Having a Plan

Because I have a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, I’ve been in various management positions over the years. I’ve learned about the importance of having a business plan, of having short and long term goals, and keeping yourself responsible if you don’t make those goals.

Last year, I made the decision to treat my writing like a job. I wasn’t going to treat it like a hobby anymore, writing when I wanted to, or if I wanted to. I was going to have a plan, with long term and short term goals. That was in October.

My long term goals:

Focus on publishing.

Write more.

Then I created short term goals to accomplish those. In fact, I made a schedule for myself, one that I was going to stick to. In the month of October, I was going to outline for NaNoWriMo. In November, obviously I was going to write Book 1 of a brand new story I’d come up with. I told myself to spend at least 2-3 hours a day on writing.

When I first started, I didn’t think I’d be able to do 2-3 hours’ worth of planning in the month of November. Boy, was I wrong! Giving myself a time limit, as well as a plan gave me the chance to explore this world in a way I never imagined possible. I knew my characters inside and out, I knew the setting, and I had a very detailed outline. With it, I wrote book 1 in 14 days. In the next 14, I wrote book 2, which I wasn’t even expecting to do.

In December, I sat down and planned out the rest of the year.

December 10-February 15th. Rewrite Book 1 (I figured giving myself two months would be enough.)

February 16-March 30th – Rewrite Book 2 and send out to betas. (I was a little more ambitious, since I only gave myself a month and a half)

April – second revision of Book 1 during Camp NaNoWriMo (I figured that this wouldn’t be as extensive of a revision, so it wouldn’t need as much time)

May-June – Rewrite Book 2.

July – final revision of Book 1, fine tuning, send out to betas again

August – start sending out Queries of book 1

September – (didn’t have a plan for September)

October – Prepare for NaNoWriMo

November – Write Book 3

I love having a plan, and knowing what I need to focus on. Obviously, I haven’t followed it completely. I finished revisions of Book 1 by January 30^th, which meant I started revisions on book 2 much sooner than expected. Also, in May, instead of editing book 2, I ended up doing a cut edit of book 1, and polishing it so that I was ready to send it out to agents. By that point, I’d already sent it to two rounds of betas, as well as critters on Scribophile. In June, I started sending out queries and working on outlining for book 3 and preparing book 2 for CampNaNoWriMo in July.

Since November 1, I’ve written or edited 640,181 words. I’ve done three revisions of Book 1, and two of book 2. I have a clear outline of book 3, and I’ve even started outlining an unrelated book, which I hope to write in November, along with book 3.

The year before, I’d written one first draft, and done three revisions on different novels. I’ve already exceeded that, and we’re not even back to November.

Having a plan works as long as you keep yourself responsible. I don’t use a lot of rewards, but I’m the kind of person that needs to keep to a schedule, even if it’s self imposed. 

Letting the Story Take the Lead

In October, I made my plans for November. I was going to write book one of this series, and so when I was outlining, I did a vague outline for all three books, a fill in the blank outline for the first two, and a detailed outline for book one.

Then November actually came and I finished book one in fourteen days. I didn’t want to stop the momentum, so I moved onto book two with only a slightly less-than-vague outline to go by. This means that as I’m writing, I have to figure out ways to jump from this plot point to the next. As can be expected, the results have been all over the place.

In the past week, I’ve learned more about the belief system of the world, especially concerning death. Apparently, their limbo is called the Yuchbish, and there’s a dragon in there. It kind of blindsided me, but I decided to see where it went. I still have yet to decide if it’s going to stay, but there’s some good scenes in there.

I think the biggest issue that I have is that I’m never quite sure where to proceed next. Obviously it’s not hindering my word count. I’m currently 50,000 words into book two, and hoping to finish it by the end of the month. But I felt like there was an issue with the end of the book. Obviously, it’s the middle book, so the biggest thing to watch for is that the whole book doesn’t become that sagging middle. Yesterday, while driving to work, I had an epiphany. I wasn’t treating it like its own book. I wasn’t focused on having the action move forward, or to having a climax at the end.

