breathe.
in and out
closed lids
tongue between your teeth
fingers drifting on your keyboard

breathe.
the time is here now
you have no reason to be afraid

breathe.
i know you feel like
you won't make it
like these words you're crafting
can only take you so far
but you can make it.
i know you can.

breathe.
just a moment
a day
a month
but
you're here because you chose to be.

breathe.
nothing's keeping you
nothing's holding you down
you have wings of light and laughter to spread
and spread them if you must.

breathe.
you're not alone
you're okay
you're strong
and brave.

breathe.
you won't know if you can do this
until it's over
so instead of stopping,
quitting,
running

breathe.
and remember
it's okay.
the world stretches on
and it's so vast. 
it's waiting beyond your closed lids
ready for your eyes to feast.

breathe.
your heart is wide
and wider still it will beam.
it isn't over yet.



How are you all doing? Did you like this poem? If you did, let me know! I'm thinking of writing more during this month as mini motivators through the nano craze. 

But does that mean I'm failing nano? If you're in the "not rocking it" category like me, does that make us failures?

It's really easy to whine and say, "Ugh I'm so behind I'm such a failure. I'm failing this. Blah blah blah poor me ugh." But I challenge any of you who might be thinking this way to stop and ponder those words for a moment.

Are you really a failure? Are you really failing Nano?

In order to answer these questions, we need to go back to the beginning.

Why did you sign up for nano? 

Think about that question really hard. It might be as simple as, "Well, I always do." Or, "One of my friends wanted me to." Simple or complex, like, "I want to reach the part where so-and-so faces off with my antagonist."

My reason for signing up for this July's nano was fairly straightforward. "I want to write a short novel."

I tend to write really long, so writing short has been a challenge. But I have three days (two by the time you'll be reading this) to finish, and 15k left of my nano goal. I'm approaching the end, yes. But I'm not there, and I don't have long to catch up.

But at the same time, I don't feel like I'm failing. I feel like I'm going about slowly, because I am, but if I don't reach my nano goal, I'm actually going to be okay with that.

Why? Why am I okay with that? My stated goal above is "I want to write a short novel." That goal involves finishing it. But if I don't finish it, I'll still be okay?

There must be more to this.

I did nano because I wanted to write. I knew I'd be busy. I knew it would be really hard to make time for writing. I knew it was unlikely I'd be able to finish a novel anyway. But I still signed up because I knew that if I did, it would make me write. I would find times where otherwise I might not have.

I would make the time to do what I was capable of.

That's how you win nano. You do what you can, and you do it your best. 

I could have written 100k or three full novels, and I'd still feel satisfied like I do with an itty bitty 25k. Because no matter the word count, the heart of the goal is still the same.

Write what you can.

So if you're behind on your goal, relax. You're doing what you can. You've made the time you could, and you're writing. Do you realize how amazing that is? How amazing YOU are?

Well, you are amazing. You're writing this month, and that is fantastic. You're spending one month of your precious summer working towards something you love.

And that makes you a winner.


How is nano going for you? Have you "won" yet? Do you think you will? Why did you sign up for nano? If you're not doing nano, what are some goals you made this month, and have you met them?

I’d been working on draft 2 of TC for like, seven months. I was going a little crazy. Plus, I still have not received feedback on the three chapters I sent off, so the whole book was beginning to look rather ugly to me, dirtied in my eyes by the raging doubts and fears of my poor little writer heart.

But this book was just so … refreshing. I’m sitting here, and I know there’s a bunch of stuff to be fixed and lots of edits to be made. But I’m hopeful. And, really, I don’t have a single negative thought about this book. I don’t hate it, which will probably change when edits come round. But I don’t hate the mistakes I’ve made. I know they’re there, and that’s okay.

It's really nice to have something you can be proud of. Something you can feel good about when one child is being stubborn.

Breaks are important. Not just writing breaks in general, but breaks from specific projects.


I wasn’t really expecting this to be much of a problem, but it kind of was. In the depths of my sleepiness ridden nano nights, I would type out the wrong names and have the wrong characters speak and characters answer their own questions and some characters basically disappear because INCLUDING SIX CHARACTERS IN CONVERSATION IS HARD. Especially when it’s in certain characters’ natures to be quieter? But then somehow when you write a character who is quiet in conversation, it’s hard to make them not disappear.



