Top 11 Tips for NaNoWriMo Success

Hi everyone,

It's that time of year again. No, not Halloween. It's NaNoWriMo prep month! For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Every November, writers from all over the world see if they can write a 50,000 word first draft of a novel in 30 days. This will be my 4th time participating and, I hope, my 4th victory. If you would like to join in, here are 11 tips for NaNoWriMo success.

1) Manage your time- We all have busy lives. Not everyone can be a full-time writer. So, find even an hour in your schedule to write. It may mean getting up earlier. It may mean not binging on that show you've watched 30 times on Netflix. Try to find a time each day to make your time to write and only write.

2) Stay Hydrated- Coffee is the beverage of the gods. It's what fuels all that wonderful writer mojo. But, you still have to drink water. Getting dehydrated can make you seriously ill and then you won't be able to get out of bed, let alone write.

3) Get involved in the community- the forum on the NaNoWriMo website is fantastic. You can do writing sprints, find pen pals, share ideas, or vent about being stuck on something. There is also the official NaNoWriMo Facebook group as well as your region may have one as well. Go to write-ins hosted by your region through NaNoWriMo or other writing groups. It is so much fun. Having other writers helps so much because you're cheering each other on. Also, if you do want to seek being a professional writer, networking is so important to your career. Then, you can find critique partners and beta readers. You can share experiences and people can help you out.

4) Sleep- It is a common misconception that you only have to sleep 3 hours a night. You still have to get plenty of sleep so your brain is able to function and create that wonderful story.

5) Don't stress over the word count-  50K in 30 days seems like a lot. But, it breaks down to about 1667 per day. That's not much. The Harry Potter series is 1,084,170 words. Sorcerer's Stone alone is 76,994. If JK Rowling averaged that over 30 days, it would be about 2567 words per day. You can definitely pull it off.
Also, 50,000 words is an arbitrary number. The goal is to develop the habit of writing every day. Not just for November. Whether it's 1667 words per day, 500 words, or 5,000. Any amount is more than you had the day before.

6) Quantity over quality- This is the first draft of your novel. In a month. And, if you're focusing on that end word count, it's definitely quantity over quality. Write down anything you can relating to your story. Dialogue, back story, any details. What doesn't stay during revision can be saved for your notes. Especially if it's a series. Continuity is key. So, keep notes on character profiles and world building in a separate notebook.

7) Be passionate about your story- If you're passionate about something, whether it's painting, photography, cooking, writing those things probably fill your thoughts all day and you're constantly working and improving. This is key to success. If you love and are passionate about your story, it will reflect in your writing style and readers will enjoy it all the more. And, at some point, you will hit a rough patch and you'll start to lose motivation and wonder "What was I thinking?" So, you have to keep in mind why you're doing this. If it's because you're dreaming about this story you've had for years, then focus on that to keep going in those tough times and you can get through anything.

8) Get ahead when you can- Life happens. Your car breaks down. You need OT at work. You're swamped with homework. Whatever. So, don't just stop at 1667. If you have a writing day where you're on a roll, just keep going. Then, you're ahead of the game and not stressing about your words of something prevents you from writing for a day.

9) Minimize distractions- Turn off the Netflix, turn off the YouTube, turn off the social media. These things take away from writing time. What I do is I take the laptop onto the bedroom, turn off the WiFi, set up my iTunes playlists, and write until my hands ache. I'm not one that can focus in complete silence. But, if I have Internet, chances are I'll be looking at Doctor Who parody videos or talking online instead of writing. And, that won't help me get work done at all.

10) It’s okay if you don't hit 50K- Like I said, life happens. 50K is arbitrary. If you still think it's overwhelming, especially first timers, shoot for 30,000 or just 10,000. It's still more than you had at the beginning of the month and helps you get into that every day habit of writing.

11) BACK UP YOUR WORK- Computers will crash. Flash drives get lost or fail. So, it's key to back up your work in multiple places. I have my story on the laptop, flash drive, Dropbox, Google Docs, and I email it to my phone. Over kill? Not at all. Because I've lost a story before. And, it sucked. All that work just gone. So, save constantly and back up your work so this doesn't happen to you.

That's all from me today. Witches of Coolersville is available on Amazon in paperback and ebook. You can also order a signed copy on my Etsy shop. Enter TUMBLR16 until October 23 for 30% off. Good luck to anyone participating in NaNoWriMo this year. And, I'll have another post soon.

Sept. 20 Update

Up to chapter 17! My poor arthritic hands. But, I'm getting there. If I can do 3 chapters before my physical therapy tomorrow, I'll be in the home stretch. Did a rough formatting and at chapter 16 I'm around 115 pages for a 6x9 book. 23 chapters total so this one will be a little longer than book 1. That's okay. There's more to this story. Character development, big bad guy, intro to a few side characters that will appear further down the series. I'm also slowly printing this draft off so I can go at it yet again with the red pen. If I can get another round of Beta Readers for this draft, I can send draft 4 to the editor for the major fixes.

Won't be home after PT tomorrow so I'm bringing my notes for book 3 and beyond to maybe play with and brainstorm. If I get enough ideas set up that I can just write, I'll maybe start the planning stages of a bind-up edition. Either 3 or 5 stories, haven't decided which. May depend on length. I may go through Book Baby for that one so I can get a hard cover and wider distribution. I'll stick with CreateSpace for the novella sizes.

