Dear O'Abby: Any NaNo Tips?

 Dear O'Abby,

I'm not sure if less people are doing NaNo this year or what, but I haven't seen much about it anywhere.  maybe it's just my own lack of attention on social media or something...  The death of Twitter seems to have made finding a community of writers online more difficult.

But I digress...

I am doing NaNo this year, and I'm feeling okay about what I'm writing, but I'm wondering if you have any tips to help me finish out the month?  It feels like I have a long way to go before I hit that 50K.

Best wishes,

NaNoing

Dear NaNoing,

Now that you mention it, you're right.  I haven't seen anything about NaNo anywhere either.  In fact, it wasn't until I saw this email that I realised it's well into November and I haven't offered a single NaNo tip here.  My bad!  I could blame it on the fact I'm not doing NaNo this year (too close to the end of a book to make it worthwhile), but I didn't do it last year either, and was way more aware.

In terms of tips, my best one is to just keep writing.  If you get stuck on a scene or a plot point, just write yourself a little note, skip that section and move on to a point where you know what needs to happen.  You can fill in the blanks later.  I use this approach all the time because often, after writing those later scenes, it's easier to know what needs to come before it.

Another tip I would give is not to stop to research anything.  It's far too easy to fall down an internet rabbit hole and lose hours of writing time.  If there's something you need to look up - a word in another language, the rules of beer pong, the title of a song you can't remember but know is perfect to be playing at the school dance - again, leave yourself a note and come back to it later.

Most of us have a limited amount of time to write and need to fit NaNo around other things like a day job, school, family.  If you can take a day off from any of this and just write, that's great.  Use that day to bulk up your wordcount so if you have a day later in the month where you can't write, it's not going to cause you undue stress or derail your progress.  

I also usually recommend people bank extra words early in the month while they're fresh and the book is new and exciting and you can't wait to get into it.  But it's kind of too late for that one...  I hope you did it anyway!

And those are my biggest tips.  I've had some very successful years doing NaNo, but also some very unsuccessful years.  If you don't make it to 50K, you're not a failure.  You've still started a book and some words are better than no words.  You're never going to finish a book during NaNo, so just take whatever you have written and keep going until you have.  Even if it takes you until the next NaNo to get there.

Good luck!

X O'Abby

Suzanna's Writing and Reading Goals for 2024: February Update

 

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The second month was successful with my reading goals. I made great progress on the publishing course, though I still have quite a bit to go. It has been lovely to think of how I want to reach my writing and publishing goals.

Here are my writing goals for 2024:

1. Write 50,000 words in 30 days as part of a NaNo project (Camp in April, Camp in July, or NaNo in November).
2. Write at least one children's book.
3. Write at least one new short story.
4. Edit at least one short story from my undergrad days.
5. Write at least twelve poems.
6. Put together a poetry collection.
7. Work on the draft of the graphic novel.
8. Take a course on publishing. (in progress)

1. Read 12 literary magazines. (0/12)
2. Read 12 novels. (24/12)
1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (read by Andy Serkis)
2. The Wolf of Oren-Yaro
3. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune
4. Green Rider by Kristen Britain
5. The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake
6. Rival Demons by Sarra Cannon
7. Demons Forever by Sarra Cannon
8. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
9. Emerald Darkness by Sarra Cannon
3. Read 12 short story collections. (0/12)
4. Read 12 poetry collections. (0/12)
5. Read 12 graphic novels. (7/12)
1. Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman
2. A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll
3. The Dark Matter of Mona Starr by Laura Lee Gulledge
4. Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld
5. Fables: Book Six by Bill Willingham
6. Read 12 children's books. (6/12)
1. The Adventures of Chad and the feelings of Glad, Mad and Sad by Dustin Wright
2. We're Different, We're the Same by Bobbi Jane Kates
3. Mulla Husayn: The Story of the Declaration of the Bab for Young Children by Alhan Rahimi
4. Naw-Ruz in My Family by Alhan Rahimi
5. Garden of Ridvan by Alhan Rahimi
7. Read lots of books (nonfiction, fiber, etc). (9/12)
1. Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky
2. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher
8. Participate in every Kindle Reading Challenge this year and get at least 90% of the badges. 
1. On target to finish all of the badges!

