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5 Things To Do In the Last 5 days of NaNoWriMo

11/25/2017

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NaNoWriMo is in the last days. Five days to be exact. So l figured why not make a list of 5 things to do in these last 5 days. We're less than a week from the end of our beautiful graphs and NaNo sanctioned pep talks. Some people have already hit the 50k milestone (Like me! Woot!) and some are wondering if it's possible to write 10k per day and squeak out a win. 

Before the clock strikes midnight and all possibilities of adding to your numbers evaporate here are five things to do....

1. Make note of people you wrote with and who inspire you.

Whether you attended a write-in, worked with a buddy in a writer's group, or just found a YouTuber or Blogger who posted content you enjoy, keep in touch. Set up a meetup in the upcoming months, or drop a comment or email if they are an online buddy. Writers don't just write in November, and while it is A-Okay to take a breather during the craziness of December, don't drop off the edge of the earth.

You may have met someone new or re-invigorated a relationship with a content creator that pushed you forward. Don't let that connection die. Bookmark their page, give them a shout out on social media, or send them an email. 

2. Vow to revise AFTER.

I hate to break it to the newbie writers, but your book is not ready to submit to a publisher. Take a few days off before you start going through the document you've been slaving over. I recommend a complete re-read before you start marking it up to get the whole picture. Get an idea of what needs fixed and make some basic notes so you know who changed names and eye color. Then go about fixing plot holes and other nasty bugs that crawled out of your 4am writing sprints.

Once you've done your re-reading find another writer to read it. Get some honest feedback. Preferably someone not on your xmas list, because you want someone who will lay it out, not try and ensure their stocking isn't full of coal.

3. Figure out your next step.

If this is the first time you've finished a book, I highly recommend finding a writer's group or critique partner to trade work with. You could attend workshops, or join an organization (like RWA if you write romance).

If this isn't your first rodeo, write down what comes next on a Post-It and slap it over your writing space. With the craziness of the holidays sometimes just knowing what you have to do one step at a time helps you stop being overwhelmed. You've just spent the month putting your writing before everything else, don't let that fire slip away.

And if you didn't get near what you wanted to accomplish done, figure out why. Is this challenge not realistic for you? Is the daily writing not your style and demotivated you? Evaluate what happened and figure out how to better match yourself with a timetable. No writer has the same routine. But the only way you'll find out yours is to keep trying new things until one of them works. So...if NaNoWriMo didn't work for you, still get out that Post-It and write down what you're going to try next. And do it.

4. Reward yourself.

Whether or not you made it to 50,000 words this month, you took the plunge to make a commitment to your writing. If you set up rewards for yourself that you didn't quite make it to this year, that's okay. Look at what you did accomplish. There are writing buddies on my list who have less than 500 words. But those are 500 words more than they had at the beginning of the month. And if they keep doing it, they would have a novel in less than a year's time.

Sometimes the reward spurs you on to getting more in the last few days than you'll have written all month. I've come back from 10k behind because once I hit that halfway mark and got myself my coffee reward, I knew I could do more.

5. Do one thing every day we have left to feed your story.

Notice I didn't say write every day in these last 5 days? I didn't. Do one thing to feed your story. Realize you need a lot more research before you keep writing? Spend thirty minutes a day doing it. Need to decide on the best ending for your characters? Spend thirty minutes a day brainstorming, or outlining, or even just writing your plot points on note cards so you can have a visual layout of your book. 

We only have 5 days left. And if you signed up, you wanted to commit to this crazy idea you had in your head. Use these last five days to either write like crazy, or get yourself set up for success in the coming year.


I could keep writing and wax poetic on my #NaNoWriMo experience, or my love of the atmosphere it creates, but I have words to write, and brand new vampire who is dying to sink her teeth into her maker. I'm off to keep sprinting toward my "The End". What are you going to accomplish today?

​~Roxy





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NaNoWrimo Inspiration

11/18/2017

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Hello. My name is Roxy, and I'm addicted to YouTube videos. Whether I'm doing research, killing time, or need some background noise, I will hit up YouTube for my fix.

For NaNoWriMo, there are a few types of videos I keep returning to, so I thought I'd share some!

I found this channel last November when I was first falling down the YouTube rabbit hole. She's got a few tips from in this video that I use myself. I especially recommend writing notes at the end of each writing day to make sure to know where to go next. 
But I'm not all about getting new ways to make myself productive. Sometimes I just enjoy watching people write. I feel inspired by seeing others get shit done. I frequently watch the channel below when I need a hit of this.
But let's be real for a minute...I write erotic romance. Sometimes I need to watch a video that speaks to me on an inspirational level having nothing to do with the act of writing. I have different songs that I'll listen to for each character story I'm trying to get into, but I also have music videos that are perfect for getting me into the mood for steamier scenes.

​My current favorite is Bruno Mars. 
You see why he's my favorite, right? *swoon*

What YouTube channels are your favorites? Or which songs do you enjoy watching the videos with? Share some links below for me. I'd love to add to my rabbit hole adventures. 

​~Roxy
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The tale of #NaNoWriMo Woe

11/9/2017

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I originally posted this a couple years ago on a different, now expired blog. But this information is far too valuable to lose. Know what else is far too valuable to lose? Your NaNoWriMo manuscript.

