No-Nano November 2019
Nov. 1st, 2019 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
It's November! And I've been writing!
I won't be taking part in NaNoWriMo this year (although I did log into the site, and I'm pretty gutted that they've wiped out the buddy lists, so I can't see what all the people I used to write with are up to :'( ). I've only tried it once since graduating and starting work, and I pretty rapidly concluded that, for me, intense high-output writing is not compatible with a day job in an office - neither my emotions nor my wrists thanked me for it by the end of the month.
But, I've still been writing. This year, I've been slowly working out a writing approach that works for me: namely, getting out of the house for a couple of hours on my day off, finding a cosy corner (recently, a local pub), and setting the low, low bar of "write more than zero words". I usually start off with a #WeeklyWritingWorkout (exercises from a mailing list by author Tim Clare, who did the Couch to 80K writing bootcamp podcast), and then see where I go from there. Sometimes, not far. Today, six pages in an A5 notebook.
The story I'm writing is one that's been kicking around my head as various half-built concepts for several years now. As of about a month ago, I've finally worked out some solid plot beats for it, and it is SO satisfying to be pouring out words at last. Gold stars for me, let's keep this up!
I haven't read or watched much since my last post. Still getting through The Old Ways - I'm getting a little bored of it by now, but I might as well finish - and I saw Matilda the Musical last Wednesday.
I won't be taking part in NaNoWriMo this year (although I did log into the site, and I'm pretty gutted that they've wiped out the buddy lists, so I can't see what all the people I used to write with are up to :'( ). I've only tried it once since graduating and starting work, and I pretty rapidly concluded that, for me, intense high-output writing is not compatible with a day job in an office - neither my emotions nor my wrists thanked me for it by the end of the month.
But, I've still been writing. This year, I've been slowly working out a writing approach that works for me: namely, getting out of the house for a couple of hours on my day off, finding a cosy corner (recently, a local pub), and setting the low, low bar of "write more than zero words". I usually start off with a #WeeklyWritingWorkout (exercises from a mailing list by author Tim Clare, who did the Couch to 80K writing bootcamp podcast), and then see where I go from there. Sometimes, not far. Today, six pages in an A5 notebook.
The story I'm writing is one that's been kicking around my head as various half-built concepts for several years now. As of about a month ago, I've finally worked out some solid plot beats for it, and it is SO satisfying to be pouring out words at last. Gold stars for me, let's keep this up!
I haven't read or watched much since my last post. Still getting through The Old Ways - I'm getting a little bored of it by now, but I might as well finish - and I saw Matilda the Musical last Wednesday.