Goals, Goals, Goals…
Ever since Nanowrimo, I’ve been trying to finish my manuscript. By “trying to finish,” I really mean thinking a lot about how I should be writing, but not actually doing a lot of writing. The fact that I have left a manuscript unfinished just adds to my guilt that, despite my best and reoccuring intentions, I never manage to keep up the level of writing I do in November once the month is over.
I always intend to. I always say “I can do it during November, so clearly it’s possible—I just have to keep this up every day!” Yeah, right. I realize real authors are supposed to write every day. I realize it, and I want to be that person. But consistently, I’m not.
My new goal (yes, more goals) is to at least touch one of my projects every day. It’s ok if that just means opening the document and staring at it for awhile. It’s ok if all I do is make some world-building notes. Because once I’m on that document, I’ve made the big first step towards actually working on it. I can trust that most days, I’ll end up actually getting something done.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from doing Nanowrimo for the last six years, is that once you stop a project, it gets really hard to pick it up again. Days go by. Weeks. Months. And finally, years. Now it’s just a half-finished document somewhere, and your writing style and skills have changed so much that in order to “get back to it,” you basically have to start all over again.
So, that’s my goal. Not a word count or a scene count or a set number of hours in my desk chair. Just opening a document, and seeing what happens.
Hello, Tumblr
So for awhile now I’ve been meaning to sink my teeth into Tumblr, and I’m finally doing it. I sort of think Tumblr works best when you have a specific project to focus on, so my tumblr is specifically dedicated to my WIP. On here I usually refer to it as “Whispers,” but for the purposes of the tumblr, it’s being called Code Name: Ghost Boyfriend. I think this just makes a snappier title for a blog, and it lets me explore the fun side of the story. Besides, Ghost Boyfriend was the original working title, and I still kind of like it better than Whispers.
So, if you’re curious, click here and check out my tumblr.
I’ll keep it updated with photos, videos, anecdotes, and anything else that inspires my story. Expect lots of pictures of cemeteries. I never said I was normal!
Winner!
Just ‘won’ Nanowrimo, with a manuscript weighing in at 50,032 words. This is the first year I’ve finished a year early, and I was even behind from the beginning. I couldn’t have done it without my weekly write-in at Case Study Coffee. You guys rock!
I promise some real post about this later, but for now, I’m just celebrating. Woooohoooo!
National Novel…Outlining Month?
By week two a lot of people realize they’re just not ready for Nanowrimo this year. Either they fall too far behind, or they realize they weren’t as in love with their stories as they thought, or life jumps out and gets in the way. It happens. So if it happens to you, don’t despair. You may not be aiming for 50,000 words anymore, but you can aim for something a bit more obtainable: a really rocking outline.
I really like the Snowflake Method. It was introduced to me by some friends in my writing group, and it’s a really detailed way to figure out where you’re stories going, down to the smallest details. I usually don’t go all the way with it, but I’ve only used it a few times, so I never say never. It’s great if you’re a “plotter” instead of a “pantser.” These are terms that get thrown around the writing community a lot, but if you’re not familiar, a “plotter” is someone who needs to know where they’re going when they write, and a “pantser” prefers to just write and figure it out when they get there. I’m more of a pantser, and I think that makes Nanowrimo easier for me than for plotters. I don’t need to know where I’m going, or I need only a vague idea, so I can just jump right in. If you’ve found you’re more of a plotter, the Snowflake Method of outlining may work for you. (if you’re a pantser, you may find that the Snowflake Method is more appropriate when you’re ready for revising—that’s when I use it)
The Snowflake Method was created by author Randy Ingermanson, and it’s based on the idea that you start with something very basic, and keep adding small parts to it until it becomes something beautiful—like a fractal snowflake. Or a great novel.
The Week Two Blues
If this is your first year Nanoing, you may not be prepared for a little thing that happens when week two rolls around. This week is notoriously difficult, for everyone. You’ve run out of your initial rush of enthusiasm, you’ve probably blown through that beginning part of your story that you could visualize really well, and you’re not yet to the murky plot points you see in the future. Maybe you’re behind, and feeling discouraged.
