Raven O'Fiernan

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13 Tips for Success with NaNoWriMo

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I write a novel usually every November for National Novel Writing Month, abbreviated NaNoWriMo, and further abbreviated to NaNo.  I’ve been doing NaNo since 2004 and I almost always win (if I’m writing a novel —  sometimes I have done revision instead, and my success is more mixed with revision), and usually finish the novel, which means I usually end up writing more than the 50,000 words required to win.  Last year, 2016, I won with over 96,000 words with a finished novel.  So, now that I’ve presented my credentials, on to the advice!

Caveat: This advice (well, except for #1) might not work for everyone. I think #1 is absolutely necessary for everyone. Oh, and #10, too.

1. HAVE FUN. If you aren’t having fun, you’re doing it wrong. That doesn’t mean you enjoy every single second. Sometimes, you will get discouraged or have bad days, and that’s normal. But overall and in looking back, you should remember it mainly as a time of fun. You should do silly things and go a little crazy.  In fact, sometimes when I do get discouraged or have bad days, I turn them around by deliberately doing something extra silly.  Even if the words are bad, I end up having fun.

2. HANG OUT WITH THE OVERACHIEVERS AND LET THEM INSPIRE YOU. They are proof that not only can this be done, but that even more can be done. Maybe you won’t match them, but let yourself be amazed by them and work towards meeting and exceeding your own personal goals.  Some people get discouraged, and I get that, but at least for me, it’s a choice.  I can choose to be discouraged or to be inspired, and when I choose to be inspired, I write more and better.  This might be in the category of “easier said than done” for some people, so if that’s you, try it a few times when things are going well for you and build up the practice.

3. USE A TIMER AND MEASURE DIFFERENT LENGTH SESSIONS. This is how I found out at one point that I was best with hour-long sessions. My averages for shorter times and longer times were less words per minute than for the hour session, but that has changed. My averages now are more consistent across the board: 5 min=150 words, 15 min=500 words, 30 min=1,000 words, 1 hour=2,000 words, 2 hours=3,000 words. But when I originally started tracking, I was only getting 400 words for 15 minutes and 800 words for 30 minutes . . . and still 2,000 words in one hour. So, two 30-minute sessions would only give me 1,600 words, while one 1-hour session would give me 2,000. Same amount of time, but because it took me awhile to warm up, I was faster in the second half-hour if I had already been writing. Sometimes, I still did shorter sessions because it isn’t always about the most efficient plan but any plan. Some people do best at 15 minutes or 3 hours.

4. TRY EVERYTHING. By this, I mean read lots of different advice and try different things out. This might span multiple years, too. Pants a novel. Plan a novel. Just plan the plot. Just plan the characters and setting. Edit as you go. Don’t edit anything, even typos. Break each scene up as separate documents. Write the whole novel in one document. The more you try, the more you learn about what works for you and when. I found out in my first NaNo (failed) that I *need* to edit. If I leave in all the typos and do not at least comment on the bigger problems, I end up with a big SUCKY NOVEL black cloud that hangs over my head and makes me miserable and makes me hate even thinking about the novel, so then I just stop writing. It makes me violate Rule #1. If I at least note that there’s a problem, it cues my mind that the problem has been dealt with at least for now and I can keep having fun. Others end up in a morass of eternal editing-not-writing if they even stop to correct one typo.

5. TRY TO WRITE EVERY DAY. But forgive yourself and move on if you end up missing one or more days. I used to always have a few 0-word days and I still usually won. Now I don’t because of that darn write 30 days achievement and also not wanting to lose my streak at 4thewords.**

6. MIX UP YOUR ROUTINE. Especially if you feel stuck. Go somewhere else. Write on paper instead of the computer. Ask your characters what’s wrong.

7. FEEL PROUD OF YOURSELF. If you have done more than you would have without signing up, you are winning. And darn it, you are writing a novel (insert other crazy “impossible” goal for rebels)! You are doing it!

8. COMPETE WITH YOURSELF AND OTHERS. Don’t lose sight of #2, though. Compete with the people who are close to you in word count — sort your Writing Buddies by Word Count – High to Low and try to get onto the first page by slowly beating the people on the same page as you. Try to beat your personal bests.  This requires knowing what they are, so track your progress.

9. UPDATE YOUR WORD COUNT AND POST (sparingly if you get distracted easily) ON THE FORUMS. Because you will see your bar and that will inspire you to write more.

10. BACK UP YOUR WORK. You don’t want to lose it in a storm or fire or something. Make copies if you aren’t working on a computer and save those copies in another place. Print hard copies and save your work in multiple places if you are working on a computer.  This is your novel!

11. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH NANO. Wallpapers, special playlists, etc. Have reminders everywhere, so you feel the urge to up your word count wherever you are.

12. CREATE WRITING RITUALS. They shouldn’t be necessary (that is, you should still be ABLE to write without the ritual), but have certain things that you do to signal that it is writing time – like setting the timer in Rule #3.

13. WHEN YOU ARE IN A WRITING SESSION, WRITE. However you choose to delineate a writing session, do not allow yourself to go away from your novel for any reason. If you have bodily issues, take care of them before starting a session, unless they are a complete surprise. And do not just stare at the screen. Write. Something. Anything. Write.

You can do it!

**For information on 4thewords and other writing resources, check out my Writing Resources page!

Meet Hazel Kanetzki

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Hazel Kanetzki is the owner of the Kanetzki Funeral Home (fictional) in the town of Stevens Point, WI (real town).  She is a member of the Order of the Good Death (real organization), and provides a number of services for the deceased and grieving.  She is also adept at reading the Tarot.

Hazel was born Hazel Connolly, the eldest child of the Connolly family, which is an old witch family (fictional) of Stevens Point.  She has twin siblings, a brother, Rowan, and sister, Ashley, who together run the Sun and Moon Coffeehouse and Bookstore, which is located on Main Street leading into what used to be a mall and which is now Mid-State Technical College (this is my rebellion against the Children’s Museum which ran my favorite Coffeehouse, The Supreme Bean, out of business several years ago — in my fictional universe, the Children’s Museum does not exist, and the Bean is now the Sun and Moon).

As a member of an old witch family, Hazel sits on the Watch Council.  The Watch Council monitors supernatural activity in Stevens Point and Portage County in general.  They maintain the Gate at Iverson Park, and provide services to supernaturally-aligned individuals who choose to join.  The Watch Council is essentially part HOA, part union.

Hazel married Peter Kanetzki, the heir to the funeral home, and inherited it upon his death two years ago.  When Peter died, Hazel discovered an ability to go into trance while preparing a body.  During these trances, she creates artwork that is somehow meaningful to the deceased and/or to her.

I have already written the short story in which Hazel prepares Peter’s body and discovers her ability, and hope to publish it in the near future.  I am also planning a series of murder mysteries in which the images within the art provides clues (including Tarot-based clues) to Hazel as she navigates various crimes.  She has a huge black Maine Coon cat, Belladonna, who is the reincarnation of one of the old Connolly matriarchs, and who will occasionally help Hazel with her cases.

Let me know what else you would like to know about Hazel!

The Rose Tender

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The Rose Tender
by Raven O’Fiernan

Lord Sirio looked over his landscape to make sure everything was as it should be. He was hosting his daughter’s coming out gala in a fortnight, and it was essential that nothing be out of place. He turned his gaze to the south, where a row of poplar trees grew, creating a natural fence and backdrop. Then he looked back at the design of Fortunato’s line of trees. No, as he suspected, the trees were not right. They were too tall and skinny, and there were too many of them. He’d only planted the twelve indicated on the garden plans, but there were, he counted, nineteen now. Some of them must have put up shoots in the early days. He’d told the gardener to uproot them, but apparently the man hadn’t gotten them all. That was the problem with having an ordinary gardener instead of a Botanist. A Botanist could have used magic to make the change at any time, but now, if the gardener removed any trees, it would leave unsightly empty gaps. But after his brother had bankrupted the family coffers, Sirio could not afford to hire a Botanist, so he had to make do with the gardener. He hoped the other nobles wouldn’t notice the differences.

The line of trees wasn’t the only area of concern. To the east was the rose garden, patterned after Lady Emilia’s exquisite garden. It wasn’t quite right even from the beginning because some of the varieties of roses had been impossible to find, so he’d had to settle for similar varieties. It was a disappointment, especially since the new varieties didn’t bloom at the same time as the originals, and some of the roses, whether new or original, were susceptible to bugs. Some were even dying and the gardener said he didn’t know if he could save them. The man said that certainly a Botanist could cure them, but not a common gardener.

At least in the north and west, Sirio had obtained a measure of success. The south was an orchard of peach and pear trees. Those at least were perfect, exactly as the late Lord Francesco had recommended. And the west was empty — just rocks and sculptures reminiscent of the poet Gregor’s collection. It was all ready for the gala.

He sighed, looking again at the line of trees in the south and the imperfect rose garden where the gardener was weeding. It would have to do. If Rochesa was going to get married, it had to be as good as possible, and he’d invited all the eligible men in the realm. If they weren’t impressed, if they saw the imperfections, it could affect her happiness, and that wouldn’t do.

