I had planned to get the book I'm drafting right now finished up before NaNoWriMo begins. But we all know how best laid plans go, right?

Damn familial responsibilities and adulting. They tend to show up at the most inconvenient time.

So after waxing poetic to myself about the difference between failing and falling, I decided to cut myself some slack and start fresh. No worrying about the past, because there's no changing it.

I wasn't going to let the day get away from me. Sure...it was already 3pm, but let's ignore that fact. I set my timer and got my daily blog post knocked out. Then it was time to do all the things I'd been stressing about all day.

Between a blast of dry shampoo and putting on real pants, I was scrambling to figure out how the writing was going to happen. I was heading to a place that wasn't very computer friendly. There's always the old "grab a notebook and go" method, but then I'd still have to type it out when I eventually got home. And as a lefty, I didn't want smears all over my hand.

I ran through my office to stare at my computer and think real hard about taking my baby out where there would be tons of kids, and having to hide the middle finger stickers on it. That's when I saw this bad boy propped in the magazine rack I keep him on in my office.

​I bought my AlphaSmart3000 on Ebay a few years back. I'd heard tons of NaNoWriMo folks raving about the device for fast drafting. 

It's low tech writing at it's finest, because it only shows four short lines of text, and there's no notifications, or shiny internet to tempt you away. This bad boy also has the wonderful auto-save feature. So as soon as a keyboard click leaves your fingers, it's captured by the device's onboard memory.

I can only save files by number, not name, and while there is a spell check and a few other features, I only use it to draft, and send the words onto whatever I'm working on. 

It takes three double A batteries that seem to last damn near forever, but of course, since I hadn't picked it up in a long time, I had to change them.

Last night, with only a few minutes to spare, I tucked it under my arm, sent my latest update of my draft to my drive, and took off.

I had the tightest schedule ever to keep, but I knew I'd arrive at the second stop of four fifteen minutes before the event started. I knew I had time.

I got 504 words down in those fifteen minutes, and that is even with people getting up and walking past me in a movie-theater-style seating arrangement. Seriously, folks. Get your shit done before you sit down.

I got home, hours later, and still had to get my words onto my document, but seriously, all that meant was plugging in an old-school USB port and hitting send.

I haven't set up a NaNoWriMo "survival kit" per se, but I do have some of my favorite tools coming into play for the current draft I'm working on, and I'm happy to dig this bad boy out of retirement.

There's something to be said about typing on a mechanical keyboard, and sitting with your words with no formatting and no italics. I find when I'm just thinking about the next sentence, and that's it, that I can write faster than I do on my computer. Because if I don't go fast on my AlphaSmart, I'll forget where I just was and trust me when I say, you don't want to attempt a read-thru on this thing. Using an arrow key to maneuver through a document on a teeny tiny screen is torture.

So I decided to write this blog on it today too. I'm getting ready for Halloween. And there are tons of things to wrap up before the trick-or-treaters start knocking on our door. 

It's time to grab my coffee and start my day. I'm starting it with my blog and morning routine out of the way first.

And my little AlphaSmart is doing its part in keeping me productive. I love this thing.

Do you have any old-school gadgets you love? Maybe it's not even a writing tool. I'd love to hear about it.

~Roxy

(*NOTE* I'm linking a lot of things in this article. Hover over the words and click your little heart away)

As I'm getting myself ready for NaNoWriMo this year, I'm realizing that timers are magic. And I'm not the only one who thinks so!

Have you ever noticed how many productivity methods recommend timers? Sure, NaNoWriMo has atimer, but you can also set up word sprints days in advance! If you're going to be home at 9am (EST) on November 1st, click the button below and sprint with me. Let's give this group sprint thing a try.

Not a fan of the NaNoWriMo website? You can try Discord, searching for Twitter for #wordsprint, #NaNoWriMo, or #1k1hr, or even send me a message on Facebook, and I'll drop you into my handy dandy NaNo group "Roxy's NaNoWriMo 2018 Rockstars". 