What are some of your writing and reading goals for 2024? How was February for you?

Suzanna's Writing and Reading Goals for 2024: January Update

 

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It's time to reflect on the first month of 2024! How did I do?

Here are my writing goals for 2024:

1. Write 50,000 words in 30 days as part of a NaNo project (Camp in April, Camp in July, or NaNo in November).
2. Write at least one children's book.
3. Write at least one new short story.
4. Edit at least one short story from my undergrad days.
5. Write at least twelve poems.
6. Put together a poetry collection.
7. Work on the draft of the graphic novel.
8. Take a course on publishing.
1. The 6 week course starts in February, and it will be exciting to think about writing and publishing in a new way. I am looking forward to learning so much.

Of course as a writer, I also need to read. I read 25 books in January. Only 225 to hit my goal, which is about 4.5 books a week.

1. Read 12 literary magazines. (0/12)
1. (selected one but haven't finished)
2. Read 12 novels. (15/12)
1. Inner Demons by Sarra Cannon
2. Popcorn and Poltergeists by Nancy Warren
3. Bitter Demons by Sarra Cannon
4. Shadow Demons by Sarra Cannon
5. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
6. Golden Son by Pierce Brown
7. Garters and Gargoyles by Nancy Warren
8. Morning Star by Pierce Brown
9. Diamonds and Daggers by Nancy Warren
10. Ribbing and Runes by Nancy Warren
11. Herringbones and Hexes by Nancy Warren
12. Mosaics and Magic by Nancy Warren
13. Tangles and Treason by Nancy Warren
14. Iron Gold by Pierce Brown
15. Cat's Paws and Curses by Nancy Warren
3. Read 12 short story collections. (0/12)
1. (selected one but haven't finished)
4. Read 12 poetry collections. (0/12)
1. (selected one but haven't finished)
5. Read 12 graphic novels. (2/12)
1. Heartstopper: Volume Two by Alice Oseman
2. Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman
6. Read 12 children's books. (1/12)
1. The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken
7. Read lots of books (nonfiction, fiber, etc). (7/12)
1. Weaving Big on a Little Loom by Fiona Daly
2. A Handbook of Weaves by Gustaf Hermann Oelsner
3. Pattern Weaving by Rabbit Goody
4. Polysecure by Jessica Fern
5. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
6. The Gift by Edith Eger
7. The Polysecure Workbook by Jessica Fern
8. Participate in every Kindle Reading Challenge this year and get at least 90% of the badges.
1. I am on target with 8 achievements so far.  

What are some of your writing and reading goals for 2024? How did January go for you?

Suzanna's Writing and Reading Goals for 2024

 

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Wow, I can't believe that January is halfway over already! I decided to do something a little different this year. In December 2023, I took the Heart Breathings HB90 Bootcamp by Sarra Cannon to break the year into quarters by making goals and planning projects each quarter. I've been trying for years (and years) to develop tools from others and discover my preferences with planners, tracking progress, making goals, and completing goals.

And with all those years of experimenting, I have had little success with follow through. I make all of these wonderful goals at the beginning of the year. I start off great, but then the Suzanna Train loses steam and screeches off the track. Sure, I've reached some of my goals, but I have been anything but consistent, except during NaNo. Somehow, I can do NaNo. I even made it to 100 K with my double NaNo goal in 2023. YAY!

While I am still experimenting with my planner system, I'm thrilled that I took the HB90 Bootcamp course. I can already feel a difference with the progress I've made so far on my goals. 

• I'm not beating myself up when I fail to meet my daily or weekly to do list.
• Each day is a fresh start. Today is a good day to have a good day.
• It is really hard to make habits, but progress is progress.
• Life will throw curveballs no matter how much I plan. Gotta get up.

