I was struck by a character name and a potential series with this character, but I don't know if I should make the book(s) an early reader, an easy reader or a MG purely because of the character's name.
I'm not gonna assign a gender to Fairy Nuff so that all the young readers can hopefully feel able to relate to them, but would the name "Fairy Nuff" make it harder for the child reader when they were taught to spell 'enough' or am I overthinking things please?
...with me editing my second grown-up memoir for JanNo and I'm gonna put it through it's second edit in February and hopefully kick it into good enough to self-publish again in time for the changing of the seasons, then maybe a Picture Book or, if I've got an idea by then, another Early or Easy reader then back to a MG/YA book for NaNo26.
...writing for children again and my non-NaNo novel is already planned out and ready to be written.
I wrote my first memoir for NaNo24 and I've written my second memoir for NaNo25, just a month early is all 'cos of getting my two jabs and I write to take my mind off the side-effects.
Hopefully back to normal again next year though.
Other than my non-NaNo26 novel, I'm all out of ideas for what else to write so any ideas from you, my wonderful blog readers, are most welcome!
...that I'll still write in November and edit in January and reward myself with a J2O for every 5k I write/significantly edit as if NaNo and JanNo were still going but I won't pressure myself to complete the manuscript/edit or feel bad if I don't manage the whole thing within the month.
I'm also still a SCBWI member, it's just being moved about a bit in the British Isles and there will be more RAs and ARAs as well as people with specific roles within that so it'll hopefully still be the same as it was, just in smaller groups instead of for the entire country.
I think I've realised that I'm still not alone, I've just gotta reorganise my head for a while.
...read the plan for what would have been my NaNo novel and I think I've hit the nail on the head with this one.
It starts with a huge amount of anger and stroppiness by the MC and the foster dad is feeling pretty worried about how he'll cope. The MC goes through all kinds of emotions throughout but they and their blood family finally start to understand what love is and where they had all been going wrong.
It's definitely a happily-ever-after ending, especially the last chapter, but I think I've finally hit the sweet spot with this manuscript and I'm feeling proud and emotional right now. I hope I do it justice when I come to write it.
...NaNo is no more.
The site is still there but only until the money runs out then that's it.
Another part of my life ripped out of my heart.
I've got 4 domains in its memory but that's all the motivation to keep writing completely gone now.
I'll still keep writing, but I haven't got anything to aim for each year any more now.
If you were a donor to NaNo then you will hopefully be able to export everything in your NaNo account, but those who, like me, weren't a donator seem to be screwed. If I'm wrong about non-donators being able to keep the stuff in their account, could you let me know how to do it as I haven't got an export link or button anywhere in my account and I just got a standard message saying "we've received your message but won't be reading or replying 'cos we'll be inundated" when I emailed them and all the information I've found talks about using the export link to download everything which I haven't got anywhere!!
...the plan of my gently magical MG NaNo25 novel is finally in the bag. I had a few days off for some reason, but managed to plan out 20 chapters today, which is pretty good going... I just need to remember so that I don't get in a flap in September lol
...planning out my NaNo25 manuscript and I've managed to plan out 5 chapters this afternoon. If I can get 5 done each day I should hopefully be finished with the planning by around the 20th but I'm not gonna rush it and confuse myself.
It'll be a MG fantasy and I'm already starting to get a feel for my main character's personality after only 5 chapters and 3 hours so that's pretty good, considering that this time last year I was planning out a grown-up misery memoir for NaNo24 so this is so totally different and needs a totally different part of my brain to work.
It's too close to bed-time for a hot choccie, but I'm back into the right headspace again now and will be able to totally focus on that for the rest of February ready for my NaNo24 manuscript to be torn to shreds and hopefully re-written in March.
...I'm gonna leave off starting to write it until after I've had my lunch (cue my carer turning up at 2pm now lol), then I'll hopefully get it finished and my reward drunk before my groceries arrive, then with any luck, another couple of chapters before bed time so that I can relax instead of worry on Sunday.
I've got someone coming out to measure up for my new bathroom tomorrow morning as well as both carers so it's all go this week, but as long as I can knock out at least 5 chapters every day except Sunday, I'll be finished on the 10th with any luck, then that's it until November. Gotta find inspiration for NaNo24 and JanNo25 before then though lol
I'm a new-ish Egg and I've been doing the 5 day kick-starter since Monday. I've just learnt sooo much about what is needed for the tension point in my newest OMG novel (that was supposed to be my JanNo novel but wasn't, for an absolutely heart-breaking personal reason) that I'd never even thought of before. I thought I'd planned out the next guaranteed best-seller but today's task has shown me that I've got a lot of research and thinking and planning to do before I even start the document, let alone write it!
...I can keep knocking out 4 chapters a day, I'll be finished in time for my 20th December cut-off date. As of now I'm 10% of the way through and I had a late start this morning, thanks to indecision on my part, so as long as I can knock that on the head I'll be able to get it done and dusted in time.
I'm proud of everything I've achieved so far in 2022 - I've written 2 novels, started writing a third and I've edited over 100 other manuscripts, as well as entering a competition that I stand a decentish chance of being taken seriously for, rather than tutted at and ignored. I've got my query email in better shape and I know which manuscripts I'm gonna feel most confident about querying. I'm gonna spend more time reading rather than just using rejections to move further down the conveyer belt.
2023 is gonna be my year.
...started writing the sequel to my strongest MS 'cos I got woken up by my muse at 5am and I wanted to write it before I forgot.
