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November Writing Challenge: I’m In!

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

A few days ago, I wrote a post in which I said I was thinking about doing some kind of NaNoWriMo-like writing challenge again this year, for the first time in a few years. But I wasn’t sure what I would write, and it’s a little close to November to be coming up with something from scratch.

Then on the way home from church this past Sunday, I was telling my husband about a conversation in that same vein I’d had with a fellow writer that morning, and he low-key told me that he had an idea for what I could write. Now, my husband has been a huge help to me with my writing endeavors in various ways in the past, but the way he said it, I figured he was going to make some joke or give me some random, outlandish story idea (it wouldn’t be the first time). But instead, he said 4 words that left me speechless for a moment…and then got me talking it through for at least 5 minutes (major external processor here). By the time I was done brainstorming, I was sold!

So all of that to say: I’m in! I’m not trying to be coy in not saying what those 4 words were, but at best, no one will understand what they mean, because they directly relate to the book I’m currently getting ready to publish. And at worst, they’d be a little bit of a spoiler for that book.

I am still trying to work out how to navigate and use the site that I am currently planning to use for this (ProWritingAid). And I found out even more recently that Freewrite has their own NaNo-like challenge. Since I own a Freewrite and plan to use it for much of my writing, I suppose that means I’ll be participating in that challenge by default. At least that gives me a chance to check out more than one of these types of programs at the same time.

Even if this isn’t NaNoWriMo and the community is probably pretty scattered, I still plan to blog through the month about my progress. I’ve really enjoyed doing that in the past and also like being able to look back at it in later years. I’ll start writing at midnight (thankfully November 1 is on a Saturday this year, making that much easier) to get some words in before I go to bed and see what kind of a headstart I can get. I’m really excited to get back into this!!

Are you a past Wrimo? Whether yes or no, do you think you might participate in some kind of novel-writing challenge this November?

The Demise of NaNoWriMo

/ Kristi / 2 Comments

NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It was started in 1999 and grew into a far-reaching event over the next 25 years. To put it briefly, it was a personal challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days during the month of November. Signing up on the website gave participants somewhere to track their progress, earn goodies for winning (mostly downloadable badges and printable certificates, as well as discounts on some writing- or publishing-related sites), and a huge community of like-minded people, cheering each other on. The main event took place in November, with smaller “camp” events in April and July in later years.

I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2007, and proceeded to participate every year but 3 (skipping 2008, 2010, & 2011) up until my last, in 2021. I would get excited in September, start planning in October, and then start writing like mad at midnight on November 1. I was a HUGE fangirl. I told everyone I knew about it and tried to get people to participate (whether they thought of themselves as writers or not). After I started this blog in 2014, I proceeded to blog about NaNo a LOT. Every year except 2016 (a rough NaNo for many reasons), I blogged my way through the month, posting daily about my word count and the story I was writing. I’ve also posted a lot of other things about NaNo, including a series of posts giving tips and tricks for getting through the month and even prompts to help someone come up with an idea of what to write. All told, there are almost 500 posts on my blog that have the NaNoWriMo tag—out of around 1900 total posts, that’s about 1/4 of this blog! The point is that NaNoWriMo was a HUGE part of my life.

Then came the screeching end for me. I didn’t gradually drop off, find myself without time to participate, or just run out of ideas to write about. It was a difficult, painful, sad decision, not to be too dramatic about it. It came when the people who ran the event overstepped in a big way. In May of 2022, they sent out an email lamenting the overturning of Roe v. Wade and encouraging everyone to donate money to pro-abortion organizations. I’d always known that the folks behind NaNo were very liberal, and for anyone who hasn’t read enough of my blog to know my own stance, I am a Bible-believing Christian. I was able to ignore some of the progressive stances they were taking, but this one was too much to look past. I felt that continuing to participate and support these people would be turning a blind eye to the encouragement of the murder of innocents.

Though I still didn’t decide immediately to put an end to my participation in NaNoWriMo. At first, I took to social media to see if there was any other outcry in response to this email. And indeed, I did see one or two people comment on the posts that NaNoWriMo had put out with the same information about their pro-abortion stance, those comments very politely voicing unhappiness at not only the general content of the email, but also a specific note that I had missed. From the email/post:

“We (NaNoWriMo) have made an organizational contribution to [the National Network of Abortion Funds’s official ActBlue page].”