Obviously, if it’s a story worth telling, even if it’s in the middle of the series, it needs to have a clear purpose, as well as a clear climax. Something to give the readers some kind of resolution before moving into the next issue and forward in the overarching plot.

Now that I’ve figured out the climax of the book, as well as the conflict, I’m confident that the story and I are now on the same page. Here’s to seven more days! Hope everyone else is doing well!

Week 1 Report

I love NaNoWriMo. Can I just say that over and over? NaNoWriMo is the best part of the year. I love the comradery, the groups, and the interactions between writers. It’s never as active as it is during November.

This year has been a little bit different. I spent all of October obsessively, yes, obsessively outlining and planning for this novel. I don’t think I’ve ever been as prepared as I have this year. I knew my characters, their backstories, their fears, and their goals… I even knew how they talked. I had a detailed map drawn, and thanks to a fantastic geography teacher, my map was drawn correctly.

My magic system was detailed, the rules created before writing a single word. The foods they eat, the way they travel.

I was ready.

I’ve planned before, but this has gone beyond anything I’ve ever done. My Story Bible is bursting with information.

The difference is visible. The first days of the month and I’m already 32,000 words into the novel. My average word count per day is over 6,000.

Once I did all the preparation, this thing has been flowing like I can’t believe. Not only that, I really want to keep writing. It takes a lot of effort to pry myself away from the computer so that I can do the laundry or cook dinner. At this rate, I might finish the entire first book (since my 32,000 is halfway through page 3 of an 11 page outline for the first book), and possibly get the outlines done for the other two books.

So that’s me! Fingers flying, and excited to keep going! How about the rest of you? How are you doing with NaNoWriMo?

Plot or Background?

My little NaNoWriMo group has been expanding lately. We’ve had a lot of new writers coming out of the woodwork, which isn’t too surprising, considering that we’re getting close to November.

I love the personal interactions we have. My Co-ML created a Facebook group a few years back, and we enjoy sharing writing tips, questions, and encouragement. Sometimes the advice is good, and sometimes, I need to bite my tongue to keep from getting into an argument.

Obviously, everyone has their own opinion on writing, and what makes a great book.

We had a person recently ask advice on how to expand her novel. She said that she has found that her story is usually too short for NaNoWriMo, and she doesn’t get to the 50,000 words before her story stops.

I told her to add some extra plot points. The characters have to get from A to B, but that doesn’t mean they get there in a straight line. There’s always something that could go wrong. More trials, misunderstandings, even added conflicts. I know that as a reader, I don’t mind how the author gets there, as long as the story is good and I’m taken along for the ride.

Unfortunately, someone else had a different idea. Her suggestion was that instead of building up the plot, to add a lot of detail about characters and their background.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with building your characters and background. It’s important, especially if you want your character to relate to them. But to have extra background stories so that your story’s word count goes up?

The thought makes me cringe. I’ve read books like that. Usually, I don’t finish them.

How about the rest of you? How do you make sure that your story has the length it needs?

What I Learned From Finishing My NaNoWriMo Novel

Remember that novel I started in November?  I finally finished it today! 

The first 50,000 words were easy.  Probably because I was on a deadline.  November, I had my writing group, I was motivated, and the writing sprints made it even easier.

Then December came along and all of the ‘life’ I put on hold came back.  Like cleaning the house and doing laundry.  And work got a little chaotic as well. 

But I did it.  Three weeks later than I was hoping, but I made it!  This is novel number 5 that I’ve written from beginning to end, and it’s unique in several different ways.  All of my other novels are YA Fantasy with magic and romance.  There’s none of that in this novel.  It’s a modern day story of a woman whose dad gets diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  I knew it was going to be hard to write, and even knowing that, I’m still amazed by the work and effort that it took to finish. 

It’s a good idea to try something new every once in a while.  We all get into ruts, and unless we push ourselves, we’ll never grow and learn.