Those are just the various places I'll be hanging out getting some writing done. And I'll be doing it 15-30 minutes at a time. There is something fantastic about using a timer that makes the whole shebang seem more vital. It's a race against the clock to battle back the blank page with tons of words. 

Did you know that timers have the same magic outside of your WIP? It took tons of self-help and productivity guides spewing the same stuff at me for me to take the timer outside of my writing time. But seriously. It's brilliant.

Know who else uses timers? People who practice the Pomodoro technique, which is simply setting a timer to get any task done, and then taking a brief break. According Wikipedia, it was a technique developed in the 80's, but I have a feeling people have been doing this for a lot longer than that. 

Why are people talking about setting a timer and using it to get shit done? 

Because it works. Period. Dot. End of story.

I don't know why, and I don't know how. I'm sure there is some kind of chemical in our brains that makes us work harder when we're put up against a hard deadline. Probably something to do with our inherent survival instinct that I don't have the background to talk about. But I can tell you, this timer shit works. 

​I've been using the Forest App, I talked about a couple blogs ago. Holy shit, is this app amazingly helpful. Know why? It stops you from picking up your phone. If you go to check a notification and leave the app, you'll kill your "tree" or "bush". Anyone ever cried during The Lorax? *raises hand* This app will guilt you into doing your shit and putting the social media aside for later. 

I challenge you to set a timer for something you've been putting off today. It's after 3pm my time, so I set a timer to get this blog done. And I'm going to have a happy little tree to add to my forrest in my app in another 8 minutes. Because that's the beauty of the timer, for me. I accomplish more in less time. If I have 6 hours to do something, it will take me 6 hours. If I only have thirty minutes...well, I'll bet I get more done in those thirty minutes than I would have if I hadn't set the timer. 

Do you use timers? If you do, tell me what you use. I'm always down for another gadget. If you don't use timers, are you thinking about snagging one now? I'd love to hear about it.

​~Roxy

I've been doing a larger than average amount of self-reflection lately. Perhaps it's because my year is almost over. Frankly I don't count November and December as part of the year. Between family functions, extended holiday hours at work, and dedicating myself to my writing renewal during NaNoWriMo, there isn't time for anything other than emergency management. 

With hubby in a newer high stress job this round, there's a whole other circle of hell I'm prepping for. But this makes my writing and morning habits for myself even more important. 

The thing I'm struggling with most right now is learning the difference between "Falling" and "Failing". And convincing my heart as well as my brain, that they are two very very different ideas. It's helping me cope when my carefully laid plans go to shit.

I'm going to fall. Whenever we are trying to get our feet under us for the first time, or after a loss, we'll stumble. I'll fall off the wagon with my morning pages. I'll fall off in my word count, even after kicking a lot of ass the past couple weeks. Hell. Falling down on doing laundry and dishes when I am reminded that they are a chore that is NEVER EVER FINISHED...well, that's definitely going to happen. The rat race of cleaning is fucking discouraging. 

But falling, doesn't mean I've failed. 

My alarm goes off at 5am every morning, and I have the choice on how I want to start my day. Sometimes I'm up and off running. I do a countdown in my head and force myself out of my warm bed and into the bathroom to brush my teeth and slap some cold water on my face.

Other times, I didn't get the sleep I needed and I'm dragging. I take longer getting my morning started. I listen to an audio book and forget to put water in my coffee maker. 

What I have to realize is that just because I missed my morning routine, doesn't mean my entire day is a failure. Just because I missed filling out my planner for a week, doesn't mean I should toss it in the trash. 

When I fall, I've got to tell myself to start where I am, not worry about where I should be.

I'm a perfectionist at heart, and maybe others don't have the same problems with this as I do. But if you've ever thrown out a journal because you couldn't bear looking at your failed attempt at filling the pages, you and I share some traits. So this is a chat for you.

