Day one for me went well. My parents let me skip school, and I got to catch up on sleep and homework as well as reach my word goal of 1,667. Today I brought my laptop to school, and during Journalism when we got a while for free time my teacher let me bring out my laptop and write. I told her I was doing NaNoWriMo and she seemed impressed. Later she asked me what my story is about, her and everyone else I told said that it sounded really cool. Everyone seemed to tell everyone else in the class, and on my way to the Orch room, where I plan on doing all my writing at lunch, someone shouted "Go write that novel Hannah-Beth" that made me smile.
I found myself telling a lot more people than I expected to. I figured I wouldn't tell many people but when they asked what I was working on I was really excited to tell them.
Between my Journalism class, half Lunch period, and a little after school I was able to reach my goal today of 3,334.
I can tell this is going to take work, and a lot of planning. It's going to be a wonder if I'm able to manage like this for the full month. I plan on writing strait through lunch for the month, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to talk to my few lunch friends for the whole month, but that's ok. All for the Novel.
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Tools Every Writer Needs
Every writer has a tool box of things they use. Here are a few every writer should at least try out.
First is a moleskine. These notebooks are prefect for collecting ideas on the fly and just beg to be written in. There seems to be an entire community of artists and writers dedicated to the little things. They come in many sizes and even colors. I personally like a Large Plain Hard cover. It's big enough for me to actually keep up with but small enough to bring around with me. I'm also starting to like the Hard covered graphing paper kind but I haven't used it much yet.
The second tool is a Stumbleupon. It's a downloadable toolbar that feeds you new websites on subjects you pick with a click of a button. There's everything from teen life to Buddhism in the subjects but I keep my topics simple. Writing, Books, Clothing, and Health. This gizmo can be a little time sucking though. Just like Twitter you can easily lose a good hour or two of work time flipping through the almost endless pages of new things.
Third is a smart phone. I recently got mine and I've been able to link my face book with my Kindle and blogger. Things just seem to work better when they're all in sync. I have one app called Diaro. It's basically a Password protected diary. I keep little snippets of ideas and thoughts and pictures here and refer back to them when I'm at my computer. I like the password too so nosy friends don't have to see that I called their backpack a cat turd with straps.
Fourth is a Library card. If you don't have one of these you can never call yourself a writer. Free books on almost every subject for borrow. Oh did I mention they're FREE! Sure you've got to keep up with due dates but whats another date on a calender. If a book isn't in your local library they'll send it over from a different one or even buy if so you can borrow it.
The fifth tool is those 5X3 index cards. They're perfect for writing down your scene list. My current scene list is posted on about 70 5X3s cut in half (I guess that makes them 1.5X2.5 but what ever. You can change the order of things easily and without losing to much precious writing. (Imagine writing an entire scene just to throw it out in the second draft. Heart Breaking.) I keep my cards together with those silly Bandz all the little kids love. It keeps em together and in order.
The Sixth tool is a book. Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy. My mom literally laughed at me when I made her buy this but I swear it's like my writer's bible. Everybody has something to learn from going over the basics again even if you're the best writer in the world. This covers everything from character development to plot structure a definite must read for writers of all Genres.
I hope this list has been helpful and that you've picked up a few new tools and things to try out with your writing. Shoot me an E-mail at follow.the.journey.now@gmail.com with tips, ideas, feedback or what ever. Till Next time:)
First is a moleskine. These notebooks are prefect for collecting ideas on the fly and just beg to be written in. There seems to be an entire community of artists and writers dedicated to the little things. They come in many sizes and even colors. I personally like a Large Plain Hard cover. It's big enough for me to actually keep up with but small enough to bring around with me. I'm also starting to like the Hard covered graphing paper kind but I haven't used it much yet.
The second tool is a Stumbleupon. It's a downloadable toolbar that feeds you new websites on subjects you pick with a click of a button. There's everything from teen life to Buddhism in the subjects but I keep my topics simple. Writing, Books, Clothing, and Health. This gizmo can be a little time sucking though. Just like Twitter you can easily lose a good hour or two of work time flipping through the almost endless pages of new things.
Third is a smart phone. I recently got mine and I've been able to link my face book with my Kindle and blogger. Things just seem to work better when they're all in sync. I have one app called Diaro. It's basically a Password protected diary. I keep little snippets of ideas and thoughts and pictures here and refer back to them when I'm at my computer. I like the password too so nosy friends don't have to see that I called their backpack a cat turd with straps.
Fourth is a Library card. If you don't have one of these you can never call yourself a writer. Free books on almost every subject for borrow. Oh did I mention they're FREE! Sure you've got to keep up with due dates but whats another date on a calender. If a book isn't in your local library they'll send it over from a different one or even buy if so you can borrow it.
The fifth tool is those 5X3 index cards. They're perfect for writing down your scene list. My current scene list is posted on about 70 5X3s cut in half (I guess that makes them 1.5X2.5 but what ever. You can change the order of things easily and without losing to much precious writing. (Imagine writing an entire scene just to throw it out in the second draft. Heart Breaking.) I keep my cards together with those silly Bandz all the little kids love. It keeps em together and in order.
The Sixth tool is a book. Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy. My mom literally laughed at me when I made her buy this but I swear it's like my writer's bible. Everybody has something to learn from going over the basics again even if you're the best writer in the world. This covers everything from character development to plot structure a definite must read for writers of all Genres.
I hope this list has been helpful and that you've picked up a few new tools and things to try out with your writing. Shoot me an E-mail at follow.the.journey.now@gmail.com with tips, ideas, feedback or what ever. Till Next time:)
Saturday, January 1, 2011
And So it Begins
2011 Here I come. Armed and Ready with my trusty Moleskine and a flash drive of Ideas. Welcome to Zero experience. Zero support. and Zero Muse. (Not to mention the 62 in English I have right now) It's pretty obvious why high schoolers are never writers. Electives, grades, reports, drivers license, mandatory family get togethers. It's going to be a train wreck. I've picked up a "Writing Fiction for Dummies" book and Stephen King's "On Writing" other than the info and advice in these books (along with any other information I've scraped up from google) I am at the lowest ladder rung in the writing world. I've never been an avid reader. In Fact I can pretty much tell you the first chapter book I ever read all by myself. (Leven Thumps and the Adventures of Foo if you're really int rested) but after that I've been an average reader. I know I know this is going to have to change and trust me when I say I've got a lofty books list to attend to for this year. Other info? I'm a girl. Freshman Family dynamics are well. Nothing really special. I've always been sorta good at everything I do but not good enough to make varsity or top group. I never wanted to be a writer before this past year and I have no Idea what organinally motivated me to want to want to be a writer so there's no use asking.
My 2010 Writer Resolutions and Goals:
1)Write Every Day
2) Finish and Submit a Manuscript
3)Read one book I don't think I'll like per month
4) Get a 90 in English
5)Journal Every Day
6) Read Everything I can get my hands on and stop complaining about how boring it is
7) Find something everyday to inspire me
8) stop drinking soda
Ok so the last one doesn't deal with my writing but it's still a good one. I would LOVE any advice, suggestions, thoughts, books to read, words of caution, feedback, samples, and pretty much anything! so hit me a comment or e-mail me at follow.the.journey.now@gmail.com :)
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