NaNoReWrimo For Me This Year

No NaNoWrimo for me this year despite having "won" for the past 3 years. I'm in the middle of the second draft of my novel Spirit Quest.

However, I don't want to let the energy of NaNoWrimo slip away, so instead of writing 1,700 words a day, I'll be rewriting my novel. NaNoReWrimo.

I'm really pleased with the first 100 pages of my 105,000 word novel, about 22,000 words. So that leaves me with roughly 83,000 to tackle over the 30 days, 2,800 words a day.

Some nuggest of wisdom from Joe R. Lansdale

A series of thoughts on writing by Joe R. Lansdale
For the entire article, click here: www.joerlansdale.com/writing.shtml

 Here are my humble notes:

- the next day I start all over by rereading what I wrote the day before.
- Three to five pages is what I work for, but I don't fight it if I get more. I rarely get less. I can't remember when I got less, but it happens
- read a little before I write. It can be fifteen minutes or an hour.
- Reading is the fuel, and you have to fill up the tank constantly.
- These suggestions work for me and have worked for many others and might work for you. And they might not. But to find your method you have to experiment.
- I also think that writing books haven't done much for me. Two have helped, and only for certain things. The first helped because it had the idea of writing only one page a day. That became three to five for me.
- Do I write for money? Yes and no. I write because I love to write, but I write with the plan to get paid. I pay bills by writing.
- You should write to be paid and start in the best market possible. Have faith in yourself. If it doesn't place where you like, go down the list.
- Seeing something in print you're proud of spurs more creativity and more checks. You need both in this life. Starving and being paid poorly does not make you an artist.
- For me writing is a passion, not an obsession. One is good and fun, the other feels a little like you're stalking yourself. I have to have things in my life other than writing to love the writing. I think if all I had was writing it would consume me. Not the life I want.

Striking the Right Balance

I originally thought of titling this blog post as "Finding the Right Balance", but chose not to because finding assumes you know what you did to get there. Whereas striking to me seemed more like a metaphor for playing music and knowing when you've hit the right note.

Like most of you, I struggle with balance. The demands on our time can be overwhelming; if it's not your job, your spouse, your kids, home ownership, or just the desire to flake out in front of the TV and watch an episode of Supernatural because you feel like it. And there are those days when you feel like you've struck the right balance, done just enough of everything to make everyone happy, including yourself!

And there are those other days where you can't get to everything and can't make everyone happy, including yourself. You can't linger on those days. Reset yourself and focus on the next day perhaps starting with the items or people you couldn't get to.

With my writing projects, I feel the same way. I can spend a narrow window of time writing and really feel accomplished whereas another time I can spend hours struggling and end up giving up, questioning if I have what it takes to be a writer. Keep both of those kind of days in mind. Savour the good ones and work your way out of the tough ones.

Just keep writing, keep those fingers moving on the keyboard and you'll find your way.

A Writer's Fragile Confidence

Most writers are in a state of gloom most of the time; they need perpetual reassurance.
- JOHN HALL WHEELOCK

If you're anything like me, you spend a lot of time doubting yourself. You'll have good day and bad days. Some days the Muse will sing and you'll feel great and every word your write seems like gold. Other days (and sometimes usually the next day), you reread your stuff or try writing something new and you feel like it's garbage, amateurish stuff.

And it's okay to feel that way. The above quote reminds us that we do need reassurance. But, does that always need to come from someone else? When do we be confident enough in our writing? Sadly, I don't think I'll ever be that way.

It's taken years for me to take criticism and listen. Confidence is something completely different. There's always that lingering doubt in my mind about my writing. There's that impish little devil on my shoulder stabbing with his pitch fork telling me I'm not meant to be a writer. I don't have to listen to him, but I do hear that voice, that doubt.

Non-writers have no idea the angst writers go through when they put their work out there. I've sent off the first forty pages of my novel to a circle of friends and I'm terrified of what they'll think. What if they think the last 3 months of work is crap? What if they tell me that I should quit the writing thing?

The one thing I can say for certain is that writing is in my blood. It's something I can't escape, something I can't not do. I enjoy doing it as well as struggle with doing it, but I can't see myself not doing it. Maybe I'll get some negative feedback, but I'll roll with it. Their opinion is not going to change what I want to do. It might be an indicator of my progress as a writer and might highlight what I need to fix. I won't give up. I might not have a hell of a lot of confidence, but I'm damn persistent!