Understand that NaNoWriMo was a non-profit organization. Their money came from donations and merchandise sales. I am not a wealthy person by any means, but I had bought a t-shirt every year that I participated (in some cases, 2 shirts), purchased posters, notebooks, a hoodie, and even outright donated a couple of times. This meant that they had taken the money given to them by fans and participants (including plenty of anti-abortion people just like me) that was meant to promote literacy and run this awesome program every year and used it for something completely unrelated to their sphere of influence and worse yet, something that they had every reason to believe a good chunk of the people who gave them that money would not support.

I added my comment to at least one of these posts stating that I was displeased as well and that I might not be able to participate in NaNoWriMo anymore…and then within a day or so of commenting, I went back to the post to find that the comments against their post had been deleted. They made it clear that they didn’t want to discuss our issues with their misuse of our donations. And that’s what clenched my decision to not participate ever again. I couldn’t support an organization that would so blatantly disregard the beliefs and concerns of its participants and donators.

When November came that year, I mourned my loss. NaNoWriMo had been a huge part of my life for over 10 years. I’d won every single year I’d participated (just winning means reaching 50k words) and many years I’d written 25k-50k more than the required words. I finished many first drafts thanks to NaNo, a couple of which I’ve gone on to polish and publish. I pushed myself in so many different ways, learning something about myself as a writer, storyteller, time manager, or something else every single year. I had moments of epic triumph and moments of disappointment. I met people that I never otherwise would have and promoted other people’s artistic outputs related to NaNoWriMo. Fall used to be my favorite time of year, with NaNoWriMo giving way to Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I was jazzed for months!

A few days ago, I learned that NaNoWriMo no longer exists. It came to an end earlier this year. I’m not interested in getting into all of the whys and wherefores, though there are a lot of places out there where this information (possibly with varying degrees of accuracy) can be found, but overall, it appears that the people behind NaNoWriMo made a lot of poor decisions, which sadly doesn’t surprise me. I do wish I’d known about this sooner (I don’t know why I stopped receiving emails, since I didn’t close my account and certainly didn’t make waves in the corporate offices when I stopped participating) so I could have maybe taken some screenshots of the graphs, badges, updates, etc. from my account on the site, though thankfully I chronicled a lot of my participation on both Facebook and this blog. Overall, though I’m sad for other Wrimos, the closure doesn’t really affect me much. If anything, makes it a little less sad that I won’t be thinking of NaNo going on next month without me.

I did try to do my own personal challenge the first few Novembers after this happened, but it was never the same. Of course, that’s partly because my writing work in the last few years has been all revision and not much new writing. (To be honest, I had run out of first-draft ideas and wasn’t sure what I was going to write for 2022’s NaNo anyway.) But I do sometimes challenge myself to work for a certain amount of time every day in November. Now that NaNoWriMo is gone, though, it seems to have opened the door for other organizations to run their own similar novel-writing events.

For anyone who might be interested, I have come across one so far, but I’m sure there are plenty more out there: Novel November Note: this site seems to be selling some kind of product for writers, but it is not my intention to endorse their product, about which I know nothing. I may try it this or another one this November, because I have been itching to write something new, but I’d have to do so alongside revising the book I’m close to being ready to publish. Combined with having no idea what I’d write (I am not a pantser) it doesn’t seem feasible, but I haven’t given up yet. It’s just nice to know that this is something I might be able to do again someday, even if not this year.

Are you a past Wrimo? Whether yes or no, do you think you might participate in some kind of novel-writing challenge this November?

NaNoWriMo Season

/ Kristi / 4 Comments

NaNo handouts

NaNoWriMo starts in 31 days and 11 hours, from the time that I am posting this (for my time zone). First, a quick explanation for those who don’t know what I’m even talking about: NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It is an event that has been around since 1999, becoming more of what it is today in 2005. At its heart, it’s a personal challenge–write 50,000 words in 30 days during the month of November. Signing up and participating simply gives you somewhere to track your progress, goodies if you win, and a huge community of like-minded people, cheering each other on.

Tomorrow begins the month known by many as Preptober. Normally at this time, I’m falling all over myself with excitement at the coming event. This year, though, I’ve been in a major slump with my writing. I’m just starting to pull myself out of it, though, and I anticipate NaNoWriMo helping me with that (it is part of my favorite time of the year, after all).

If you’re planning to participate, or even just thinking about it, and need some tips for getting ready, there is a lot out there. In the past, I’ve noticed that on October 1st, my reader here on WordPress explodes with posts about NaNo. The NaNo site itself has a prep page, though the schedule they write out covers two months, starting at the beginning of September. It could be condensed down to work for October, though, if needed.

