We’re in the home stretch. I’m a little behind but not by much. All in all, I’m happy with how it’s been going.
Let’s be honest, a measly five thousand words in two days isn’t going to stop me from making 50K by midnight tomorrow.
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advice
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Now available is K.M. Weiland’s new book of writing advice “Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story.”. I was lucky enough to be provided an Advanced Reader E-Copy to review.
I’ve been listening to Weiland’s Wordplay podcast for a long time now (I’ve gone back and listened from the beginning) and her book “Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way To Success” is a large reason I’m an outliner today. I’ve also very much enjoyed “Dreamlander” from the fiction side of her oeuvre.
Read on for a review!
I’ve been working on a lot of things lately. I’ve been re-evaluating a whole lot of stuff in my life. There’s been some trouble, some drama with some good stuff thrown into the mix.
Writing, of course, is always at the forefront of these things. It ranks right under family and work under priorities.
I don’t want to talk about the drama and such. That’s not what this blog’s about. Safe to say, it’s done, dealt with and things are improving.
What I want to talk is about writing. Specifically my writing routine.
I’m very proud to announce that I’ve written every single day for 40 consecutive days.
40 days!
It’s showing no signs of stopping either.
Wow, between work, family and just plain writing, a whole bunch of days have come and gone and I really wanted to do a quick update.
Work’s been kicking my butt (I’ll omit the details to protect the guilty and because I don’t want to turn this into a work whine blog. I want to keep the focus on my writing adventure), I mention this because it will be relevant to this post.
On the bright side, I’ve rediscovered twitter (follow me at @Frank_Cote but I warn you I don’t really say that much) and got a chance to chat with some people I really admire (shout out to @KMWeiland, @Beverly_Akerman, @AngelaAckerman) and I’ve been writing a lot.
So there’s been some good things, but stress and work have been dragging me down and the feelings I’ve been dealing with have been the kind that in the past would stop me from writing.
I mean stop me for a long time, days and weeks. Months possibly.
My no more zero word count days saved me. Here’s how.
It’s not news to anyone in the know that I’m a writing blog/writing book junkie. My surfing list is long and stuffed with them, my kindle is loaded and my bedside table is groaning with magazines and books such as Orson Scott Card’s “Character and Development”.
Despite the fact that I read as much as I can, I can’t always read the actual BOOKS that these writing gurus put out. I’ve made an effort recently to add them to my reading list however and I’ve found something disturbing.
I really don’t enjoy a lot of these books.
Should I trust their advice? Have you ever run into this?
I received my first ever official rejection today.
I feel pretty good about that. Great even.
I know. It’s weird, but it makes sense really.
I have come upon a serious stash of old Dragon Magazines and I’ve been browsing them for nostalgia. I had a small epiphany.
I have ended up copying and filing a LOT of those old Dragon articles. They just fit into so much of my research for my next story (and a couple of my past ones!)
It made me think of the many friends I have who are or were role players and the many of those who were pretty good GMs. They designed campaigns (in whatever game, whether it be AD&D, Star Frontiers or GURPS!) and lead us through amazing adventures.
If you have experience doing this, and you did better than ok, why aren’t you writing?
I’ve decided NOT to do NaNoWriMo in November.
I feel a little weird because I’ve attempted it (sometimes half assed I grant you) every year since 2006 and succeeded 3 times, and I’m not counting this summer’s success at Camp NaNoWriMo.
I will be writing in November, but I feel that I’ve gotten what I’ve needed out of NaNoWriMo and now it’s time to move on and focus on other things. NaNo taught me that I could write every day and finish a draft in a reasonable amount of time. I learned that I can write and write well when I have a good story idea, decent notes and detailed outline. I learned that discovery writing is a sure path to failure for me, even though I enjoy doing it.
If you are beginning as a writer, I highly recommend trying the National Novel Writing Month challenge at least once. You will not regret it.
If you are doing NaNoWriMo this year and you care to receive some advice from one who’s been there, read on!
Hey folks!
I’m feeling lazy and slightly sleep deprived this Friday morning, so I thought I’d serve up a post filled with neat links I’ve found around the ol’ net. They are writing related of course.
I hope you enjoy,
To the interwebs!
I took public transit to work today. I hate it because coming to work, I walk through a “rough” neighborhood. The thought “rough neighborhood” hung in my head for a long while and I chewed on it.
This led to a neat writing exercise I would love to share (although I’m sure I’m not the first one to think of this).
The Basement Office 
Feels good! Finding my voice again.