A 94k word middle grade book is … not okay. So I need to do some serious cutting on that. I don't know how that's a possibility right this second, but that's what edits are for ... right? *uneasy laugh*

But yeah, writing middle grade has actually been really fun. When I write YA it's just so HEAVY and I don't know why but whatever. This book wasn't a bundle of happiness and rainbows and laughter, but it did have its moments. AND I ONLY GOT MISTY ONCE WHILE WRITING. I DIDN'T FULL OUT SOB AT THE END LIKE I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO.

Wolf is my faaaavorite

Wimbo is also my favorite XP

It's the Big Question, after all. It's what we've all been working towards all month ... right?

If you haven't hit this number yet, you might be experiencing some doubts and fears that you won't reach it. And that will somehow make you ... a failure at writing.

After all, this goal has been set. When we don't reach a goal, we fail.

...right?



Guys, I hope you don't think this. I've probably said this before, but I'm going to say it again.

We are creating art here. And we're not all going to do it the same way.

The goal of this month, the goal of NaNoWriMo itself, is NOT TO HIT 50K.

The goal is to get you to write.

The goal is to get you to think about writing. To try to find time this month to dedicate to your novel. How you do that is up to you. How much time you spend is your choice personally. Some have more time to dedicate to writing than others.

And that's okay. That's just how life works.

If you're not at 50k yet, don't despair. You still have time to punch out the words and hit that mark. And even if you don't hit that 50k, even if you've only written 100 words this month, you still wrote.

And that makes you a winner. Because this month is not about 50k. This month is about working on our stories. Our art. What we love.

Don't let yourself get down in the dumps if you didn't write as much as everyone else did. Where would be the fun in that, if we all wrote the same?

So spent these last few days of November how you will. Write when you can, and write what you love. Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Whether you write it all this month or not, if you put your mind to it this book will get written eventually. So keep writing, nano or not. Have confidence in who you are and what you do.

Do what you love, and do it boldly.

Have you hit 50k for nano? If not, do you have another goal in mind? Are you struggling with your word count, or are you feeling okay / good about it? If you need some encouragement, I'll try to respond to your comments on Sunday! (I'm gone all day today and for most of Sunday though, but I'd love to chat with you guys) 

So. My family has this thing that they do. It's gotten better lately, since I'm the oldest one in the house now, but it was really bad there for a while. Everyone just sort of ... gathers. In my room. While I'm writing.

...like, what?

I’m not sure why this happens. During nanowrimo last year, it happened, like, EVERY NIGHT. I’d be sitting there, typing away, getting really into it, building steam … and then BOOM. The family swoops in to make allllll the noise and distractions. I'm not even in their conversation, just slightly angrily typing away with my writer glare (see below) in place and my headphones (see below) crammed on.

As you can expect, I am now a pro at tuning out loud noises and voices and major distractions. I sat in a room full of people the other day while my friends played a card game (#introvert) and cranked out 200 words in like, five minutes. Allow me to give you some life changing advice so you, too, can be a pro.

What why are you looking at me like that I am completely serious.

So I was sitting there, chilling, feeling all chill and cool for the upcoming month of craze. And I realized my plotline was kind of foggy in my mind so I pulled up my folder and realized ... I hadn't written one yet.

#oops

So yeah. As you might imagine, I was mildly concerned after this discovery. Nano is in just three days, after all. And ... I don't even have a plotline??

So not ready.

But, even though I made this startling discovery just yesterday, and when I started to grind out a plotline and realized there was a bunch of stuff I still didn't know, I still feel peace with the rapid approach of November 1.

You know why?

I will never be completely ready.

There are so many aspects to a story, because a story reflects life. Just think about your life for a second. There are hundreds of things, thousands of things, that have happened to you to shape you into the person you are today. There are tons of things that you believe, hundreds of people that you know, bunches of things that you've done and seen. It would take years to figure out every little thing that has happened to your character, and the world around them.

You could spend so long on trying to figure out everything, that you never end up writing the book. If all you ever do is plan it, and think about writing it, and ponder what will happen and what happened before to lead up to the now ... then you'll be old and gray before you're ready.

Nano is about taking a leap. It's about jumping into the ultimate abyss of writer doom and trusting the wings you have written to carry you up and out of that pit. It's about stepping out of our comfort zones. We might not feel prepared. But will we ever?

Last year for nano, I wrote the first draft of The Thief's Conspiracy. Since draft 2 of that project is giving me such grief, I think that's why I found myself struggling at the beginning of this month, when I started planning The Dream Walkers.

I was planning to make it perfect.

