Category Archives: NaNoWriMo

(Post) NaNoFeed: notes from the editorial charnel house

“Kill your darlings.” It’s attributed to Virginia Woolf, but someone else said it. She just lived by it. In a draft or two, I’m hoping to follow her example. I’m currently lighting votive candles at the altar of St. Virginia … Continue reading

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The ragged tag-end first draft blues

They warned us, of course. Finish the novel in November. Use that last crazy burst of energy to get it all down, and fix it up later. I’m still finishing it. There is one chapter that needs rewriting into an … Continue reading

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The mysteries of beta reading, or mapping what isn’t there

I am currently beta-reading a number of first-draft novel manuscripts. Over the last three years of National Novel Writing Month, I have been privileged to acquire a small group of first-draft beta-reading friends. Those relationships have grown slowly, out of … Continue reading

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NaNo 2011 novel revision plan, revised version

From long experience, I know that I get things done, however ambitious my lists of things to do. However, hardly ever do I get them done on the original timeline. As I’m looking at the missing pieces of this year’s … Continue reading

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The curious dance of order and chaos

After yesterday’s break, I realized that it was indeed “rest” rather than “being lazy” that made me take a break from looking at the NaNo novel. Today I woke up with very clear ideas about the missing parts: how the fantastic … Continue reading

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Coming back to the beginning, or lessons from the cook pot

Sometimes you don’t know what you were setting out to do until you’ve done it. Last year, I wrote my first completed story arc for National Novel Writing Month. For the first time, I sent a work out to beta … Continue reading

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Finishing the darn thing…

… isn’t easy, but neither is landing a plane. In stories as in chess, the opening and the endgame open up abysses under our feet. Desperate to stuff all of the important parts into Necromancer and Barbarian before National Novel … Continue reading

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Writing Goals check-in

It’s a snowy Monday night, and I’m still recovering from National Novel Writing Month. I wrote 85K words of novel draft alongside an estimated 10-15K words of blog posts (posting every day adds up fast). So we’re looking at a … Continue reading

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NaNoFeed, the Sequel: What makes it all worth while

Exhausted and speedy all at once, after two days away from the novel. As my buddy Devin Harnois puts it, “I want to take a nap and conquer the world.” But tonight I went to our region’s TGIO (Thank God/Goodness … Continue reading

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NaNoFeed: Genre Trouble, part 1

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m taking a little time off from my novel … well, at this point, a one-day break. Tomorrow, December 1, I start work again. Last night I came home late and did what I hadn’t … Continue reading

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