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Slow Start To NaNo...as the world explodes around me

11/16/2020

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As a mom of three, there are many instances where I am not sure what day it is, or who I am supposed to have where for what. 2020 has been the year that I have been unable to make any plans. The only constant in this crazy year has been inconsistency.

And last week we found out our schools have to close down again. Bars and restaurants and churches get to stay open, but schools where they are actually enforcing mask mandates have to close. Cool story, dudes in charge who will never have to call off work to homeschool their kids...

via GIPHY

Of course in the middle of this, we had an election result come through, along with learning new tech for schooling, and new procedures almost daily at work, and I decided I was going to write this month too.

Everyone laugh with me.

But I'm working on allowing myself a little grace. I've given myself permission to suck this year for NaNoWriMo. I'm giving myself permission to just shake shit loose and work on finding that spark of creativity that I have been trying to keep alive while my real life has been smothering it beneath work, homeschool, and attempting to have more than one clean spoon in the house.

I thought I would share a few things I have been doing to make myself write and toss all judgement about the end product out the window.

1. I am only re-reading enough to figure out where I am. I am not going back through and fiddling with all the shit that was written as I was dozing after a long day of errands and kids. If I think about it at the end of a writing session, I make a note about where I am and what's happening next. So I can just jump right in.

2. I am letting dialog tags be simple and basic. I have been horrible at dialog tags from the beginning. It's a weak spot for me, but I love writing dialog lines. It helps me see the characters when I can hear their voices. So if I don't have a good dialog tag, I'm just plopping down the name of who said what and moving on with my life. 

3. I am trying what has worked in the past. For me, what finally let me have a 3k day was sitting in a spot removed from the house (Normally this would have been going to Panera, but...Covid. So I was in my office.) and plugging in my earbuds. I still have a Pandora station. Yes. I'm old. But it is curated with songs that are upbeat and ones I know so well, the words fade for me. The music put me back into a place that my fingers remembered what they were supposed to do. Instead of 1k/1hr, I knocked out 1100 words in 30 minutes.  

via GIPHY

Am I anywhere near the NaNoWriMo halfway point? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...no. Am I anywhere near the point I wanted to be at for my own 30k goal? Again...sadly...no. 

But I found a glimmer of why I love writing again. And even if I don't get anymore than 20k words this month, it will still be an accomplishment. Because...seriously...it's 2020.

Are you writing for NaNo this year? How are you doing? I'd love to hear about it!

~Roxy

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Let's do this thing

11/1/2020

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Today is November 1st. It's daylight savings time, which means I felt like I slept in when I woke up at 4:45 this morning. And...

It's the first day of NaNoWriMo!!

I am being a rebel this year and going for a daily word count goal of 1304 words. This means with my planned days off I should have 30,000 words by the end of the month. That won't seem like a lot of words when NaNo's official goal is 50k, but it will be a huge accomplishment for me.

I already have 1400 words under my belt which feels GREAT. Because that's also more than I have written in a single sitting in...well over a year. I am also amping myself up because I have to go vote today.

My boss laughed at me when I asked if we were going to have adjusted hours to allow people to vote, so I'm assuming that's a "No." With poling places in my area stacked with three hour wait times and round the block lines, I am packing up some warm clothes and heading to the poles as soon as they open today. 

While I am there, I am hoping to sneak in some NaNoWriMo work. If you are getting your wait line care kit ready too, here is what I am taking with me. 

1. My plot notebook -  I got burned in the past by making up world-building facts in my writing sprints and then promptly forgetting what I wrote. So I am taking notes on what I have already written to make sure my details are recorded.

2. My Word 365 app - Who knows, maybe I can sneak in a few more paragraphs while I am waiting in line. I have Word 365, which is a cross platform saver for my work, and everything I do on my phone will auto-save for me. It would be nice to be ahead of the game for that inevitable mid-month slump.

3. Wired Headphones - I don't want to talk to people while in line at the poles. Like...not even a little bit. I do have wireless headphones, but those aren't visible when I'm wearing my hair down, or have a hat on, so I'm bringing bright white wired headphones to make sure everyone can see that I can't hear them. I won't be listening to music, because I want to be safe and know what's going on around me, but the earbuds make a great excuse for outright ignoring people.

4. Hot Hands - Normally I bring a cup of coffee to sip on and warm my hands, but with three hour wait times...coffee is a BAD idea. I will be wearing a mask anyway, so having something to drink is pretty pointless. I have disposable handwarmers left over from Halloween, so I am shoving those into my pockets before I leave.

I know I started this blog out talking about NaNoWriMo, and it morphed into voting, but each topic is about having your voice heard. We cast our ballots in private, and we put words down on first drafts without others' input. But both tasks are powerful, and create future stories to tell to others.