Gather round the computer ladies and gents it's story time. 

Once upon a time, there was an event called NaNoWriMo. That stands for National Novel Writing Month if you aren't familiar. This event gathered people around the globe to write fifty thousand words in just thirty days time.

Everyone had different reasons for going on this journey. Some wanted to write for a living, and needed some motivation to complete the next project on their plate. Some wanted to try writing as a hobby. Some have had dozens of story ideas, but were never able to make themselves get to the end of the book. And some just wanted to go to write-ins and catch the word count frenzy that followed.

They all banded together in support of each other and created buddy packs to ensure they had the sustenance needed to reach the purple bar of completion. All worked diligently and through late nights to accomplish their goals.

But one writer disobeyed the cardinal rule of NaNoWriMo...BACK UP YO' SH*T.

Now. This writer saved her entire book on one thumbdrive. The book wasn't on her computer, it wasn't on cloud storage, and it wasn't saved on any other thumbdrive. She held her precious thumbdrive in high regard and knew no other device was worthy of her story.

When she didn't pour an extra a cup of coffee and leave it as a sacrificial offering, the gods of NaNoWriMo became angry with the writer. They knew the muses did not get their caffeine fix and it was about to be a serious problem. The NaNoWriMo gods possessed her cats and ordered them to destroy the book for not providing the muses with their fuel.

The cats did as the NaNoWriMo gods commanded and destroyed the computer.
 The destruction was incredible.
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​The files were corrupted. 
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The storage device was annihilated. ​
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The evening had started out as a joyous romp through wordland. The writer had planned to feed her book with thousands of new words and frolic in the beauty of the daily green bar of accomplishment. But that would not come to pass. The destruction was absolute.

But although the writer was sad, the story was still within her. She knew she could rebuild her world. She knew there was light on the other side of this tragedy, because she could create the happy ending she needed. 

THE END 


The moral of this story is...BACK UP YOUR FREAKING MANUSCRIPT! Put it on a thumbdrive. Save it on your hard drive. Load that bastard up on the cloud. Create a drop box account. Hell, take your novel on a field trip to a friend's house and save it on their computer!


I didn't tell you this tale of woe to scare you, but I told it to you to ensure you BACK UP YO' SH*T!



~Roxy
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Haters Gonna Hate, Creators Gonna Create

11/1/2017

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Everyone starts to get the holiday happy buzz going in November. Or if you work retail like I do, you begin to feel an overwhelming sense of dread and the horror starts to build inside your soul. (Just kidding...sort of.)

But November marks something else...#NaNoWriMo!!
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is my favorite time of year. At first it was a challenge to take on, and then it became a way to help me get a book done that needed completed by deadline. Interlocking Hearts, the second book in the DMA Files, began as a NaNo Novel because I had to get a manuscript finished to be able to secure a contract for the series with my former publisher. 

Somewhere around the fourth or fifth year I completed NaNo, this event came to mean something else. It became a celebration for me. NaNo represents a journey I've been on as a writer, and seeing a simple graph, or memories pop up on FB from years past, gives me a true sense of how kick ass of a journey it truly is.

NaNoWriMo helped me reach that first "The End". It helped me learn to reach out and talk to people online and even *GASP* share some of the work I had written.

Sure, I still have edits and lots and LOTS of revisions ahead of me whenever I finish a NaNo manuscript, but here's the thing...

You can't edit a blank page.

And you can't polish something that isn't a finished product. Because the main thing I learned from my NaNoWriMo years is you have to finish your shit.

The most beautiful first chapter on earth doesn't mean fuck all, if you don't finish the damn book. What I found in the NaNoWriMo community that keeps me coming back, was support alongside humor, like minds alongside different opinions, and all of us were in the same boat. We were all creating something new. We're all working our asses off, and when you see someone bent over a laptop clicking away in a coffee shop or Panera Bread, you feel that connection.

This is also the time of year that the NaNo haters start to surface. For every NaNo Motivation blog or YouTube video, I'll find a blog post about how NaNo is the death of good writing everywhere. *eyeroll*
If you are writing for publication, think of these negative bastards as preparation for those bad reviews you need a thick skin for and then move along.

There is no one way to write, and NaNo doesn't work for everyone, but I am going to have a fab time writing with my friends. I am going to double my word count on Double Up Day. And I'll probably buy the Winner shirt after I get my purple bar on the graph. 

NaNoWriMo is my party as a writer, and gives me new goals for what I continue to improve on. November is my new year. It centers me and reminds me at the end of the day, it's all about the journey we take when we tell a story. 

This year I'm returning to Paranormal Romance, and I couldn't BE more excited. I'm creating a new world to play in, and I've been chomping at the bit to dive in.
Are you a WriMo too? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Are you a NaNo rebel? No idea what I'm talking about, but intrigued by the idea of tackling that book tickling the back of your brain?

​Head over to NaNoWriMo.org and look around. Want to dive in? Make sure you add me as a buddy. (I'm over there as Roxy Mews.)

So tell me? What kind of kickass story are you going to tackle this month?

Today is Day 1. Go get your words in. You can totally do this.

​~Roxy
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