NaNoWriMo Boot Camp

Before we get to the NaNo boot camp, I wanted to share something cool. Jody Hedlund, bestselling author and Super Blogger, reposted my post about "Writing lessons learned from UNENDING DEVOTION." She added her own thoughts about each point, and of course, we get to absorb more of Jody's wisdom. Be sure to check out "9 Tips for Creating a Compelling Novel."

Now, on to NaNoWriMo Boot Camp. For those of you who don't know, November is National Novel Writing Month, when ambitious writers around the world set out to write a 50k-word novel in 30 days. Totally crazy. Totally fun.

If you want to write a novel and haven't yet plotted or planned, fear not. There's still time to prepare. And if you never plan before writing your novels? Maybe these ideas will help you as your pants your way through November.

I hope the following links help!

Janice Hardy wrote a great series of posts about planning your NaNo novel:

NaNoWriMo Prep: Planning Your Novel's Beginning

NaNoWriMo Prep: Planning Your Novel's Middle

NaNoWriMo Prep: Planning Your Novel's Ending

And she wrote this really cool post--Query First? The Query as a Plotting Tool (love this idea, and tried it myself)

And she has great advice about creating characters in this post--Who is That Guy? Discovering Your Characters

And in The Bookshelf Muse Writing Resource Newsletter, Angela Ackerman offers lots of great tips (WHAT? You don't subscribe? YOU SHOULD!! Sign up here):

From the newsletter:

Write Or Die Hardcore incentive to write. Achieve a set Word Count by a certain time, or it will unwrite itself.
HiveWord An online writing tool that lets you keep all your brainstorming & writing organized and in one place. It's free, and you can write from anywhere.
Handy-Dandy Nano Story Outline Roz Morris nails out an excellent path of questions to ask about your story before you write!
Worksheets For Writers Jami Gold has put together a delicious mix of worksheets to help you plot. To avoid a snag or two in your plot, take the time to plan. Even Pantsers will find some brainstorming helpful!
Rainy Mood I can't write to music, but I can write to white noise. Rainy Mood is perfect for drafting & shutting out the distractions.
Plotting With Note Cards Want structure, but not too much structure? Try this plotting method and get the basics down before D day.
Listology: Character Archtypes This is the biggest list I've found of Character Archtypes. It is sure to get you started on building your cast!
The Character Trait Thesaurus Heck yes I will use my own blog tool for Nano! I want to build a credible hero and scanning character traits will help me on my way. And if I get stuck on settings, I'll browse The Setting Thesaurus, too. :)

And Angela offered these additional tips for the November madness:

Set firm rules for Social Media and Email. This is a MUST. Don't break the flow by checking what's going on every 5 seconds.
Prepare food in advance. If you are a Mom or Dad, you don't want your kids turning feral from Hunger. Likewise if you are married, etc. Plan meals, freeze, buy easy-cook items, whatever your fancy.
Find your routine. Busy schedules make writing a challenge. Get into a schedule before Nano starts so you'll know what works for you.
Create rewards. Pick up some of your favorite chocolate noms, or candy, special coffees...whatever will make reaching a set WC your goal.
Visit the Nano site. There is a ton of knowledge, support and people willing to brainstorm when you hit a wall. Get to know other Nanoers!

GUESS WHAT ELSE??? Angela and Becca, of the fabulous and ever-helpful The Bookshelf Muse, are giving away TEN COPIES of their amazing Emotion Thesaurus to NaNo winners. Have you seen their amazing book pasted everywhere? And everyone is talking about it? And darn, you wish you had a copy? Clicky clicky at super speed over there and enter to win. Deets and form are here. Even if you own a copy, if you win, you can give your prize away. How cool is that?

So? What do you think? Are you in? Have you ever done NaNo before? Are you doing it this year?

Who's packing your parachute?

I'm fascinated by the story of Captain Charles Plumb, a Navy fighter pilot who was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam war. He tells how he was approached by a man in a restaurant.

The man said, "You flew jet fighters in Vietnam. You were on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down. You parachuted into enemy hands and spent six years as a prisoner of war."

Captain Plumb responded, "How in the world did you know all that?"

"Because I packed your parachute."


Amazing, huh? If the parachute hadn't been packed correctly, Plumb's story would've ended differently.

Captain Plumb says: "So the philosophical question is this: How's your parachute packing coming along? Who looks to you for strength in times of need? And perhaps, more importantly, who are the special people in your life who provide you the encouragement you need when the chips are down? Perhaps it's time right now to give those people a call and thank them for packing your chute."


When I think about our writing lives, and who's packing our parachutes, these amazing folks come to mind:

Supportive Family & Friends--In my opinion, if your family and friends are supportive of your writing efforts,  you've already won half the battle. When I came out of the closet as a writer, my family and friends didn't laugh at me or roll their eyes. They didn't shoot down my dreams or trample over my confidence. Quite the contrary. They're my biggest cheerleaders, and I'm grateful for every single one of them.

Are you out of the closet as a writer? If so, how did your friends and family react when you told them?

Critique Partners--Our critique partners offer their time and energy to help make our manuscripts better. They offer pats on the back for what we do right, and constructive feedback for something that doesn't work well. They lift us up when we're feeling discouraged, and cheer with us when we achieve milestones. My critique partners have made this journey a heck of a lot of fun.

Do you belong to a critique group, or do you have beta readers? How have they inspired you?


Agents & Editors--If you're lucky enough to have an agent or editor, you've personally experienced their hard work and determination. I don't have experience with a book editor (yet!), but my agent is a tireless advocate for her clients. Karen Grencik is smart, kind, and encouraging. Even if I never sign a book deal, I'll be glad that she's in my life.