Are you working on your NaNo draft? Have you got your voting plan in place? I'd love to hear about both or either! Let's get our voices out there.

~Roxy

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#Preptober During a Pandemic: Day 5

10/22/2020

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To wrap up the most basic of all #Preptober "To Do" lists ever, we are going to talk about rewarding ourselves.

Where do you buy your retail therapy? What do you buy when you need a pick me up? Is it candy from your local store? Is it ebooks? Or is it some fancy coffee from Amazon?

Today is the day we are going to make a rewards list for ourselves. 

In the past I would have said buy yourself goodies and wrap them, or set them to be delivered when you are supposed to be at a specific spot in your word count. But this is 2020, so fuck that pressure.

If you can get all of the items you drool over (and can afford) from Amazon, add them all into your cart, or put them on a digital wishlist. 

Are you going to write 20k in November? Pick some goodies to get yourself for every 5k you write. 

Are you going to go to the store and buy yourself a candy bar as a reward? Copy the image of the one you want, and make a list of what you will get for each word count milestone. Hell, print it out and put it above your desk where you can see it, and check it off when you achieve it.

I know lots of authors will send each other wrapped gifts to open as they hit milestones. But we are our own people (with more limited budgets) and we can decide our own goodies. 

Fuck...this has been a hell of a year. Have you made it through these five days? Did you make a list of goodies? I think you deserve to buy yourself something for taking these first baby steps back into creativity. 

So tell me...did you do my #Preptober During a Pandemic list? What did you buy yourself or do for yourself as a reward? I'd love to hear about it. And good luck to all of us in November. We are going to need it for many reasons. Until then, may your wine glass be full, and your word count be plentiful. 

~Roxy

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#Preptober During a Pandemic: Day 4

10/21/2020

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Today is about signing up to be social. Kind of. 

I'm talking about logging in and setting up your profile on the NaNoWriMo site. Then...invite at least one person to be buddies. 

This is mine if you want to be my buddy. I'm RoxyMews on there if you just want to search for me. I'll have an Alphasmart covering my face.

The NaNoWriMo website had some serious upgrading since I last logged on there, and it's still taking me some time to navigate everything. So I am working on getting reacquainted with the platform today. 

NaNoWriMo as a community and as a tracker, helped me finish my very first novel ever. I loved the spirit of the event, and the fact that everyone could use it. A brand new writer, a seasoned author, or even a money earning author who fell off the face of the earth and just desperately needs to get creative again before she starts drawing on the walls. (I'll let you guess which camp I fall in.)

Assignment for today is to buddy up. The best part about finding buddies on this site, is there is no forced interaction if you don't want it. You can totally creep on an author you enjoy, or some random participant you find on Twitter or Instagram. If you want to work on the 50k goal, and know of a writer or two who are workhorses, buddy up with them on the NaNo site. You will be able to sneak peeks at their word counts, and it might be just the push you need to write 500 more words that day.

But before you go snoop on their pages, check in with yourself. Will seeing others make you feel inspired? Or will it make you feel like a piece of shit, because you could only write 200 words today? If seeing other people crank out the words will make you feel like failing, don't look. And don't buddy up with them. You can always scope out the #NaNoWriMo hashtags on Twitter and Instagram when you want to see folks bragging on their words.

Frankly, I don't know if I will be able to hit 50k or if I will fail after November 2nd and get discouraged. I'm hoping to start writing again, and forge a new picture of what that looks like for me. I'm going to try something new. (Maybe a few somethings new)

But realize that among the masses of NaNoWriMo participants, you will likely find a kindred spirit. So reach out, and even if you just lurk, join a few forums or groups on whatever platform you mindlessly scroll through on the regular. 

What hashtags did you follow? What groups did you join? I'd love to hear about it and get a few more on my own list before November 1st.

~Roxy


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#Preptober During a pandemic: Day 3

10/20/2020

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Any words written to tell a story in November count for NaNoWriMo. If you are still narrowing down your options from your brainstorm session yesterday (like I am), then today is going to be about preparing for something that might just happen mid-November. You might change your mind.

But because I am going to be the very definition of a rebel, I am preparing a spot for the fallout that might happen when I get antsy with the words I will be writing.

I am setting up what I call my "Tally" document today. And I suggest everyone who is unsure of what NaNoWriMo means for them this year do the same.

Make a folder on your desktop for your 2020 NaNoWriMo shit. And create a word document with a placeholder line.

