So...2011!

So, we have reached the end of 2011. Where has the year gone? I feel like this one has flown by. 

Looking back, it's been a mixed bag, overall, in terms of writing, blogging and reading - if I were to summarise this year in a sentence, it would be as 'the year in which I read a lot of books I didn't want to be reading'.








10 Lessons on Nano, from a Non-Winner

So, I didn't manage to 'win', which is the official parlance for reaching the designated 50,000 words that comprise the completion of the Nanowrimo challenge. My score comes in at a respectable (to me, anyway) but unfortunately not winning, 30,031. I'm actually quite proud of that, and intrigued that, weirdly, that works out as 1,001 words per day. Maybe that's my 42?

Anyway, I think, as a loser, I might be able to point out the good behaviours that might get you to the end. 

Here we go: 







Being a Writer is Perilous...

...if all these articles I've come across lately are to be believed:

Hypergraphia, Bipolar and Writer's Block:

Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin

Alcoholism in Writers, and the Accompanying Risks of Sobriety:

Intelligent Life

So, you know, hold onto your hats...

FYI, normal, slightly more elaborate, service will resume once Nanowrimo is finished on Wednesday.

Current weigh-in: God knows... 





Writer's Block is a Bitch

...here's how to manage it:

The 10 Types of Writers' Block (and How to Overcome Them)


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How to Create a Plot Twist

Another one aimed quite squarely at the Nano-ers: it's definitely this kind of point in the month for me, I don't know about anyone else. I found this online the other day:

10 Ways to Create a Plot Twist, by T. N. Tobias.

He's right to warn at the beginning of it that it might change the way you view stories forever. Really good advice though.

Weigh-in: 22,239... 





For all those doing Nanowrimo

A bit cheesy perhaps, but it put me in mind of Nanowrimo, so here you are:

'You Wake Up In The Morning

You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the magic tissue of the universe of your life. No one can take it from you. No one receives either more or less than you receive. Waste your infinitely precious commodity as much as you will, and the supply will never be withheld from you. Moreover, you cannot draw on the future. Impossible to get into debt. You can only waste the passing moment. You cannot waste tomorrow; it is kept for you.'

Arnold Bennett

Now that's enough reading - go back to your WIP and write! 







Yes, I'm Crazy: Nanowrimo 2011

Yes, I'm crazy, but I'm going to do Nanowrimo this year. I know lots of other people are going to be doing it too (250,000, or something like that) and they're not crazy (necessarily); the thing that's tipping me over the edge into 'crazy' is that I'm going to write 50,000 words ON TOP OF all the other things I have to do.

And therein lies the reason for doing it. I can't prioritise writing my novel at the moment because I'm just so damn busy, but when I look back at the month just gone, I think busy doing what? Sure, I earn some money and socialise a bit and see a few films and play with the cat every half hour or so, but time just seems to pass unmarked in everyday life without some teeny, tiny accomplishment of my long-term goals. And my long-term goal is to write.