So here’s what I learned from my newest novel, the Purple WIP:

1.  I can write adults.  I’ve never had a main character over the age of about 25.  Jen is almost 40 with three kids, and her oldest is 15.  I know how to think like a teenager because I’ve experienced it.  Putting myself in the mindset of someone older than me was foreign, though we figured each other out by the end.

2. It’s really tricky writing ambiguous endings.  My other novels had a clear cut ending.  They achieved their goals, they overcame their obstacles, and they lived happily ever after.  I’m a huge fan of HEA.  But with Alzheimer’s, that’s not really an option.  One of the reasons that it took me so long to finish was because I didn’t know where the story ended. 

3. Writing in two languages is harder than it looks.  Jen is married to a Hispanic man, and they are asked to help a Spanish Congregation of their church.  She doesn’t speak Spanish, but there’s constant Spanish around her.  Trying to write a conversation between her and some of the sisters in her congregation was almost impossible, though probably very accurate.

4. It’s a lot harder to write real places.  When I make up a setting, I can decide where the cities are, what the weather’s like, and the history.  Not so much with real life fiction.  Though, I did learn how to spell Milwaukee, so that’s a plus, right?

5.  I enjoy writing YA Fantasy.  I think this was the biggest thing I learned.  It was a great experience, and I’ve been wanting to write an Alzheimer’s story for years now, but I don’t know that I’m going to branch out to write more of those kinds of novels.  One is good enough for me.

November

November is finally here!

For those of you who don’t know what that means, it means that writers across the world are frantically writing as fast as they can, trying to up their word count before time writes out.  It’s the time to forget about sentence structure, and about precision and accuracy.  It’s about getting those words onto the page.

Friday night, our NaNoWriMo group met at 11:30pm in the only place in our tiny little town that stayed open past midnight: McDonalds.  We met, talked, ate and then anxiously waited until the fateful time when we could begin writing.  Last year, this McDonalds was brand new, and it was a ghost town.  Not so this year.  I’d never seen so many people crammed into one space. 

Our group did a countdown to midnight, and the rest of McDonalds joined in, probably expecting something exciting to happen once we hit zero.  And something spectacular did happen.  Nine or ten different worlds opened up at midnight.  New characters came into being.  Stories that might never have been told began. 

Too bad those in McDonalds couldn’t see it.  All they saw was that a large group of people on computers counted down until zero and then began writing on their laptops like nothing happened.  I did get a pretty big chuckle out of their confusion.

This year, I’m trying something very different.  Writing is always about the journey, about trying something new.  Last year, I finished my fourth YA Fantasy novel, and I’ve got to say, it’s probably the best one that I’ve written.

This year, I decided to try something new.  I’m used to writing teenagers, love stories and fantastical worlds full of magic and danger.  I wanted to push myself to a new level.

This year, I’m writing about a woman in her 40’s.  She’s married and she already has three kids, one of them being a teenager.  She’s dealing with life itself, that after “happily ever after.”  One of the reason why I decided that I wanted to focus on this was because I wanted to write a book about Alzheimer’s.  It’s such an important topic, yet I keep seeing it romanticized. 

Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease, on all accounts.  It’s a change in personality to the point that when you’re interacting with that person who has Alzheimer’s, you’ll never get them back – not completely.  There may be moments that they seem to come out of their fog, but that moment becomes less and less common.  They slip into their own world, leaving those behind to learn to deal with the loss.

In the first two hours of November, I was able to write just about 2,700 words.  Almost immediately after, I went to sleep.  When I woke up, I saw this on my twitter feed.

How appropriate is that?  November is National Novel Writing Month and Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month.  I feel like the two of them are converging into my novel. 

That being said, I’m going to use the month of November to give you updates on how my novel is going, and I’m also going to be sharing my own experiences and knowledge about Alzheimer’s.  I would love to hear any of yours!  The best thing we can do to take care of those with Alzheimer’s is to advocate for them.  They’re the ones who don’t have a voice.

Happy November!

