National Novel Writing Month 2020 was a success! I “won” by writing and surpassing the 50,000 word goal during the month of November. I have a first draft of my BOOK #1 in the young adult trilogy I have been working on since last November. It has been a struggle. I consistently want my work to be perfect as is, and I know that is not the goal of this challenge. The goal is to create, and anything else comes after. Sometimes it is hard to remember that first drafts are crap, that it will get better. Trying to keep that in mind. Continuing to work on this project after a bit of time away with books #2 and #3.
NaNoWriMo Half Point Update
National Novel Writing Month is at the halfway point on November 15th. At the end of week two of writing, I have written just over 28,000 words, beating the 25,000 word halfway point a few days early. It feels good to be getting so much done. While it has been challenging in some ways, creatively speaking, it is rolling along nicely. I am learning new things about my characters, and making discoveries as I go along. I need to keep in mind, a draft is at least something, and revision will come later. It is hard for me to press on and not keep revising as I go, but that isn’t the point of NaNo. The point is to get as much down as possible, and revision will come later. Looking forward to hitting 50K words by the end of the month!
Scary Movie Watch List
Spooky Season is currently upon us. I love writing spooky stories, and I equally love watching them! Every October I watch scary films or TV shows. Usually my movie for the day is not decided until the actual day I watch it, but I do keep a list of things I would like to watch. Check out what I have watched this October so far. I try to watch at least one movie or show a day. Some of these are re-watches for me.
Friday the 13th the Series: Season One Episodes
Sinister
Sinister II
Eerie
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Before I Wake
Polaroid
The Binding
The Evil Dead
Hubie Halloween
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Session 9
1BR
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
NaNoWriMo 2020
It is September, and that means I am gearing up to do NaNoWriMo again this year in November! 2019 was my first year participating, though I had heard grumblings about it for years.
For those of you who are not aware, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is an event that has taken place every November since 1999. The goal of the event is to write 50,000 words in the month of November for a new novel. It is a lot of work, I will not lie, but the pride and happiness I felt finishing was worth it. This kick started my writing in a big way after a period of feeling burned out and bored.
The first draft I created has become a huge project for me, and I am thankful I gave the event a chance even though I was terrified to try it. One of the best parts of NaNoWriMo for me was tracking my word count on their website and doing their virtual write ins on You Tube where they will give writing prompts that can help get the creative juices flowing. Popular authors create pep talks and give writing ideas and exercises. There is also a large community of forums, as well as regional groups you can join to connect with other writers. Sign up and announce a new project today at https://nanowrimo.org/
For those writers in your life who are under 18, there is also a special program at https://ywp.nanowrimo.org/