First off, know that you’re not alone. Everyone gets the Week Two Blues. It’s just part of the natural pacing of Nano. Week 1 is fun while you’re high on adrenaline and coffee, and Week 2 is when reality hits in. I can’t offer perfect fixes, but here are some general tips to keep yourself from sinking.
1. Don’t give up. It can only beat you if you let it, so just keep setting that time aside, keep putting pen to paper or fingers to key pads.
2. Don’t get depressed. You’re not a bad writer or uninspired or a total failure at life. In fact if you’re feeling the Week Two Blues, that’s because you’re doing the right thing. I’ve heard real, honest-to-god-published authors talk about this happening at a certain point in each of their manuscripts, too. So it’s not just you, and it’s not just Nanowrimo. It’s part of writing.
Thoughts From KidLit Con
I had a great time at the conference. I ended up doing just as much networking for RainTown as I did for Whirlabout (and even some for Ooligan), but that’s ok. It’s all part of what I do, after all. And we made a lot of good contacts anyway. One thing I was struck by, however, was how weird it can be to be the only publisher in a room full of authors and bloggers.
There is a certain stigma against publishers, and a certain tendency to bad-mouth them when they’re not there. To a certain degree, I think this is healthy, at least for authors. It’s good to have a safe space where you can just complain to your peers. And there are things that publisher’s do that can drive authors crazy, just like there are things authors do that can drive publisher’s crazy. It’s part of co-existing. Hopefully we’re doing this because we love books, but we’re also all in this game to make money, and sometimes our interests don’t actually overlap. Sometimes what’s good for a publisher isn’t good for an author, which is why it’s so important for authors to understand how to read their contracts (even if they have an agent–sometimes what’s good for an agent isn’t always what’s good for an author, either) and for publisher’s to respect the authors they’re working with. That’s why communication is important. It’s also why a little venting is healthy.
However, it’s frustrating to see bloggers and authors blame publishers for things that simply aren’t their fault, or at least not within their control. There wasn’t a whole lot of mud-slinging at this conference, fortunately. Most people were pretty respective of publishing. What I did encountered occasionally was ignorance about the industry, which is no ones fault really, it’s just interesting to see. There are loads of things I take for granted now, that I didn’t have any clue about just two years ago. It’s mainly good to be reminded as a publisher that there are a lot of things about the industry that aren’t clear to people on the outside.
KidLit Con, Here We Come!
Tomorrow, I leave for KidLit Con bright and early, along with some of my friends. We’ll be road-tripping up, four giggling girls in a car, but that’s not the most exciting part. The real exciting part is that this will be my first function as part of my new business. Yes, that’s right, the secret project is finally being revealed!
My friend Stephanie Kroll and I are starting a social media consulting agency for young adult authors, called Whirlabout New Media. What’s a social media consulting agency, you ask? Well, we work directly with YA authors, and help them figure our the best way that they can use social media towards their own goals. Not everyone takes to twitter right away, and not everyone gets facebook. But there’s something out there for anyone, and our job is to help authors find what fits them.
We’re not really set up to take clients yet. This is what’s called a “soft launch.” We’re starting to get our name out there, but we haven’t started doing business yet. In the meantime, you can read all about us on our shiny new website. We’ll be keeping our blog and current social media accounts (twitter and facebook) updated often, so it’s a good time to start keeping your eyes on us. In a few months, we’ll launch for real, and then the game is on.
Mind the Nails
I’m doing some work to the site right now, trying to get the new look sorted out. If it looks kind of odd right now, that’s why. Should have everything up and running by tomorrow night!
First Draft, Check!
Earlier this week I finished my rough draft of Whispers. And there was much rejoicing.
