" (p. 88).

I've got little packets of Skittles and rolls of Smarties hidden away in my closet. A too-broad outline in my tablet. And writing buddies to keep me motivated (just a little friendly competition).

If you're joining in the fun, feel free to look me up on the National Novel Writing Month website. My username is jdazzlin.

NaNoWriMo Prep

Just a week left to get ready for National Novel Writing Month. I'm so thrilled that all my Kindred Heart Writer friends are participating this year. Karen, Laura, and I will be working on fiction projects, but Clella and Jeanie are NaNo rebels. They're concentrating on nonfiction. We'll be updating our progress each Monday throughout November at our KHW website.

Sticky Wicket Plot Knots

Problem: My female protagonist and her husband live in the United States, but the climactic action occurs in England. For several weeks, I struggled with this sticky-wicket plot knot by asking myself the following question:

Why does hubby need to go to England and what could possibly motivate my female protagonist to leave her young child behind to accompany him?

Because I was under a looming deadline, I finished the story. But I realized the plot knot hadn't disappeared. The scene, as written in the draft, provided enough reason for her husband to go to England, but not enough motivation for her to go with him. No mom in her situation would have gone overseas without her child.

Occupied now with revising/rewriting, I continued to struggle with this plot knot as the deadline ticked closer and closer. I imagined different scenarios, varying "what-ifs?" For a time, I even considered rewriting the novel so that the female protagonist was still pregnant when she goes to England. But that solution only created other problems.

Then it hit me. I couldn't come up with an answer because I was asking the wrong question.

Because the question focused on the wrong character.

I changed the question:

Why does the female protagonist need to go to England?

And voila! the plot knot untied and became woven threads.

The distinction between the questions may seem subtle. Yet focusing the question on my main character instead of her husband (a supporting character) made all the difference to the resolution of my story.

The Novice Novelist lesson: when confronted with a sticky wicket plot knot that refuses to come untied, be sure the question focuses on the protagonist. That may be all that's needed to unknot your sticky wicket.

[Thanks to Nick Jungels, photographer, for allowing me to use his photo.]

Toddler in Disguise

A toddler in the guise of a floppy-eared, curly-furred Cocker Spaniel resides in our home. Despite her graying muzzle and a deteriorating heart condition, she often reminds me of my kids when they were two.

She's putting in her contacts, I can almost hear her thinking about me. I can get in the trash.

Or -- She's on the phone -- now's my chance to get in the trash.

Or -- She's taking care of laundry -- think I'll see what's in the trash.

How often when I'm preoccupied do I hear the tell-tale sound of the tinkling glass of the jars next to the trash can, the technologically-unadvanced alarm system that lets me know my furry toddler has opened the cabinet and stepped inside.

"Chaney," I shout in vain from wherever I am. It does no good. I have to go to the kitchen, clap my hands, and look into her "I'm sorry" eyes. Sorry she got caught!

I scratch her behind the ears and all is forgiven.

Until the next time I'm putting in my contacts, answering the phone, or tossing damp clothes into the dryer.

Novel Journey Contest

Need another reason to participate in NaNoWriMo this year? This just might be it!

Novel Journey is holding mini-contests each month in 2010. The only criteria for entering is to be an unpublished novelist with a completed novel. If you write your [admitted rough] draft in November for NaNoWriMo, you'll have time to polish and shine it before the contest deadlines.

For contest details, head on over to:

http://noveljourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/announcing-new-writing-contest.html.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Do you deam of writing the Great American novel? Is a book bursting to get out of your heart and onto your computer? Here's your chance!

National Novel Writing Month begins at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, November 1st and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. on Monday, November 30th. In the thirty days in between, participants write 50,000 unedited words of a new novel project.

I've participated, and successfully completed, the NaNoWriMo challenge three times. My 2003 project may someday be a loose collection of short stories tied together by a strong sense of heritage and home. My 2005 project remains a work-in-progress.

My 2008 project may, fingers crossed, become my debut novel. All but the first twenty or so pages were scrapped, but the beginning provided a springboard for the manuscript I recently sent to a publisher.

If you'd like to join me in this free-wheeling, editor-free, imagination-outburst adventure, just hop on over to http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for more info and to sign up.

For the remaining days of October, I'll be researching an idea for the 2009 NaNoWriMo challenge and skimming through Chris Baty's little classic, No Plot? No Problem! Inside this gem are all the helpful hints for getting ready and surviving NaNoWriMo.