NaNo Advice

For the last four days, I've been spending as much time as possible with a faraway friend who was in the area for a girls collegiate volleyball national tournament. We watched the games, browsed an antique store, strolled along the lakefront, and caught up with each other's lives. I wouldn't trade our time together for anything. But now she's back in Missouri and I've got to get back to NaNo-land.

Quick advice from No Plot? No Problem! for this week:

• Get caught up! Make it your goal to have at least 30,000 words by the end of this week.
• "Pick out a character . . . and do something big and reckless with them. . . . in figuring out how to fix the mess you've just made of your story, you'll give your imagination the kind of fertile improvisational environment it needs to thrive."
• "Spend pages describing the perfume your love interest wears, and why it's exactly the wrong thing for her." [In other words, keep writing!]

The Five-Word Game

My pal Karen gave me five words to use in a post: Zone, Ring, Dust, Pineapple, Elephant. Hmm!

As I'm writing this, three-year-old Jeremy is "in the zone" decorating his mommy's couch with poinsettia garlands. These aren't the typical red or white poinsettias, but lovely bronze, cream, golden, and rust petals that shimmer and shine. We first used these garlands and bouquets to decorate the reception hall at Jill's wedding. Jill is Jeremy's aunt.

While I'm writing, Jeremy's mom is getting ready for a Financial Peace University class that's held in her home every Sunday night. We all pitched in to straighten up with the clean-up to-do list. I vacuumed and picked up toys. Bethany has a dust cloth in her hand right now. Husband Justin is corraling Jeremy and little brother Jedidiah. They'll be going off on an adventure of their own while the class is going on. Perhaps they'll see a pineapple-eating elephant at a three-ring circus. Though I doubt it.

Less than fifteen minutes before the FPU class starts. And time for me to close up my laptop.

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.