The Post-NaNoWriMo Blues

Right about now many writers are feeling a touch disappointed. They attempted a feat of greatness in the eyes of the writing community and they didn’t measure up to the recommended level of success. To every below 50,000-words writers I say: Congratulations! If you tried your best and wrote as much as you could, stand …
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Tips for Crafting a Frame Story

As you may have figured out from my post last week, 6 Tips for Re-imagining a Classic Story, I’m working on a project for NaNoWriMo that involves a reinterpretation of a classic tale. In my case I’ve decided to tell it a frame story. This is a literary device using a narrative structure to tell …
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Surviving and Thriving: Part 1 NaNoWriMoTips

In my post on my planning process for novels I shared how I got ready for National Novel Writing Month. I went through all the steps, and now, each day, I sit at my keyboard and turn over the next in my set of 40 scene cards. If I were on target, I should have …
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My 9-Step Planning Process for NaNoWriMo: I’m In. Are You?

I started the registration process for National Novel Writing Month 2014. but I need your help to finish. You see, I have to put in the title of my book. And, well, that’s where you come in. Every year, I post ideas of books I intend to write. Then I let readers pick the one …
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NaNoWriMo and the Night of Writing Dangerously.

Sister Sharon’s post about NaNoWriMo got me thinking. Writers have different ways to get productive – the output varies, but the method usually stays the same for each of us. Like superstitious sportsmen, we follow a pattern that seems to work for us. I have my own preparation method, but I’ve heard of others who do …
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NaNoWriMo is NOT a Cuddly Stuffed Animal

When I posted a few years ago about the upcoming NaNoWriMo, one of my Facebook friends asked me if NaNoWriMo was a new boutique stuffed animal for grandparents to buy. Uh, no. I was taken aback at first, but, really, National Novel Writing Month would only be familiar to those of us who chose writing …
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Lessons From The NaNoWriMo Trenches

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November. As most of you know, the goal is to compose a first draft of your novel, roughly 50,000 words during the 30 days. It works out to be a doable 1,667 words a day, but only if you sit down and write that chunk every day. …
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Secret benefits of NaNoWriMo

Last week I said I’d write about NaNoWriMo, that whirlwind of writing activity centered around churning out a novel in 30 days. A year ago I actually pulled it off without registering, as I wanted to see if such a thing could be done, if I could do such a thing. At the end of …
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