My best Nanowrimo yet, and I'm Busier than Ever!

Hey, everyone, just checking in  to see how everyone's doing this month -- anyone out there finishing a term at school? Getting a new job? Moving? Starting Christmas shopping?

This November, as I've mentioned in my last post, I'm doing National Novel Writing Month, trying (for the third time) to write a 50,000 word novel during November. Incidentally, I've also picked up a new job that has me on call 24/7 and my etsy shop is getting ready for the Christmas rush. I don't think I've ever been busier, even when I was finishing my degree.

The amazing thing is -- and trust me, it's amazing because I'm normally so bad at time management --  so far, I am actually caught up to my word count, more or less, making this my most successful Nanowrimo  yet! There's something about having no time to yourself during the day that really forces you (me, at least) to make the time. I've been waking up earlier, telling my friends and boyfriend that I can't hang out because I need to write, making sure I write at least enough to be on "par" for the day, and making myself continue writing because I don't know when I'll get the chance to do it again.

TLDR version -- being so busy that I don't have time for anything forces me to make time. I might actually do it this year, yay!

See you!

NaNoWriMo Yet again!

Well it looks like I'm kicking off 2014's NaNoWriMo with a new job! Yay? My position is temporary, lasting only this month, which is good news for my wallet (just before Christmas), but bad news for my writing. Without getting into too much detail, this job is pretty high-stress -- not exactly the kind of job where I can call it a day at 5pm and take off.

Even so, I'm feeling optimistic. One of the main purposes for Nano is to learn how to write while busy. My plans for Nano this month are to finally get to work on a fantasy concept I've had floating around my head for years. After two years of not succeeding at finishing a novel for Nano, here are some things I'm changing this year to make it easier:

-- I have notes. I'm not sure if it's considered "cheating" or not, but since this concept has been in my head forever, the notes were inevitable. Now that I have them, I'm clutching them to my chest this month. I think they'll keep me focused.

-- I'll be keeping my notebook will all these notes close at hand. I find it best to remember things and be organized and productive if I have the chance to physically write things down. Call me old-fashioned, but smart phone note-taking doesn't cut it for me. I've tried.

-- I have to budget my time. I was great at it the first year but much worse the second year. This time, since I'll be busy with work, I'll have to do such horrid things as wake up early -- yeesh -- to write.

Good luck to all the writers trying NaNoWriMo this year!

Chasing Deadlines

I believe I've mentioned in past posts how much of a love-hate relationship I have with deadlines. To get started as a writer I've noticed how imperative it is that I take it upon myself to hunt down, tackle, and meet deadlines.

I need places -- journals, magazines, websites -- to send my work, and more often than not these places have guidelines, rules, and dreaded deadlines to adhere to. Generally, I have school to thank for training me up to meet deadlines, but the rest -- finding and dedicating myself to them is all a test for my self-discipline. Something that tends to get quite rusty.

These are the submissions I'm working on for the end of October. All of these deadlines are in November, but of course November's when NaNoWriMo begins. The goal is to get it all done beforehand. (You got this, Sarah's self-discipline!)

--LEAP books Beware the Little White Rabbit submission
--CBC Canada Writes Short Story Prize
--NFLD Arts and Letters Competition

That's all for now! See you.