The only thing I can do is keep writing...

2014 Writing Goals

Looking back at my 2013 goals, 2013 was still a pathetic year for reading. And that will be second biggest goal of the year.My primary goal this year will be to clean up my first draft of SPIRIT QUEST.

By the end of February – prepare my submission package for Spirit Quest
[   ] Revise synopsis
[   ] Polish first 10,000 words

Longer term goals for 2014
[   ] Complete the Second Draft of Spirit Quest
[   ] Read 2 books/month

Continue Blogging
[   ] Writing blog (twice a week)
[   ] Marvel 1980s blog/tumblr
[   ] DC 1980s blog

Continue to pursue writing grants
[   ] Ontario Arts Council - WRITERS' WORKS IN PROGRESS (February 18, 2014)
[   ] Toronto Arts Council (June 16/2014)
[   ] Canada Arts Council (October 2014)

Carving out time to write

I'm a father to two young kids, married, and have a full time job. If you recognize the situation, you probably have a good understanding of how difficult it is to carve out the necessary time to write. I've been able to use the odd lunch hour to get some quality time to write, but the evening after work and after getting the kids down prove to be rather unproductive. I do manage to get some writing in, but it's always seems to be distracted writing time.

I'm hoping to kick off some early morning writing sessions, perhaps getting up an hour earlier in the morning than the kids. Also, for the weekends, I want to establish some dedicate some writing time, that way once that time is used up, I turn my attention to all my other responsibilities. Doing it this way I hope to avoid the guilt of not writing on the weekends and getting flack for spending all my free time writing when I should be helping out around the house!

I'm trying to figure out the best way to get this done and I know it's different for everyone. I've been regularly hitting a 500 word a day target, so with the dedicated time, I'd like to push this a bit hard, perhaps up to 1,000 words. And of course, a simple word target isn't the only part of writing writers need to focus on. There's plotting and characters and research to focus on, as just the tip of the iceberg as there's much more like writing up a synopsis and log lines...

Does anyone have any other advice to share in terms of carving our time to write? How much time do you dedicate in a week to write?

Show Don't Tell - invaluable advice from Chuck Palahniuk

Grabbed from: www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1jltqn/writers_of_reddit_what_are_exceptionally_simple/

You've probably heard the writing advice to "Show Don't Tell." But, that's always easier said that done in your writing. Writer Chuck Palahniuk has a handful of concrete ways to help you show instead of telling.

In six seconds, you’ll hate me. But in six months, you’ll be a better writer.

From this point forward—at least for the next half year—you may not use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use.

The list should also include: Loves and Hates. And it should include: Is and Has, but we’ll get to those later.

Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, you must now describe the thing so that the reader wants it.

In short, no more short-cuts. Only specific sensory detail: action, smell, taste, sound, and feeling.

One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering.

Better yet, get your character with another character, fast. Get them together and get the action started. Let their actions and words show their thoughts. You—stay out of their heads.

Instead of bland “is” and “has” statements, try burying your details of what a character has or is, in actions or gestures. At its most basic, this is showing your story instead of telling it.

Myke Cole on the Craft of Writing and Short Stories

http://mykecole.com/blog/2013/03/why-i-dont-write-short-stories-except-when-i-do

Don’t mis­un­der­stand me. I am NOT bashing short sto­ries. If you like to read short sto­ries, if you like to write short sto­ries, more power to you. I *do* enjoy the very occa­sional short piece. I also *do* write the very occa­sional short piece.

But if what you really want above all else is to be a nov­elist, then for the love of all that’s holy: FORGET short sto­ries. FORGET con­ven­tions. FORGET SFWA. FORGET money. FORGET con­nec­tions and an online pres­ence and proper man­u­script format and all the other bull­shit that gets thrown out there to avoid the bottom line, the ONE thing that you must hold sacred above all else:

Craft.

There is no end run. Want to be a great nov­elist? Write a great novel. It’s as simple as that.

It's so true, especially for an aspiring writer as you can quickly loose yourself in all of the above and that only detracts from your effects to get a novel out. There are sooo many distraction that water down your work and you need to tune your focus to getting that novel written. As I ramp up to set up my latest schedule for my novel, I'm trying to break down everything else I'm doing and trying to find a way to keep it simple.

In fact, I feel that I've even been trapped by trying to force out a synopsis for my story. My number one goal has to be to get 1,000 words on the page a day. Period. Then I can spend time doing everything else.

