NaNoWriMo in July: JulNoWriMo Starts At Midnight

Clock by Darren Hester Creative Commons

From the Danger Zone website comes news of a NaNoWriMo in July.

JulNoWriMo is for all of you who can't fit your novel writing time around Thanksgiving and the pre-Christmas crazyness.

Now you can use those long, light-filled days of summer to totally ruin your vision, blister off your finger tips, and avoid cutting your grass. And you even get an extra day on the 31st to do it. Just write 50,000 words in the month of July.

Let the crazy begin at midnight tonight.

Script Frenzy Has Moved

If you've previously participated in Script Frenzy , the screenplay oriented sequel to national novel month (otherwise known as NanoWriMo) please note that they've moved it from June to April this year. That means it starts a week from today (is it symbolic that it's April Fool's Day?) on Tuesday, April 1, 2008.

They've also added some categories. According to the NaNoWriMo website,

"Now, in addition to original feature-length screenplays and stage plays, the escapade includes adaptations of novels, short film scripts, graphic novel and comic book scripts, and even radio dramas. As long as you cumulatively write 100 pages of script in April, you're a winner. " (the bold is mine)

So if you're considering it, get your scenes in a row and prepare to write 100 pages in 30 days. Don't know how to write a screenplay? They've got some excellent how-to advice on the website, along with reviews of software programs that will do the formatting for you. So if you're game, go over and sign up.

Update from the Land Of NaNoWriMo by Tricia S.

Thanks to Coffee and Critique member Tricia S. for keeping me updated on her NaNoWriMo progress. This is how she feels about the challenge so far:

I’m thirteen days into NaNoWriMo and have to tell you this is the most exhilarating/frustrating challenge I’ve ever accepted. Don’t believe anyone that says you won’t have time to even take a shower. I do have my standards. Cleaning house is another story. That can wait until December. Glad I’m not having Thanksgiving in Casa Sanders.

I’ve written over 20,000 words—21,417 to be exact. What a thrill. I have two novels sitting on my hard drive in various states of disarray. One I started more than four years ago, the other more than six. Without NaNoWriMo, this one wouldn’t even be out of the idea chute. So thank you NaNoWriMo for forcing me to get these ideas out of my head. Now I won’t have to listen to the voices any longer. I’m hoping those are the voices of my characters. That’s what I’ve been telling myself all these years.

I’ve actually embarked on this adventure with three other writing buddies, and we email encouragement to each other often. So it’s helpful to get on the bus with traveling companions. Because when the bus stalls, you need the extra encouragement.

I had such a stall on Saturday. My plot was boring, and I was mad at my main character, so it was difficult for me to write the scene. So instead of slamming down the cover of my laptop, like I normally would have done, I stopped writing the scene and started brainstorming. I actually wrote out future scene possibilities. I even counted them in my word count for that day, so I’d make it. When I went to bed, I was on target with my word count. The next day when I started writing again, the brainstorming actually helped me finish the scene where I was stuck, plus I actually ended my writing day up 800 words—not counting the brainstorming session.

What have I learned from NaNoWriMo so far? Put down those writing books and write your damn novel. Once it’s on paper, then you can use all the books you want to help you edit and polish your prose.

Tricia S.

NaNoWriMo Starts

So. I did NaNoWriMo last year and had a great time and came out with about 40,000 words (nope, I didn't make it to the 50,000 word goal by November 30th.) I have been avoiding the knowledge that today is freaking November *shifty eyes* because I know there is no way in hell I can do it this year, and I'm downcast, bereft, bummed, bamboozled. . . Okay, not that last one but I got lost in the alliteration for a moment.

I kept going after November last year, and now I have a 65,000 word manuscript of a paranormal novel I am steadily revising with the keen insight of the coffee and critiquers. My first chapter is posted on my website.

This year, here I am with my face pressed up against the glass, condensation marks and face grease smudging the window, on the outside, looking in the cafe at Barnes and Noble where the writers I know go to flog their keyboard.

No warm camaraderie from my fellow authors. No late night marathons of writing while my children exist on Ramen noodles and whatever they scrape out to the crisper. No novel writing in November.

I'll certainly be writing everyday. But on stuff that pays me a lot quicker than shopping a novel does. Someone has to buy all that Ramen.

If you're doing NanNoWriMo, I'd love to hear about it. My fellow blogger at A Teaching Life is planning on doing it, so I'm going to live vicariously through her. If you're doing NaNoWriMo and blogging about it anywhere, tell me so I can use you shamelessly in the same manner.

So good luck, all you lucky, deranged NaNoWriMoers. May the force be with you. Always.

Acronyms/Abbreviations Used to Talk about Writing on the Internet

When I first started participating in online writing activities, I noticed a strange secret code in effect. I knew many of the acronyms used in chat - like LOL and such. But novel writing has its own special acronyms, so I thought I'd share some I've learned. I know I've forgotten some, so if you notice any I missed, remind me in the comments and I'll add them to the list.

WIP - Work in Progress (Your current writing project, usually a novel)

MC - Main Character

POV - Point of View

ARC - Advanced Reader Copy (The copies authors and reviewers receive before the book is actually available to the public)

HEA - Happily Ever After (Used by romance genre to indicate a happy ending)

HFN - Happy For Now (The characters end up together, but no indication it's a forever relationship)

H/H - Hero/Heroine (A couple in a romance novel) M/F - Male/Female (Romance between a male and female character)

GLB - Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual

het - Heterosexual

YA - Young Adult

SF - Science Fiction

NanNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month (Participants who join this website complete a 50,000 word novel in a month, toiling along with their fellow writers: November 1 - November 30th).