So, I want to continue writing, reading, and making progress on my personal goals. Here goes the start of a new quarter.

Here are my writing goals for 2024:

1. Write 50,000 words in 30 days as part of a NaNo project (Camp in April, Camp in July, or NaNo in November).
2. Write at least one children's book.
3. Write at least one new short story.
4. Edit at least one short story from my undergrad days.
5. Write at least twelve poems.
6. Put together a poetry collection.
7. Work on the draft of the graphic novel.
8. Take a course on publishing.

Of course as a writer, I also need to read. Can I make it to 250 this year? I made it to 247 last year.

1. Read 12 literary magazines.
2. Read 12 novels.
3. Read 12 short story collections.
4. Read 12 poetry collections.
5. Read 12 graphic novels.
6. Read 12 children's books.
7. Participate in every Kindle Reading Challenge this year and get at least 90% of the badges. 

What are some of your writing and reading goals for 2024?

All NaNo's Eve

Well, it's 30 November, so many of you NaNo-ers will have already passed your 50K mark, while others of you may be facing a late night as you try to get those last words in before the end of the month.  Others of you may have already realised you were not going to hit 50K and have accepted the fact.

Whichever camp you're in today, take a moment to congratulate yourself.  You may or may not have "won", but whatever you managed to do, you're better off than you were on 1 November.  You may have only just started your book.  You may have "finished" it.  You're probably still working through the last third of your story.  It doesn't matter. You have words on a page, words that didn't exist 30 days ago.

That's an achievement!  A huge achievement.  How many people do you know who have even started writing a book, let alone finished one?  Compare that with the number of people you know who have said they'd love to write a book one day and you'll realise which group is bigger.

And the best thing you've done this month is get into a writing habit.  Keep it up.  Don't stop writing just because November has ended.  Most books are more than 50K words, so unless you've been writing at an awesome pace, you've probably got another 15-40K to write to actually hit the end.  So keep going while you have the momentum behind you and writing time factored into your day/week.  

Then, when you're done, put the book aside to rest and take a well-deserved break.

Leave that book alone for as long as you can - a month or more - then go back to it with fresh eyes to revise. You'll be amazed how different it looks with a little distance.

But right now, just take a moment to feel proud of what you've already achieved.  It's a long journey, but you've made it through the first leg already.

X O'Abby

From the archives: O'Abby's ways to push your story forward

There were no questions for O’Abby this week.  I guess everyone is busy doing #NaNo! So I dug this handy bit of NaNo advice out of the archives

We’re past the halfway point of November now, and if you’re working at the pace to finish your 50K by 30 November you should be hitting or passing the 30K mark around now.  But don’t worry if you’re not there yet.  There’s still time to catch up.  Personally, I don’t get a lot of writing time during the week, so I tend to blitz my word count during the weekends.  I have also been taking one day off work per week to write, and that’s definite motivation to crank out those words.

Just do whatever works for you and make the most of whatever time you can scratch together.

Around about this time is where I often feel like my story is stagnating so I thought I’d give you a few ideas for ways to shake things up a little in your story.  Ideas for how to push your characters into doing something new that might move things along in a significant way.

•  Someone from the past shows up unexpectedly
• A character close to your protagonist dies
• A potentially life-altering secret is revealed
• Your protagonist loses something valuable
• Some kind of natural disaster occurs
• Someone has an accident 
• Someone moves to a new city/country/house
• A monster – human or otherwise – enters your protagonist’s world
• A random act of kindness
• A crime is committed

These are just some ideas that might help push your characters.  They don’t need to happen to your protagonist directly – sometimes something dramatic happening to one of your secondary characters will motivate your MC more than if it happened to them directly.

The point is to shake things up to propel your MC into some kind of action.  And whatever obstacle you put in their way, whatever challenge, make sure it isn’t easy to overcome.  Your characters need to struggle.  They need to make the wrong decisions more often than the right ones.  Every choice they make needs to make things more difficult for them, throw up more challenges for them to face.