He called her out: the gala was two weeks away, so they still had time.

“Yes, father?” she asked.

Sirio frowned at her. Her hair was too light to match the painting he had bought of the Black-Haired-Irina, and her eyes were blue instead of black. He’d tried to make her into the old beauty, but nothing seemed to take.

“Go to town. Go see the magician,” he told her, handing her some coins, hoping it would be enough. “Ask again about the hair. And the eyes.”

“Yes, Father,” she said and left.

A palpable emptiness spread over him. Something was wrong. Was it the trees? He looked again at the poplars and back to the design. He’d talk to the gardener. Maybe there was still something to be done. Maybe the man knew a Botanist that would be affordable.

As he turned to the south to approach the gardener, he saw that his daughter had not followed his instructions. She was bent over the roses with the gardener, who had his hand at the small of her back. As he watched, she reached out a hand, and one of the dying roses suddenly bloomed, fresh and new. She clapped her hands and let out a gale of laughter as the gardener spun her around.

But what Lord Sirio wanted to know was: when had his daughter become a Botanist?

The End

Thanks for reading!  Please check out the other stories in this July’s Storytime Blog Hop:

The Last Sleeping Beauty by Tamara Ruth

Freeman by Elizabeth McCleary

Hell’s Play by Juneta Key

The Token by Eli Winfield

Moshe 4th by Chris Makowski

To The Moon And Beyond, by Fanni Sütő

Surprise by Katharina Gerlach

In A Picture by Erica Damon

The Past Tastes Better by Karen Lynn

Revealing Space by Barbara Lund

 

My Review Guidelines

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I will try to remember to link to this every time I write a review, to let you know the guidelines I set for myself.

1.  I will recommend everything I review.  Basically, the point of a review, even if I discuss problems, is to share things I love.  I have no desire to spend time writing about or discussing things I don’t love.

2.  I will state where I obtained the item, and if it is legally available online, I will provide a link where you can get it.

Why you don’t need “thick skin” to be a writer

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A lot of you have probably run into the expression that if you want to succeed as a writer, you need to have thick skin. The idea is that since you will get critical feedback from others, you need to be somewhat impervious to that criticism. Having thin skin, on the other hand, means letting the criticism “get to you” in some way. There are some major problems that can only happen if you let criticism “get to you” emotionally, which is why people advocate “thick skin”: if the criticism doesn’t get to you, you won’t react in a way that will harm your career.

So, here are some of the problems with “thin skin”:

1. Unprofessionalism. The most obvious reason people tell other writers to get “thick skin” is that they have seen an example of a writer doing something unprofessional. Some writers have lashed out defensively at people offering criticism, often their own readers. This alienates readers, publishers, other writers, other professionals, and the general public, including other potential readers.

2. Hubris. Another problem with letting criticism “get to you” is that it might keep you from making changes to improve your writing. If you feel the criticism too sharply, it’s easy to retreat into the idea that the critic is stupid and that therefore, the criticism is useless. While it is important to be confident as a writer, ignoring useful feedback is dangerous, even if you do it privately.

3. Writing paralysis. The most dangerous problem is that you’ll become paralyzed and not be able to either sell your current work or not write new work because you are upset about the criticism. According to Dean Wesley Smith, the only way you can kill your career is to stop writing. So if the criticism stops you from writing or selling your work, it is harming your career.

Obviously, having “thick skin” avoids these problems. However, there is an alternative, at least for writers. Almost all criticism comes to writers in the form of writing. This usually means that you are in a private place when you receive it. Maybe family is present, but the critic himself usually is far away. This privacy is why I say that you can still have “thin skin” and avoid the three problems above if you are a writer.

That alternative is to develop resilience. This is my method. When I receive criticism, it does get to me. For anywhere from an hour to a day, I am overwhelmed with the emotional impact of the criticism. But because I know I have thin skin, there are two things I don’t do during that period: 1) I don’t make any decisions concerning my work, and 2) I do not react to the criticism in any way the public or the critic can discover. I keep my reaction private, and I usually remind myself and others that this will pass. It always does. And then, I think about the criticism rationally, and I deal with it as if I had thick skin.

Only I don’t. And there are advantages to using the resilience approach rather than the thicker skin approach.

If you actually have thick skin, it means you aren’t letting the emotional impact hit you, or you are softening the blow before it hits your core. This makes it much easier to avoid giving up on writing, ignoring useful feedback, and behaving badly in public. That’s good. But it also means you aren’t feeling as deeply. Since a lot of good writing comes from intense emotion, having thin skin allows you to draw on emotion much more easily.

What about you? What are your strategies for dealing with unpleasant criticism?