Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thank you! And what I learned...Nanowrimo


I wanted to share a few things on Nanowrimo.  Yeah, I know you all are probably tired of hearing about it.  So, I will try to not mention it again after this.  Okay?  (note I said "try") :)


So, where do I begin?


First and Foremost, I have to THANK a few very special people who helped me during Nanowrimo.

I don't know where to start, so I'm just going down the list...

Jackie of My Ever Expanding Library and @seolmara on Twitter.  If you follow me on twitter you know her and I where in this eyeballs deep together.  We cheered each other on and sprinted together.  Yes, sprinted - going for 20 minutes (or 15) straight none stop, not looking back, to see who got the most words.  I say we tied. ;)

Melissa of He Followed Me Home... Can I Keep Him? and @hefollowedme on Twitter.  She was our cheerleader through out the process. :) She helped us keep our spirits up when we where ready to say we couldn't do it....back in the beginning when we where trying to get started.

Skyla Dawn Cameron (her blog) and @skyladawn on Twitter.  She has really helped keep me going.  Being a published author and all she still had time to give me the peep talks and busts I needed to keep going at the beginning and through it all.  She doesn't know it but she was the one to keep my word count going in the beginning.  I'm just glad she was working on 3 books at once.  I have this streak in me that I don't like to give up and definitely don't like to loss.  Which kept me going but tracking my word count daily against Skyla's helped keep me going.  She is a quick writer and I wanted to keep up, a little healthy competition for me.  (don't tell her)

Another author that doesn't even know she was helping me as I watched her word count jump by leaps and bounds and wanted to keep with here was Elaine Corvidae.  She is found on twitter @ElaineCorvidae and on her blog.  In the end she took off with the word count and no I couldn't keep up with her, but I loved the rush of trying to do it. :) And she was another to help cheer me on as well.

 Love these authors!  It's amazing how kind they are. ;D And suffer the same worries and troubles as I did, even with me just starting and them being veterans.

Melissa of Books & Things... @BooksThings on Twitter She did not need the whip.  But she did threaten me with it a few times.  And I jumped!  That thing is deadly, let me tell you.  Spikes and all.  She is viciously accurate with her aim as well.  LOL!  She is one of the many followers how stuck with me through the month here and gave me all sorts of support to keep going. :)

Bastard Books.... @BastardBooks on Twitter... well, what can I say to someone with a name like that?  lol.  He helped pick (along with a few others) a book to read on the side lines that kept me going.  Then he was the devil on the late nights when I was saying on Twitter I was heading to bed but still had thoughts to get out.  By devil I mean that voice that tells you to keep writing, keep going, who needs sleep? lol. Yep he held up to his name. ;D But in all that, I got some great stuff out that I probably would have forgotten about by the time I got home the next night to write.

Sadly, I know there are others to acknowledge, but I'm brain dead!  I'm sorry if I missed you.

Thank you all for the boost all month to keep going.


A few things I Learned and Found I liked...

1)  The Sprints.  I was scared to death of these, but found they helped me push forward and not worry on each word at that moment.  Yes, I'll have loads of clean up but they pushed me through the thoughts with quickness.  I really loved this.

2)  Friends are HUGE!  It is great to have friends help keep you going, whether through friendly competition or a shoulder to cry on.  It makes all the difference in the world.

3)  So much support!  I felt going in no one would want to support me; I'm new, never finished a book thought, blah blah blah... All true about me, except I was so wrong about no one wanting to support me.  I was pleasantly surprised and tremendously grateful!  Even established authors have the same worries and trials as a newbie like me.  That alone helped make me feel more comfortable along with being so kind and inspiring.  AND my followers!  You all kept coming around all month cheering me on.  Just stopping by to say hello to me made me feel better. :) Thank you all!!!

4)  When in doubt, Kill your character.  Or at least try.  Every time I got stuck, I tried to kill my characters... okay so there might be a lot of fights as I tried it a lot... but in doing that it kept my fantasy read going, made me think on the world and other characters around.  And those darn characters with a hero complex came to the surface.  Ha!  And the chickens hide.  You learn a lot about the characters that way.

5)  When stuck, DON'T STOP.  Push through with something, you can always fix it later.  Skip to another scene and fill the gap another time.  If you ask, it will come... just maybe later.

6) FIX IT LATER! - I can go back and rewrite it, fix it, add to it, delete it, whatever later.  But get the thoughts out now while they are there.  You just never know where those thoughts might lead to, so use them.  You can fix it later.


Now for the hard part... rewriting and revising. :) Will you all help me? lol. Thank you!!

16 comments:

  1. I am so very proud of you, Mel!!! Not surprised at all, though, Toots!

    I wish I could've helped support you through this process, too, but my raging infection put me down for most of November.

    Know now that I am rooting for you and if you need any editing, I'm your gal! All those boring papers I did for my Masters paid off there :o]

    Big Hugs, my Chica!

    You Go, Girlfriend!!!!

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  2. I'm so glad you did it, it sounds so interesting, and it was really nice to talk to you during this month. Congrats!!!