I've been working on mindfullness, and being present in the moment. During meditation my brain always went straight to the idea that if I was not doing something productive, I'd just wasted a moment I'll never be able to get back. Which is the worst way to think about it. And it made meditation a bitch to get through. I could be doing dishes, or laundry, or journaling, or writing. Why the fuck am I worried about my breathing? And OMG, when was the last time the dog went out?

My brain is a scary place sometimes. But something I've come to realize after FORCING myself to do at least a minimum of mediation is that, for those few brief minutes, I am appreciating the fact that I'm breathing. And a breath might have gone completely unnoticed and unappreciated if I'd been rushing around or numbing my brain with planner videos since the news is so scary I'm afraid to turn on the television.

I kept meditating. I stopped. I breathed. And I experienced moments in time I would have missed. While there will never be another moment exactly like this one, there will also be a brand new moment where I can start all over. In the next moment, I am a brand new person that didn't exist in the moment before.

I only fail if I stop breathing. I only fail if I stop starting over and taking another step. It doesn't matter where I was yesterday, because yesterday was an entirely different moment than the one I'm in now. Yesterday doesn't matter, because it's over. What matters is if I'm moving forward from where I am right now.

I'm going to slip. I'm going to slide back down the ladder, or lose my turn in the grand game of life we play each day. But if I look around and really take stock, I'm the only player on my board. I'm the only one who matters in my game. Do I give up? Or do I roll the dice and take another turn?

I roll the dice. I try something new. Or maybe I reinvigorate a habit I know makes me feel good. 

This blog? This blog makes me feel good. I've missed a few days here and there, but I've been posting almost daily.

Today's ramblings are a bit more free-form that I usually post, and I hope as a reader, you don't mind indulging me in musings like this on occasion.

Did you fall today? I did. I fell a few times. But I'm taking a step. What step are you going to take right now? I'd love to hear about it.

~Roxy

This is a repost from a blog I did a few years back. It popped up in my memories and sadly, I realized the blog was no more. 

So I wanted to share it, because I think it's a darn good blog, even if I do say so myself. Although I am giving plotting (in the most basic of forms) a try for this year's NaNoWriMo, I am a pantser at heart. Every story I've started has come from a main character and a "Wouldn't it be cool if..." statement. And that's it. So although I'm dipping my toe into the plotter pool, I'm probably diving back into the pantser lifestyle soon after.

Without further ado...Here's a post about NaNo and my Top 4 NaNoWriMo Prep Tips for Pantsers.

For anyone who isn’t familiar, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is an online gathering of people who are all trying to score fifty thousand words in just thirty days. There are forums, and regional meetups, and really cool little graphs to help get you to those two magical words… “The End.”

I am that writer who loves the blank page. I adore starting stories. Those first few thousand words are my favorites. When the characters are just starting to dance across your brain cells, it’s exciting and new and the possibilities of where their tales will go are endless.

Starting stories was always easy for me. I had notebooks full of plot ideas, thumb drives stuffed with story starters, and hundreds of thousands of words that I had to get out of my head.

Unfortunately, up until a few years ago, I didn’t have a single finished novel.

Then I found NaNoWriMo. I created a profile and signed up. Seeing all of these seasoned authors sprinting along with me was amazing. We were all there for the same reason…to create a story. It didn’t matter what we were writing, we all had to get words on the page.

This is a series about how to prepare for NaNoWriMo. But I’m going to let you in on a secret…

Not all of us plan. Like…at all. Not even a little bit.

NaNoWriMo taught me a new term. “Pantser”.

A “Pantser” is someone who does no or very little preparation before they start. They turn on their computer and write.

My name is Roxy Mews, and I am a pantser.

I open Word, and I go. Sure, I don’t write the neatest first drafts. (I owe my CPs and editors some serious chocolate.) Sometimes my characters change attitude, hair color, and eye color, or even name.

Preptober about NaNoWriMo prep, so let me give you some ways to prep if you too are in the Pantser Camp.

