When Writing, Give Yourself A Break!

I did finish CampNaNoWriMo, meeting my goal of 30,000 words. :) :D I'm very proud of myself. It feels good to be writing almost every day.

I learned that like most jobs, I need a break every few days. Once a week I could not write. It wasn't a block, it was that I needed some time away from the work to cultivate new ideas and not grow weary.

It's okay to not feel like writing when you've been diligent in writing every day. Sure, there were days that I did other things, like go to the zoo, or to a theme park. It is summer after all! But there were also days I did not write and did not have a good reason, simply that I didn't feel like it. Allowing myself this time off did not cause me to leave writing forever. If anything, it made me come back stronger.

I read, I listened to music, I colored, all other artistic pursuits in lieu of writing, but keeping myself creatively engaged. I grew jealous of other wonderful authors whose books were great reads. I found new bands to dance or rock out to. I watched some shows while coloring in printed sheets of adult coloring books. I also planned school lessons, made file folder work for independent work stations in my classroom (laminating queen!), and I did research for lesson plans.

Then I went back to writing.

One thing that motivated me was Twitter. I loved tweeting my progress and getting favorites, Re-tweets, or new followers every day. I followed many new writers, myself. I wanted to be able to Tweet my progress to people whom would understand and at least care a little. People understood what Camp Nano was, what writing to a goal felt like, and celebrated with me; which was a great feeling.

Connecting with people is a good thing. Feeling part of the big wide world is a good thing. It keeps us grounded. Having motivation is a great thing. It's all how you use it and how you see it. If you want to get lost in twitter for hours, you can. It's not nearly as bad as opening up pinterest, but you can read tweets or post tweets for an entire day. That is not productive, usually. Using it to motivate you to keep writing is productive.

Measure your breaks. Take them, enjoy them, but when they are over, get back to work! Find what motivates you, even if its a different thing every time, and use it to reach your goals.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

How I Outlined My Novel And Why I Love It

I'm distracting myself with writing for Camp Nanowrimo. I have over 10,000 words. I'm pretty pleased with myself. I couldn't have done it without writing up an outline and using Scrivener. 

Here is the basic outline idea.

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/secrets-story-structure-complete-series/

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-structure-scenes/

Scrivener makes this easy.

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/my-writing-process-pt-1-of-2-how-i-use-scrivener-to-outline-my-novels/ (part 1)

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/my-writing-process-pt-2-of-2-how-i-use-scrivener-to-write-my-first-drafts/ (part 2)

Love Weiland and Scrivener!

Basically, I made folders for each part of the story structure, as listed in the first link. Then, inside each folder I made two note cards, one for Scene and one for Sequel where I listed the components of each. My Scene card says Goal, Conflict, Disaster and my Sequel card says Reaction, Dilemma, Decision. I typed up the basic notes for each scene and sequel here. Then it's a matter of typing them out. That's the fun part.

I've never used an outline formula like this, never thought about structuring my scenes. I've just written. I've written outlines, but never with this much depth and never before knowing exactly how the story should end. I don't think I will ever write a story again without one. It's much better than having an idea for a few scenes and cobbling them together and finding out you have half a story 30,000 words in.

Don't get me wrong, I could write a scene and have a better idea and change the outcome. This way it is easy to go into my outline and make those changes the new story line idea has made. It may change the ending. That's still okay. Outlines are not set in stone. They are guidelines, and something I desperately needed to stay on track.

How Do you Write a Book in a Month?

What's my next venture?

Camp Nanowrimo.

This is a month-long writing challenge for July. You set your goal. The ultimate is 50,000 words. I set mine for 30,000 words. Usually, I began to fizzle out around there. Life happens. 

This year, I have written an outline. I hope this helps me get past the fizzle. I hope I break 30K and hit 50K. I hope I shatter 50K. But I know that I will also be planning for a new school year. 

Speaking of school, I dreamed this morning that I had to babysit one of my former students! I got paid, and the student was a perfect angel. Definitely a dream! It was really odd, but dreams usually are. 

Back to reality, I'm excited about getting this story started! It was an idea I wrote when I was about 12. I did add some details to it later in my life, but this story idea came out of me when I was young. It is not finished. I had some of the villain's backstory, and some of the first action, so I fleshed it out in an outline. We'll see how it goes! These stories always take turns I cannot predict and I give myself permission to stray from the outline and maybe find a new and better direction. Like a crazy dream, sometimes the story takes off on its own and there's very little you can do to get it back on track.

How do you write a book in a month?

1. Challenge yourself. Write a 1,000 words a day.  Set up a marketing plan and pre-orders and a deadline.

2. Outline. But give yourself permission to let the characters tell you their story, even if it goes off-script 

3. Set aside time to write. Even if you snag 15 minutes at a time, write! A couple or a few of those make a big difference. 

That's it. Just write. Don't worry about editing, that takes another month. It's okay to make a cover, write a summary, back page notes, one line tag, etc. But focus that first month on just writing it all down so you have something to share.