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  3. *hugs* We love you and we're so proud of you! You did wonderfully.

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  4. Hey! Congratulations!! (and I love #4 - when in doubt kill your characters!!)

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  5. Glad I could be of assistance! :) And I agree with Carolyn, #4 is terrific advice.

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  6. I did not cheer you on *sobs* I am sorry! *cries a bit more* Not been around twitter much :/

    But YAY you are done :D

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  7. I don't use Twitter so couldn't keep up with you but so proud of you to finish - that is a mega-achievement! You are so good to keep going...so many others failed! *big hug* :)

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  8. Congratulations (again)! This was so much fun, even on the nights when nothing wanted to show up on the pages, lol.

    Btw, did we post our thanks at around the same time? I was still way too excited this morning that I had to share ASAP :D

    And, I enjoyed picking one of your characters to kill off. As their creators, we can sometimes get attached to people, so it was neat to have that opportunity here. Next time, you get to kill off one of mine ;)

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  9. I am so proud of you and it sounds like you had a great time!!! I am hoping for some reading material if you ever want to send it my way! You helped me once and I would be happy to help you!

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  10. Wow, I'm very impressed that you completed NaNoWrimo. I tried it last year but became completely overwhelmed. I think I'll have to wait until my kids are older before giving this another try. Good luck with your revisions!

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  11. It sounds like you learned a lot from your experience and grew as a writer. Good luck with revisions!

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  12. Aw... thanks. You helped me with my aim as well. ;) <3

    I'm so happy that you got it done! I get to have your first book SIGNED... right? You don't want me breaking out the whip again... ;D

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  13. Kristi The Book Faery - Thank you. :) And I do hope you are feeling better and the new treatment is working better for you. No worries hun. I don't know if I could handle to many more cheerleaders, I would feel more like I'd let everyone down. :) Thank you! Hope you are feeling well. *hugs*

    Meliiane - THank you! It was really fun and I did enjoy it. It was lovely to talk with you through the month too. :) THank you for sticking around with me through it. :)

    Skyla - Thank you!! :) You really helped so much.

    Carolyn Crane - Thank you!! LOL So glad you love #4 on the list. ;D It really helped pull me through and get to know the characters better. ;D

    Elaine Corvidae - Thank you! :) lol. And so glad you enjoyed #4 on my learning list. ;D It did help. ;)

    Blodeuedd - Oh, don't be! You were around to chat when I needed a break, books! And You've been having terrible internet troubles. :) Thank you! And thank you for sticking through with me here. :) That means a lot!

    Mel - Oh me, please don't worry about not being on Twitter. I'm so glad you stuck through with me here at the blog and kept visiting, that means so much to me. :) Thank you! And thank you, there were a good many who didn't pull through to the end, so I'm thrilled to be one of them who did. :)

    Jackie - LOL! CONGRATS to you as well! :D I had a wonderful time! And yes, I started this the day before and finished it at work as I could find the links and attach them easier there. :) lol. Oh, yes I get to pick next time! LOL! Thank you!

    Michelle @ Oh! For the Love of Books - Thank you! And thank you! I didn't even think of asking, I soooo appreciate the offer! I will have to take you up on it when I get the book pulled together much better. I'm going to work on it next year and see where it goes. I'll definitely let you know! :D Thank you!

    Simcha - Thank you! Oh, I'm so glad my kid is older. If he was interrupting me every 5 minutes I'd get nothing done. You definitely need to give it a go again in the future though. :) Thank you!

    StephanieD - I really did have a wonderful time with it and learned so much. Thank you! And thank you for sticking around with me when I wasn't around much. :)

    Melissa (Books&Things) - lol. So glad I could give you some target practice. ;D lol! And yes, if I ever have a book printed, you get one of the first. Signed. ;D Thank you!!

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  14. LOL! Kill your characters! Sage advice, Mel. I'm glad you learned a lot and had some great support!

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  15. I'm glad you had such a good time! I've been considering joining in but am way too scared, lol. I love your tips though! I will have to try some of them when trying to write myself. I'm one who wants it perfect right away and thus get stuck often! I love number 4 too. ;) When I think about it, it happens quite often in books! Great tips. :)

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  16. Missie - lol. Thank you! So glad you enjoyed the advice. ;D It seems everyone is really loving the "kill your character" suggestion. ;D Thank you so much!

    Rebecca - I was scared to try Nano as well. But I went in with the thoughts even if I didn't accomplish the 50,000 (as it sounds like a lot) what I did get was more than I had before. No pressure. Then it became an addiction and I was determined to get to the 50,000 words. But if you do join next year do let me know! I will Buddy you. What really helped me was having friends who wrote at the same times I did and work through with me. I found I couldn't go for the perfect scene. I found I really needed to keep moving forward and go back to expand later. I did find I went back to get a refresher on what I wrote and where I was going, but didn't fix, add, or change anything. I will do that in rewrites. lol. And so glad you liked the tips... and #4. :D Thank you!

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