#1 Get acquainted with the “Review” tab in Word.
When I am writing and I know I need to research something for a plot point, or I am putting in a crucial tidbit where a character needs to act differently, I make a note. I click that lovely “New Comment” box in the Review tab, and remind myself what I need to do.

Killing someone with a gun? Google model descriptions later.

Have to find a regional food? Ask the twitterverse when that part of the world is awake.

Need to see if humans can bend that way while getting intimately acquainted? Just make sure your safe search is off, and the internet will reveal all.

Make your notes and move forward. NaNoWriMo is all about turning off your inner editor and finishing the story.
 
#2 Stock up on a stash of bribe items.
There are days when you won’t want to write. The dreaded week 2 blahs strike many of us hard. Pick your favorite treat and keep them under lock and key until you put your butt in front of the computer.

You only get that piece of chocolate when you reach your word count goal.

That fancy coffee you love to treat yourself with? Only order it when you have your first ten thousand words under your belt. (I highly recommend Death Wish Coffee for this bribe)

You can also arm yourself with a special playlist, or a great smelling candle. They don’t have to be pricey or full of calories, but chocolate and caffeine tend to be what keeps me moving forward.
 
#3 Easy meal prep
The most exciting part about being a Pantser is when the muse sits on your shoulder and starts screaming the story in your ear. Those moments are not ones you want to stop in the middle of. If your muse is anything like mine, you can’t get her to start again when you’re ready.

Have easy meals ready to go.

Put the local pizza delivery place on notice, and let them know when you call them grunting into the phone it means you want a large bacon and pineapple. Tell them you’ll leave the money on the porch when you sprint for the bathroom break you’ve been putting off all afternoon.

I suppose you could cook things ahead of time too, but you’re about to write 50k in a month. If you’re anything like me, you don’t have time for that kind of thing.
 
#4 Get a buddy
One of the best things about the NaNoWriMo website is the buddies feature. You can add buddies to your page and the NaNo site will let you peek into their word count. You can see when they’re slacking and guess what…they can see when you are.

Having that accountability is one hell of a motivator.  Find a buddy. Find a group of them, and push each other. When I see I am only a hundred words from topping one of my buddies for the day, I always get another cup of coffee and push ahead.

If you want to be my buddy, you can find me HERE.
 
At the end of the day, if you are a Plotter or a Pantser, we all start with zero words on our boards. We all start with nothing and work to create a complete story. It’s not meant to be perfect, it’s not meant to be pretty, it’s meant to be finished.

If you’re waffling on joining up, and think you missed your time to prepare, you’re wrong. You don’t need a perfected outline. You don’t need character charts. You just need to write. Why not do it with millions of other people? 
 
Are you a Plotter or a Pantser? I'd love to hear about it.

~Roxy

I've been chatting about NaNoWriMo over here a lot, and heads up, there will be a lot more, because this will consume my life for the next month. If it's not your bag...I'll see you in December. 

But I do think even if you're not a WriMo, there are still tons of things you can get out of the content that becomes prolific during the month of November.

One of my favorite types of content is what people like to call their "Survival Kits". Many NaNoWriMo participants hoard adorable coffee mugs, cute pens, fancy gadgets and software in preparation for November. And there are a million and one of these videos that are prevalent on authortube. I'll drop two of my fav's from this year below.

Some of you might look at these Pinterest-Worthy moments and say, "Yeah. All well and good, Roxy. But I'm flat ass broke."

You know what? Me too. So I thought I'd share some of the bribes I'm using this year in my NaNoWriMo survival kit. (I chat about bribes in a blog post from last year if you want to check it out HERE.)

Here are 5 TOTALLY FREE bribes you can use for your NaNoWriMo survival kit.

1. Reading Time

Head to your local library and grab a great new book you're dying to read, or an old favorite. I've been known to use a book I haven't read since I was a kid to set next to me and motivate me to get my work done. Don't have the time to go out? Download Overdrive on your phone and borrow e-books and audio books from your library FOR FREE. Then reward yourself after a certain number of words. Maybe you can get ahead by writing a little more than goal each day, and once you are 1667 words ahead, you get a day off to read. Adjust it to work for you.

