Skip to main content

Week 4 Tips for NanoWriMo '21



I'm sure by now with all the turmoil and hubbub of Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday shopping season, you're feeling frustrated and losing your momentum with the writing.  My suggestion?  Let it ride and don't angst that your writing schedule is beginning to look like a pile of doggie doo-doo.  

How about we focus on what we've achieved to date?  Let's put a positive spin on things and remember to breathe.  So grab a few minutes to do something fun like create a small mood board and make little affirmation notes and pin them up where you can see them.  Whether you've written 500 words or 5,000, that's terrific!  Put that up on the board.

In the past I've used ATC cards -- artist's trading cards, which are about 2" x 3";  I've also used blank  shipping tags, again quite small. But frankly anything will do.  Spend 15 minutes with some colorful markers, pencils and/or pens and decorate your affirmations.

What can you celebrate?  Here's a quick list that may help:

>  a particular character that you like how she/he is unfolding within the story.  This could be a secondary character that is enriching the story that you hadn't anticipated;

>  a passage that you feel happy about;  maybe it was unexpected;

>  a turn in the story line that you decided to explore and keep.



Remember, it's not just about the 50,000 word goal.  It's about how you put yourself out there, how you acknowledge your successes and your defeats and keep on going.  This mood board is positive reinforcement, a small yet significant "happy place" that will reassure you during the ensuing chaos of Turkey Day and beyond.  Now, off you go and remember to roll with the punches, don't eat too much, stay safe out there . . . and I'll see you next week as we hit the final hours of NanoWriMo 2021!  
 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

More Secondary Characters

As promised, I'm back with some tidbits of info on another favorite secondary character who has appeared in several of my Regency romances -- the Dowager Lady Rutherford. I needed a character who would balance out Lady Caro (see last week's blog entry), someone who was smart as a whip, tough and yet hiding a soft side.  The dowager seemed to fit the bill for when she first appears in Snowbound Seductions , she's ornery, feared by all (even the duke) and willing to use her ebony cane like a Scottish claymore. So, the first British actress who visually inspired me, mostly for the dowager's physical attributes is Phyllida Law.  If you're an Acorn TV or Brit Box fan, many of you will recognize Ms. Law. Phyllida Law She's appeared in so many series and movies, and is also known as Emma Thompson's mother.  She is a wonderful actress and, to me, captures how I visualize the dowager. And in my work-in-progress, Wicked Wagers , we'll see a b...

Top 25 Reads for 2018

2018 was a busy year for reading -- lots of great books, so little time, right? Although I must admit that this year I was immersed in Susan Mallery's Fools Gold series, as well as Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor and Heartbreaker Bay series --  and I do mean totally immersed.  These two writers can world build like no other!  But for the sake of the Top 25, I am putting Mallery and Shalvis in their own kingdom and let you decide. Also, please note that I am not driven by the NYT Bestseller List or any other "lists" -- I tend to like to find my writers in a more organic way, mainly by browsing in real brick-and-mortar bookstores and libraries, so some are "newish" and some are older.  If I'm starting a new series, I like to start at the beginning, which means I'm reading past bestsellers. So, here's my top 25 titles that I heartily recommend to readers (broken down by genre / subgenre): Regency Romance: Sherry Thomas, His at Night Tessa D...

Sources of Inspiration

I've been working on my first Regency romance novel and, although I've read most of Jane Austen and seen so many of the excellent BBC movie variations, one still needs a bit of inspiration when working through the writing. It's usually those small details, descriptive of the landscape or the manor house, that gives a work that added level of veracity, of impact for the reader.  Why else would readers want historical romance?  I have to think that it's the time period that intrigues, a bit like a time tunnel.  Go ahead, pick your period -- there's probably a romance set in each one. That's why I love Pinterest.  If you can control the time spent on the great "P" -- and that's a big "if" -- there's so much out there to help spark those imaginative ideas or get a writer over the hurdle of writer's block.  Here's a few that I chose to help keep me churning out those words: Image captured from Pinterest Wouldn't thi...