Monthly Archives: November 2017

The title of this post is a mantra that I’ve learned from my wonderful business coach. Showing up is key. Currently, it’s helping me with my progress through NaNoWriMo.

I’ve written 37,650 words, and so I’m well set up to “win” at the goal of 50K this month. However, that won’t be the end of my novel. I’m aiming for 100K or so total, which means that I’ll be about halfway through the draft by November 30th.

Although the numbers look good, I’ve been struggling a bit with this second novel of my series.

I didn’t take as much time as I usually do for the setup part. Mostly because I was busy with other things. I didn’t write out my main characters’ GMC (goal, motivation, and conflict) like I did with book one. I haven’t yet fleshed out all of the plot points, so it feels like I don’t know quite where I’m aiming. As a result, doing the writing each day feels like a bit of a slog.

I’m not yet in love with this novel.

But I’m still working on it. The idea of NaNoWriMo is to make progress on a draft, not to have a finished product. And while doing the actual writing (along with all of my other work and family tasks) means I don’t have time to stop and do more plotting and planning, it’s temporary. My plan is to go with the flow, get to the end of NaNoWriMo, and then pause. I’ll use at least part of December to get my outline more solid (though still leaving room for discovery and for characters to forge their own way). Then I’ll start again, and finish the draft.

And hopefully fall in love with the story.

It might mean I need to go back and add or subtract from the first half of the draft. But I’m okay with that.

By being persistent and consistent, I’ll not only “win” at NaNoWriMo, but I’ll be practicing my writing craft, and staying open to the gems that do arise from the depths of my imagination. Then I can polish them up a bit and make sure their setting shines, as well.

So even though I often feel reluctant about sitting down to work on the novel, overall I have faith. There are only eight more days left of November. I’ve got this.

I’m really excited to be in the throes of my third NaNoWriMo! Here we are on day 5, and my word count is 10,291.

Back when I was planning out my 2017, I had intended to do NaNo this year, in order to write book 2 of my contemporary fantasy series. I wanted to finish revising book 1, Patterns in the Void, and publish it this summer. Life got in the way. So I decided, during the summer, that I would publish it this fall instead. It meant that I wouldn’t have time to do NaNo, but I was okay with that. I thought.

Then in September I was doing the StorySeller’s BootCamp with the awesome folks at Sterling & Stone (which was fantastic, by the way), and had a super aha! moment. They said that if you’re writing a multi-book series, it is ideal to wait and publish once you have either all of them or most of them written. That way you can keep the readers’ interest, as they won’t have to wait as long between books, and you can use the earlier books to promote and sell the later ones, and so forth.

So, I changed plans – and discovered that I was really very super psyched that I could do NaNo this year after all!

The book is going well so far. I am what Shan called a “discovery writer” (love that term!) – which is somewhere between a pantser and a plotter. So far, I’ve done less planning than I’d wanted, and I’m kind of just taking it scene by scene. Though I do have a bunch of notes about what I expect will happen. Still, I’d like to do a bit more planning within the next couple of days. Regardless of that, the words are flowing and the characters are figuring out what they’re up to, so that’s a good thing.

Looking at some of my other goals, I’ve still been working on most of the non-writing, business-related stuff. Like:

• participating in my In Arms Coaching program
• participating in the PFCC (a group accountability program around personal finances and upgrading our prosperity)
• creating and promoting podcasts and workshops
• keeping up with my guest blogging commitments
• exercising regularly
• stopped eating refined sugar (I take a break from it every year at this time)
• continuing to weave my spirituality into my daily life
• and as mentioned above, brainstorming ideas for my new novel.

That’s my update. I hope your words are flowing and you’re enjoying the writing process!