Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Things I"ve been doing to prepare for NaNoWriMo

1. Took a small break from writing and did other creative things like draw, make pop-ups, etc.

2. Polished and spent lavish time on my two outlines using the Snow Flake Method and Phase Drafting. It was fun giving myself permission to spend more time outlining instead of telling myself it was just a distraction and I should be writing instead. This is the one time of year I don't have to feel guilty for indulging in back story and extraneous facts about my novel.

3. Reading more books, listening to more podcasts about writing.

4. Cleaned up my writing space and hung a word-count chart on my cork board. I even armed it with little golden stars at the ready for each time I complete a daily goal.

5. Took some pictures I hope to turn into banner art for my novel to be displayed in my signature on the NaNoWriMo forums. I'll post it here when it's done.

6. Ignored most of my RSS feeds in an effort not to overwhelm myself with the writing world.

I want to hear from you about your writing!
In the comments below, post the following:

Title of WIP:
Genre:
How you prepare for NaNoWriMo:

Here's mine.
Title: Dragons of Windsor
Genre: Historical Adventure Fiction
How I prepare: see above.

5 comments:

  1. It sounds like you're doing a great job preparing for NaNo. Here's mine:

    Title: Dandelion Fields

    Genre: Contemporary fiction (literary, maybe?)

    How I prepare: This is my first year, but I've prepared many ways. First, character sketches. I have one MC and several SC's. Chapter by chapter outline, amounting to several typewritten pages. Research on setting and photography (because one of my characters is a photographer). I like your idea of a word-count chart. I might think of doing something like that.

    Good luck with NaNo!

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  2. My current WIP: Not Her Mothers Fate
    Genre: Womens fiction
    How I prepare: I'm making a list of all the people I know who are participating and committing to checking in with them as often as I can. I'm not participating because I couldn't come up with an idea.

    I like that you've given yourself permission to take a breather before November. You'll get nowhere in reaching your goal if you do not take the time for a little self maintenance.

    Good luck.

    .........dhole

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cindy - You just gave me exciting chills. I love prepping for nanowrimo. Didn't think about character sketches....hmmmmm......I might try my hand at that before Nov. 1st.

    Donna - Thanks for supporting us even though you're not participating. It means a lot. :D
    I look forward to hearing from you and reading your blog during November. Have fun!

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  4. Title of WIP: Karma Police
    Genre: YA fantasy/steampunk
    How you prepare for NaNoWriMo: Make myself blog every day, and be alert for shiny ideas. I'm trying to define my MCs, and get to know who they are. I should be working on my plot though...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Snazel. Thanks for dropping by!
    Yes, Shiny ideas are always great fun to come by.

    ReplyDelete