"Write now is good."

Made it!

At around 2AM this morning, I looked at my NaNoWriMo word count. I had passed the 50,000-word mark.

I have now won it for the third time. The third book in my trilogy of novels is now a solid first draft. The story is not over, however; I will probably add another 20,000 words to it to wrap up the dangling plot lines and to tell the story completely. I'll start this in January 2008.

This year, a slew of writing buddies accompanied me during our NaNoWriMo trek. I've met all of them through blogging, and not a one in person. I don't even know what some of them look like, but I know their words, loud and clear. We cheered each other on during November, and I'd like to recognize them — those who won by making it to 50K and those who didn't but still wrote an amazing amount towards their current works-in-progress. In alphabetical order by username:

- alex wolfe
- Beccabee
- bleeding espresso
- Cathryn Hrudicka (NOTE: This is her 7th NaNoWriMo win!)
- Rebecca.
- rel

Congratulations to all of us!

Writers need pep talks.

Photo: pep talk by swandive00

Everyone needs encouragement, especially those writing a 50,000-word novel in 30 days...

For you writers out there who are not participating in NaNoWriMo but still need some good words to get your wordy juices flowing, please look at these pep talks. Eight inspiring, well-known authors have penned some insightful, humorous and honest takes on how to get through, and even thrive during, the writing process.

When you're done reading them, drop back by and share what you found most interesting or helpful!

Writing, writing, writing

I have three major deadlines this week. A couple of these projects will be online, so when they are completed and live, I'll post here.

(My next post will be titled "Editing, editing, editing", by the way.)

Find a word. Then find another...

Photo: Neil Gaiman at laptop, from his website NeilGaiman.com

In the week 3 inspiration email from the folks at National Novel Writing Month, author Neil Gaiman writes a stunner. He describes precisely the desperation and despair, mixed with a bit of zany hope, that I'm currently feeling as I stare at my unfinished novel. Comfortingly, I'm not alone.

Here's a choice excerpt from Gaiman's pep talk for those of you who are not Wrimos:

You write. That's the hard bit that nobody sees. You write on the good days and you write on the lousy days. Like a shark, you have to keep moving forward or you die. Writing may or may not be your salvation; it might or might not be your destiny. But that does not matter. What matters right now are the words, one after another. Find the next word. Write it down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

I see some new writing mantras here. My muses are jumping up and down with giddy glee, clapping their hands and nodding in approval.

A novel habit

 

Photo: Book market by chrismehigan

I'm in the midst of my third NaNoWriMo novel, the final in a trilogy. For the last two years, I've written at least 50,000 words in November. This third year's participation makes it feel like a tradition. If for some reason I didn't participate next year, I'd really feel like I was missing something vital, akin to a holiday or an annual reunion.

What's surprising me so much this go-around is that I know the characters so well that they are telling me their story quite clearly. The writing flows so fluidly in some places that I can type 1,000 words quickly, non-stop. I am beginning to see how some writer's might form a "novel habit" — regular novel writing results in a constant, prolific ease of wordiness. (Think Ray Bradbury and J.K. Rowling...)

After these wordy bursts, I then stop to look at what's shown up on the page. I certainly didn't have any of that in mind ahead of time, I think to myself. Perhaps a kernel of a starting point, but not the surprise that I see before me.

Could all of these plot twists and turns be in me, waiting for me to write them out? If they are, how long have they been within my mind and heart? Was I born with them? Did I form them during my intensely imaginative childhood years? Or did they just arrive at the moment I typed, like some lively, anecdote-filled guests who have shown up suddenly and happily?

This third noveling attempt is confirming the following for me: to know a character and a story, one has to write it out. Wherever it lives, either in the heart or brain or floating around in the air we breathe, it doesn't fully materialize until pen is on paper, moving and scribbling, or fingers are on keyboard, typing. The story has to come through somehow; it is not a complete story if we are just considering it within our own thoughts. It has to be let out of our holding tanks. It has to be actioned into existence.

Contest: Traveling Stories magazine

Here's another writing contest, also with a November 15th deadline (this Thursday).

Traveling Stories magazine wants your travel stories.

That's the second contest this week due right in the middle of NaNoWriMo; needless to say, I won't be participating this time around. Good luck to those of you who do!

Found at Maryam's always-wonderful My Marrakesh.

Contest: "Restless Dawn" short fiction

Jason of The Clarity of Night has started another short fiction contest. It is called "Restless Dawn". The details:

° 250 words in any genre or style of short fiction
° use of Jason's photo as inspiration
° due by 11PM EST on November 14th (next Wednesday)
° a variety of prizes await the winners

Check out the additional information.

Grammar Ninja!

Love of grammar in the "real" world always catches my eye. Someone really has a passion for grammar to have created this: introducing the game Grammar Ninja.

Test your knowledge of grammar at three difficulty levels: beginner, skilled, or master grammar ninja.

Writing buddies

A little National Novel Writing Month business here:

The NaNoWriMo site still has its "Authors Search" function disabled to accommodate the massive site traffice they're still getting. So, for some of you, I can't find your user pages to add you as writing buddies.

Please send me the URL of your user page, and I'll add you as a writing buddy. You'll then get a ping that I've added you, and you can then add me. Thanks much.

Tom Robbins on what makes "good fiction"

Photo: chiamatemi leigh cheri by [auro]ra

Today I received the NaNoWriMo "pep talk" email, written by Tom Robbins (author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, among many others). In it, he offers this insight into writing a novel:

As the great Nelson Algren once said, “Any writer who knows what he's doing isn't doing very much.” Most really good fiction is compelled into being. It comes from a kind of uncalculated innocence. You need not have your ending in mind before you commence. Indeed, you need not be certain of exactly what's going to transpire on page 2. If you know the whole story in advance, your novel is probably dead before you begin it. Give it some room to breathe, to change direction, to surprise you. Writing a novel is not so much a project as a journey, a voyage, an adventure.

Heading back to my own writing now...