Indie Author, Podcaster
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is upon us–a 50,000 word mad sprint through November to complete the first draft of the story that you’ve been thinking you’d write someday.
Well someday is here. Continue reading “Interview with E. J. Runyon”
Prior to the James River Writers conference a week ago, I attended Natasha Sass’s Master Class on “Writing Smarter, Faster, and to Market.” It was the first Master Class I had ever attended. Two hours with a short break went by fast. I wrote notes. I fail at notes. But this time, my notes were nearly eidetic. Sass knows her stuff, expertly fielding questions from attendees. If you have the opportunity to take one of her classes, do so.
It was the writing faster part of her presentation that I want to hone in on here. This is where I need work. I write slower than I would like. I read slower than I would like. She spoke on the Pomodoro Technique, which I thought pertained to making lasagna pasta at home. Actually it’s a way to build habit in writing faster and more concisely. I want to try it out for NaNoWriMo. My only goal will be to follow the method and track my progress as Sass suggested. I’ll begin at five minute increments. That should be do-able, even in a busy day, right?
Afterwards I will check in on myself and report here what I find.
Though I had done better than I feared, I still came up short of the 50,000 word mark.
Though I had done better than I feared, I still came up short of the 50,000 word mark. My total is 34,456 words. I would like to cite a 30-day month (instead of 31) which includes a major holiday break, plus personal distractions as the reasons for not reaching the goal, but in the end I didn’t manage the time well and allowed myself endless revisioning before moving on.
Will I do it again next year? I hope I’m done well before then.
Hope you fared better! How did it go?
Word count is now 11,301.
Word count is now 11,301. This getting more exhuasting. Got a ways to go to reach halfway!
Well I’ve reached 9,253 words.
Well I’ve reached 9,253 words. I ended up skipping the chapter I mentioned in the prior post for now. I just can’t find a way to attack it in a new way. This is exhausting, but hopefully worth it!
