Today marks the beginning of Week 3 of National Novel Writing Month. I haven’t posted a video blog entry for a few days again, not because I’ve stopped writing, but because I’m busy writing away – and I had a computer crash (damn the Mac blue screen and ‘spinning beach ball of death’!) – but that’s a whole other story.
Last week I managed to fall behind on my word count, but I have spent the past few days writing feverishly to catch up. It seems to be working and I should get to 50,000 words just in time to finish NaNo. It won’t be easy, in fact I’m kicking myself for not keeping up the 1667 minimum words per day so that I wouldn’t be in this position, but it’s still doable and I will do it.
Each week since this year’s NaNo started, Chris Baty and friends at NaNoWriMo HQ have been sending out ‘pep talks’ in written and video form, and this week is no exception. So far I’ve enjoyed them very much and look forward to finding them in my email in-box. Each one seems to speak to just the exact situations I’m finding myself in at the time. They also have just the right amount of encouragement right when I need it most and they’re incredibly crazy and fun to read and watch. Obviously, they’ve done this before. š
Week 3 Pep Talk (IĀ just love Chris Baty’s sense of humor!)
I recently found this onĀ Write to Done, a writing blog I subscribe to and highly recommend. Today’s article has some excellent insight into why just getting the words on the page, regardless of quality, is so important to being productive – very appropriate post during NaNoWriMo month.
I found this TED talk by J.J. Abrams, the man who, among his credits, created the television show LOST and produced the latest STAR TREK movie, very motivating. Abrams is so passionate about what he does and he’s incredibly funny as a speaker. His comments about writing, the importance of investing time in developing your characters, and the importance of mystery in storytelling are things I, as a writer, can relate to and find very inspirational. This may be directed more towards script writers, but novel writers will find nuggets they can use as well. Watch – I think you’ll enjoy it.
“Eat, Pray, Love” Author Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.
I found the following TED talk (video below) to be incredibly helpful to me in the middle of my writing my NaNoWriMo novel this month. Perhaps you will too. Too often, we writers write in a vacuum. Most of us, I think, are loners who toil away on our computers without much outside understanding. It thus becomes easy to believe that what we experience during the process of writing is something unique to us alone. Every now and then, we hear or read another writer’s lamentations about the process they go through when writing and we realize, “Wow. I’m not so alone after all.” All of us need to feel that connection sometimes. For example, about fourteen and a half minutes into Gilbert’s presentation, she says:
“When I was in the middle of writing, “Eat, Pray, Love” and I fell into one of those sort of pits of despair that we all fall into when we’re working on something and it’s not coming and you start to think this is going to be a disaster, this is going to be the worst book ever written – not just bad, but the worst book ever written – and I started to think I should just dump this project, you know…”
Oh, how many times have I thought those exact thoughts these past couple of weeks!
And about twelve minutes into the video, Gilbert also says:
“That’s not at all what my creative process is like. I’m not a pipeline, I’m a mule. And the way that I have to work is that I have to get up at, like, the same time every day and I have to sweat and labor and, like, barrel through it really awkwardly…”
“sweat and labor and, like, barrel through it really awkwardly” Uh, yeah. That’s EXACTLY what my creative process is like! Nice to know I’m not the only one.
Take a look at the video. I think you’ll enjoy Elizabeth Gilbert’s unique perspective on the creative process. And remember, you are not alone.
Commentary on being behind in word count, making progress, the importance of describing your characters’ looks, dress, and mannerisms fully, and Fan Fiction vs Regular Fiction.
I’m going to really date myself here, but I first started writing before personal computers were invented and the only technology available to me as a kid back in the 1970s was (gasp!) pencil and paper. If you were really adventurous you could use a pen, but you had better be pretty darn sure of yourself.
I remember how excited I was to receive my first typewriter, a Royal manual, when I was about eleven or twelve years old. It made me feel like a real writer to have that keyboard in front of me. In the computer age, almost no one uses a typewriter anymore, and why would they? Computers are so convenient and they don’t need ribbons, carbon paper, or “Liquid Paper“, now just the delete key will do. Despite this, I have to say I miss the sounds of a typewriter’s keys clacking on the platen when pounding out a story. It’s an auditory stimulus that really makes me feel as if I’m accomplishing something as I type away. Remember, typewriters were the cutting edge technology with which Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Capote, and ninety-five percent of the great nineteen and twentieth century writers recorded their words. I feel a kinship to generations of authors when I hear a clickity-clack in response to my keystrokes.
If you can relate to this feeling and would like to hear the sound of a typewriter without abandoning twenty-first century technology, you might like Typewriter Keyboard 5.0 for Mac. It runs in the background of your computer and gives you realistic typewriter sounds as you type. You can even customize it with your own sounds if you’re so inclined. If you prefer to not to hear the keyboard while surfing the net, but only when typing your novel, just click mute. So far I’m really enjoying this ‘blast from the past’ and find it’s helping my productivity tremendously. Maybe you will too.
typewriter From Wikipedia
a mechanical or electromechanical device with a set of “keys” that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. From their invention before 1870 through much of the 20th century, typewriters were indispensable tools for many professional writers and in business offices. By the end of the 1980s, word processor applications on personal computers had largely replaced the tasks previously accomplished with typewriters.
Below is a link to a great video of Stephen King, one of my favorite authors, talking about his newest book Under the Dome.Ā Interesting backstory about the process of writing it that will be of interest to writers.
I have to admit I’ve slacked off some this weekend. Part of it was lack of ideas, lack of motivation, and lack of sleep. I have not met my word count of 1667 words for each of the last two days (I should be at 13,336 words) but I have written every day and am at 9,846 words right now. I plan to spend all day Monday writing away to get caught up, and hopefully beyond. I’ll vlog about the weekend and hopefully my Monday success sometime soon. For now it’s off to bed to have a fresh start, and hopefully ideas, tomorrow.
Today marks the beginning of Week 3 of National Novel Writing Month. I haven’t posted a video blog entry for a few days again, not because I’ve stopped writing, but because I’m busy writing away – and I had a computer crash (damn the Mac blue screen and ‘spinning beach ball of death’!) – but that’s a whole other story.
I recently found this onĀ 
I remember how excited I was to receive my first typewriter, a Royal manual, when I was about eleven or twelve years old. It made me feel like a real writer to have that keyboard in front of me. In the computer age, almost no one uses a typewriter anymore, and why would they? Computers are so convenient and they don’t need ribbons, carbon paper, or “
Below is a link to a great video of Stephen King, one of my favorite authors, talking about his newest book Under the Dome.Ā Interesting backstory about the process of writing it that will be of interest to writers.
I have to admit I’ve slacked off some this weekend. Part of it was lack of ideas, lack of motivation, and lack of sleep. I have not met my word count of 1667 words for each of the last two days (I should be at 13,336 words) but I have written every day and am at 9,846 words right now. I plan to spend all day Monday writing away to get caught up, and hopefully beyond. I’ll vlog about the weekend and hopefully my Monday success sometime soon. For now it’s off to bed to have a fresh start, and hopefully ideas, tomorrow.