December 1, 2010

Even if you didn’t participate in this year’s November National Novel Writing Month, you can still have access to their NaNoWriMo pep talks that were sent throughout November to participants. Many of them are excellent!

Here’s what it says on their website: “We recruited an all-star team of authors to share their advice and thoughts on writing. Their pep talks will be emailed to participants throughout November. We hope their insight and encouragement help you on your way!”

Here you’ll find pep talks from some of the finest and best-selling writers of our time. Some are serious nuts-and-bolts advice talks while others are tongue-in-cheek funny. Either way, they’re an encouragement to those of us who are challenged on a regular basis with our writing.

Here are a few quotes to whet your appetite:

From Chris Baty: “Incite change. If your story is losing momentum, juice it up by inflicting some major changes on your characters. Crash the spaceship. End the marriage. Buy the monkey. Change is scary because we have to figure out what comes next. But feeling afraid is ten times better than feeling bored, and your book will benefit from your risk-taking. Go big this week! You won’t regret it.”

From Aimee Bender: “What we hold in our heads before we write is RARELY in sync with what shows up on the page, and if I were standing and saying this in front of you with a megaphone, I would say this next part especially loud and clear: The Page is All We Get. What shows up on the page? Well, that is your writing. The full-blown perfectly-whole concept you may have in your head? Is just thought.”

From Holly Black: “Here are some things I wish someone had told me when I was writing my first book. I want to say them to you in the hopes they will help and encourage you. Even if you’ve heard them before, it doesn’t hurt to be reminded.” And then she follows this with seven tips that are right on the money.

From Lindsey Grant: “You’ve been carrying around a story for a while now and you finally started writing it. Getting started is hard enough, but then you went on to write for a full week, bringing your story to life and making your noveling dream a reality. You’re well on your way, writer, and you have come so far already! Don’t let your inner editor convince you that this isn’t worth your time, or that you should start over, or-even worse-that you should start over some other time. For this novel there is no “later.” There is only now.”

From John Green: “All of us harbor secret hopes that a magnificent novel will tumble out of the sky and appear on our screens, but almost universally, writing is hard, slow, and totally unglamorous.”

From Mercedes Lackey: “I can’t think of anything more intimidating than a blank page. Especially the first blank page of a new project. Now, after twenty-mumble years of writing, I have a lot of things to get me past that…”

From Lemony Snicket: “Struggling with your novel? Paralyzed by the fear that it’s nowhere near good enough? Feeling caught in a trap of your own devising? You should probably give up.” Very funny letter follows!

So if you’re feeling sluggish and need some writing pep, check out these terrific pep talks. It just may be the jumpstart you need!

December 1, 2008

Up until 9 p.m. last night, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Everything in me wanted to watch TV and eat chocolate or bury myself in a good mystery (and eat chocolate). But shortly after 9 p.m. I did a quick word count and realized I’d actually gone over the required 50,000 words. I quit in the middle of the scene and cheered. And got the chocolate.

Bits and Pieces, Inch by Inch

Until Week Four, I was on track with my word count, and my plan for Thanksgiving week had been in place since October. I would write three hours Thanksgiving morning, cook my part of the feast and head to my daughter’s for the whole family gathering at 1:00 p.m, then go to my husband’s family gathering that night. On Friday I expected to be in the car eight hours going to see more family, then in the car on Sunday eight hours coming home. My laptop was ready with an extra battery. I’d written volumes on this trip one other time, and I was actually looking forward to it.

The night before Thanksgiving all plans changed. No trip. No driving on Friday and Sunday, giving me sixteen hours with my laptop to finish the final 12,000 words needed to meet the NaNoWriMo challenge. Instead, we’d be home, and someone requiring entertaining and feeding would be here too.

No Way, José!

I could see no way to meet the deadline with the change of plans. I finally decided I would write as much as I could, sandwiching in the writing time between meals and talking and going places. I would get up real early and write also. For several days, I wrote two hours while the rest of the world slept. I snatched bits of time here and there, sometimes up to an hour if they napped or ran an errand. I plotted in my head while I cooked and while on a walk in a park. Then at my next opportunity, I dashed into the office and typed up a scene. I didn’t bother posting the word count for several days, knowing all those bits and pieces couldn’t be adding up to much.

Boy, was I surprised!

By Saturday night when I added up the hit-and-miss chapters, I was within 5,000 words of making the NaNoWriMo challenge! After church on Sunday, I was home by 1:30. Done eating by 2:30, and the house was empty shortly after that. I decided to try to make the goal, if I could do it without killing my neck and back. I wrote (badly), took short breaks, ate a ton of cheese and crackers, and finally finished after 9 p.m.

The Time Lie

Unknowingly, I had fallen for the “time lie,” as Julia Cameron calls it in her book, The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life. “The myth that we must have ‘time’–more time–in order to create is a myth that keeps us from using the time we do have… Years as a single mother, a full-time teacher, and full-time fiction writer taught me to grab for time to write instead of wait for time… Grabbing works.” Later she wrote about living her life with family and friends, filling in the blank spots with writing, instead of the other way around. “I like writing to be more portable and flexible. I like writing to be something that fits into cracks and crannies. I don’t like it to dominate my life. I like it to fill my life.”

I wrote like that for twenty years, when my children were babies and toddlers and as they grew. The family came first, including everything that went into keeping a house and husband happy. But when my last “baby” went off to college in 2000, I finally was able to structure my writing the way I wanted to, writing early in the day in big chunks, leaving marketing or teaching or housework/meals for later. I realized during Thanksgiving that I had become rather rigid. I was delighted that I could still remember how to “write in the cracks and crannies” when I needed to.

I’m glad the NaNoWriMo month is over. I’m thrilled to have finished rough drafts of one book and half of another juvenile novel, which I plan to finish drafting by Christmas. My desk is piled rather high with stuff to attend to. And unlike others who conquered all their Christmas shopping on Black Friday, I haven’t even begun. But I’m really glad I did the challenge in November. I plan to do it again next year. I’d be glad to have some company! Anyone care to join me?