For NaNo Participants...

Although I will not be "officially" participating in NaNoWriMo this November, I wanted to extend a few words to those who are.

First and foremost, you have my admiration for undertaking this challenge.  I wish you success and will be cheering you along from the sidelines.

Secondly, I wrote this post to provide a little encouragement for each day of the challenge.  I hope it is of benefit.

30 Thoughts for 30 Days

1. A prerequisite of success is believing that you will succeed.
2. Only you can project your imagination's content into mine.
3. You owe it to yourself to prove to yourself that you can do it.
4. The knowledge and experience you gain from this endeavor can be gained no other way.
5. A prolific writer prioritizes writing time.
6. The words you write today may well be someone's inspiration tomorrow.
7. Remember Dune. Fear is the mind killer. Accomplishments breed confidence.
8. This is your story.  Only you can do it justice. 
9. Foster creativity and determination in equal measure.
10. Every word you write is an investment. It's one word closer to finishing the book and to publication. Even words you cut are a learning experience.
11. Your strength as a storyteller builds with every word you write.
12. Discover when you're most productive and make that time available.
13. Spend time with those things (or people) that inspire you.
14. Put away your thesaurus until December.
15. Measure your success by courage and effort, not distance.
16. Achievement without challenge is hollow.
17. Self-discipline is the result of self-determination.
18. A writer's mettle is revealed when the goal seems unattainable.
19. Someone, somewhere, sometime will enjoy the words you're about to write.
20. Inspiration grows best in the soil of desire and determination.
21. Create your world so readers can vacation there.
22. Don't berate yourself for falling.  Falling is acceptable.  Refusing to get back up isn't.
23. Progress (and a novel) is made one word at a time.
24. Words have power. When written, that power is eternal.
25. The only time an effort truly fails is when the effort was never made.
26. Your future is determined by the dreams you choose to pursue.
27. Create now.  Edit later.
28. Accepting this challenge was a choice. Completing it is also.
29. Reward yourself for your accomplishments. You've earned it.
30. Wonderful things begin when writers make it to "The End."

Additionally, I've linked a few of my previous posts that may encourage or aid you in this challenging endeavor.

• How to Train Your Muse
• Thus Saith the Muse  (particularly commandments 1, 2 and 10)
• You Might Be a Muse Abuser If...
• To Blazes With the Formula
• Curse of the Time-Starved Writer

I invite everyone, NaNo participants or not, to add their own words of encouragement to those brave writers rising to this challenge.

August is Awesome Because of Sara Abis

Sara Abis has a sense of humor that can sneak up behind you and grab you without warning, make you read something twice and ponder.  And who can look upon her online dating profile picture and not know she's one of a kind?

But then all awesome people are one of a kind.

And she's a lover of fantasy--which in and of itself is enough to make her awesome, mind you.

Give Sara a warm welcome and make her feel at home!

Writing on a Schedule, or a Calendar, or something.

I've recently had a few forays into the adventures of world of unemployment. And by recently, I mean that I was laid off back in July, July 17th to be exact. As of today I'm gainfully employed again, as long as I pass my background check. However, being employed has very little too do with this blog post. The adventures of unemployment do.

You see, I learned pretty quickly that if I'm super stressed about money, odds are, I'm not going to be able to write much of anything; look at my blog for the last month if you don't believe me (or just go look cause you love me and I'm a followers whore). Anyway, I was a bit too stressed worrying about things like paying rent and getting food to worry about writing for most of the month of August.

Yet on my adventures, going on interviews with pyramid schemes, trying to discover which of the companies that replied to me were real companies, fake companies, lying about what job they were hiring for did (Marketing does not equal door to door sales people) I did learn a few things.

Awesome and one of a kind

You see, I briefly entertained the idea of taking a job selling Aflac supplemental insurance. Now, I wasn't enthusiastic about this job, because it was 100% commission, with no real benefits (I would have been technically self employed), and I'm not a very good sales person. Anyway, I went on two interviews with these people where they mostly told me about how much money I could be making, and I didn't believe them, but they kept offering to send me to trainings and stuff that were free, so I figured hey why not, there's gonna be free food (remember me mentioning that I was worried about running out of money).

If you're wondering when this is going to relate to writing, stick with me, I'm getting there in a drunken rambling kinda way (even though I'm not currently drunk, maybe I should be).

The first and only training I went to began with a man who apparently is a millionaire (he owns race horses) walking into the room. This is an older gentleman, with graying whitish hair. Taller than I am by at least a foot and blue eyes, but none of that mattered because he was wearing a pink and white seersucker suit, with a lavender button down shirt, and a purple tie with pink paisleys on it. His suit was so impressive that actually it was the first thing I wrote down during the training. And I was taking notes, not because I needed to, but because I was trying to convince the other people that I was legitimately interested in this as a career move, so they would feed me. Free food continues to be one of the biggest motivators in my life choices. But anyway, back to the man in the pink suit.