2. Binge Time

In the days of Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, we all have services that allow us to watch episodic content to excess. Hold off on all this until your writing is done. Or better yet, give a particularly cruel buddy your login, and make them change it until your words are on the page. Just like the books, set a goal. Make it just a little challenging, but totally doable, and reward yourself when you get there. 

Give yourself a visual list of all the good things you can watch, then you can check them off as you accumulate all those beautiful new words.

3. Hygiene

Okay...stay with me here. We tend to devolve a little on this as the month goes on. Many of us (me included) have a particular chair where we always write. And sometimes we get lost in our story and time and space, and showering get away from us. Make it your reward. Do you have a fancy shower-gel or soap you were gifted in that lame secret Santa party last year? Dig it out! Bath bomb you never have the time to use? As women, we tend to accumulate these things from co-workers and distant family when they have no idea what to buy us. Use them as your bribes. And if you don't have one of these stashes, treat yourself to a manicure or pedicure at the end of a long writing day. We have all these self-care items we tend to save for "special occasions", but it's time to break them out.

4. Candles

This is another of those things gifted and re-gifted to women constantly. So I'm assuming you have at least a few candles hanging around. Grab a candle for each 500 or 1,000 words you want to write for the day. Every time you hit that goal, light that baby up! It's helpful to see the visual reminder of what you're accomplishing, and you'll have the perfect atmosphere to keep going into the dark and stormy night. 

If you don't have candles, but do have a stationary stash of stickers, maybe you can toss a cute sticker in your planner or in a notebook for every 500 or 1,000 words. Use what you have, but make it visible. 

5. New App for your phone or computer

There are a ton of free apps out there, and they can be things as goofy as puzzle games or useful like the Forest app mentioned in Rachael Stephen's video above. I'm actually using the Forest app to write this blog now. I'm two bushes in. ;) But seriously, get yourself something you're wanting to try, but don't download it until you've hit goal for the day. Or maybe you want to spread it out, and use the apps for 10k, 20k, 30k, etc. Just find great ones you like that are FREE.



You don't have to drop hundreds of dollars on adorable things to do well in NaNoWriMo. You just have to write. And if you're reading this blog, you likely are doing it on a computer or phone, so you have all the tools you need, right there. Books have been written on phones. I have Microsoft Office 365 so my phone, but Google Docs is a free download for Android. (And I'm sure if you're on iOS there's something comparable.)

We're less than a week away from November 1st! Let's get ready to write like the wind!

~Roxy

This came up in our local RWA chapter recently, and frankly...it's fucking hard to explain!

An author "voice" as I try to explain it, is kind of like an accent for your book.

Imagine a southern drawl, or a wicked good east coast vocabulary. You know that even though someone from the south and someone from the northeast might have the same speech to convey, the two of them will have very different word choice and sound. Now imagine those same people were writing books. They would have their own slants on the storylines, and their own takes on current events framed around the culture and demographics in their areas. They would tell the same story from different view points, with different words, and focus on different subplots. They would have a different voice.

The way I write a book is very different from the way others write books. I love reading good BDSM books, and am intrigued by the power exchange and great communication that happens between the couples. But when I take my snarky joke-loving writing style into a book...well...let's just say it doesn't work. I tried it and I learned quickly that I shouldn't ever write BDSM. My characters were laughing at each other instead of getting it on.

How did I find my voice? Reading. Lots and lots of reading. And after that? LOTS AND LOTS OF WRITING. And this isn't writing that has ever or will ever see the light of day. This is writing I did to get my style under my fingers. I don't even remember how many nano novels I wrote under my old persona before I switched my account to my pen name. (I'm Roxy Mews on the NaNoWriMo website if you want to buddy up this year.)

