Scribbled Fiction

If NaNoWriMo isn't going well for you this year, then I'm here to tell you that you're not alone. I've heard a lot of people say this year that NaNoWriMo isn't going as well or feeling as good as it has in previous years. And I've been feeling the same way. Personally, I just thought that my hardcore, crazy, 14-day writing prep sesh in October had burnt me out a little bit. I thought I was just tired. And maybe that's still the case. (Isn't going to stop me from finishing, though!!) But having heard so many people say that they felt the same feeling as I did, I'm now realizing that it may be due to just the way the rest of this year has gone. Basically, all our brains are burnt out. Let's face it, we've all gone through a lot this year. I don't even need to begin the list. Everyone else is already done that. But the plain and simple truth is that all this stress and worry and anxiety and turmoil may be putting a huge strain on our minds a...

What's up! It's the first NaNoWriMo update! Overview: Overall, it's going pretty good! I'm finding I only really have enough time to write about 2k a day when I was hoping to do a little more because I'm hoping the novel will end up longer than 60k, but with work and other responsibilities and just trying to keep my life afloat, that's what we've got, and I'm grateful for that much! :) This post is late because it's the second one that I've totally forgotten about until the last minute! Isn't that fun! I really did mean to do better, but yesterday was a hectic day, and the last thing on my mind was this post, sorry. Current word count: Plot wise, we're currently sitting in the first half of the second act, which is probably where I should be considering that we're already a third of the way through the month! If you're nanoing with me, well done! You've made it this far! Keep going. As far as the word count, as of right now(th...

October 2020 was honestly a mess. A mess that is funny to look back on but definitely not something I would want to relive. You will get more information on what I mean below, because otherwise this is just going to turn into a long infodump, and who would want one of those when you can have the same information sorted into tidy categories?? Writing, I think, is where the worst struggles were. In the first half of October, I thought I was doing good. I had all the character profiles under control finally, and I pretty much knew everything I needed to know except for the plotting. I really wanted to get everything done in the first part of October so I could have some chill time in between prepping and starting NaNoWriMo. Easy enough, right? Wrong. I already knew that my family was going on vacation in the middle of October, and I was prepared for that. Sure, I did a little prep work on that trip because I needed to, and I was a little stressed because I was trying to do plot structure ...

 To be honest, I really didn't want to do this the way it's turning out, but it's not looking like I have many options. Please don't click away, just read the post. It isn't long. The long and the short of it is that in November, I won't be doing 2 intense, in-depth blog posts every week, due to work and NaNoWriMo stuff and just trying to keep my life afloat. September and October felt like a frantic rush where my to-do list was so long I kept forgetting things, so I want to avoid as much of that as I can come November. I'm only human, but I want to do better. Which is why I'm parring down on some things during November so that hopefully I can feel in control of my life again. But posting will resume in the regular way in December, don't worry! So how's posting going to work in November? Basically, Tuesday posts are going to be NaNoWriMo updates, containing my word counts, how it's going, and ohoho maybe even snippets! I'll also be checki...

 Here we go again with putting everyone in categories! There are probably a million that I've missed, but here are some of the most common or most prominent kinds of people who participate in NaNoWriMo. Here we go! 1. Doesn't have an outline and freezes halfway through Honestly, I sometimes feel this way even with an outline 2. Jumps in at the last minute Me watching from a distance to see if you can make it 3. Is ready with a18-point plan months ahead of time Mad respect, my friend 4. Writes 80k in week 1 Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we all hate you. Seriously, why are you here? 5. Falls behind and has to write 249986893498 words in the final week Only the spirits of good fortune can save you now 6. Steady steady wins the race I'm proud of you, too. You're the normal one XD 7. The 5 am writer Whether you get up at 5 am to write or if you write until 5 am, this is what you look like to the rest of us 8. The 'I wanna drop out and take my time, this novel i...

NaNoWriMo prep is a real task. For some of us(the ones who really want to get the plot right this time to minimize plot rewriting later on, aka me), it may even be a chore. But whether or not we like it, we can all agree on one thing: It's a big workload. The character prep. The world building. The plotting. The outlining. The rearranging of the schedule to make extra hours for writing time. It's a lot, and you have to get EVERYTHING ready before November first. It's a lot. And it's easy to overlook some things, some fine details, maybe even some spreadsheets or plans that might be helpful during the month of November. So I'm going to help you out if I can. Here are a few things you might be forgetting: a game plan It's so important to have a plan for NaNoWriMo. I don't care if you're not a planning person. You need to be ready  if you want to finish the marathon. Figure out what parts of your day can be shortened, what things can be put on hold for a mo...

   I feel like 2020 is fastforwarding super hard as we get close to the end of the year. Like, wasn't it just May? I feel like we just had the 4th of July. And I'm definitely not ready to start October. But it is what it is, and we keep moving forward. September wasn't bad. For me it was mostly just a steady stream of work and editing, editing, editing. I've been working a lot of evening shifts lately, which basically means it's a mad scramble to get stuff done in the morning before I have to go to work, but I'm grateful to have that time at all.  I almost completely forgot about this until I was referencing my August wrapup for this, but I took a writing break for a week at the beginning of September. I just felt so burnt out writing-wise, and every time I sat down to write, it felt like such an exhausting chore. And the good news is, it worked! When I came back from a week of break, I felt ready to take it all on again, and like I said, writing has been going ...