He shared with us a story about someone who changed his life back when he was working as a professional bloodsucker (stock broker) and he was struggling, and this other, really successful man (I imagine he also wore pink suits) came over to his desk, picked up his calendar and asked him, when he was focusing on his #1 priority (which in this case was getting new clients). What he told pink suit guy, and what pink suit guy told us, was to make sure you schedule marketing time, then give yourself a grade at the end of the day of how well you did.

Well, even though I decided not to sell insurance (too many shark like people) I actually think this is a decent bit of advice. I'm notorious for not following a schedule. In fact I'm probably one of the most anti schedule people I know. However, as I'm getting ready to start a new job, I find myself trying to figure out what the best schedule would be. Should I wake up early in the morning and go to the gym by my office? Should I get a paid membership? Should I join the YMCA by my house? Would I go more if I joined the gym by work or at home? What days am I working at the dance studio? How will that affect things? But one thing I noticed. One thing I've found myself not planning, is when to write. And then the thought occurred to me. Would I write more if I actually scheduled a time to do it?

Odds are I probably would. And as soon as I asked myself that question, I wondered what would happen if I bought a week at a glance schedule, and actually graded myself on my writing. Would I get more done? Would I be more successful? Would writing start to feel like a chore, like laundry (although I don't schedule that)? Would I still enjoy it if it was scheduled?

The truth is, even if we aren't we are creatures of habit, routines develop. And now might be the perfect time to actually test what would happen if I decided to schedule writing time. If I decided to grade myself on how well I do. And see if I accomplish something.

Now I'm gonna fully acknowledge this is probably not the best guest post ever. I mean, ideally I'd have an answer for you, I'd have already tested writing on a schedule and told you how it went. But, I'm not that organized. I was originally planning on writing about which attracts more men, wearing heals in a bar, or reading a book. But I wasn't able to get a big enough of a test group to make an accurate assessment of that. But if you want to know how it goes, send me an email sometime in September, and I'll let you know.

What are your thoughts? Are heals or books more attractive to men? Do you schedule your writing? Should I write my blog posts drunk?

About Sara Abis:

Sara Abis is awesome!

Hello, My name is Sara Abis. Blank pages are my enemy, or perhaps nemesis, and caffeine/red bull/energy drinks are my best friend. Sugar comes in a close second.

My obsessions are reading, writing and knitting (not necessarily in that order) everything else I do is to insure that I can continue to feed my obsessions, much like a junkie, except more healthy with better teeth (although not by much).

My sense of humor is often dark, and sometimes twisted, I would apologize for it, but if I did it might imply that I need to change it, and I don't. I aim to entertain. So often I write things to make myself smile. If you're not entertained, take it up with upper management (that's me).

You can check me out on my blog Cutest Landing.

August is Awesome Because of Cristina dos Santos

Today's awesome guest is one I've actually had the pleasure of meeting in person.  She and I attended Orson Scott Card's writing workshop a couple months back.  While I attended the first two days, Uncle Orson chose her to be among the select few to attend the following four-day workshop. (Yes, a congrats to Cristina is in order for that!)

Cristina's family is blessed to have a wife and mother awesome enough to prioritize her life.  Yes, we love writing and most of us have big dreams and ambitions, but those who are wise prioritize.

Please welcome the awesome Cristina dos Santos!

 

Carving Out Writing Time

by Cristina dos Santos

Two years ago when I decided that I was going to be serious about my writing, I never imagined how difficult it'd be to actually find the time to write. I thought that with being a stay at home mom--between naptime and late night hours and plenty of random quiet minutes throughout the day--I'd be a writing machine.

But somehow, with all that "free time"(ha!) I was still struggling to get enough words down to move my story along--managing only about a couple hundred words a day. And then, there there were days when I couldn't get any words down, because you know, life happens, and two little people can keep you super busy. And apparently, I'm a super slow writer though I blame that on my inner editor.

Cristina's Inner Editor

At one point, I started to feel discouraged. On the days I wasn't getting any writing done, I was feeling like maybe I wasn't cut out for this; and on the days when I was getting it done, I was feeling guilty because it was at the cost of time with my children. And as serious as I am about my writing, I don't want to ever look back at my life and feel like I missed out on time with my babies (they are only this little for such a short amount of time, you know?)

But I wasn't going to give up either. So I tried all kinds of schedules and in the process I learned a whole lot about myself as a writer: I learned that I can't write in short spurts because my brain needs time to ease into the zone. I'm useless late in the day and at night. I need sleep or I can't function. I'm never ever going to write a book in two weeks ;) Writing first thing in the morning gets my brain in the zone--and this has changed everything for me.