The draft topped out at just over 60,000 words. Funny how it took me a month to write 50,000 words, and nine months to write the other 10,000. But, that’s the magic of Nanowrimo.
It’s been a long time since I finished a rough draft. Well, I rough draft I was somewhat happy with, that is. For Nanowrimo 2009, I wrote an entire draft of Falling in Love with the Wind, but I was never really happy with that story. That’s a topic for another day, but basically even months after “finishing” it, I still wasn’t sure what the story was really about. I recently had an epiphany about that, but again, that’s a whole other story.
So the last first draft I really finished was for Nanowrimo 2007. That was also the first year I actually “won” Nanowrimo (read: made it to 50,000 words within the month). That story was Special Blend, and I thought it was done. Not perfect, not without need of editing, but done. How very wrong I was.
Now that Whispers is through it’s first stage, I’m bringing Special Blend back. It needs a lot of work. If you follow me on twitter, you’re gonna see me doing a lot of #writingpartys where I’m just outlining. Since I’ve already written the story once, I mostly know what’s going to happen, so I’m trying to outline it before I really delve into rewriting it. For those of you who are curious, I’m using the Snowflake Method. I’ll talk more about that in a later post, but so far it’s been very helpful. In a few months I’ll get to do this with Whispers, and I’m really excited for that.
Special Blend, which I’m currently just calling “Blake and Logan” until I come up with a title that actually fits, is about two college students making a bunch of mistakes and falling in love. When I wrote it originally, they were a few years older then me. Now they’re a few years younger. I’m not sure how I’ll go about writing it once I’m done with the outline (I may start from scratch, or I may drag out the old draft and see if anything is salvagable), but I’m really enjoying the revision process so far. I’m never really carried a story from first draft to second draft, but this story is a great place go start. It’s really the story I’ve thought most about, and it’s undergone the most changes.
This post was supposed to be about Whispers, but I guess I’ll save that for next time.
Perfecting My Multi-Tasking Skills
Life after graduation is weird. I have way more free time now than a few months ago, when I was working myself to death finishing my graduate porfolio, but I’m by no means idle. Doing a lot of good work for RainTown, and working on Special Project (which I should hopefully be announcing in a real way soon).
Today, I feel like I’m doing a million things at once. Some of them include:
-updating my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts so that I look Professional, Hire-able, and Awesome
-managing my spending habits and building a budget (using Mint.com, which is a pretty cool site)
-purchasing a domain name so my website (this website) looks more professional
-registering for KidLit Con 2011
-buying Sweetly, by Jackson Pearce, from Powells
-lurking on twitter
And that’s not even counting things like listening to music, making lunch, etc.
According to a study in Psychology Today, multitasking actually makes each task take longer, not to mention makes you a little crazy. This doesn’t really surprise me. I actually usually hate multitasking. I certainly can’t focus on more than one thing at a time. A good way to make me totally wig out is for more than one person to try to talk to me at once. I get crazy and annoyed, really fast. But, when it comes to the internet, I don’t give it a second thought. I think it’s because while I may have multiple tabs open at the same time, I’m really only focusing on one at a time. I may go back and forth, or I may switch to another one to look up a reference or find a link, but I’m usually only focused on one real task at a time.
For instance, I know I can’t multitask while I write. I normally have music going, but I have to turn it off when I write–or, at least make sure its classical music, techno, or something else without lyrics. Ambient noise is fine, as long as I don’t have to think about it.
I’m multitasking today because I don’t really have a set goal. There are a lot of things I want to get done today, and some of them are very related, but I don’t have something specific (like an assignment or an essay) to complete by a specific due-date. Such is working from home, I suppose. If I’m going to get anywhere as a writer, I need to be able to set my own deadlines.
I’ll pencil that in for tomorrow.
Lucy works and blogs for RainTown Press, a small YA press in Portland OR. She loves reading, writing, and new media, and co-runs a social media consulting firm called Whirlabout New Media. She's an avid writer of YA, as well as a reader, and is currently working on two manuscripts.
