Tag: nanowrimo

Why We Write…

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Why do we want to write?  Maybe you don’t want to write and I am an arse for making an assumption.  I am currently editing my first novel, Allison.  Due for release in December 2019.  It is a love and suspense story with the necessary love, heartbreak, romance, raging psychopath combo.

Nanowrimo, is making its way around again. I have a new story burbling away waiting to be unleashed.  It will be my third run and nano and as impractical as it may be to commit this time, I simply have to.

Allison was my first and I think it is about time I let her out of the drawer, polish her up and set her free to make way for a new adventure           

“The Road to hell is paved with works in progress.” Philip Roth

type writer

George Orwell said “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.  One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

While I don’t think of writing as a painful illness, it is certainly an addiction.  I often think that I will be driven mad if I fail to squeeze out the opportunities to write around the edges of my day.  My days are busy, but so is  my mind.  What a failed life I will live if I do not write the stories I have inside, the ones to come and to one day dust off the ones forgotten.  Nanowrimo ensures that I take time to write, to meet the challenge, to expel the story.

The true discipline for me is what comes after, the slow seemingly unending process of editing.  I am giving myself four weeks to complete a comprehensive line edit on Allison before sending her off to an editor, while I kick on with Nano.

I am looking forward to Nano, to finding out about my characters, listening to them and seeing their lives, however briefly, take flight across the white screen.  The joy of watching my story unfold makes it all worth while.

Wish me luck!

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Pre-NaNoWriMo

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October 27th and I am home alone while my husband and daughter are at a regional karate grading in Kalgoorlie.

I stayed behind recovering from flu, I probably could have gone but I would be the worst for it on our return. Two nights and a 7 hour car ride either way. No thank you. I made an executive decision days away from Nano that I want to get myself prepared.

It’s hard sleeping without my husband of 15 years so I tossed and turned most of the night. Stephen Fry helped lull me back to sleep via Audible reading ‘The Liar’ during my restless night. But in the word of Sting “the beds too big without you” anyhow sad sacking aside.

I am Turing my remainding 48 hours into a pre nano retreat. I plan to be hot and ready to plunge in on Nov 1st with Delilah!

I woke up and after returning to bed with a cup of tea continued reading Chris Baty’s No Plot, No Problem. (For anyone that doesn’t know Chris is the founder of NaNoWriMo, and I along with many others have him to thank for putting me on the right track and getting my novels written. You can find his books and lots of great merchandise here.   if you haven’t yet registered for this year’s NaNoWriMo you can do that here.

Writing along with any type of desk or similar repetitive work is bad for your body so I will begin my day with Yoga, more specifically a series of sun and moon salutations. It’s not that hard you don’t have to be flexible but you do have to breathe, see not so hard? If you would like to learn more about my Body Peace Yoga you can find information here.

Later I will walk our Annie to the local park. But first it’s breakfast and some note taking about my protagonist with a focus her image and voice both are now starting to form and I am getting excited!

My most important task this weekend, is clearing the decks. Getting the household chores up to date in an effort to ward off the inevitable writing procrastination.

Next I charge up my working away from home appliances which include a set of noise cancelling headphones, genuine Bose from a market in Bangkok, so yes I am sure they are just as the salesman said.  What a great bargain at only $40 Australian dollars.  Next is the handy Bluetooth keyboard I can attach to my phone.  Working with google docs allows me to write anywhere and instantly update my novel as I go.

Finally in a effort to set a calm, natural environment I am loading up the atomizer with Doterra’s Whisper Blend (you can pick up some here) a pure delight to the senses while I finish some final reading.  Occasionally my writing life all comes together.  These are the moments I love to nestle into.  Great things are on the horizon in the new year.

10 Hazards of NaNoWriMo

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November is a trying month in our household.  Even with the best preparations things go awry.  I am only a week and 12,348 words in and already I have fought and struggled hard again these Nanowrimo inflictions.

  1. Typing so hard I broke my nails on both my little, and ring fingers so low to the quick that they now smart every time they hit the keys.
  2. Headaches!
  3. Forgetting regular things – like where I put a box of Karate equipment because my mind is literally wandering away with the plot.
  4. Losing the plot only to be led in a new direction by my lead character, who is turning out to be far less villainous than I had intended.  This could change? I don’t know and I am worried about that, but learning to let go, no still trying to let go but letting go is hard with white knuckles.
  5. Writing blog posts like this while waiting for the washer to finish because I know if I start writing words before then I will have to get up and sort it out and could lose my way.
  6. Wrist pain.  There is something about Nanowrimo writing that is unlike any other type of writing that I do.  There is an urgency to getting the words down before I have a chance to think too clearly.  I just want Delilah’s story to be told and she is in a hurry.
  7. Running out of Nanowrimo treats.  See picture.
  8. Arse getting fatter from too many Nanowrimo treats (thankfully no picture).
  1. Neck and should pain from too many intense hours at the computer.
  2. Obsessive, compulsive character driven disorder.  She is back!  I can hear Delilah’s voice again. Time to get my words down for today.  As soon as I check the letter box and sort the washing on.  Yes I hear you..

Good luck fellow nanowrimo’s!!

When November is finished I will be putting on my yoga teacher’s hat and sharing some information on dealing with those story induced body aches and pains on my other site BodyPeaceWriter.com.

NaNoWriMo Winner 2019

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So yesterday on the 22nd November, I finished this years nano novel, yesterday I was in the zone and pumped out over ten thousand words in a twelve hour writing marathon.

The story came out faster than my arthritic hands could cope. But I did it. Such elation, a celebratory gin and tonic and I was done.

Delilah is printed and resting until edit time in the new year. I can’t wait to tear it open and polish her to perfection. I love this story. It’s of growth and adventure, it is about a women coming of age, of seeing the true light in her life during unusual and difficult circumstances.

I am so grateful to the team at nano for giving us writers an opportunity to take time out of our everyday lives and focus on our novels. This is my fifth year competing nano and I already have plans for next year’s novel.

I am grateful to my family for putting up with nano and letting me nap gratefully this afternoon when we get home from work.

My next task is editing Allison, due for release early 2020🙂

(First posted on VanessaMcKay.com 22/11/2019)