I’ve mentioned quite a few times that I like to procrastinate. I really do, and without deadlines I procrastinate even more.

This is why I love NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and happens once a year in November. The goal is simple: write 50,000 words in 30 days (about 1667 a day). There are also two similar events in April and July but without the 50,000 words rule.

I always participate. It’s a deadline, albeit a fake one. I just don’t work well without pressure and this is why I attempt to pressure myself whenever I can.

I’m the student who started writing her papers 48 hours before the deadline and stayed up all night cramming an 800 page book before an exam.

Not everyone is a fan of NaNoWriMo and not everyone is a fan of writing a thousand words every day, which I’m still doing. And I can understand that. It’s not helpful to sit down with a fever or a headache or if you’re simply tired after an exhausting day and are writing down words just for the sake of writing down words.

In fact I skipped my thousand words a day twice this year: once with a fever and once on my birthday. My goals are to improve my writing, create a habit, and develop strong writing muscles.

I wouldn’t have improved on those two days. I’d probably have written down nonsense just to be able to go to bed. And that’s not what this writing thing is about.

This is why NaNoWriMo is not for everyone.

NaNoWriMo is the permission to write crap. My thousand words a day is my permission to write crap every single day.

I have to. I used to stare at white spaces on notebooks, phones and computers… just stare. Every sentence I wrote wasn’t good enough to publish, so I would delete them. Every paragraph was uninspired and bland. Deleted. I’d go to bed with as much white space left on the page as I started with.

NaNoWriMo is the permission to write a story–an entire story, from beginning to end. It does not matter if it’s any good or if the chosen words are the right words. Everything wrong can be fixed during the editing process. Editing is hard work, sure, but you can’t edit without first having a story.

I needed, and still need, that permission to write crap. Because once I’ve written something, I can fix it later. But if I don’t allow myself the freedom to create without judgement, the white space will never be filled.

NaNoWriMo kills the fear for me, and the deadline (the end of the month) is what motivates and pressures me.

If you like to edit as you write or if you like to work slower and finish with a cleaner first draft than you would after 30 days of frantic writing, then no, it’s probably not for you. If 1667 words a day is too much, then it may not be for you either and that’s fine.

But if fear of failure, procrastination and other shiny things keep you from writing then maybe it’s worth a try.

April and July are the Camp NaNoWriMo months and I’m currently trying to write the first draft of something new. Hopefully I can knock it out in 30 days and win this thing for virtual internet points and a badge. I like badges.

Are you a NaNoWriMoer? How do you motivate yourself? Do you need a deadline? Or can you just write? Let me know in the comments.

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See you next week,
Olivia

I’ve just come back from a writing retreat. Not an official one. It was more a small birthday trip that I renamed. And by small, I do mean small: we were only gone for a few days.

It was enough, however, to clear my mind, get some fresh air and open my mind to new ideas.

No, I don’t believe a small cottage and the English countryside can magically produce a novel and I don’t think most advertised retreats are worth the time or money.

However, sometimes it’s necessary to change your surroundings. A change of scenery and getting away from the everyday trot that is life, can lead to new motivation and determination. It might help get rid of a block or to feel inspired again.

Experiencing new things always helps me refill the creative tank, even if that experience is trying to convince a dog to walk up a steep hill in high winds that make the ears flap about the head.

Going away, even if only for a few days, gave me an excuse to turn off the Internet, not check my e-mails and ignore social media (at least most of the time.)

It was relaxing and quiet.

I can imagine finding a second writer to go away with can help with accountability, plot holes and motivation (plus you can share the costs.) Sadly, neither the dogs nor my partner write.

But, what can you do if you can’t get away for a few days?

I try and get a change of scenery and break routines in different ways when I can’t get away from home. Let’s be honest, we all would type our novels on top of a mountain or on the beach if we could, but most of us can’t. Instead we choose park benches, coffee shops and even the garden furniture to mix things up.

There are numerous problems with writing at home. Responsibilities and procrastination come together in a neat package: pay the bills, descale the kettle, clean the bathroom, walk the dogs, do laundry, dust the shelves or go grocery shopping. Once sat in a coffee shop all those responsibilities fall away, because right at that moment you can’t do anything about them.

You can only drink your coffee and type away on your laptop (and maybe snack on a slice of cake.)

Set yourself a goal before you leave the house. Write x number of chapters, or x number of words, or research x subject.

Sometimes it’s impossible to reserve a whole morning or afternoons because of family and work and other responsibilities. But maybe you can start small and lock yourself away for 30 minutes somewhere, anywhere, even the bathroom (Trumbo wrote in the bathtub.) Maybe you can drop off the kid’s books at the library and while there sneak in half an hour of writing.

Try building a routine and who knows, maybe after a while the family will respect it. Though my dogs still try and sit on my laptop every time they can. Some things never change.

Have you ever been on a writing retreat? Do you have difficulty making the time at home or do you regularly find a quiet corner to write? Let me know in the comments.

