Every now and then, I go to a local park and write at one of the picnic tables closest to the playground, especially on a weekend when the place will be packed. I will sit there and write for at least an hour before retreating to somewhere else. I don't do this because I like … More NaNoWriMo Prep: Train For Unideal Conditions
Note: I want to apologize in advance for the anemia of this entry, I have had a very long and exciting day. Make sure to go get a full meal from yesterday's post written by my lovely irowboat about discovering characters. His perspective is unique and astute. NaNoWriMo is a marathon, and no one goes … More NaNoWriMo Prep: Establish a Writing Practice
Originally posted on Betsy Norman:
NaNoWriMo. No, I’m not saying “Hello!” from the planet Ork. NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. The month in question being November, which is poised to sneak and pounce on us likewise the way September basically immaterialized before our very eyes. (Was there a September this year? Did…
Written by irowboat I was going to respond this comment from dawnstarpony, but it ran considerably long, and PartlyPixie made me turn it into a post. dawnstarpony asked: Do you consider character planning/-izing/character personality sheets as outlining and wasting time? I’ve encountered two general populations of writers when it comes to characters: Those who are … More Guest Post: Your character may be a mugger if…
No, not literally. This summer, we had a massive heat wave here in Salt Lake, and a curious thing happened after driving around in 102° F heat for a week solid. My speedometer stopped working. But it didn't stop dead, laying at the bottom of the dial like a sunken boat. Instead, it hovered at … More NaNoWriMo Prep: Disconnect Your Speedometer
Choosing what to write for NaNoWriMo is a challenge. It has been a challenge every month this year for me, and sometimes I lose a few days at the beginning of the month to just trying to find that thread of plot I feel has the energy to carry me through. There are a lot … More NaNoWriMo Prep: Write Something You Want to Read, with pep talk
As we all know, it's that time of year again. NaNoWriMo. Thirty days of literary abandon, the chance to cast aside our normal lives for a time and to finally write a novel. I have done some seven NaNos before this year, some much more successful than the others. Some years my schedule was fairly … More NaNoWriMo Prep: Clear the Decks
Sometimes, it is impossible to get started. We sit at the paper or computer, and as soon as we clear some mental space for ourselves and look for what we want to say, our minds crowd with The List. You know The List. It's a demonic little thing that pops up and tells us all … More Unstuck: Do Something Else
Retell a fairy tale. When I was a little girl, we had an in-wall space heater in the basement rec room, the kind I've only seen in cheap hotels, but I am sure that the original decorators thought it was the height of interior design. Anyway, in the winter, my dad and I would pile … More Unstuck: What to Write When You Don’t Know What to Write – Retell a Story
This approach is for the kind of stuck that just keeps us from writing anything at all, even a small practice piece or blog, when words simply won't come and we are left feeling empty and alone, abandoned at the start, and we are lost and frozen in space, searching for he brilliance we are … More Unstuck: What to Write When You Don’t Know What to Write – Write Reality
Concerning History in the Atlantic World, 1680-1740
The long haul of the spectrum
one woman's thoughts about life on the spectrum
Japanese pop culture through a feminist lens
The official blog of Michelle Tuckett, word ninja. 