EPIC POINTLESS NARRATIVE 

...is what I'm putting on mine. Then save your document as "NaNo 2020 Tally". (Or whatever you feel like titling it)

This document is where you will copy all of your NaNo words and paste them. This will give you a document to use to validate at the end of November to get your purple bar if you happen to hit 50k. 

I have taken to doing this when I have been finishing projects. I will simply write [NaNo Start] in bold in a WIP and copy/paste whatever I write that day to my tally document. 

Today's prep work is super simple. Today we are giving ourselves permission to go where the words take us, and remember that it's perfectly okay to change our minds. 

I have my little notebooks. I have my brainstorm ramblings. And now I have a place to put words when they happen. Basically I am nesting for a book I will eventually birth from my fingers. 

Today is easy. Give your project or projects a place to land. Then remember to have them backed up. You could save them in the cloud, or do what I'm going to do and write them in my Word 365 which auto-saves for me. 

Do you have a brand new visible folder on your desktop? What did you you name your tally document? I'd love to hear about it.

~Roxy



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#Preptober during a pandemic: Day 2

10/19/2020

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Today is all about putting ideas down. 

I never said they had to be good ideas. They just have to exist. The first book I ever sold was one that I began with the idea that no one would believe me when I told them I knew immediately that my husband was the man for me, so I made the characters vampires and werewolves to have the story work.

Write down what ideas you'd love to express. Write down something funny your friend said two years ago. Write down what your mail man wore when it was too hot to breathe this summer.

When I say write it down, I don't necessarily mean pen and paper. You can type it out on a laptop, slap some keys on an Alphasmart, make voice memos on your phone, use a digital notebook on an iPad. However you put ideas down, do it.

Just make sure you pick a single style, or transfer all ideas to a single spot. If you have cloud storage you can access from different devices, this could be a great time to take advantage of that feature. 

My biggest struggle this year is one I never in a million words thought I'd have to grapple with. 

GENRE.

I have been a romance reader since I picked up my first romantic triangle YA book in middle school. I have adored romance as an adult, and couldn't fathom writing anything else when I was in the thick of it. 

But now we are in the middle of a pandemic, and many of the tropes we would play in seem incredibly foreign. And how am I supposed to think about a happily ever after right now? The idea of our old "normal" seems far away. Writing is different for me at this point in my life. Frankly, watching my books evaporate from the web when Samhain Publishing shut down, changed me. 

I have a few WIPs I had pitched before the pandemic hit that got some interest. I have a few books plotted, or planned out before life got in the way. I may pick one of those up, or I may scrap it all and just put words to paper that inspire me.

Today, I am simply writing down ideas. I am brainstorming things that interest me. I am going to put a few of them on post-it notes and stick them on the slat wall above my desk. I'm going to sit with them there until November and see which one stalks me into my dreams. 

I have a shit ton of extra note books lying around too, so I grabbed three of my dollar store mini books. Whichever ideas make it to my top three will get notes in these. Might as well make use of the stationary I have lying around, and these bad boys will fit into my everyday planner pockets. 

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This is my goal for today. I will sit down and vomit ideas into a digital notebook on my iPad. I'm going to narrow my options down to three and shove bright yellow post-its into my line of site so I am forced to think about my top three favorites. Then I will carry these mini notebooks around to get ideas up until November, or until I make up my mind about a story, whichever comes first.

Do you have any ideas about what you want to write about? Have you been struggling with the idea of a HEA in our new world, like me? 

Or are you just going to say fuck this whole plan business, and start on November 1st with whatever pops into your head?

I'd love to hear about it. Let me know what you're doing to brainstorm.

~Roxy

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#Preptober During a Pandemic: Day 1

10/18/2020

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Welcome to Roxy's Pandemic Preptober! 

Today is embracing the idea of being a NaNo rebel. National Novel Writing Month is set up as a goal of writing a complete 50,000 word novel in the month of November. 

I'm not doing that. And guess what? You don't have to either. There have always been "rebel" writers in NaNoWriMo. These people use the community to tap into the supportive vibe, but they don't follow the rules to get their win.

My goal for today is to decide what a reasonable number of words to write in November. Would I love to write 50k? Sure. Is it realistic for me right now? 

Fuuuuuuuuck NO.

Today I'm downloading the graphic calendar provided on the NaNoWriMo Website. (Go HERE to get yours) I'm going to be marking this stuff up on my iPad Goodnotes app, but you could use your own calendar, print out the image from NaNo, or just scribble on a piece of paper.

My steps for doing this are simple.

1. Mark out all days where I won't be writing. 
NaNo suggests a daily writing habit, but this isn't realistic for me this year. While I don't have ANYTHING to do that is definite at this point (Thanks, Covid-19), I do know that I need to work in some breaks for myself. So I'm going to plan in some breaks based on holidays, birthdays, and if I have nothing going on, I'm still going to mark out at least one day of the week for some time off.