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See you next week,
Olivia

I always think about writing and I’ve thought about writing all my life. Ever since I was a small child I wanted to become a published author one day. I could picture my future self happily tapping away at my keyboard, the page filling with words. Back then it was nothing but a dream, during my early 20’s it was a simple hobby and then one day I decided to try and see if I can fulfil my dream.

This is a list of fifteen things I’ve learnt about writing since then:

1. It’s hard. I lost count of the number of days where I was close to hitting my head against the keyboard, over and over again, just so I wouldn’t have to write more words, because by that point they no longer looked like proper words and all I wanted to do was go to bed and sleep. I was pretty certain by that point my brain was nothing but grey goo.
2. It sucks. Because it’s hard. Forget that image of the writer happily tapping away on his keyboard a satisfied smile on his face while the page fills with words.
3. Hard, sure. Sucks, definitely. But it’s also the greatest thing in the world, because you get to create your own universe and torture characters all day long.
4. After staring at words for an entire day, English suddenly resembles an alien language new to this planet.
5. Good intentions alone are (usually) a waste for people who like to procrastinate. Find other writers who promise to kick you in the butt if you don’t check in with them in the evening, proclaiming you’ve indeed written words.
6. Have a notebook on your bedside table. The best ideas pop up when you’re naked in the shower, about to fall asleep, or just about to slide into the slippers before your first coffee. They are no longer there once you’ve poured the coffee, booted up your computer and waited for your writing program to open. Write them down the moment they appear or weep. You’ve been warned.
7. After the initial excitement you feel at the start of a new book, you will definitely hit the moment where you can’t help but realise all the words you’ve written so far are shit and none of it is publishable. Don’t give up. It can be fixed while editing. Anything can be fixed while editing. Yes, anything.
8. Write whatever you like. The times where I tried to force myself to write something else, I ended up not writing at all. (Unless you have a publishing contract with a deadline, demanding a sequel to your urban fantasy mystery, in that case you’ll have to write your urban fantasy mystery, sorry.)
9. Don’t quit. If you quit there will be no book. Without a book how are you supposed to become a famous published author?
10. Make time to read books. Read them as a writer. Watch how the author pulls you in, how they set up their characters and how they foreshadow their endings. Learn from those that are better than you. If you end up not liking a book, try to figure out why. What was it that didn’t resonate with you? (And, you know, you’ll probably feel better about your own book.)
11. It doesn’t matter whether you outline or not, both ways work and there are authors out there who use both methods at the same time or prefer one method over the other. Find the way that works for you.
12. The story is over when the story is over. “Whoops, I wrote another short story,” and “Whoops, I wrote another novella,” are common exclamations in this household. Oh, well.
13. Feedback can be crushing, but it’s the only way to improve.
14. A writer needs thick skin to deal with rejection. Otherwise you’ll have yet another reason to weep. Cherish each rejection, because it means: you’ve got a finished project AND you had the courage to send it out.
15. I need deadlines and someone to hold me accountable or I can happily stare at a blank page all day long.

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See you next week,
Olivia

Now that the first week of March is over I decided to take a look at my progress this year so far. What have I written? How much of it is usable? Is this actually helping improve my writing? Or am I wasting my time?

I have written 29,000 first draft words for the manuscript I’ve been working on since the beginning of 2017. And I added 9,000 words during my editing process. I don’t count words I add when I just rewrite a scene. But those 9,000 words are me adding entire paragraphs and parts of chapters I realised were missing in the original first draft.

4,000 words are biographies of my main characters and I spent 3,000 words writing an outline and figuring out how the dead people in my story died.

I edit as I go and so far there are approximately 28,000 edited words. I’m approaching the halfway point and I’m hoping to finish getting the story down on paper by the end of March.

Total words written for my current manuscript: 45,000
After editing: 28,000 words
That’s a lot of words I never used. However the story is moving forward and so far I’m happy with it.

I have written a first draft of three short stories. One is set in space, one is a ghost story with a (probably predictable) twist and one is an attempt at horror. In total 8,000 words. All of these need to be edited.

I wrote down ideas for a space opera, and even an attempt at an outline. In total 3,000 words.

I also jotted down ideas for a family saga, for a futuristic YA and for a fantasy romance. In total 5,000 words.

All of those ideas and notes I can work with in future, so they’re useful. So far I’m really happy with how it’s going, but I’d like to improve and produce more usable words and fewer ideas and notes.

However, I made a discovery that works every time I get stuck:

Freewriting.

The goal of freewriting is to write automatically, straight from your subconscious without judging it. Whenever I get stuck, I set a timer and just write. Anything. Sometimes it’s about my fears, sometimes I describe the cup of coffee in front of me, and sometimes I just let a character be chased by a dragon and watch them flail.

