The last few NaNoWriMos I've participated in, as well as all the manuscripts I've written to date, have been "pantser" novels. As in "fly by the seat of my pants" novels. As in, "sit down at the keyboard and hope something comes out" novels. Lucky for me, things have been coming out. Well, they had … Continue reading Outline Outline Who’s Got the Outline
After my writer's retreat in late spring, I pretty much stopped doing things. Well, creative things anyway. I stopped writing. Granted, I had just put that final polish on Hot Mess #1, now no longer a hot mess. Hot Mess #2 had its first read-through and has a rat's nest of a plot hole, and … Continue reading Writer’s Lincoln Log
My fiancee and I joke that I need to "practice relaxing." Unfortunately, it's one of those jokes that's funny because it's true. I tend to cram every spare second with some kind of obligation. 90% of the time, they're stuff I want to do: professional networking, friends, family, personal goals like writing or running. I'm … Continue reading Writing and Relaxing
My family is a big believer in routines, as most humans are. My mom used to start every morning on the couch drinking a cup of hot tea and watching The Weather Channel. This was complimentary to my morning routine, which involved rolling out of bed at the last possible moment, so I regularly shouted, … Continue reading A Writer’s Routine
April is Camp NaNoWriMo! I have set a goal for myself of 30 hours of time spent doing writing-related things. When I set the goal, I thought that would be 100% revision time. Now that it's April 3rd and I only have a handful of chapters left to edit, I'm beginning to realize it's not … Continue reading What to do with Camp NaNoWriMo
I used to write first thing in the morning. It was quite a delightful routine, truth be told. I'd wake up at 5, let the dog out, feed the cat, make myself a cup of tea, and then settle in to write for about an hour. Eventually the cat would join me and insist I … Continue reading Squeezing In the Revisions
“And what about those [writers' workshop] critiques, by the way? How valuable are they? Not very, in my experience, sorry. A lot of them are maddeningly vague. I love the feeling of Peter's story,someone may say. It had something... a sense of I don't know... there's a loving kind of you know... I can't exactly describe it.... … Continue reading When Are Workshops Helpful?
