Tag Archives: NaNoWriMo

July = My Novel Revising Month

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I’ve written before about how I can’t adhere to the writer rule: Thou Shalt Write Every Day! I can’t do it. I’m a full-time teacher, single mom to a young child and old dog, house owner, the list goes on and on. Instead, I write notes everywhere, I research during my lunch breaks, and I visualize scenes until they’re like movies in my head. When I have the time to write, watch out!

As a teacher, there is no better time to write than summer vacation. School is out (finally) and my daughter started day camp today. She loved it, so yay to that! My daily plan is to  drop her off at day camp and then come home and write. My goal is to have my novel revised completely by the end of the month. I’m calling it MyNoReMo–My Novel Revising Month–which is a twist on NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month program that runs every November.

Turns out they have a summer camp for NaNoWriMo that started July 1. The goal there, however, is to complete an entire novel from scratch in 30 days. It’s like the X-Games of writing. Just you, a computer, coffee, and thirty days. Bring it!

Yeah…um…I can’t do that. No way. I’m slow and I clean up as I go and there’s the aforementioned lack of free time in my life. I can’t do a novel from scratch in a month, but I can do a revision. I’ve already created the material and I mulled over my editorial letter the last few weeks of school. I’m ready. I may feel like this guy when it’s over…

dead

 

…but I’ll be one step closer to being a published author!!!!!

 

Colbert High Five

I’ll keep you posted on my progress. Does anybody else have summer writing goals?

NaNoWriMo = Not For Me

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Writers participating in National Novel Writing Month are at the half-way point. If a writer is on track, then he or she is 25,000 words into the 50,000 word manuscript that will be complete by the end of the month.

Whew!

I thought for a second about joining NaNoWriMo, but then the moment passed. The process would likely send me over the edge. I applaud anyone who can do it, and maybe someday I’ll be able to, but not now.

In fact, during the last month, I went the other way. Instead of belting out as many words as possible in a short amount of time, I took a break. I haven’t written a blog post or a single sentence for a work in progress. In fact, I don’t have a work in progress. The “write everyday or die trying” writing gurus are probably tsk-tsk-ing at me, but I’m okay with that. I needed a break.

The truth is, writing daily doesn’t work for me. Here’s why: I am a single mom of an active 5-year-old girl and a not-so-active but needy 14-year-old dog. Here’s a picture of Rusty putting up with my daughter. Isn’t he a good sport?

I start teaching at 7:30 a.m. and often have after-school commitments that are followed by getting the humans and canine fed and ready for the next day.  If I have a snow day, if my daughter and dog go to bed early, or if my parents invite my daughter for a sleepover, I write. And I mean, I go for it. When I have a block of writing time, I often don’t leave the computer unless it’s for food or a bathroom break. I work every minute of the time I get to write, but these moments don’t happen every day.

I write when I have time, but I don’t have the time or mental energy to write every day. This is why I would be a NaNoWriMo casualty. I can’t commit to a certain word count each day with the goal being a completed novel by the end of the month. Just the thought of it makes me shiver. Maybe one day, but for now, my “write when I can” method works. I’ve written two pre-published young adult novels. Soon after completing the second one, I tackled a major revision of the first one.

After that, I needed a break. I’m glad I did it, too, because I want to love what I’m writing. I want the characters to dance in my head while I’m in the shower or driving to work, acting out the scenes that will become chapters when I have the time. If I had thrown myself into NaNoWriMo with a half-baked idea, I would have cried, “Mercy” by now.

Stepping away from the keyboard has been good for me. I’m ready to start developing a new idea. I’m excited about that. It won’t get done in a month, but that’s fine by me.