I have written many posts about how to prepare for NaNo, as well as how to survive and thrive during November itself, in the past. There is even a sequence of posts with tips about how to plan a story from the ground up. Even if you’re not a planner, there are things you can do to prepare for writing 1667 words a day.

I wish my fellow Wrimos well, and hope to hear from some of you during the month! Please feel free to add me as a writing buddy!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? What are you doing to prepare?

NaNoWriMo Eve

/ Kristi / 4 Comments

NaNo handouts

NaNoWriMo starts in 12 hours where I am. This month, known by many as Preptober, was much less full of prep than I planned. This was mostly due to a combination of working on final edits for my first full-novel release that is due out on January 10th and feeling like I could push off the prep work, because I’d already made an outline for my NaNoNovel a few months ago.

I did finally spend some time Monday and Tuesday this week looking over the outline, as well as the outline for the book that precedes it (it’s drafted, but had to be re-outlined due to a lot of changes needed). I re-read character interviews and wrote a new one with some brand new characters.

I am not sure I am 100% ready, and actually hope to look over the outline again at some point today, before midnight. But I do know that, if necessary, I have enough to get started. I’ll be starting right at midnight (known as the midnight sprint). I do that every year, and whether I write 500 words or 3000 words, anything I get done before going to bed is a huge mental jump start on the month!

And fair warning: I will blog every day about my experience doing NaNoWriMo. I’ve done this nearly every year since starting this blog (the only exception was the year that I had just started full-time at a very demanding job, and what I was writing for NaNo that year was a difficult, personal subject, so frankly, I was doing good to even reach 50k that year).

There may be those who are curious about how others get through the month–I know I am, and most days I also spend some time reading blog posts by others about how their writing went that day. I have also found that I really enjoy being able to look back in later years and read about my progress through the month.

I will also share each day’s NaNoToons, which incidentally will be the last year for NaNoToons. (In fact, the first one for this year just went up! I’m so excited!!) And I’ll post episodes from the NaNoMusical throughout the month, because it’s one of the best things to come out of NaNoWriMo ever, and every Wrimo needs to know about it!

I wish my fellow Wrimos well, and hope to hear from some of you during the month! Please feel free to add me as a writing buddy!

Are you ready for NaNo to begin? Do you plan to do the midnight sprint tonight?

Weekly Writing Update: October Week 4

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Even though I got through 2/3 of the revision of my proof copy of “Pithea” in less than a week, it took me the rest of this week to finish it. This was mostly due to the fact that my husband wanted to spend time with me a lot in the evenings this week (evenings are my main time to spend on writing). How dare he…

I’m done with the main revision though, with only minor aesthetic things to proof, so I’m going to go ahead and order another proof copy to check my hopefully clearer cover that I had to redo again when the revision I did cut the pages down by just enough to require a different cover size.

While I wait on that proof to come, I need to spend the rest of this month prepping for NaNoWriMo. Thankfully, the outline has been done for months, but I need to get my mind back into that story, catch up with the remade plans for the story that comes before, and maybe flesh out the outline I already have. But no matter how much or little I get done during the rest of Preptober, come November 1st, I will start writing!

Weekly Writing Update: October Week 3

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My first proof copy of “Pithea” came last Monday. Not gonna lie, it brought tears to my eyes to see the story I’ve worked on for over 6 years as a tangible, full-length book for the first time. Then I couldn’t see well enough to examine the cover, so my husband looked at it, and sadly informed me that it didn’t look good.

Pithea proof 1

It’s really blurry, which was disappointing, but I’ve already identified a possible reason for this issue and remade the cover. Unfortunately, there’s no real way to know if it’s good enough until I get another proof copy. I’ll chalk this up to a learning experience, because if the next cover comes out good, I know how to make the cover from the get-go next time. If it’s still blurry…I’ll have to troubleshoot further.

I’ve been working furiously on the final full revision of “Pithea”, most of what I’m changing being awkward wording that I discover by reading the text out loud. I am 2/3 of the way through this revision, after which I’ll put changes into the computer, make sure the formatting is still good, and order another proof copy.

Pithea proof 3

Pithea proof 2

Blurry or not, it looks great on the shelf with other books!

I haven’t done much more prep for NaNoWriMo. I keep carrying around the notebook in which I wrote some character interviews in preparation of writing the outline for the book I plan to write, thinking reading back through those interviews will help get prepared for writing the story. But “Pithea” has taken all of my free time. If I keep the pace I’ve been on, I’ll be done with the final revision of “Pithea by Wednesday, and then I’ll be waiting for another proof copy. Hopefully that will give me the last week of Preptober to focus on my NaNoNovel (working title: “Ophaela”).