"Duh," you might say. "That's what planning is for. We all want to be perfect."

But it doesn't work like that. First drafts are supposed to be bad. THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BAD. Yet here I am, going into this thinking, "I can't mess this up. There's no way I'm going to spend seven months on editing the second draft of a book again."

I was failing at trying to write a plotline because I couldn't fit it in the three act structure. The middle was all hectic and I didn't know what to do. I was terrified of messing up again and having to edit it for months. This idea has so much potential. How can I risk ruining it?

And that's where I need to stop. If you're thinking this, just stop.

You cannot ruin your story.

You hear me?

You cannot. ruin. your. story.

It doesn't work like that. You can write a really horrible, wretched, messy first draft which you end up saving exactly 0.00298% of, but you can't ruin it. Heck - you can write five drafts, all of which you end up scrapping.

But still. You cannot ruin your book. You cannot fail. You can do badly. But you can always take that bad, and try again. You can work with it. You can make it better. You can't write a book so badly that there is no hope for it.

You learn the most when you fail, after all.

So ... nervous about nano? Why should you be? You can't fail. If you don't meet the 50k, you didn't fail. As long as you do your best and write what you can, you have not failed.
So do not fear! Go plan, but realize it's okay to change those plans halfway through. It's okay to plan a bunch. It's also okay to not plan much at all.

You're not supposed to get it perfect on the first try. Especially not when you're writing half the book in a month. Quality does not happen that quickly. Nano is about quantity, not quality. So, just for this month ... let quality flutter out the window.

Cut yourself some slack. Go make a list of what you love about this story, before you're in the heat of nano-craze and are despairing. Remember why you love this, your story, your writing. Why you love this thing we do.

Go forth, fellow writers. Be courageous!


Are you ready for nano? What do you have left to plan, or are you all set? 

Quick note: if you're on Facebook, you should totally join in on Abi's 5k1day event! I am co-hosting it with her on November first, and we're planning to do one at the midpoint of the month and one on the last day. Please come and join us! (You don't have to write 5k - you can write 3k, or 1k, or 10k. Whatever fits your pace the best!)

The inciting incident is soooooo important guys. If you don't know what this is, YOU NEED TO KNOW. LOOK IT UP. It's basically what sets your story into motion. It's that big THING that happens that disrupts the characters' normal world and sends everything into chaos. It's your story's hook. The concept. For instance, mine is, "A boy gets trapped in the world of dreams." BOOM BABY. In just nine words, I have a bunch to work with. Think about what would happen, and then what wouldn't happen. Keep asking "how" and "why". That deepens everything.


I have this weird habit of letting my characters accomplish the goal they had from the inciting incident halfway through the book, and then, in the course of them accomplishing the goal, they're given new goals. Halfway through the story. Not sure why this happens to me, but ... I guess I get tired of having the same goal for a whole novel?

I'm sure that concept has an official name. If you know what it is, TELL ME. I'm going to try not to do this ... eventually. But for now, yeahhhhh no. This kind of has to happen.

You need to make sure your character's external goal is big enough to encompass a whole book. My characters' goals are, "Find Jake" at first, and that is not a big enough goal to fill the whole book. Hence, the goal change midway through. The goal shifts: "Get back to reality." That's a bigger one which will last me to the end of the book. But you've got to make it difficult. It would be good to make lots of smaller ones too to help along the way. As obstacles arise, so will new goals. And goals drive the story.



Another reason why Pinterest wasn't helping me was because, though it game me lots of random ideas, that's all they were. They were not connected to the plot. Therefore, there was no structure to them.

They go to an underwater city? GREAT! Super cool and fun! But how does that help with my plot issue?

They get lost in a forest of clocks? YAYYYYY. Not really helpful.

I know a bunch of things that need to happen, but I don't know how they fit into the structure of the book. And that's really important. Each scene in a book needs to be meaningful in that it pushes the story forwards in some way. So when you're brainstorming ideas, look at your structure. If you see that you don't really have a climax at the end of Act 1, or that your Midpoint doesn't really change much, think of how you can up the importance there and add new elements to heighten their significance.


I hoped these might have given you some ideas?

*crickets chirp*

Ehem. Anyway. Here's a picture of a turtle. Cause everyone needs a picture of a turtle in their life.

he's judging you

And now. You've probably been scratching your heads wondering, what does tea have to do with any of this? I SHALL TELL YOU.

