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Secretly Doing NaNoWriMo for Years
Every year in November, the excitement of National Novel Writers Month(NaNoWriMo) descends upon the internet. People are drafting their outlines and busting out their copies of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. My online writer’s groups are full of the energy around writing sprints and trying to meet their word count goal for the month. Traditionally, to “win” NaNoWriMo, you need to write 50,000 words in November, which boils down to about 1700 words a day. 50,000 words stresses me out I’m a mom of four school-aged kids who works full time and doesn’t write fast. My writing goals tend to be “write for ten minutes each evening,” “publish a…
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Writing your Book is an Endurance Sport
Build your Stamina I have written stories and essays my whole life. For years, I’ve journaled and blogged regularly. I’ve established a small daily writing habit, so my goal for this year was to get my idea for a novel written. On Halloween 2018, I saw a young woman dressed in an elf costume and ever since I’ve wanted to write a story involving elves. The idea has been kicking around my head for years and for my writing goals for 2022, I put down writing my elf novel. Warming up For Christmas Eve, in my family, we each get a book to read. My book was Save the Cat!…
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Not Even a First Draft – The One-Half Draft
I am in the middle of the first draft of my second novel. For my first novel, I was afraid to go out of order, so I worked my way through the book from beginning to end. When I started the second book, I was brave enough to start in the middle with a scene that interests me and just write what I see and hear. I’ve since been hopping around my plot outline from scene to scene, capturing mostly internal and external dialogue. The First Draft – 2D Cardboard Scenes When I write a first draft, it contains the important parts of the scene, but it’s not fully formed.…
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Want to be more creative? Maybe go for a run.
I started exercising regularly when my youngest baby started sleeping through the night. I took a Crystal Paine’s online course about reworking your morning routine. My new morning routine began with a tiny bit of exercise. Soon after, I also started a journaling practice and then started getting more intentional about creativity. I found the exercise woke up my brain and helped me have more energy throughout the day. I started small and then built up to a couch to 5k program. I have been running for 5 years now and have done several running races and triathlons. What does fitness have to do with a creative practice? For me,…
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Five Ways to Click into a Creative Headspace
Get started faster! Circling the Runway When I sit down to work on my novel, I turn on my computer and instead of jumping right into the next scene, I often check my Facebook notifications or my Medium stats for the day. I might check my work email and then my personal email. Maybe I will write back to my friends on Messenger. I don’t mean to waste time, but my resistance often manifests in needing to circle the runway a bit before I dive in. Eric Maisel, in Secrets of a Creativity Coach, talks about reducing what it takes to click into the creative mindset. He defines the problem…
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The Art I Made The Day I Weaned My Last Baby
Coming back to Creativity I’ve always enjoyed making things. When I was young, I painted, knitted and gardened. I was the only quilting teen I knew. I wrote stories during my summers off as a teacher. I taught myself to crochet after my twins were born. Many times, as a busy parent, I found it so much easier to veg out on Facebook than to actually make something beautiful, but over use of social media wasn’t as restorative to my soul as making something. Creativity Makes My Heart Feel Better On the day I weaned my youngest baby, my heart was sad because I knew I would never nurse another…
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Writing a First Novel?
Take it piece by piece I have been writing non-fiction articles and blogging for many years, so writing article-length items is normal for me. An idea for a novel-length fantasy story has been brewing in the back of my mind all these years and I have finally started putting the ideas on paper. I wondered if I would even have what it takes to write novel-length fiction. It’s so much longer than anything I’ve ever written before! I had a few false starts where I wrote one scene here and there but fizzled out. I bought myself a copy of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and did some deep-down…
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Breaking Through Resistance – 4 Simple Tips
Are you reading this when you should be writing right now? Whether it’s your next blog post, your novel or a report for work, sometimes it’s hard to get started on writing something, even when you really want to get it done. Here are some simple ways for breaking through resistance. Set a Timer to Get You Started When I want to get something on the page and it’s just not happening, I set a time for just ten minutes. For me, ten minutes sneaks past my mental block and I finally start writing. Once I am writing, usually I get into a groove and I end up working through…
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How Does Your Creative Work Benefit Your Kids?
Do you feel guilty working on your creative hobbies because it takes time away from family time? You shouldn’t! It’s important to recognize that while your creative work gives you enjoyment it also sets a great example for your kids. Here are a few benefits I have noticed in my own creative life. You are Modeling an Active Hobby In the age of screen time, sometimes it’s hard to compete with Netflix or video games. When a parent picks up a paint brush or starts carving wood, kids see other options for free time activities. They will see you put your Google News down and fully engage in something just…
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Want to Write Better? Try Painting.
Writing Feeds on Other Types of Creativity I am the type of person who likes to do all kinds of creative activities. Writing is just one of those things. Sometimes you hear that if you dabble in many different types of things, you will never become very good at any of them. Jack of all trades, master of none, right? In some sense, it’s probably true. I know for sure I’m never going to be a concert pianist because I haven’t put in the hours and focus and I never will. Can’t I just get serious about one thing? Sometimes I wonder if I would be better off focusing on…