Have you worked with agents or editors? How did they improve your manuscripts?

Blogger Buddies--Blogger/writer buddies help each other with blog tours, and spread the word about book releases. They share new agent alerts, or what writing lessons they've learned. I'm constantly amazed by how awesome all of you are. I know I sound like a broken record, but seriously, you rock my world.

You guys inspire me every single day, and I'm so thankful for you.

As evidenced by the Random Act of Kindness Blitz by the wonderful gals at The Bookshelf Muse, we've seen amazing kindness from one writer to another. We value the people in our lives, those who have packed our parachutes, and it's great when we take a moment to thank them. And who knows, maybe you're packing someone else's parachute right now, and making a positive difference in their life.

Who's packed your parachute lately? Do they know how grateful you are? Please share!


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Random Act of Kindness BLITZ!

A smile. An encouraging word. A thoughtful gesture. Each day people interact with us, help, and make our day a bit brighter and full. This is especially true in the Writing Community. 

Take a second to think about writers you know, like the critique partner who works with you to improve your manuscript. The writing friend who listens, supports and keeps you strong when times are tough. The author who generously offers council, advice and inspiration when asked.

So many people take the time to make us feel special, don't they? They comment on our blogs, re-tweet our posts, chat with us on forums and wish us Happy Birthday on Facebook.

Kindness ROCKS!

To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too!

My RAOK is to offer one amazingly awesome commenter a copy of my absolute favorite writing Bible, Plot and Structure, by James Scott Bell. No, I don't collect royalties on his book, even though it may seem like it. His book helped me THAT much.


My kids will choose a winner on Friday, May 18th. If the winner already has this book, then they have the opportunity to pay it forward again, and pass it on as their RAOK.


All you have to do is leave a comment. And this is not a requirement, but if you'd like to give a special shout out to someone who's made a difference in your writing life, please do so!

Do you know someone special that you'd like to randomly acknowledge? Don't be shy--come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way. Kindness makes the world go round. :)

Becca and Angela have a special RAOK gift waiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

Have you ever participated in or been the recipient of a Random Act Of Kindness? Let me know in the comments!

(By the way, aren't Angela and Becca amazing? I had a peek at their Emotion Thesaurus, and it ROCKS!)

Critique Giveaway! (plus a shame-faced apology & a group hug)

A few weeks ago, Angela and Becca from The Bookshelf Muse were kind enough to add me to their esteemed list of Writing Heroes. I was amazed, honored, and thankful. How awesome and generous is that?

Their blog is a mandatory stop when I'm working through revisions. I have plenty of (see Bookshelf Muse) notes in my first draft, and on draft two, I refer to their resources as I add more details to my manuscripts.

The Shame-faced Apology

Angela and Becca generously gave me a 1,000-word critique, and I'd love to give it away to one lucky follower. I'm so sorry I didn't do this sooner! *hangs head* It wasn't until I saw this post by Janice Hardy (amazing blog, btw) that I realized I hadn't blogged about the Writing Heroes nod, and the giveaway.

The Group Hug

We are all SO lucky to be a part of this amazing, supportive, rockin' writing community. I love how we bounce ideas around, share what we've learned, encourage each other, and cheer each other on. So brace yourself...I'm including you in a ginormous virtual group hug.

The Critique Giveaway

If you'd love a 1,000-word critique by the awesome ladies at The Bookshelf Muse, all you need to do is let me know in the comments. What a golden opportunity! The deadline is February 16, at midnight EST.

If you haven't visited the Writing Heroes page yet, I highly encourage you to do so. Each of these bloggers is a huge asset to the writing community.

BIG thanks to Becca and Angela for their kindness, and another BIG thanks to you for stopping by my blog. **group hug**

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Speech Mannerisms & Body Language

I'm reading WRITING MAGIC by Gail Carson Levine, and I was reminded of two ways of communicating--speech mannerisms and body language. I think, I hope, I use body language in my writing, but I know for sure I don't use speech mannerisms as much as I could.

Speech Mannerisms

If the writer's done their job well with speech mannerisms, they sometimes don't need to identify the speaker. Levine tells of a judgmental character in her book, The Wish, who adds or takes away points. When the speaker said, "It's pretty weird, Wilma. Five points off for strange behavior," the reader automatically knew who was speaking. Pretty cool.

Levine's advice is to pay attention to what people say, and take note of how they say it. Here are some speech mannerisms I've noticed in others:

• A man I know clears his throat each time he speaks
• Young people often say "like" a lot when they're speaking (like, you know, the valley girls of the past. Like, not that I would know anything about that)
• Some people start sentences with "you know" or "listen"
• Parents might use the full name of a child when upset, and a nickname when they're pleased

Personally, I need to put much more thought into fun details like this. Can you think of any speech mannerisms you've noticed? Or any you've used in your characters?

Body Language

I'm much more comfortable adding this type of communication to my manuscripts. Characters, like real people, send strong messages without speaking. I wrote an article for kids about the subject here, and learned fun details through research.

Did you know that 93% of our communication is non-verbal? We don't have to tell the reader our character is embarrassed. We can write that his face is flushed, his feet are shuffling, or he's fiddling with his shirt sleeves. Showing, not telling.

If you're unsure which body language matches which emotions, The Bookshelf Muse is the best place to start. The thesaurus entries on the sidebar are valuable tools for writers.

Have you used speech mannerisms and body language in your writing? What other forms of communication can writers use?

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