Hopefully this will be helpful if you reach a point where you feel flummoxed and can’t move on.  If there are no questions for O’Abby next week, I’ll share some more tips for getting past potential roadblocks to finishing.

Dear O'Abby's NaNo Tips (Part 2)

 Well, we're two days into NaNo so I thought I'd share a couple more handy tips that might help you through this punishing month.

1.  When you finish writing for the day, don't stop writing at the end of a scene or chapter.  Keep going a little longer and write the start of the next scene or chapter.  Even just one or two lines.  That makes starting the next time easier because you're already on the way.

2. If, like me, you figure out in day 3, 5, 9 that you've started in the wrong place or in the wrong POV or the wrong voice, don't use that as an excuse to toss in the towel.  Just keep writing, making the switch to the new POV/voice or whatever and make a note where you make the change so you can go back at the end and rewrite that first section to fit.

3.  Sometimes the story you set out to write doesn't end up firing once you sit down to start writing.  Maybe another idea leaps into your head and you get super excited about that one instead.  Go with it.  No one says you have to finish the story you started off writing.  You can work on multiple projects during NaNa, adding valuable words to each one.

I actually always find it useful to work on two stories at the same time.  If I get stuck on one, I can turn my attention to the other and that usually helps unstick me eventually.

Enjoy the intense period of creativity!

X O'Abby

Suzanna's Writing and Reading Goals for 2023: October Update

  

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It is that time of year where I update my goals and begin thinking about my goals for next year. 

Here are my writing goals for 2023:

1. Write 100,000 words in 30 days as part of a NaNo project (Camp in April, Camp in July, or NaNo in November)
1. The plan is in motion. I have my word tracker and two projects planned so I can reach 100K.
2. Write at least one children's book in each category (board book, concept book, early reader, wordless, transition books, narrative nonfiction, etc.)  
1. Will move to 2024.
3. Write at least one new short story.
1. Been thinking about one. Need to find the first paragraphs of a draft.
4. Edit at least one short story from my undergrad days.
1. Still sorting papers.
5. Write at least one new poem each week.
1. I've written some poems but not where I'd like to be with this one.
6. Put together a poetry collection.
1. Still a dream at this stage.
7. Work on the draft for writing a nonfiction book about the day job.
1. One of my NaNo projects!
8. Work on the draft of the graphic novel.
1. Second of my NaNo projects!

Of course as a writer, I also need to read.

1. Read at least 10 children's books in each category (board book, concept book, early reader, wordless, transition books, narrative nonfiction, etc.) and focus on one category each month and then rotate. (72 read of 60 children's books)
2. Read at least one book of short stories each month. (2 read of 12 short story collections)
3. Read at least one book of poetry each month. (5 read of 12 poetry books)
4. Read at least one literary magazine each month. (2 read of 12 literary magazines)
5. Read at least one nonfiction book regarding the day job each month. (15 read of 12 nonfiction books)
6. Read at least one graphic novel each month. (17 read of 12 graphic novels)
7. Read a total of 150 books in 2023. (203 read of 150 books)
8. Participate in every Kindle Reading Challenge this year and get at least 90% of the badges. (The hardest one for me is the perfect month where you read every day in the month.)
1. I have earned 100% of the achievements for all of the 3 completed challenges: the New Year Kindle Challenge (January to March), Kindle Spring Challenge (April to June), and Kindle Summer Challenge (July to September). I have 9 of 15 achievements for the Year End Kindle Challenge as of October 31.

Reflection so far on this year's goals. I'm shocked at how much I have read. I finally got bit by the audiobooks bug, so I have been invested in reading more than on Kindle or paper copies. Do you have a favorite audiobook?

I have, sadly, reached more of my reading goals this year than my writing goals. I'm still sorting my art studio space, and I'm hoping to organize my books and set aside what I'd like to read each month. Here's to hoping to a productive NaNo in November and some creative time in December.