This is a few months after the first book ends and I'm enjoying writing and finishing this manuscript again. Justin and Mr Case are quickly gaining confidence and I'm tieing up loose threads and giving them both a fresh start after leaving Mum.
I'm giving myself until the 20th to write the first draft so that I can come back to reality for a few days before going over to see Steve's mum and sister on Christmas Day, then I'll have a few days to recover before I start writing again for JanNo.
I'm not rewarding myself with J2O's for this MS - they are purely NaNo and JanNo rewards but I'm feeling inspired so wanna make the most of it while I can.
I've just had my 8 bottles of J2O delivered to complete the reward stock-pile and it's starting to feel very real again now.
I've got enough J2O's to reward me for writing at least 5,000 words a day during both NaNo22 and JanNo23 as well as having enough for a "you can do this" drink before I start writing for NaNo and JanNo as well as a "woohoo! You won!" when I've written the 50,000th word for each of the challenges too.
Not sure how my body will cope with a J2O as soon as I wake up on 1st November and 1st January, but I'm hoping to use J2O's to signal the start and end of both challenges this year as well as inspiration/celebration for finishing each day too.
If it works OK this year, I'll be stocking up every September/October to see me through both challenges, instead of having the bottles sitting there, potentially going off, for 10 months.
I can win again this year, just like I have for the last 11 lol I've got everything in place and everything is ready to go - gonna meet the next 4 months head on and not get out of my character's head until I've finished each challenge and written at least 50,000 words before the end of the month.
I hope you're as ready to go as I am if you've signed up to NaNo22! We can do this together!
I realised last night that I hadn't planned out my JanNo novel yet and my muse was snoring their head off and refusing to wake up. I went trawling through all my writing files for ideas of the age range, what the novel would be about, character names and chapter ideas.
I ended up deciding that it'd be a younger MG fantasy novel so that I had an extra few thousand words to play with, I decided on a temporary title and overall theme running through the book and I managed to plan out the first ⅓ of the MS.
I had a delivery at lunchtime and a yummy and surprisingly filling bowl of soup for lunch and have now got it planned up to half way, so I'm happy with that for now and I'll plan out another few chapters after I've had me tea (a take-away that'll see me through tonight and into tomorrow). I'm still struggling for ideas, but at least I'm getting the basics down right now.
My MC is a 14 year old who is currently going through the start of puberty during the Summer holiday with their parents to give their aunt (who they live with) a break for a while. I just need to find a list of things that 14 year-old's wish for now lol
I've been struck down by writer's block for the last couple of days but I've somehow managed to plan out up to chapter 20 of my NaNo novel today and it's at the point where my two MCs meet for the very first time, so hopefully I'll get another 15-20 planned out tomorrow, now that I've compromised with my muse and they have let me fight through the wall of writers block on the condition that I don't spend all day working on it.
Working out the mischevious things that the pixie can achieve has been the hardest bit so far, so if you've got any ideas about mischevious things that a pixie can do, ideally involving fruit, then I'd love to hear your ideas... it's an upper MG novel though, so the ideas need to be safe, legal (of course) and age appropriate... if there's a way for me to attempt humour into it too then that'd be brilliant!
Thank you so much for your support and I can't wait to hear your ideas!
...it's finished!
I've just had my final reward of JanNo (a gorgeous Apple & Mango J2O) and written the synopsis, so I can start to come back to reality again now and get out of my newest story lol
Not bad going for exactly 7 days and exactly 50,000 words.
Just need to let it rest and breathe until I forget everything about it, then I can add it to my editing pile.
I wanna edit every single manuscript that I've written so far and try not to write anything new until November. I'll plan out my NaNo novel when I get clouted with inspiration again, but until then I'll decompress and start editing.
...three days of JanNo, I'm now at the half way point of the manuscript after yesterdays writeathon where I managed to write a huuuuge 10 chapters. I've written 8 today, so I'm on track for finishing on the 7th as long as I keep writing at least 7 chapters a day.
My MC has just gone to see there GP so we're approaching the mid-point, with all the action and I'm determined to try and avoid a happily-ever-after for this one, just to challenge myself to see what happens. The ending might change when I edit it, but I'm hoping the first draft will end on a cliff-hanger with the reader finishing the story in whatever way they would prefer. I just wanna take each day as it comes with this "vomit draft" writing though... I'm not even thinking past the next chapter at this point.
I'll need to request the help of the police and my GP after I've finished the first draft, so that I can make sure I've got my fiction right so that I don't get into trouble when it's published 'cos it'll be too late at that point!
Wish me luck for tomorrow please?!
My muse smacked me over the head with a name 11 days back, which is very very rare, so I wrote the name down and saved it to my desktop. My muse has just woken up again and given me that character's job, personality, and pretty major spot in the novel. She's not the MC but she appears in a pretty significant way in the majority of chapters so I've just edited my chapter plans slightly so that I can include her name so that I don't forget before I start writing on Saturday.
A huge creative weight has been lifted and I can go into the writing challenge full steam ahead as soon as I wake up and come downstairs for the first day of JanNo22.
...completely planned out and ready to go on 1st January.
It's taken all morning, so there won't be any news today, but it's all planned out and ready for me to start writing now.
I've achieved a pretty incredible amount of creative things in the last 16 days, but I can now relax for the rest of the year and forget it all, ready to start 2022 in a new direction for me 'cos the novel I've just planned out, doesn't have a happily-ever-after for a change.
It's taken all day, but that's it until NaNo is over and done with, then I'll plan out my JanNo novel and might write another ECB or tackle my editing pile before then... I'm just gonna bask in the glory that I'm prepared and ready to write starting on 1st November.
