The title of this post may seem like a typo, but it’s not! 🙂 I just finished reading Bickham’s Scene & Structure, and I am totally geeking out about this cool new tool in my writer’s box. Coming from a background of writing poems, essays and flash fiction, the elements of structure in novel writingContinue reading “Novel Novel Structure”
Tag Archives: Writing
The Best Birthday Present
Today may be my birthday, but this weekend I gave myself the best present ever. I finished my first novel! It came to a grand tally of 71,194 words, and an additional 10k words of research, pre-writing and character development. That’s about 325 pages! Actually when I say I gave myself this marathon of wordsContinue reading “The Best Birthday Present”
A Vote of Confidence
Interruptions are everywhere this week with doctor appointments and half-days at school, but I am getting words in every chance I get. It is so easy to let a lack of progress raise doubts as to my ability to finish this book. As luck would have it, my award certificates and prize money from aContinue reading “A Vote of Confidence”
Out of Hibernation
After the intense focus on writing for November, it was a beautiful thing to switch it up for December and focus only on family, Christmas, and lots of good food. But, now it’s January, the decorations have been put away, my guests have gone home, and this week the kids are back to school. TimeContinue reading “Out of Hibernation”
First Time NaNoWriMo Winner!
I just won NaNo! What’s that you say? Why yes, it is the very last day of the month, but that’s not what counts. What matters is that I set this goal to write 50,000 words in one month, and I did it! My local writing group knows I love to start new stories. I’mContinue reading “First Time NaNoWriMo Winner!”
All the Feels
Something that has surprised me during this NaNo experience is how emotional writing a novel can be. Sure, I’ve poured my heart into my writing before. I know the power of words. But never before have I been with the same characters for 47,000 words. All in the last four weeks I’ve laughed with them,Continue reading “All the Feels”
Antagonists, Traitors & Villains, Oh My!
I passed the 40,000 word mark today and am nearing the All is Lost moment–that’s the point in the story when your main character is devastated and everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong. It wasn’t until today that I realized I didn’t have my villain nailed down well enough to do him justiceContinue reading “Antagonists, Traitors & Villains, Oh My!”
A War of Words
Two weeks in to this challenge, and I just hit 25,000 words. The first week was exhilarating, the second week was grueling, but I am right on schedule. On Saturday my region had a large “Midway Write-In” event. It was fun to write alongside others on the same journey. I experienced my first “Word Wars”Continue reading “A War of Words”
Breaking through the Barriers
I was really struggling getting all my words written today. Since it’s my first attempt at writing a novel, doubts come at me all the time that I can even accomplish this goal. This morning I told my husband that maybe I just know how to spin out the beginning of a story, not bringContinue reading “Breaking through the Barriers”
Blazing by 10,000 words today!
It’s the 6th day of NaNoWriMo, and I am getting the hang of this daily writing gig! I just blew by the 10,000 word mark without even noticing. It is exhilarating to be able to keep the story in my head enough that I can just jump right back in the next day. I’m 1/5Continue reading “Blazing by 10,000 words today!”
