A Work in Progress

It seems when a month ends, I am forced to look back at what I have and have not accomplished. This is probably because bills are due, salaries are paid, and the entire month HAS to be checked in order to be balanced. It's the same for writing. And I know plenty of people who did NaNoWriMo this month. What is NaNo? It's this crazy and atrocious "task" of writing 50,000 words in thirty days. It is grueling. It is annoying. And it is amazing to see those 50,000 words staring back at you by November 30th. Hat off to you folks! You're almost done. I didn't accomplish NaNo, but that's alright. I went a different route and did thirty days of poems . It's the first time for me doing this one. I don't do a whole lot, but I sure do like it. Poetry is fun because you can write it so many different styles, from prose to rhyme, haiku to ekphrastic. I like to keep them short. Really short. Which is the complete opposite of NaNo. Onto a different

Hey you writers! It's almost time for NaNoWriMo. What is this , you ask? Just the most inspirational month of your year. It's National Novel Writing Month. Here's how it works. Let's say you have a book in your head that you want to write, but the motivation or focus isn't there. NaNoWriMo takes care of these two things at once. Here are 6 reasons how and why you need to sign up to do NaNoWriMo. 1. This is proof that thousands of people out there are just like you. You can write, you can do it. And you are not alone! 2. You have one month: 30 days, to get 50,000 words down. They don't have to be perfect. Just written. 3.Once you see how a little bit every day (or roughly 1666 words a day) equates to a whole book, well that'll motivate anyone to write! 4. You can write about anything you want. 5. You can write an outline even, and go by that everyday. 6. You have a network of people you can talk to in your part of town or

I did it. The NaNoWriMo , that is. Instead of traveling the pathways of retail with throngs of shoppers, I was inside my house the day after Thanksgiving, writing. Truthfully, I didn't think I could do it towards the last twenty thousand words or so ... actually, it was more like I didn't think I wanted to do the last twenty thousand. After all, it meant I would have to edit the ugly monster if it went anywhere. And, I think the story may have lacked compelling characters and perfect plot. (Also known as "major issues" with the story.) But here's the cool part: I have a "book" completed. Hurrah! Not that I'll ever let it grace the eyes of an innocent and unassuming reader. Maybe not even myself, either. Do you know how much groaning and eye-rolling that would require? Whatever I choose to do (probably leave it on my PC for a long time), here are five things I learned while writing (even 50k words in less than a month) and why it can be good fo

Yeah, I thought the same thing too: What kind of weird name is NaNoWriMo? It’s weird because it stands for National Novel Writing Month . And it’s something I kept seeing a lot of my writing friends sign up for in the month of October. Did that make them as weird as the name for doing this too? Yes and no. While I’d heard about this “contest” over the years, I wasn’t too sure about it. After all, it’s about writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Not only is that grueling, but it’s also demoralizing. Seriously, can you image how bad the material is after 30 days of (no-holds-bar, no-looking-back without editing) writing? Pretty horrendous. But then, that’s what the month of December is for: to correct the hideous beast one might want to call a manuscript. Why am I blogging about this? Because I think I might just dive into the month-long craziness and do it for myself too. Well, it's more than maybe, because I’ve already signed up! Yes, I’m way too busy. Yes, it’s madness. Yes, i