These are all just rough ideas. Gonna read for a bit then need sleep.
Good night all!

The Math Teacher From Hell- "New Witch on Campus" 3rd draft excerpt

I haven't posted any excerpts in a while and I just added this scene to my story. This is Dr. Benedict. He is Tara's math professor and he's terrible. This won't be touched upon much in this story but, down the line, I'm planning on making it a plot point. Let me know what you think.

 

They walked into the classroom and took a seat. Before they could say anything more, the instructor walked into the room.

Dr. Benedict was a tall, lanky man with a nasally, but monotone voice. Not the kind of tone you need to keep a student’s interest in math at 8:00 in the morning. But, he seemed either not to notice or not to care that half the class was beginning to doze before he finished his introduction to the syllabus. Tara and Michael managed to stay awake by slipping notes to each other. And, their shock at the start of his lecture.

“This is Math 90,” he began. “Beginning Algebra. Or, more accurately, a refresher course of what you were too stupid to pay attention to in high school.” A few heads jerked up at this and students whispered to each other until Dr. Benedict took a ruler and smacked the podium with it, shocking the class back into silence. “I don’t dick around. I don’t tolerate talking. If you can’t keep up, there’s the tutoring center or you may as well leave now and drop the class. I move fast. You have 16 weeks to learn this shit and move on to the next level of actual college level math. If you’re not on time, you fail the day. I lock the door when I enter. You miss the lecture, tough shit. Everything’s laid out on the syllabus what we’re covering each day. You’ll just have to figure it out yourself if you expect to pass my class. Your cell phones will be silenced or turned off. If I see it out, you will be asked to leave and you’ll not be marked for a whole week. You’re that stupid and need a calculator, go buy one. Don’t use your phone. I’ll just assume you’re texting or on Facebook. Now, open your packets to page 1 and we’ll go over my rules and the curriculum for this semester.”

September 10 Update

I’m so behind! *sob* If I wasn’t in pain all the time, I’d have book 2 edited, retyped, and sent off to the editor and book 3 at least mostly outlined and maybe partly written. But, nope. Pain and exhaustion was making it next to impossible to keep up with my writing. My alarm goes off at 5 a.m. and I glare at it for about 3 minutes before shutting it off and going back to bed for a few more hours and I’m still exhausted.

But, I have to get going on this. So, I’m laying out my goals to the end of the month. Starting today, I’m just diving into writing the third book. I’ll just word vomit and then worry about editing it later. It’s how I wrote a majority of book 1 anyway so it does, sometimes, work. I’ve tried to plan it out a few times but every time I’ve made the storyline insanely and unnecessarily complicated and that makes the writing part really hard because I look at my notes and think “What the hell kind of drugs am I on?”

So, this week, since I don’t have that many day job hours, I’m going to focus on word vomiting book 3 as much as I can. If I can get an average of 1500 words a day, or at least a chapter, I can get a majority of the story done before the end of the month. The main goal for this is to get this idea out of my head before I go back and edit book 2. Because the ideas for future books are distracting me and I have to get it out of my head. I think retyping book 2 will be a relatively quick process I can work on in October and send it off to the editor at last.

I’m also looking into saving for a professional cover design service I saw on another writer’s vlog. If I can redo the cover for book 1 and then have a fancy-dancy matching cover for book 2 and beyond, I’ll be very happy. I’m sure I’m not the only one who shares this opinion. I like when series covers coordinate. If nothing else, it looks pretty on the shelf.

So, since it’s September 9, and I’m almost done with chapter 1, I should be at chapter 21 by the end of the month. Which, if I follow the trend of my other books, it would be an almost complete manuscript. Now, I could do 2 or 3 chapters on off days. So, I may finish this very, very rough draft this month. I plan on taking the first weekend of October of because I will be busy celebrating my sister getting married to her long-time honey. Once all the lovey-dovey happiness and celebrating is done, then it’s back to work. And, hopefully, I’ll be back at book 2 so I can finally get it to my editor.
I also have a very special announcement! I’m offering a coupon code on my Etsy shop! Get 30% off my book at https://www.etsy.com/shop/WoCBooks when you enter the code Tumblr16 (because this was originally written on my Tumblr Blog). The code expires October 23 which is 7 months to the day I first published my novella. I do ship internationally. And, thanks to the Etsy Seller app, I’ll know right when I get an order and then I can send it off to you! I have 20 copies available currently in my home stock. If you want the ebook, here’s the Amazon link. (https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Coolersville-Book-ebook/dp/B01D81RJ0Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473472998&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=witches+of+coolersville) Paperback is also available on Amazon but I sign the ones sold on my Etsy shop.

If I get through all this and get book 2 to the editor, I’ll have a better idea when the book will be released. Aiming for early 2017. Exactly when is yet to be determined.

So, that’s it for now. I’m going to try and finish this chapter and then hit the sack. I work tomorrow evening so plenty of writing time beforehand. Maybe tomorrow will be a two chapter day. Who knows!

Have a great night. Thanks for reading and following and don’t forget to check out the links to my book!