2. Break out the calculator.
I'm going to sit down with my calculator and start cranking out the math. Once I have the basic number of days I'll be writing, I'm going to pick different milestone numbers (30k, 40k, 50k) and divide by the number of days I have. What I'll be trying to remember is that I'm rusty. A year or two ago, 2500 words per day was realistic. Now? I am thinking 1k-1500 is more my speed. 

3. Post the goal in ink.
After I get my number I'm going to put it on my calendar. In ink. But I'm not going to put a number every day. What I'm going to mark this year is a weekly goal. I might put my daily goal on a post-it and pin it above where I'll be writing. I might not. It's 2020. Fuck it.

What are you going to set as your goal for November? Are you going to write during November? Or are you going to mainline wine and pray for the end of the year to come faster? I'd love to hear about your plans.

​~Roxy 


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Preptober During a Pandemic

10/17/2020

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I would love to say I am as excited as I was during years past about NaNoWriMo. I would love to hop on this blog and say I am getting things together and ready to kill the word count. In past years it might have been true. 

But this is 2020.

This is the year I had to camp out at the grocery store at 5am and wait in line for an hour to stand a chance at getting toilet paper. This is the year I had to wait with bated breath to make sure when hubby's company laid off 30% of its employees that he wasn't one of them. 

This is also the year I get yelled at on a daily basis by customers about masks. I get yelled at when I wear gloves, I get yelled at for signs on the door asking them to wear masks, and I get yelled at for what other adults are doing that I have no control over as a part-time retail worker. 

When I think about putting words on the page, especially words involving love and an HEA...

I seriously can't even begin to get there. Right now romance involves someone treating me to an unlimited supply of sanitizer and spaghetti sauce. 


But I miss writing. I miss the escape, and I miss the community. I'm going to attempt to write for NaNoWriMo, but I'm going to write for fun this year. Over the next 5 days, I'm going to put up a post a day with absolute back-to-basics style of Preptober work. 

Are you exhausted by the clusterfuck of the world too? Play along with me. Are you still a functioning human? You're a better person than me. So come along with me and cheer me on.

See you tomorrow for the most basic #Preptober work on the planet.

~Roxy

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I lost NaNoWriMo after winning five years straight

12/1/2018

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I am writing this post on November 30th, but sitting at 19k, I realize am not going to hit even the halfway point in NaNoWriMo this year.

It's the first year I've failed as "Roxy" after five straight wins. Even more wins if you count my now dead persona.

It's surreal and hard to swallow. Especially after I started out on November 1st with 5k.

This November kicked my real life ass. Between hubby pulling extra time a state away for his new job, the house needing work, the car needing work, and bills popping up out of nowhere, I struggled. Add in extra hours at my evil day job, and some minor health issues, and my whole month was spent in emergency management.

My morning routine flew out the window. My life revolved around cooking for the family because of no money or time to eat out, and taking vitamin C like there was no ​tomorrow, because there was no option for me to get sick. 

However, this month was not a wash or a fail by any stretch of the imagination. I did a lot of really cool things this month. And I learned a lot! Which is what I want from any NaNoWriMo adventure. 

What did I learn? Here are my Top 5.

1. I found out daily double posts are not realistic. I was able to keep up for a couple weeks, but it wasn't realistic to blog, post, and write on an every day schedule. I've done it in the past, but my home life then was very different than it is now, and I need to rework my expectations. I realized how important my mental health is. And I found that taking the time I needed to not break down, was vital.

2. I learned I really like live-streaming and being on video. I only did one live "write-in" but I enjoyed the hell out of it. I liked talking on camera, and it's something I didn't realize about myself. So I have a new direction to explore.

3. I learned that while I can plot, it's harder for me to adjust on the fly when I have a plot written down. So until I can stick to a plot as written, plotting and fast-drafting together doesn't work well for me. Whether or not this plot style I've tried will net less time in edits still remains to be seen, but I'm going to get some writing done after this post. If I finish a book in two months that requires half the editing of a fast draft written in one...well...hell, it's worth the extra time.

4. I learned how much my hubby pimps my writing when I'm not around. This was one of those weird moments that spurred me to keep working on my manuscript. Hubby's new job takes him on the road a lot and when he's home I try to make it a point to spend some time with him. Which took away from the writing, but my own HEA beats any book ending. He told me about how his work conversation with colleagues turned into him sharing my pen name and some book info. (PS, if you're here because of my hubby, I appreciate it. Hit me up if you want a signed paper copy. I have extras for sale.)