Why Writing is like Playing Soccer

I’ve been trying to focus on quite a few projects recently.  Between finishing up a revision of the Yellow WIP, doing a beta read through for a friend (I’ll let you know when it gets published!), preparing an activity for church this Tuesday (very excited!), trying out some new recipes for cakes and starting the prewriting for my newest novel, I’ve got quite a bit going on. 

The prewriting has been one of my favorite parts this week.  It’s been exhilarating and terrifying all at once.  As I was thinking about it, I started comparing it to soccer.

Probably because our house has been inundated with soccer ever since the world cup started.  There’s really no way to escape when you’re married to a South American.

Hubby playing soccer.  He's the one in the blue.

Since I started writing, I’ve always begun writing, I’ve always written the same genre.  I love reading YA fantasy, whether it be dystopian, medieval or anything in between.  Naturally, that’s the kind of stories that float around in my head.  I started writing, working on improving my skill.  I spent years learning the different ins and outs, what to do, what not to do.  I practiced, I sweat it out, and I worked daily on my skills. 

Now, I can see the effect of my practice.  The type of writing that took 3-4 drafts to produce now only takes 1-2.  I know how to create believable characters, settings, and it takes much less work to really develop them. 

My husband has a similar dedication to his hobby.  Since he was a child, he’s played soccer.  Often hours a day.  Since we moved to the US, he joined multiple teams, indoor, outdoor, professional, recreational, and probably more than I can keep track of.  He’s almost always played defense, and he’s good.  (I promise that’s not just me being partial.) 

I remember going to one of his games.  He’d been sitting on the bench due to a previous injury he’d been recovering from.  I’d gotten a bit bored, and I’d brought a book along to read just in case.  I’d gotten so engrossed that I forgot to look up every few minutes to see if he was playing.  Then, I heard someone shouting his name.  I looked up and to my surprise, he was playing, not just playing, but he was one of the strikers up front.  And he looked completely lost.  It’s not that he’d never played soccer before.  It’s just that he’d never been in that position. 

That’s how I feel right now.  I know how to write, and I’ve done it for years, but this is a completely different position.  The use of sentences, verbs, punctuation, that’s all completely the same.  The importance of deleting extraneous words and focusing on showing, not telling.  The difference is that the story is a completely different section of the field than I’ve played before.  I’ve never written a contemporary book where my research is grounded in real life.  I’ve never written a character driven story.  Most of my stories are more plot driven.  Focusing on the character throws everything in a brand new light.

As I’ve watched my husband play soccer, I’ve seen him improve, especially now that he’s becoming more versatile.  I can’t wait to see myself improve as I push myself to learn a new position, or in this case, try a new genre.

Quantifying My Productivity

Last year, I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time.  (Short for National Novel Writing Month.)  It was one of my most productive months, and I think the biggest reason was because I kept track of my progress. 

I love to write, but at the same time, it’s so much easier to procrastinate.  The NaNoWriMo website has a tracker that allowed me to write my word count for the day and I could see the progress throughout the month.  Last month, I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo, where I could create my own word count goals and add them together.

Later, once I finished with my word count goal, my productivity tanked.  It’s not that I really pay attention to word count, but I love seeing a visual representation of my progress.  I attempted to set something up in Microsoft Excel, though I really don’t know how to use the program well enough to do anything really helpful.

That’s where my sister comes in.  I told her about my attempts, and being the genius she is, she was able to set something up that I absolutely love. 

I thought I’d share it here, so that if any of you are Excel gurus, you’d probably be able to set it up yourself.

 She started out with two columns - One for the daily word count, and the second column automatically adds them all up together.  (Something about auto sum, I think.)

Obviously, I don't write daily, and since I've been working on revisions on paper, I only update word count once it's typed up, which is why there's 6000 on some days.  (And the beginning of this month was not productive at all, hence all the zero's.

Then, she added graphs (and showed me how to make graphs) so that I can see the progress throughout the month. 

Awesome, right?  She's definitely talented at what she does.

Do you pay attention to word count?  How do you quantify your productivity?