Tag: NaNoWriMo

Progress

~ Chelsea ~ 2 Comments

Well, I completely failed at updating this blog, it would seem. November was very productive for me. I was able to complete the National Novel Writing (NaNoWriMo) challenge of 50K words in 30 days; even completed my personal challenge: 50k by the 18th, since I was determined to ring the bell at the Night of Writing Dangerously convention they have each year (this last year was the LAST year so it was either then or never).

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Since then, I have not looked at the piece. Not because I think it is bad, but because I feel like I need to rewrite the entire thing due to it being a bit lighter than I thought it was going to be. I believe it is mainly due to the music I had been listening to, which was much more upbeat than I would typically listen to for such writing. Granted, I keep coming up with new characters and stories to add into this story, which is not helping in completing the story.

That is one thing I have noticed through the years, I have written little pieces here and there but most of it seems to be a part of the same world or same storyline without it being said in so many words. I think I may need to take everything, reread it, and lay it out to figure out what the heck I have actually done in the past ten to fifteen years of writing. Yes, it has been that long since this story has started. I have been aiming to get it out this year, but I am unsure that is going to actually happen since it is a bit more complex than I thought it was going to be.

I do not want that to be an excuse though, so I am not going to allow it to be. June has just started and while I am slacking slightly, I really would like to have this be the start to “finishing” this story and then take the plunge into editing and publishing before the year is out. If I can do that then I will be a very happy person come the end of the year.

The fear of being a fraud always freezes me up but I have joined quite a few great writing groups who have all said they have felt the same way, and even after publishing still have that feeling, but I will have to just push through it to get to the dream I have. I am not in anyway hoping for this to pay bills, but I want to get my story out there and feel like it would be a failure for me not to get the story out there for SOMEONE to read.

If you follow me, if you are reading this, send me a message, send some encouragement and some kick in the butt to get it done. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

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LAST YEAR of NaNoWriMo Night of Writing Dangerously

~ Chelsea ~ Leave a comment

I just received this email from the staff at NaNoWriMo. If you have been holding off to join us on this fun adventure, then this is the last year to get in on it.

Hi everyone,

For twelve years, the Night of Writing Dangerously has been an important fundraiser for NaNoWriMo, but equally importantly, it has been an opportunity to connect in person with the writers for whom NaNoWriMo has been a guiding light and a shining star. The community-building aspects of the event were always as important to us, if not more so, than the fundraising side.

But over the course of the last five years, the fundraising side of it has become increasingly challenging. The total amount raised by the Night of Writing Dangerously has been steadily decreasing, while costs to put on the event have risen sharply. The number of people able to attend the event has also decreased, as our necessary price increases have put ticket prices out of reach for more and more people. Costs are slated to increase again this year, and we’ve had to sit down and wrestle with the realities of being a small non-profit organization.

And as a result, we have made the difficult decision that 2018 will be the last Night of Writing Dangerously.

We know many of you will be incredibly disappointed to hear this news. We are disappointed as well; we love this event, and have worked hard to try to find ways to make the math work. We hope that in the future, we’ll be able to plan a new in-person event that will be accessible to more participants, with all the joy and inspiration of the Night of Writing Dangerously.

Let’s send the Night of Writing Dangerously off on a high note

And in the meantime, we hope you’ll join us to send off the Night of Writing Dangerously with our biggest, best event ever. We’ll be pulling out all the stops to make our final Write-a-thon one to remember, and we’d love to see you there. We know that not all of you will be able to join us this year and were already planning to attend in future years, and we’re sorry that won’t be happening. We’ll keep in touch as plans for future events develop, and we hope to see you at a NaNoWriMo event down the road.

But if you can attend this year, we recommend getting your fundraising up and running or buying your ticket as soon as you’re able to, as we suspect there’s going to be a full house this year.

The Night of Writing Dangerously has been an incredible event for our organization and for the writers who have attended it. We will miss it greatly, and we will remember it fondly. We are so grateful to you for the support you’ve given our organization over the years, and we hope this decision won’t dim your memory of past events or dampen your enthusiasm for future NaNoWriMo events. The future is bright, friends, we just have to give it some time to reveal itself.

Sarah Mackey
Director of Community Engagement

Workspace

~ Chelsea ~ Leave a comment

I have an office and it is finally at a point where I can actually work in it. I have been putting it off as I organized the rest of the house, but I finally have the majority of the house done and was able to focus on my office. It is by no means done, but I have a desk where my computer is now set up. I have my books starting to fill shelves I am having to add to. My pictures are all finding homes on the walls. I even found a service I can send my son’s artwork and school work into and they will photograph it for me and make a book of it all for me. I am in 7th Heaven with that idea. I have about three or four boxes of stuff and received another bag of it home the last week of school so I think the majority of the papers, now, are his school work.

With all of this accomplishment I have less excuse to write. I tried to do NaNo’s April Camp and flunked out after the first week. I could not find the time or the motivation as I was still trying to get the house under way. The next camp is in July and while I have no idea what I am going to do for it, I plan on doing as much writing as I can. I have been going to the gym during the day, which will open up the evenings to allow me to write. I just will have to make sure I am not too tired. I cannot seem to focus if I am too tired.

Information for The Night of Writing Dangerously has come out and I have my fundraising page setup here. I have only a week left before prices go up and would love if you could help me out in going. I went last year and had a wonderful time with networking and actually getting a really good chunk of words in during that night. There was so many speakers and fun stuff to do that night. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was a wonderful experience and I cannot wait to do it again.

