FRIDAY STIR FRY - Missing For The Next 30 Days

Yep, it's almost here. November or as I like to call it Insaneber. Because anyone who thinks they can write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days has to be insane right?

Believe it or not it is possible but it takes a lot of energy, courage and caffeine. Here are a few tricks and treats I've learned over the last 6 years I've participated. (notice how I referenced Halloween there?) Happy Halloween/Samhain! Now to my tips.

• Absolutely no editing. This is the first rule of NaNo. Lock that editor in the basement. You have no time for his nonsense this month. 
• Do not use contractions. Don't is one word - do not is two. You can fix it later with find and replace. 
• Everyone has at least two, three or more names. And they repeat their names a lot. Not only does this up your word count but it helps your brain remember all your characters. Again, you can fix later. 
• Have a music play list. This not only sets the mood for your story, but, at least in my case, the words flow easier if there is music in the background. 
• Lots of caffeine and chocolate. Self explanatory. 
• Set a timer for 10, 15 or 30 minutes. Write non-stop until that sucker goes off. You'll be surprised how many words you will get.
• Finally - and this is very important. BACK UP YOUR NOVEL AT LEAST EVERY DAY. I can't tell you how many horror stories I've heard of people losing all their hard work. Don't be that person.

 
I hope you join in, but if not please understand if you don't see or hear from me, I'm probably okay, just busy trying to wrestle a novel out of my brain. You can track my progress by coming by and checking the word count widget to the right.

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Learning Curve

So, I received my first round of edits from Breathless Press for my novel Beyond The Horizon. Wow. Talk about intimidating. I have to learn how to use Track Changes in Word. I'm sure it's not that hard, right? After all, I wrote an entire novel, surely I can do this in a few days. Yep, that's right, my deadline is less than a week from now.

I also found out there are different styles of quotation marks - straight and curved and you can pick which one Word uses. Who knew? I had to Google how to do that, because the ones I used are wrong and need to be changed.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. After all, I've dreamed of saying the words edits, publisher, and deadline for a long time. It's exciting! I just have to keep telling myself that. It's exciting! Plus, I have so many people pulling for me and cheering me on. I can't fail. It's not an option.

I need to load up on caffeine, chocolate and pizza. See you next Friday.