The Published Ramblings of a Confused Michiganian
  • Home
  • The Whimsical Ramblings of a Confused Michiganian
  • Forums
  • Links

NaNo is Coming!

10/20/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Hey everyone, it's that time of the year again! NaNoWriMo time! Well, at least it will be in just a few short weeks. What is NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month: A challenge to write an entire novel (or at least 50,000 words) in the month of November. Please see NaNoWriMo.org for more information, or my previous post, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah NaNo!.

Today's post is about what you should be doing to prepare for your 2017 NaNo quest.

1. Choose your personal NaNo goal. Are you going for the full 50,000 words or 3 short stories or 200 words a day? What is an achievable goal for you?

2. Decide what you are going to write. Many of us have tons of story ideas rattling around in our brains at all times, but for something like NaNo, you're going to want to at least narrow down your choices ahead of time. That way you can bust out writing right out of the gate instead of getting caught up in deciding on a story post Nov. 1st.

3. Make an outline. Unless you are a pantser, right? Wrong. Make a rough outline even if you are a pantser or at least jot down a few scene and character ideas. When every minute and every word counts, you don't want to be left staring at a blank page. Having just a few notes ahead of time will give you an edge and save a lot of time.

4. Prepare your friends and family. What do I mean by that? I mean, let them know that November is a sacred time of writing: no you cannot go see that movie, no you cannot go to the apple orchard, no you cannot watch their dog. This seems a bit harsh, but NaNo goals don't just happen. You have to be serious about them and make them happen. Now, don't tell your family you're not coming to Thanksgiving this year, but I encourage you to set most other social events aside in order to achieve your NaNo goals. And hey, if you really, really want to do something extracurricular in November, plan on working twice as hard before the event to make sure that you're still on target with your word count even if you take a day off.

5. Prepare yourself. Know what your goal is and mentally commit to it. Go to NaNoWriMo.org and commit online. When you tell your friends and family you're going to be MIA for most of November, tell them why. Let others hold you accountable to your goal and most importantly, hold yourself accountable.




Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
0 Comments

I Can Only Do What I Can Do

10/6/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
The reason prioritizing is difficult for me is that I never want to admit that I can't get everything done. I make a simple list and think, oh yes, editing, blogging, preparing for NaNoWriMo, getting ready for the holidays, no problem. There are people with way more going on than me who get way more done everyday, so this should be a piece of cake. But then I fall behind, things don't get done, and I'm left frustrated, feeling like I let myself down. So, this time I'm actually going to admit that I can't do everything and one of those things is writing this blog every week. I'm now officially going onto an every two weeks schedule to free up a bit of time and brain power for editing. I may get back to weekly posts in 2018, but as for now, look for my next post 10/20/2017. Cheers.


Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
0 Comments

    If you give me your e-mail, I'll send you a monthly newsletter. Or bimonthly...we'll see.

    Links

    Mid-Michigan Prose and Writing Group

    Purchase Books

    Whispers of a Killer (WHISPs Book 1)
    Whispers of Terror (WHISPs Book 2)
    Whispers of Conspiracy (WHISPs Book 3)
    Moonlight Medicine:Onset
    Moonlight Medicine:Epidemic
    Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation
    Miles From Manistique
    The Christmas Plague

    Purchase Short Stories

    Snick - Ghostlight, The Magazine of Terror (Winter/Spring 2018)
    Cold Comfort - Monsters in Spaaaace!

    Author

    My name is Jen Haeger and I have a degree in Veterinary Medicine as well as a Master's in Forensic Science, so I decided to forget all that and write  novels. I used to read quite a bit as a youth, but was not introduced to truly spectacular writing until my husband showed me the works of Jim Butcher, Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and others. We are both enormous dorks and enjoy Science Fiction, Fantasy, Board Games, and RPGs, but also try to get out backpacking every once in a while (much easier to do when we lived in New Zealand). Cheers!
    jenhaeger.com

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Announcements
    Author Interview
    Cons
    Contests
    Contracts
    Covers
    Cthulhu
    Editing
    Events
    Flash Fiction
    Human Rights
    Marketing
    Memoir
    Mentoring
    MFM Vignette
    Miscellaneous
    MM Vignette
    NaNoWriMo
    News
    Outlines
    Pitches
    Poetry
    Professional Writer Vs Novice
    Promotions
    Prompts
    Reading
    Sensitivity
    Short Stories
    Silly
    WHISPS
    WotW Vignette
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.