Last year during nano, I had recently fallen in love with Vanilla Chai tea. It's just sooooo good. And so, every night when I went to my room to type away on my cheap walmart iPad keyboard, I would sit with a cup of that tea by my side and sip away as I typed.

I kind of fell out of the Vanilla Chai tea phase for a while. And then, a couple months ago, I saw a box of it sitting on my shelf and I though, Oh I haven't had that tea in forever! I'm going to make some.

And so I did.

And at that first sip, it was incredible. It was like someone had hypnotized me back to NaNoWriMo 2015. I was hit with the memories I made that November, and I was reminded of the beauty of writing the first draft of TC.

And so now, when I edit, when I do anything related to TC, I make a cup of Vanilla Chai tea.

I know you're all probably really confused right now, thinking, "But, coffee? Life blood? Every writer's life drink?" But I do pretty much all of my writing after 9 P. M. Sadly, coffee is not the best thing to drink before bed, and I'm a hard-core super strong fully caffeinated girl.

BUT MY POINT IS. I like to pick a tea. And then that tea is my 'writing tea.' But I make it specific for each project. Since I'm starting a new WIP soon that's completely unrelated to TC, I might have trouble transitioning between the two. So if I work on one this day, and the other the next day, I can make the tea for one this day, and then the tea for the other the next day to help get my mindset right.

Yah see what I'm sayin'?

I don't know if I made any sense at all but I'M TIRED AND I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS KIND OF COOL, OKAY?? *blinks hard and sips DW's tea since I'm brainstorming while blogging #likeaboss*

Oooh and DW's tea makes me happy cause I remember drinking it as a kid and loving it so it has nostalgic meaning to me already. So yeah, you should totally try that! It's fun and then your tea becomes special. :D

I'm pretty sure most of this post was incoherent rambling but I DON'T EVEN CARE OKAY. *slumps off to brainstorm and use this post for reference because I AM A MESS HELP*

What's your writing beverage? Do you struggle with plot? IF YOU WANT TO RAMBLE TOO, FEEL FREE. TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE STRUGGLING WITH IN WRITING/NANOPREP RIGHT NOW.

Characters have always come quite naturally to me. When I get a story, the characters generally come hand in hand. I have a vague idea of who they are, but I don't really know them until I write them. So don't freak out if you don't really know your characters yet.

The surest way to do that is to write them.

For some people, it takes a whole first draft until they really know their character. For others, it could take even three drafts.

But right now, let's focus on what we can do before we start our stories. What we need to know before we start.

(Technically, you don't NEED to know much at all. But knowing the basics can really save you some editing.)


Who was your character before the book started? What were they doing the day before your book begins? An hour before?

What happened to your character to make them who they are today? Knowing their past experiences can really help you anticipate how they handle things and how they see the world.

These two are such HUGE motivators when brainstorming characters. What is your character afraid of? I'm not talking about spiders and monkeys here. I'm talking about thoughts that haunt them. Fears that plague their every waking moment, or at least rest in the back of their minds.

Fears like, "What if I'm not good enough?" "What if no one likes me?" "What if I'm getting all this wrong?" "What if everyone is lying to me, and I'm really not important or special or worth anything at all?"

Fears. Lies. You get the gist.

If you're writing a sequel, ask yourself a few questions to refresh yourself about them, and then more. How do the events in book one change them? If a certain fear was eased in their plot arc, or a certain desire fulfilled, what replaces that now?



When I started planning The Thief's Conspiracy, I took this test for my two main characters. It's sooooo helpful in getting to know them. Even if you're not really sure about your charrie yet, even if you don't know them thaaaaat well, I'd still recommend you take it, and then read about the type. Some stuff might not be accurate yet, but a lot of it will and it will help immensely in fleshing them out in your mind.



And this is just SO MUCH FUN, OKAY?!?

There are lots of characters aesthetics you can make. Collages, songs, drawings. But there's this one really cool one where you put together words for aesthetics and like WHAT EVEN IT IS SO COOL. Like, we're writers. And we get to make pretty, writer-y things for our characters?!?! I think YES.

I'm not sure where exactly this originated, but I heard about it from Carlyn Ross on the GTW facebook group and YOU SHOULD TOTALLY DO IT FOR YOUR CHARRIES BECAUSE IT MAKES YOU THINK ABOUT WHO THEY ARE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD. Like. You describe bits of them, little parts that people see, and it carries this weight that means much more than just an outward thing. It's so much deeper than that.

