Posts Tagged: writing advice

There are just a few hours until the start of NaNoWriMo at midnight tonight. I hope you’ve enjoyed the countdown of preparations so far. If you’re just joining us, don’t sweat it. These checkpoints are just a general guide to things you may want to consider before NaNoWriMo kicks off, and you can modify them  […]

Managing Your Time If you read yesterday’s post, hopefully you already have your Word Count Goals established for each day of November, and you’ve decided the best way to keep up with your progress. Today’s checkpoint is all about setting aside the time to get in all this extra writing. Note: I’m approaching this topic  […]

Yesterday, you got my insightful analysis of a few writing platform options for composing during NaNoWriMo. Hopefully you’ve found a writing system that works for you. With just three days to go, you might be starting to think about how you’ll track your progress and manage your time. Let’s Talk Goals: Word Count 50,000 words  […]

Alright NaNoWriMers… If you’ve been following my little countdown, you’ve already got your story idea ready, braced your family/friends for impact, and made some notes about your characters and possibly your plot. Of course, all the content-related stuff will continue to evolve and change as you go along. So now it’s time to turn our  […]

Okay, if you’re signed up to do NaNoWriMo this year, we’re rounding out your final weekend of freedom before the serious writing gets going on Friday. I hope you’ve enjoyed it! Done something fun? Spent time with your family? Great. Because November 1st, you’re turning into a WRITING MACHINE. It would not be amiss for  […]

Welcome to the week-long Distracted Writer #NaNoWriMo Preparation Countdown! If you’re new to the blog or NaNoWriMo, start with the first post. NaNoWriMo starts on Friday, and I’m busy (a) finishing up edits on another book so I can be free to start drafting, and (b) preparing my story so when November 1st hits, I  […]

If you’re thinking of participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), you’re not alone. NaNoWriMo is a great way to get started on a book for the first time, the tenth time or even hundredth time. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, and to do it knowing thousands of  […]

When you’re writing a story, which comes first: the plot or the characters? This is a classic chicken-and-egg conundrum many new writers (and veterans) face as they’re crafting a story. Should the character’s personality, background and decision-making drive the plot? Or does the action of the story make the character who she is? The short  […]

Have you tried word sprints (or writing sprints)? For those unfamiliar, this is the practice of sitting down for a short, specific period of time to focus only on your writing and try to achieve a certain word count or other goal. I’ve done writing sprints for years, off and on. My “Draft Queen” partner  […]

You’ve probably heard the expression, “kill your darlings,” that common writer’s advice derived from the original “murder your darlings” in a 1913 writer’s guide by Arthur Quiller-Couch.* I recently re-read Stephen King’s On Writing, in which he referred to the concept this way: “kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little  […]