What are some of your writing and reading goals for 2023? What are you going to do with the last quarter of 2023? How are you preparing for NaNo?

O'Abby's #NaNoWriMo Tips

With NaNo just around the corner, I thought it might be useful to dig something out of the archives to help you through NaNoWriMo... There are other posts I have done throughout past Novembers you may find useful too, so please search them up.

I think I've done NaNo at least 10 times, once I include the Camp NaNos I have participated in as well as the regular, November extravaganza.  I haven't always 'won', but to be honest, that shouldn't really be the point.  Writing isn't a competitive sport and in my humble opinion, any words you get onto the page are a win.

So my first tip is not to get too hung up on hitting 50,000 words.  Life happens and sometimes it isn't helpful to writing anything.  Go in with the mindset that regardless of whether you hit the 50,000 word mark, you're making progress on a story you want to tell.

My second tip is a more practical one.

Try and get ahead on your word count at the beginning.  You're likely to be more inspired, less tired and more excited to write early in the month, so use that to get as many words written as possible.  I always try to get to 10K in the first three days or so because then I have a bit of a bumper if something goes pear shaped somewhere later in the month and I miss a few days' writing.

See if you can block out a few hours on the first day to get started.  Maybe a couple of hours in the morning and a couple more in the afternoon if possible.  Turn off your phone and your internet and just write for those hours.  You'll be surprised how much you can get through.

My third and final tip is another practical one.

Don't stop to research.  If you hit a point in your story where you need information you don't have in your head, don't stop to look it up.  Leave yourself a note in the MS in a different colored font maybe, or highlight it, and move on.  While you're writing and writing fast, stopping to look up the Korean word for grandmother or how long an average runner takes to run 400m takes you out of the story and ruins your flow. It's not crucial to the writing process that you have this information right there and then.  Make a note and move on.

Most of all, have fun with it.  Nothing you write during NaNo is going to be perfect and it's not supposed to be.  Think about your NaNo draft as being your zero draft, or vomit draft.  You're throwing words at the page, trying to get your story and your characters onto the page.  There will be time later to pretty it up.  That's what December and January are for.

Good luck and enjoy yourself.

Query Friday: Start working on the next thing/Preptober for a pantser

 

 

 When in the you're hanging out in the query trenches the waiting can be unbearable.

Common advice given in the writing community is to start the next thing. Working on your next project can prove a valuable distraction. But sometimes it can be hard to find the motivation to dive into something new.

That's where NaNoWriMo comes in!

I think NaNo can be a perfect excuse to start working on something new with a low level of commitment. Last year I did NaNo and tried a completely new genre and it felt like a great creative stretch. 

I'm usually a discovery writer so my NaNo prep is less intense but even as a pantser there are a few things I like to use Preptober to prepare so I can dive right in to the writing:

1) The story idea.

I like to have a good idea of what I'm writing. I don't outline, but having at least a nugget of the idea makes putting words on the page way easier.

2) An understanding of the genre

If you are already familiar with the genre your going to write in this isn't a big deal. But if you are trying something completely new for NaNo it might be helpful to read some books in this genre, and get a general sense of reader expectations, commonly used tropes (to employ or inverse), and must hit beats or key moments.

3) I like to know my setting. 

If it is a real place I'm not familiar with, I might google some pictures so I don't have to stop the flow of writing to be able to describe what the trees on the street might look like.

4) Characters- I don't go too deep  here. 

Many times I learn who my characters are as I write, but I like to have names at the very least (even if they will change later) for all my main characters and side characters. This keeps me from falling down the babynames.com rabbit hole, because I cannot move forward without a name.

5) Lastly, I go in with low expectations. This makes the writing fun and not a chore. No subplot- no problem. Change genre halfway through- maybe this is a mash up. Your 1st person present works way better in 3rd person past- fix it in post.

This story can be just for you. Enjoy it!

Happy Writing!

~B