I'm going to give you an example because I FEEL LIKE IT and also The Thief's Conspiracy DID just turn a year old on the second, and I feel the need to celebrate somehow.

And I give to you Rissa's character aesthetic.

Clenched jaw, aching ribs, fists at sides, wrists shackled with burning iron, glaring eyes, heavy heart, scarred back, long dark hair, bloody knuckles, empty eyes, soft voice, gentle steps, a secret place deep inside no one can see, no one can control.

There're also character collages and pinterest boards were are also REALLY FUN AND YOU SHOULD TOTALLY MAKE THEM. I like to make character collages and book collages and put them as my desktop background and then I get ALL DA FEEEEEEEELS. *doubles over and howls*

Ehem.


There are loads more things you can do for your charries, but those are some of my favorites. And now I shall do as I did last week and give you some pictures to inspire you, in case you don't have a character yet or need to flesh one out!

source

Who is this girl? Why's she sitting outside with all the animals? What's she looking at? What's she thinking about? Does she live alone? Is she poor? If so, why? What does her father do? Is her father around? Does she long to travel the world, or is she fine here, feeding the animals and cooking for her family?

Look. Notice. Ask questions. 

source

Who is this boy? Is he a repairman, down below to fix something wrong with the ship? If so, what went wrong and how? Why is he down there alone? Is he a pirate? Why is he down there? Maybe he's harvesting something that the ships catch when sailing through these special waters. What is that thing, and why does he want it? Who will he sell it to? And how did he end up becoming a pirate? Are these ships full of people or abandoned? Maybe he's a poor boy (could be orphaned) that's looking for something to scavenge, and he's about to brave the ropes and climb up to look inside. What will he find there?

Look. Notice. Ask questions. 

source

Who is this old man? Why is he sitting in the shop, alone? Is he waiting for someone? Customers? Is no one coming? Why? Or maybe music has been outlawed, and he's waiting for soldiers to come and take the violins away ... Or he could be a wizard, infusing his violins with magic ... but why?

Look. Notice. Ask questions.

Sometimes I am afraid to ask "why". Usually this fear comes when I've already written the book, because I'm afraid if I dig deeper I'll have MORE EDITING TO DO AND NO UGH. As little editing as possible, please and thank you.

Ehem.

So, especially now that we're planning, DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK WHY. Why takes everything deeper, and it really makes you think.

Don't fear. Look around you. Notice what you see.

And ask lots of questions.


I hope you liked this post! I have an announcement to make soon. I'm not sure when I'll do it, but I already wrote the post up so I might put it up Wednesday, or Tuesday ...? We'll see. I'M SO EXCITED THOUGH AHHHH.

(No it does not start with "e" and rhyme with creditors, sadly, but IT'S STILL EXCITING)

WELCOME TO MY NANOPREP SERIES!!! I'm so pumped for this, guys! I really am enjoying writing this so far, and I hope you will enjoy reading it!

The goal of this series is to get your creative juices running and the wheels of your glorious brains turning. The goal is to inspire you. Because some of us might not know what we're writing for nano. Some of us might have just a vague idea, but have a lot of stuff they need to figure out because they actually have no idea what's going on (that's me). And some insane people might know exactly what they're writing and what's going to happen, but they're already bored because WHERE IS THE FUN IN PLANNING EVERY LITTLE THING EVER?

Fear not! There is always something else to discover, some new idea waiting.

It is time for me to PROMPT YOU.






What are they carrying? Did someone die? Is their body in the coffin, or is it a ruse? Maybe someone died, but they're trying to keep it a secret. There aren't many people, after all. Or maybe the person that died was a nobody. So no one cares about why he mysteriously passed. No one except his brother. Or his sister. Or his mother. What's their status? Do they work at the castle you see in the background, or do they own it? Why would they want to keep it a secret? Is the child a disgrace? Did someone in the household, someone with authority, kill him?

Look. Notice. Ask questions.


I could give you so many more pictures and ask so many more questions. If you still don't have a book idea, go look on Pinterest! Check out my Inspire Me board. I post all kinds of pictures like this on there.

Look. Notice. Ask questions. 



Hopefully this got your creative juices turning! If you didn't have a story before, I hope you might begin to get ideas now! Keep looking and noticing the world around you. Keep asking questions.

Also, if you're wanting to write a shiney new blurb for your nano page, check out this guest post I did on Katie's blog a while back! (It remains one of my favorite posts I've ever written. For some reason, I really like blurbs. XP)