Alright, enough procrastinating, back to writing.

New Year / Catching Up

~ Chelsea ~ Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to the year 2018! I am hoping this year this webpage will have a ton more things posted to it for multiple reasons.

  1. I really want to have it up and running like an actual website (I pay for the domain after all)
  2. I am going to be writing a ton more this year

Ya, those are the two main reasons. And while my writing definitely kicked up its pace in November with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) we bought a new house in October and were packing until about a week and a half before Christmas to move. Needless to say, life has been a bit chaotic.

But now with the holidays behind us, 2017 behind us, and my house more or less put together, I can put some time into keeping this blog up and doing more writing.

In that vein, I have decided to try doing 85k90 challenge again this year. I tried doing it last January but just did not have the energy to keep up with it. I wasn’t the healthiest and having two little ones just wore me completely out by the end of the day. I have lost over 20 pounds now and have a ton more energy for myself and my kids. It is day two (actual day three but I have only written two days worth so far) into the challenge and with this challenge you only have to write 912 words a day to keep on track rather than the 1667 words you do for NaNo. My word count is at 2000 solid right now and I will add more to it soon. Along with the challenge, I am also keeping reminded by the emails which come in from 750words where you write at least 750 words each day and they just keep track to how many days in a row you actually are able to do it. You can challenge yourself at the beginning of the month and write out a sort of promise to yourself, ie: If I write for the Month of BLAH then I will treat myself to BLAH. However, if I do not complete the month my punishment is BLAH. I actually challenged myself this past November and while I won NaNo, I did not write every single day so technically I lost my 750words challenge to myself. Though I didn’t punish myself like I said I would, I was too pleased with myself for finally winning NaNo.

Yes, I won NaNo this past November, which means I wrote 50k words in the month of November. I even finished a few days early, it felt marvelous. This was my seventh year doing it, but my first win. It was also the first year I went to Night of Writing Dangerously and I will definitely be going back. That was an amazing evening. I think I will post up more information on both NaNo and Night of Writing Dangerously later as I have come to realize that while I have posted quite a bit about NaNo people did not realize it was an organization nor a non-profit. So when I do that I will post a link to that post so you can go check it out.

I think that is all for now. Keep me honest people! If you do not see me post in a while shoot me a message and bug me.

NaNoWriMo

~ Chelsea ~ Leave a comment

National Novel Writing Month is next month and this month a ton of people are starting to gear up in their own way for it. I have always been a pantser which means I would always just write what came to me rather than sitting down and making a plan. I have tried to do a plan but it typically always went off on its own and left the plan lonely on the sidelines.

This year, I am doing a different type of writing and I am more or less planning out what I want to write. I came up with an idea over the summer and slowly I have worked up what I want to write about. I even wrote down all the chapters I want to do and what would be in them. Granted I have NO CLUE where that outline ran off to so this month will be frantic cleaning and trying to find it while also probably having to try and write up a new version of it.

There are different groups around the country (and I believe around the world now) which get together for what is called “write-ins” which is when the local people meetup at a coffee shop or somewhere quiet to write and give each other encouragement. Sometimes there are things called “word wars” which are timed quiet sessions where all you do is write and until the timer runs out, you are not allowed to do anything else. (Actually I am participating in one right now as we are trying to get back into the groove.) Some groups do online versions in case not everyone or a lot of people cannot meetup. There are also unplanned one where someone will just post in their Facebook group or on the NaNoWriMo website that they are at some location and will be for this amount of time and to come and do a write in with them. They can be a nice way to meet new people in your area.

There is also the Night of Writing Dangerously which is towards the end of the month. People fundraise or pay for it themselves to go to San Francisco and spend a very long evening with a ton of people and write and gossip and…. well truly I am not all that sure. I have never gotten a chance to go, but I WILL be going this year and I am so excited!

If you wish to learn more about NaNoWriMo then check out their website NaNoWriMo. I hope you join us and have fun creating a world and characters which wish to come alive before your very eyes… fingers… ummm… anways, come join us.

NaNoWriMo Event

~ Chelsea ~ Leave a comment


Dear Friends, Family, and Righteous Supporters,
 
On November 20, the Office of Letters and Light will be bringing together the most mighty of endurance novelists for an event that will define our generation forever.
I’m speaking, of course, of National Novel Writing Month’s Night of Writing Dangerously. It’s a write-a-thon, and it will take place at the beautiful Julia Morgan Ballroom in downtown San Francisco. I will be there, writing my heart out and raising money for the Office of Letters and Light, NaNoWriMo’s parent nonprofit.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Attendees like me must raise $250 to get in the door, and from there, a rich array of prizes, delicious food, and sumptuous writing time awaits. But this is not about me getting a treat-filled night of literary abandon. This is about children and adults getting the encouragement, structure, and inspiration they need to achieve their creative potential. Proceeds from the event will fund National Novel Writing Month’s free creative writing programs in hundreds of schools and communities around the world.
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Office of Letters and Light does inspiration like nobody else (did I mention I’m writing an entire novel this November?). And on their behalf, I am asking you to donate.
 
This is an opportunity that will help me get a novel written in a short amount of time and will help push me into finishing it.  November starts a marathon of writing for many people where we all write 50,000 words which is equivalent to a short novel.  With this event it will give me the final push for the month along with allowing me to collaborate with other authors and have people backing me and helping me during the event.
 
Also, I will let you touch my raffle prizes if I win some.
 
Thank you for supporting me in my novel-writing quest, and for helping the Office of Letters and Light create a more engaged and inspiring world.