And here's the real kicker. I'm not sure if you can teach voice. Voice can definitely be developed, or edited out of a manuscript if a new writer encounters a bad editor. My voice has changed from my first book to my current WIP. Mainly because my voice is me. I've changed a lot in the last few years. So my work will have a different accent now. That's not a good thing or a bad thing, but you'll be able to see a change in what I'm writing.

I found this video by a YA author, and while I'm not in agreement with all her videos, I do think this one on voice is pretty spot on. And she chats about "Teen Voice" and "Character Voice". Each corner of the fictional genre market is going to have a different tone. And if you don't match it, or do something completely different because you're not familiar with it, you're likely to alienate readers. (You can check out the sales on my #ROBOSEX books for a prime example of that. I don't think my voice works well for the Sci-Fi market. But I still love the books, so click over on the side bar if you want to read about a sexy nonagenarian's adventures.)

​Anyway...check out this video for more info on "Voice."

Do you have a strong grip on your own author voice? Or are you still looking for it? Or do you have a totally different view on "voice" than I do? I'd love to hear about it.

~Roxy

I finally ask the woman if I can squeeze in behind her and use the one and only fountain station. After putting three or four more things back in her purse, throwing away her straw wrapper, and dropping shit, she finally moved.

Then it was the machine's turn to fuck with me.

A bit of foam is normal. Soda gives some head when coming out of a machine. But this was one of those touch screen bitches and the screen reset before the foam would settle. So I would fill the cup, let the foam settle, then go through the three menus to get my hubby's drink back on the screen.

Finally, I'm done. All the To Do boxes are checked, and I can head home.

I'm in my car, and settled, and turn the key to look for people. Because OF COURSE THERE ARE PEOPLE TAKING THEIR SWEET ASS TIME BEHIND MY CAR.

I have to wait for a teenager doing the shoe-ruining shuffle of pout to make it out of my way, and then, I could FINALLY get out of my parking spot and move.

...so I could get cut off again by a woman jumping across traffic to get in the drive thru pharmacy lane.

At this point, I turned on an audio book because I needed a soothing voice in my hear to combat the rage concert in my head.

I make it home, forty-five minutes later. And all of these businesses are within a two mile radius of my house...

And this...this inevitable shit storm of traffic and stupidity...this is why I leave early. Because it seems to happen every time I have to go somewhere. 

Halloween is just a week away, and that means the first day of NaNoWriMo is just 8 days away! 

Even with me planning out what I'm going to write and plotting out my story, I still feel unprepared. And I do this every damn year. 

I think I'm going to prep blogs, and prep daily posts, and prep ideas for group involvement. And each year I procrastinate and wing it. It still works out pretty darn well considering I'm currently at five wins in a row and about to make it six. (Yes. Humblebrag. Although, writing really quickly one month out of the entire year is not something to brag about. LOL.)

So while I have a small stash of memes and previous years posts to pull from, I'm going to be chatting over in my Facebook Group and here on my blog about whatever strikes my fancy on the day of. 

I've found that while not everyone hits the same speedbumps at the same time, we all tend to deal with similar struggles as the month wears on.

So I figured I'd give you, my fabu blog readers, a head start, and chat about some hurdles you should prep for during the month of writing with abandon.

​1. Eye Strain

If you're writing your novel on a computer, and you're not used to the extra screen time, it can wear on your eyes. Cut back on some time you'd usually spend on your phone, to make up for it. Or you could try out some of the blue light blocking glasses. 

2. Food

You might just be cooking for yourself, or for a family, but there will come a point where you are lost in your work and realize you need to eat! I have alarms set on my phone to give me a thirty minute warning before it's time to eat. It let's me wrap up what I'm doing and take care of myself by cooking real food. But before NaNo, I make sure to have at least two or three "quick" meals on hand. Something that cooks up in minutes, and allows me to keep rushing through the work if I'm on a roll.