When I start my days with writing, I'm able to write more (I'm averaging between 1000 and 1500 a day, huge improvement) and the actual writing is better because my brain is rested. I now get up at 5 am, before my family, so that I have uninterrupted writing time. I find that if my brain goes into that place as soon as it wakes up, it stays there all day. So even though I have to stop after an hour or two to tend to the rest of my life, I can ease right into it throughout the day.

Who doesn't love sleep?

It also means that I need to get to bed at a reasonable time, so my brain is rested and alert in the morning. Sleep is so important for our general health. You can't write books if you're sick, right? And, I need days off or I burn out. So I write for 4-5 days straight, and then take a day off and sleep in.

And, besides getting those words on paper at a pace that feels good and keeps me excited about my story, I'm not shushing my kids, telling them to go find something to do, or that I'll play with them later because I'm busy. And that is worth getting up every day before the sun and the birds!

I'd love to hear from all of you. How do you find the time to write?

About Cristina dos Santos:

Cristina dos Santos is awesome!

Cristina dos Santos, when not being a wife or mother, is writing YA fantasy/paranormal stories and reading as many books as she can get her hands on. And that's about all she does with her time and is not complaining. Not one bit.

Visit her Once Upon a Time blog.

The Love Muscle

In my story, Alpha Among Dragons, the dragons refer to the heart as the life muscle.  In this post, I'm referring to the heart as the love muscle.

Perhaps I'm still dealing with the grief from the loss of my mother-in-law, but I can't help thinking about the grief and losses to come in the future.  I've been married for 28 years, well over half my life, and I can't really fathom--let alone prepare myself for--the heartaches ahead.

I still have the fortune of having a happy, healthy mother in my life.  She's 70 now.  She may have decades ahead, but I know--barring my death coming first--that it's coming.  And so is the devastation such loss brings.

My wonderful wife has a few years on me, but with average lifespans being what they are, it's an even bet which of us will have to endure that unbearable sorrow.  My selfish half wants to pass first and avoid what will likely be the most devastating period of my lifetime.  My selfless half wishes the opposite to spare my wife from that very same thing.

And then there are my children to consider.  My greatest fear has always been having to bury my son or daughter.  No parent should have to endure that.  I know some who have and I can't help but wonder how they find the strength to carry on.

I have grandchildren now, three wonderful boys.  I hope to see them grow, graduate and have children of their own.  God willing, I'll be able to do that.

I guess the point of this post is simply to say that the time to cherish--and remember--loved ones is while they're still with us, when they can can know and return that love.  Time is short.  Love endures.  Make your time count.  Exercise your love muscle so that its love will be ever stronger.

Curse of the Time-Starved Writer

Hideous.  Oppressive.  A curse worse than most.  A curse inflicted upon the creative souls who love to write.  And I have it.  My guess is you've experienced it too.

The curse?  Life.  Or rather those things that life brings to derail the progress we writers crave.

It's worse than our muses taking a month-long vacation in the tropics while we sit at our desks devoid of the creative sparks that propel our fingers into a furious frenzy of typing.

It's worse than spending weeks polishing dry prose into vibrant excitement while our still unwritten tales slip deeper into the recesses of our minds, waiting.

It's worse than air-starved lungs attempting to breathe fresh, unique life into cardboard characters that stubbornly refuse to be defined by their creators.

It's a nasty little curse, for sure.  And those of us not named J. K. Rowling or Stephen King must endure it.  There are no charms to protect us from it, no voodoo timepieces into which we can poke needles, no incantations we can utter that will dispel it, and no silver bullets with which we can terminate it.  It envelopes us like the very air we breathe. 

It's the lawn that needs mowing, the empty cupboards and refrigerator that needs filling, kids that need a ride to soccer practice, and the office from 9-5 with nights and weekends on call.  Relatives and obligations, unplanned errands and unexpected guests, they're all part of the curse.  It strikes without warning.  It strikes without mercy.

Never enough time.  Squeeze a minute as hard as you can and you'll wring not another single second from it.  Whether time is relative or absolute doesn't matter.  Sixty minutes is all you're going to get from an hour.  There is no more. 

I've heard some say that if you want time, make time.  Alas, my talent for making time ranks right up there with my talent for growing younger.  Oh, what I wouldn't give for a time machine.  Drop in a few quarters, pull a lever and out pops an hour.  That would be better than chocolate!

But alas, we can't make time.  We can't buy it either.  We can only use wisely the time we're given.  That, and nothing else, offsets the power of the time-starved writer's curse.