Nano Enthusiasm

Yes, I'm doing Nano. Again. I tried about five years ago, and didn't accomplish much. If I made it passed two days, I would be surprised. Back then I had no clue how to write a book. I'm not saying I know everything now, but I have plenty of writing classes under my belt and I'm a bit more organized.

I've tried to set my own deadlines to help me finish a WIP. I have finished them, and submitted them in on time, but not a project as big as 50K.

As I take a few days before November 1 to contemplate what I am up against, I ponder what I need. Plot outlines. check. Know my characters. check. Time to dedicate. check

All set. Right? I don't think so. My history shows me that the first sign of trouble, my mind wanders to another project. I can think of a million excuses to move on to another project. I would rather write on anything than sit there and stare at a blank screen. The other characters are screaming louder than these. On and on. But, it seems I don't ever finish the large projects. I did get one about 95% done, but there wasn't enough conflict, and it fell flat. If I'm going to be a writer, I want to write something that people will enjoy reading.

So, I need to work on my enthusiasm. Seriously, I'm so ready for Nano to start. I thought about starting today. But, I'm not going to cheat. I know when I cheat, and I am in this to improve my writing. If I cheat, I am not doing myself any good.

I bought the book 'No Plot No Problem'. It was written by the guy that started Nano. He stated some of the rules, and he suggests starting on a new book, and not working on one you have already started. I really don't need to start another project. But, he did say it was okay to add 50,000 words to a book you have already started. In other words, I just have to add everything up that I am writing from Nov 1-31 and not include what I have written before. I can do that.

The whole reason I am doing this, is to get in the habit of writing every day and writing new stuff. Not rewriting old stuff, which I could do over and over again.

So, if you are doing Nano, feel free to buddy me. chr15ty

Love to hear if you are doing it or not.

Keep the Faith

PS Another suggestion in the book is to kick your internal editor to the curb. Which means to write and not edit as you go. He suggests to even stop editing emails and personal things. So, this blog is not edited. Deal with it. :)

My bookshelves

I just read Samantha's blog. She posted a picture of her bookcase. That is an interesting thought. Most of my friends are avid reader, and some, like me, are writers.

In my opinion, one look at a person's bookshelf tells volumes about a person. And, if they don't have a bookshelf, because they own no books, that also says a lot. So, I'm going to share pics of my bookshelves with you and let you decide what type of person I am.

This is the top shelf of 'my' bookshelf. It is full of M&Bs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. One day I would love to read them all, but I don't have the time to dedicate to them now. So, there is no way I'll ever get rid of them.

This is the whole bookshelf. Notice, all of the shelves, except the bottom one has books in front of others. It's shove them all in there. Notice the Santa? This is in my spare room, so I never bothered to put him away. Under him is the snowman.

This is in the living room. It was hubby's idea to put them all together for a place for the knick-knaks. If I had my way, I would use two of them beside my desk to store all of 'my books.' But, we don't have room by my desk for them and hubby doesn't want the bookshelves loaded down in the living room. My opinion is a bookshelf isn't happy unless it is loaded down with books. Hubby likes to make things overly fancy.

Feel free to tell us about how you store your books.

Rewrite update

To my horror, I saw the book I had been working on for years, wouldn't work. I refuse to throw it away, so instead, I decided to work with it and rewrite it.

When I knew I needed to tackle the story in a big way, I sat down to brainstorm ideas. I couldn't come up with any, so I grabbed a book off the bookshelf and started reading.

On a side note, this is a technique I've used for years. If I have a problem, I will ask the universe for guidance, and then listen to where I need to go to find the answer. I decided I wanted to read about writing, and I grabbed the first book I saw. 

I grabbed Karen S. Wiesner's book From First Draft to Finished Novel. I've had the book a while, and never read it all the way through.

It's actually a good book. She has examples to help you understand her technique. Funny enough she mentioned a character that was afraid of dogs. I laughed, thinking wouldn't it be funny if my heroine had a phobia of dogs. Not a shoo dog, get away from me phobia, but an all get out, terrified, gonna pee in your pants phobia. Oh, the hero is a Canine Shifter, so it would complicate things big time.

So, what was my first reaction. Nope, can't do it. That would be way to hard to write. Then I think of a picture I saw of Stephen King and a quote that says not to stop writing something because it is too emotional or too hard. (don't think I quoted exactly, but it was something like that)

So, there is my challenge. My book isn't right as it is, so why not completely change it?

I started about a week ago. I have scrapped several scenes and completely rewritten them, and changed minor details in others. I'm about one quarter of the way done.

My goal is to finish the draft by the end of the month and have it edited by before Christmas. 

I'll keep you informed of my progress.

Yay, gotta get my 2 hours done for today.