Ideally, I try and get myself unstuck, after having written myself into a corner. Let’s take Leigh, one of my main characters in my current manuscript. She’s at home. She’s sitting at her desk. I don’t know what to do with her. I know where she needs to end up in the next chapter but I don’t know how to get her there. Instead of staring at my screen, desperately trying to get my brain to solve the issue, I just set her house on fire. It gives her a reason to move and eventually I have something I can work with and can go back and delete the fire in my editing process.

Sometimes I sit down at the kitchen table or on my sofa and take a notebook and write by hand. I have a notebook on my bedside table as well, though I rarely use it.

If you’ve never tried to freewrite and often suffer from writer’s block, you should definitely consider it.

Set a timer. 10-15 minutes or longer if you have the time. Use a prompt or choose a topic if you’d like, or just start somewhere, anywhere. Write quickly, always keep the pen moving, never stop. Don’t give your brain time to think. Do not stop to come up with the perfect word. Don’t worry if what you’re writing is ridiculous, just go with it and don’t worry about paragraphs or punctuation or spelling. Give yourself the permission to write bad words. Once the 15 minutes are up stop.

Usually, after using this trick, I have new ideas and can move my characters forward.

Have you tried freewriting? Does it work for you? Share your stories in the comments or come chat with us on Facebook.

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See you next week,
Olivia

I’ve always made up stories, even as a child. When I was six years old my parents bought me an empty notebook so I could write them them down. I didn’t, because I was lazy, but I’d tell them to my stuffed animals, and on car journeys I’d tell them to myself.

The other thing I’ve always dedicated a lot of time to was reading. I am an only child therefore books were often my sole companions and I’d read 1-2 a day. There was no Internet. No Twitter. No Reddit. I had no games console and wasn’t allowed to watch TV. I had books. Hours of uninterrupted reading. Every day.

I’m convinced reading so much has helped me develop my fiction writing skills.

Writers are readers and should be readers.

“Read, read, read. Read everything–trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.” William Faulkner

Sometimes I read without paying attention to individual words and sentences. I simply curl up with my dogs and a cup of coffee and dive into a different world. However, I frequntly sit down with a notebook in my hands and pay close attention. It’s a way for me to learn and improve.

I look at how many points of view a book has and whether it’s told in the past or present tense. Is the narrator omniscient? I make notes of what strikes me as well-written and what jars me out of the narrative. I make notes of memorable descriptions and character flaws. I study the way the sentences are constructed and the way the book is set-up (linear vs. jumping around in time for example.) If the book is witty, I try and figure out what makes it funny. If the sentences are choppy, I dissect them to learn why they work.

How does the author finish chapters? What keeps the reader reading? If I think I know what’s going to happen, I write that down along with the things that tipped me off. Am I right? How did the author foreshadow the event? Are there red herrings? How are they introduced?

Mostly my notes are littered with ways to describe smells and feelings in English, because I’m not a native speaker and I regularly suffer from characters always nodding and scratching their heads and not doing much else while talking.

We can learn from good writing as well as from bad writing. If you read something you don’t enjoy, ask yourself: why am I not enjoying this? What isn’t working? What could be done differently that would make it more gripping? Where did the author lose me?

I’d like to end this post with my five favourite novels of all time and what I think you can learn from them. This list often changes based on my current mood, but for now this is it:

Read Flowers for Algernon if you want to learn how to deliver an emotional punch in speculative fiction. It’s the story of a young man whose IQ is 68. He’s always been an outsider. He wishes to be smart and jumps at the opportunity to participate in an experiment that is supposed to increase his IQ. Despite this being a very short book the author manages to gut the reader at the end. Or maybe it’s just me.

Read the Count of Monte Cristo if you want to follow a perfectly plotted story. Alexandre Dumas starts with a simple tale of a young man who is good at his job and has a pretty fiancée. Four men bring him down for various reasons and he ends up rotting in prison where he plans his revenge. Dumas ties all loose ends together and shows his skill at plotting by letting the protagonist execute his plan in a meticulous manner.

Read Pride and Prejudice because… just do it. I’ve read this book 25 times. I’m not even kidding, nor am I exaggerating.

Read Foucault’s Pendulum for another perfectly executed plot. Eco rewrites history based on a conspiracy theory and the best part? It’s believable.

Read It if you want to learn how to scare people. This book (or the film) is many people’s worst nightmare. Including mine. I was eight years old when I read it. Maybe nine. I’d read a fairytale about a man who wanted to learn fear. And I decided, I too wanted to learn fear. I asked my father to buy me a scary book. He brought me scary tales for children. I laughed and told him those were for babies. I wanted to learn true fear. The next day It was sitting on my plate at dinnertime. That night the light on my bedside table stayed on. Stephen King’s strength might not be endings, but character creation and fear are two things you can learn from him.

Think of your favourite books and why you think they’re worth reading and what you can learn from them when it comes to your own writing. Don’t be shy and share your thoughts in the comments.

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See you next week,
Olivia