5. I learned that winning or losing NaNoWriMo doesn't define me as a writer.
This should have been obvious, but it surprised me that I needed to learn this lesson the most. I am a huge proponent of NaNoWriMo, and I wouldn't change the opportunities and the friends it's afforded me. BUT, I also think it was good for me to not hit my 50k this month. Deadlines are valuable, but it's more important to me now to write a book worth putting up for sale. Could I have written 50k this month? Yes. Would it have been a work I was proud to publish? With the stress and mental fatigue I  was dealing with...not a chance in hell. 


There has been a lot of talk among people (I'm not naming names. No. Not even in DMs) who are profitable in this business. These are people who are using ghostwriters and only working hard on the first 10-20% of their books, because that's all they need to do to sell them. I don't think that could ever be me. And maybe that means I won't get to live off my book sales, but some things are more important than money to me, and integrity is one of those things.

My books might not ever hit a list, but I hope I've made people smile with my stories. I've had authors and editors I respect in this business compliment my voice and story-telling. 

Through my journey so far, I've learned I'm an author. I've been published and reviewed, and no one can take that away from me. Not even a NaNoWriMo loss. 

I'm off to write and take some of what I've learned with me. 

Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? Did you hit your purple bar? What did you learn from this process? I'd love to hear about it.

~Roxy

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I did a live video yesterday, and I liked it!

11/21/2018

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If you haven't noticed by my lack of blogging lately, I have been hiding out from the interwebs. Life threw me for a real loop and I'm working hard to get my feet back under me. But I am surrounded by a fantastic group of authors and friends, and because we all know by now, (I've said it enough this month, I know. I'll shut up soon.), NaNoWriMo is a time to try new things.

I had a small tripod and a mediocre cell phone, so I tried hosting an online write in, in my NaNoWriMo writers group.

Why not publicly, you ask? Um...it was a stay at home day, and I didn't want to put on makeup. The only reason you get the re-creation pic below is because of photo editing. My eye bags and lack of makeup need help this early in the morning. And frankly, I'm not putting on makeup to take one pic for this blog. I love, y'all. But not enough to attempt eyeliner before a full cup of coffee.


What did I learn from my first live video? Well...let me break it down.

1. FB live video has a delay. I loaded up the FB page to see if my video was actually showing up, and there was a good 10-15 second delay between what I was saying and what was showing up.

2. Avoid front-facing cameras if you need to show anything with words on it. So if you are going to be showing off a book or cute items with quotes, use your rear-facing camera. The FB live feed allows you to line everything up before you start broadcasting, so you have time to line up your shot. 

3. Selfie rules apply. Any selfie addict knows, you need to find your angle. Don't set up a camera below your line of sight. If you're using your laptop, prop that bitch up. The higher the camera, the fewer chins you have. #protip I might not be the most professional videographer, but I know that if you want that good look, setting your video up just off to the side to allow for 3/4 profile, and slightly above my line of sight, works well for me.

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​4. You viewing yourself counts as a "watch". I legit thought there was someone in my group watching me for a good 5 minutes before I realized, the viewer was my own FB feed on there. Yep. Felt real dumb.

5. You have the option to post your video after streaming or delete it. After you end your broadcast, you can either post the video to view later or wipe that bitch away. Obviously, how the stream went would determine if you post or don't. I shared mine, mainly because no one else in my group was around, and me yammering and writing for an hour wouldn't be worthwhile if I didn't post it. But if shit goes wrong...no one but those watching live have to know.

6. Turn off notifications! I didn't think about how loud notifications would be. And my phone got a couple of them during the feed which resulted in an epicly loud ding during the video. So another #protip, turn off all notifications and the ability to receive calls before you start broadcasting if using your phone. I'll definitely do so next time. 


Yes, I did go back and watch my own video. And I don't think it was half bad. I thought I'd be awkward and stumbling, but I found the whole experience relaxing. It was like talking to friends. I did occasionally glance at the camera during my writing sprint time and smirk. And there was a bit of a "this is odd" feeling during the writing sprint times, because I felt like I should be talking. Which is also why my writing sprint end count was lower than it usually was. But in about an hour, I chatted, wrote 1400ish words, and tried something new. 

I think I'm going to do more live videos, simply because I enjoyed sitting down and chatting with a cup of coffee in hand. Before I do anything outside of closed groups, though, I'm going to set up my shot better, sit in a room that isn't lit from above, and put on some damn makeup. 

Have you watched a live video stream before? If so, what is your preferred space to watch? FB? IG? Or have you done your own livestreams or write-ins before? If so, share some tips with me. I'd love to hear them.

​~Roxy

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