Weekly Writing Update: October Week 2

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I got the interior of “Pithea” formatted for paperback with minor difficulties, and after some real frustrations with the cover, ordered my first proof copy. It’s set to arrive tomorrow!! Once I have it in my hands, I’ll start reading through it with an eye for final details that need changed while also making sure the formatting is good. Visually speaking, I’m more concerned about the cover coming out good, so I’m really anxious to see it for the first time.

After I ordered the proof copy on Tuesday, I tried to turn my attention to prepping for NaNoWriMo. But that was when I realized that I only had a week until my next writers group meeting at my local library. Last month, I volunteered to lead a talk on writer’s block this month, and I hadn’t done any prep for that. So I spent a couple of evenings making notes and preparing a handout. I think I’m basically set for that now.

I have done a little of the prepping I had planned for NaNo, but I need to make sure to focus on that more in the coming weeks. There are just over 2 weeks left of Preptober, and I still need to go over the outline I made 4 months ago for the story I’m writing this year and flesh it out. Also re-read the first draft and new plans for the story that comes before. And read a couple of character interviews I wrote as part of the planning stage for this story. I’ll have to find a way to balance my writing time between “Pithea” and my NaNoNovel (working title: “Ophaela”).

Weekly Writing Update: October Week 1

/ Kristi / 2 Comments

Last week, I finished making immediate changes to “Pithea” that I already knew needed made. My plan now is to format the updated draft for print, get a proof copy, and read through the book that way (probably reading it out loud), hopefully one last time, making notes for anything else that needs changed. I want to have the final draft as settled as possible before November.

This brings me to NaNoWriMo. October is what many of us call Preptober. I already have a preliminary outline for what I’m planning to write this year, which I wrote 4 months ago. But I need to re-familiarize myself not only with that outline, but also with the story that comes before it. I have a few areas of the outline to flesh out, too. I’ll have time to do this while waiting on my proof copy to arrive, I’m sure.

Daily Writing Check-in: June 13, 2019

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Words/Time:  1 hour, 30 minutes working on pre-writing for Book 3 of “Pursuit of Power” trilogy, as well as beginning the “final” revision of “Pithea.”

I finished the character interview that helped me basically hash out more than half of the main plot of this book. And I can’t believe it, but I think I do have enough further ideas for this storyline for a 4th book in this arc.

This has led me to think that I don’t necessarily want to think of this arc as a trilogy (or tetralogy, as the case may be) within the greater series. Instead, maybe they should just be part of the series that happen to coincide more directly with each other than some of the other books.

I then went on to finish the early outline for this book (which still has no name, but I haven’t really put much thought into it yet either), and wrote down the ideas I have for the follow-up book so I don’t forget later. That ended goal #1 in my current list (which only contains 2 goals).

1. Plan Book 3 of “Pursuit of Power” trilogy

2. Final revision of “Pithea” – All of my writing goals this year have been for one final goal: to know what, if any changes, future book drafts may force in “Pithea,” so I can get those things changed now, before attempting to publish this book again. I want to make sure it’s exactly what it needs to be, as book 1 in this series of books. I do have a list of things that I want to change, and one of them will possibly change the structure in such a way to make it more marketable.

Though I now have ideas for another book at the end of the current list of Pithea books (+1, because the book I just finished outlining isn’t even on that list yet), it’s just going to have to fit into what already exists in “Pithea,” because I can’t put off revising and going forward with trying to publish it. Any longer, and it’ll just feel like stalling. So today I started on what will hopefully be a final revision to “Pithea”, at least regarding changes prompted by me, rather than by someone else like an editor, and look into publishing options.

Daily Writing Check-in: June 11, 2019

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Words/Time:  35 minutes working on pre-writing for Book 3 of “Pursuit of Power” trilogy.

I continued the character interview that I’ve been working on for several days now. I thought it would be done before now, but big questions keep coming up that have to be solved for this plot to work out. I answered a bit more today, but still need to work out a bit more. I’m ironing out the details for a Big Escape, and trying to find the balance between too easy and so hard it’s unbelievable they escaped. But the escape is not necessarily the climax I thought it was going to be anymore, so I don’t think it has to be as grand as I had imagined.

I considered doing no work today, because I’m tired from another morning of VBS. But I knew it was important to at least get some work in, especially since taking even a 1-day break when I’m struggling so much to get the plot out can easily lead to a long hiatus, which I do not want!