Okay, off to pound out those 1,000 words!

Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing

1. Never open a book with the weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said.”
5. Keep your exclamation points under control!
6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
7. Use regional dialect, patois,  sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Same for places and things.
10. Leave out the parts readers tend to skip.

His most important rule is one that sums up the 10: "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

* Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle”

World Fantasy Convention 2012 wrap-up

The 2012 World Fantasy Convention was fun, intimidating, thought-provoking, and inspiring. Held within driving distance of Toronto, it was an easy decision to attend. The $225 price tag was expensive, but I can appreciate that the price and the limited number of tickets would keep the geek riff-raft away!

The con took place at the Sheraton Hotel in Markham, ironically the same place that hosted the PolarisCon earlier in the year which left a terrible taste in my mouth. Fortunately, this wonderful event has cleansed my psyche of the negative impression left behind by PolarisCon.

Imagine a gather of introverted writers, all coming out of their caves to meet and talk and network. Yeah, I have a difficult time imagining all that awkwardness. Maybe it’s just me! I’ve had a handful of stories published (for money, yes for money), but I haven’t broken in to any of the more significant or distinguished publications. I’m working on a novel, like everyone else at the con. I’m a professional blogger and comic book journalist/history (accredited by the San Diego Comic Con). I found it difficult to be taken seriously and had a few respected pros glance at my badge and then dart away from me.

Maybe I’m just too much of an introvert or too paranoid, but I got the impression from some professionals that they had no time to talk to anyone outside of their professional clique. And clique makes me think back to those awkward teenage years. Everyone has to start somewhere and I was hoping the “pay-it-forward” mentality would be a bit more prevalent. 

With that said, it wasn’t a complete void of thoughtfulness. There are a few classy professionals who have never made me feel that I was imposing or intruding upon them. And for that I’m thankful and appreciate the efforts they made to include me and to simply call me out by name and talk with me.

Highlights included the launch of Guy Kay's new book, an amazing panel on the Lexicon of Horror, the Chizine party where I talked comics for two hours with a PR rep from 2000AD, my cell phone going off during Peter Straub's reading, autograph session, dinner out with Ian Rogers, great food spread and beer at the hospitality suite, and panels, panels, and more panels.

NaNoWriMo 2012

What the hell is NaNoWriMo? It’s a fun acronym for the National Novel Writing Month. What the hell is National Novel Writing Month? It’s a month-long marathon in which you dedicate yourself to writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Yes, 30 days, one month and at the end you have a novel. Well, probably more accurately, a rough first draft. That’s roughly 1,700 words a day. It might seem like a lot at first, but you’ll get used to writing that much in no time.

How does one accomplish such a goal? Sit down somewhere comfortable and type. Reach 1,700 words. Repeat until you reach 50,000 words.

Signing up for this event is easy. Go to http://nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard and register. Next, tell your family, friends, co-workers that you’re embarking on this perilous journey. This notification swerves two goals: to get their buy in for the amount of time you’ll need to write each day and to use them as motivation (you don’t want to lose face in front of your family or friends, do you? Get back to your seat and finish your 1,700 words.)

Above all though, have fun with NaNoWriMo. Are you always telling someone that you have this great idea for a story or a novel? Now’s the time to put this great idea to the test. Sit down and write about it.

Don’t go back and re-write, don’t worry if it’ll suck (it will suck, it’s a first draft), experiment, go down tangents, explore your idea and have fun.

Another goal of NaNoWriMo in my opinion is to get you into the habit of writing 1,700 words a day. If you want to be a professional writer, you’d better get used to that number on a daily basis.

In 2011, NaNoWriMo had over 250,000 participants, but only 14% crossed that 50,000 word finish line. Can you do it? Can you become a novelist by the end of November? See you at the finish line!

Finding the motivation

It's such a strange thing. I feel compelled to write. I have stories racing around in my head that itch and wiggle and squirm until I put them down on the page. But, why is it so easy to find an excuse not to do that. It's work. Being a writer is fun, but writing is still work, hard work. We have an upcoming renovation where my wife has told me to lower my expectations in terms of my time to write, which is fair, but also give me an excuse. That's an excuse I don't want to use. I still want to strive to get something written each day, even if its nothing, at least it keep the writing muscles limbed.

Thinking about self-publishing, read this...

A great blog post about self-publishing: http://www.briankeene.com/?p=11268