All The Things A Writer Wants For Christmas

Happy December! As a writer, there are many things I want for Christmas.

• A finished manuscript. I seriously need to stop abandoning stories.
• Some new ideas. Sometimes I have too many. Sometimes I don’t have any.
• More time. 25 hours in a day would be nice.
• Small acts of kindness. Is that too much to ask for?
• Peace and quiet. A baby crying nonstop is the complete opposite.
• Someone to retrieve my sanity and bring it back to me. I don’t have any monetary reward, but I’ll dedicate my first book to you.
• More money in my bank account. So I can buy stuff I don’t need.
• A lifetime supply of books. I’m running out of space so…
• Another bookshelf. Too bad my room is too small for that.
• A house with a library in it. And on office.
• The imposter syndrome to go away. Does it ever?
• I’d love for my muse to come back to me. I’m not sure where it’s gone. Probably somewhere nicer and warmer.
• Procrastination can leave me alone. The door is that way. I hope it bites you in the head, you big pest.
• A strong dose of inspiration. The stronger the better.
• I need motivation. Desperately.
• Good sleep. Restful nights where I don’t wake up at an ungodly hour and start to contemplate all of my life choices.
• A better sense of humour. Or someone who gets my sarcasm.
• To see people I want to see and not see people I don’t want to. Knowing my luck however, the exact opposite will happen. I see someone who is a stranger to me more than I see my best friend. The universe clearly enjoys toying with my emotions.
• Patience. Current status: non-existent. I have no idea how people keep calm and collected all the time. I can’t control myself. I’m out of control. Send help.
• I really want to get over my fear of operating a motor vehicle, so I can drive myself far, far away and write for days. That’s my goal in life.

Neglecting Your Novels

Do you ever neglect your novels?

Like have you ever written a first draft, tucked it away, and never returned to it? Even though you promised yourself that after some time away from your first draft, you’ll go back and revise your manuscript. Hopefully, making your novel (a million times) better.

No?

It’s just me then? Okay good to know.

Countdown To Christmas: Writer Wishes

I’m not asking for too much this year.

All I want for Christmas is:

• For that novel to write itself.
• For all manuscripts to edit themselves.
• For a publishing deal to fall from the sky.

Last Week Of NaNoWriMo—A Survival Guide

1. Eat good, nutritious food. On second thought, try to.
2. Avoid looking like a zombie once December rolls around. Hint: sleep.
3. Kill your inner critic. Literally. You can always revive him/her/it later.
4. Sit your derriere into your chair. Use glue if you must.
5. Abandon everything, okay fine, not everything. You know what I mean. Go write. Right now.

I can’t wait to see your lovely faces (not your I-haven’t-slept-in-four-weeks-so-I’m-gradually-turning-into-a-zombie one) and your beautiful manuscripts. Yes, your manuscript is beautiful. You’ll most likely make it more beautiful in due time. But first you need to finish. If you’ve already finished, you can disregard half of this post.

Good luck even though most of you don’t need luck.

Have a wonderful last week of November, which should really be called National Novel Writing Month by everyone. Non-writers especially.

The Writer’s Equivalent Of Death

Deleting entire paragraphs or pages from a manuscript.

Oh, the horror.

Day 26—NaNoWriMo: Do you have unanswered questions or loose ends that need to be addressed?

Today is the last Monday of November; also it’s the last Monday of National Novel Writing Month. Can you believe you’ve come this far?

As for your novel:

Regardless of whether you’re done or still working on your NaNoWriMo project, it’s a good idea to go over your novel for unanswered questions, unfinished story lines, etc.

Never fear if you realize that you left out a major event in your story or forgot to include some vital information about a character. This is still your first draft after all. And if you’re like any great novelist, you’ll come back in December—or next year if you need a break— to breathe life into your manuscript.

Wishing everyone a productive Monday (and an even more productive week)!

Since we’re so close to the start of December, I am starting to get into a giving mood. How about giving back to all of you, my wonderful readers and followers? If you want to me to do a post on any particular topic be it writing or blogging or something random, comment down below. I haven’t planned out any December posts since I’ve been so caught up with my NaNoWriMo ones so send me some suggestions. All ideas are welcome. Thanks.

30 Questions To Ask Yourself During NaNoWriMo-Day 12

Ah. You knew I was going to tackle this one.

Question #12

Are you saving your manuscript everywhere?

• Let’s say your computer broke down right this second. Of course that isn’t true. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this post. Still bear with me.
• Let’s pretend your manuscript disappears into oblivion because of some technical issue.
• Let’s imagine your house burning down. Not that I wish this on anyone.

Now let’s suppose that one of the above actually happened. What? Would you lose 20,000/30,000/40,000 words of writing? Would you have wasted 20/30/40 hours of your life?

To ensure a tragedy like this will never occur, there is a solution. SAVE. Yes, save everywhere and anywhere. Save your document in multiple places. On a USB. On the computer. On your laptop. On Google docs. E-mail your novel to yourself. Save a draft of it on WordPress. Whatever floats your boat.

To be fair I had the first happen to me, I knew someone who experienced the second, and as for the latter—someone robbed my house and stole a laptop with everything of mine on it. Every loss has strengthened my resolve to save the documents that mean the most to me everywhere. And I mean it wholeheartedly when I say everywhere. Save every day. You won’t regret saving but you will regret not saving.

Promise me that you will take care of yourselves and your novel.

Tomorrow reflect on: are you worrying too much rather than writing?

30 Questions To Ask Yourself During NaNoWriMo-Day 11

Let’s take a moment to honour all the soldiers who have fought for our freedom and continue to do so. 

Remembrance Day/Veteran’s Day always saddens me. However, feelings aside, I feel obligated to continue blogging.   

Ready for day 11 of NaNoWriMo?

Question #11

Is your story making sense so far?

I sure hope so. If not, you can always backtrack and rearrange scenes later. If you need to take drastic measures now, do it.

You do not want to reach the end of your novel before realizing you went off on a tangent in chapters 5, 7, 12, 14, 18, 21, 29, 31, 33, and 36 so much so that your story isn’t developing in some comprehensible manner. At the very least, ensure you have a logical beginning, middle, and end. If you gave your manuscript to someone else, not that you would right this second but theoretically, would they understand your story?     

If your story is making perfect sense…keep doing whatever it is your doing.

Hang in there during the second week. Your sanity might be questionable but your story line shouldn’t be.

So does your novel pass the test?

No matter how many words you have written, you would never want to lose your work. Ever.

As for tomorrow: are you saving your manuscript everywhere?