I usually keep tortellini and sauce on hand because I can keep it in the cupboard and it won't spoil. I also love the frozen veggie packets with stir-fry veggies. All I have to do is grab a pouch of 90 second rice, cook up the veggies, and top it with some pre-cooked chicken strips or leftover meat from another meal. It's a fast and slightly more healthy meal than the tortellini.

3. Routine

If you are someone like me, who needs to have a strong routine in place to function in life, unless you're writing like a fiend on the regular, NaNo is going to fuck up your day. So before November 1st sit down with your calendar. Figure out when you can write in your day, and what you're going to pull from your schedule to make it the habit it needs to be. (I wrote a blog about coming up with your "real" word count that goes with this idea if you're ready to do some serious planning.)

But figure out where in your day you're going to squeeze in enough time for your words. And that could be different based on Evil Day Jobs, family obligations, and general appointments that pop up on a less regular basis. 

4. Procrastination and Overwhelm

I'm putting these two mental blocks together because I think they go hand in hand. There will be a point (likely a bunch of them) where you will feel like this is too big of a task. There will be a point where you might think, "I can't make this goal. I'll never write today/catch up/write anything worth reading. I might as well stop all together and go binge Netflix while I eat all the chocolate left over from Halloween." 

This is where you employ your buddies. Get involved with NaNoWriMo groups. Find a local write in. Get a sprinting buddy on Twitter. See if there's an online write-in on YouTube. NaNoWriMo is all about community. So take advantage of it. 

And if all that fails. Bribe yourself. I give myself a reward of my favorite expensive coffee once I hit the halfway point. It gives me a great reward for writing to the top of the hill that is usually the hardest part for me. By the time I'm in the second half of the 50k, I've got momentum on my side. But do what works for you. Do you need a reward every 10k? Every 5k? Hell...reward yourself with a cute sticker in your planner for every 500 words. Sometimes getting the first 500 is the hardest. Use whatever you have to to get started.

5. Technology 

This is where I go all NaNo-mom on you and remind you to back up your work EVERY SINGLE DAY. Something will likely go wrong at some point. Your computer might start updating in the tight scheduled writing time you have. Your word processor might run out of batteries. You might step on your USB drive. Your cat might walk across the keyboard and delete your manuscript. 

Shit happens. Tech is not always reliable. I have a cloud storage, physical storage, and emailed file of my document at least once a week on my calendar. Currently my plan is to do this dance on Sundays. Trust me. Losing your work, especially during this month is incredibly heartbreaking. 

And if you happen to lose power, make sure you have a cute notebook and non-ink-skipping pen in your stash. Writing time might not go as fast on pen and paper, but you'll still get the ideas down. Or use the time to brainstorm names, dialogue, or even mapping out your world. Have a back up plan.


Those are my top 5 hurdles that I always prepare for during NaNoWriMo. What are yours? What do you encounter as you shove your inner editor aside and work your computer to the point of wearing off the letters on the keys? I'd love to hear about it.

~Roxy

I'm up and getting my coffee on before I head into my 12 hour shift at the evil day job, and I'm enjoying the spooky Halloween energy.

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. It's not about buying things for people who you don't hang with outside of family functions, it's not about long travel times, or making awkward small talk with people you disagree with on MANY issues. Halloween is about wearing fun clothes, doing fun activities, and eating candy. At least that's what it is for me. 

I know that for my pagan friends Halloween time is a holiday and celebration for you, so for everyone out there who might be celebrating, Happy Samhain!

But for me, it is the lowest pressure holiday and I adore it. We've already carved pumpkins and put up a fun centerpiece. We've made puppy chow, and as soon as this wind storm lets up, we're getting the fire pit roaring.

So I wanted to watch something fun to get me in the mood. I'm re-watching the Adventures of Drew, Garrett, and Shane on Shane Dawson's channel. 

It's the perfect batch of videos to get you in the mood. And the scary sleepover games had me giggling and feeling light and happy. So before I head off to work, I thought I'd share.

​Hope you all are enjoying the season. I can't wait for Halloween! What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions? I'd love to hear about them. 

~Roxy
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