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Writing after NaNo...

Nemom

By Nemom,
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Nemom

Nemom

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@Pen suggested starting a new thread for those of us wanting to continue writing after NaNo.  I think it is a great idea to continue to encourage one another and learn from one another.  Anyone know if there is a way to set up the tread so that we can receive a notification if someone adds a new post??

I plan on continuing.  I did last year as well and was doing great until I took a break in April to prepare for my son's graduation and final track season.  I was writing every day and totally loved it.  Sadly after the break, I never was able to pick up that pace and get back to writing every day.  I do not want that to happen again this year.  I did sign up for another writing challenge called 365writingchallenge.com through a FB group I am a part of.  Unfortunately, I think you had to sign up by 11/30/18.

I will be continuing with my current WIP from NaNo.  I am also working through the Couch to 80K podcasts which is eight weeks long.  

I would love to have a daily or weekly accountability partner if anyone is interested.  Touching base with someone regularly and outlining my short term goals really helps me to stay focused and get more accomplished.  

 

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Pen

Pen

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Good!  I’m glad you started this! I’m in... but for this week I need encouragement to work on another thing, not writing. 

You can click on “follow” and possibly choose email every time someone posts, or daily or weekly digest of posts. 

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Nemom

Nemom

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2 hours ago, Pen said:

Good!  I’m glad you started this! I’m in... but for this week I need encouragement to work on another thing, not writing. 

You can click on “follow” and possibly choose email every time someone posts, or daily or weekly digest of posts. 

Oh yeah.  Duh...LOL

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Pen

Pen

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I’m still writing since I wrote 50K without being done with zero draft. Much fewer words per day though. 

And I ordered books to do genre / plot / structure analysis  on.  Plus will use some I already have. 

Still, I am having trouble leaving NaNoWriMo behind and moving my focus on to ... taxes.  And medical appointments.  And related stuff.   I think focus on NaNoWriMo resulted in an overdue bill and fee as well.  

I need to figure out how to stay on top of daily obligations while NaNoWriMo ing if I am going to do it again next year, which I do want to do.  I thought I had dealt with all upcoming bills prior to November, but apparently not. I’m not sure I got a physical bill, but I usually watch my cycle end date and call if nothing has come. It is not the end of the world, and maybe I can even get the one late fee reversed, but it is at least a learning experience.  

 

 

 

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Nemom

Nemom

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Oh no.  Sorry to hear about the possibly overdue bill. I hope they will waive the fee for you.  And yeah...taxes does not sound like fun.  That will be part of my focus in January. 

I have several books on writing.  So many that I feel overwhelmed with which one I should read first.  I need to just pick one and stick with it.  lol

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Pen

Pen

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Thanks.  

My new concern is that the bill (a credit card one) did not come—as in could have been stolen. And info could have been compromised. 

Because, I found I was keeping up on bills that did physically arrive in November. 

I decided to order Save the Cat Writes a Novel about writing.

But mostly I ordered (or found on my shelves) 6 or so fiction books toward the edge between detective mystery and thriller,  two thriller not mystery, and two mystery not thriller,  to analyze and to compare thriller with non-thriller mystery genre.  And to deconstruct, possibly literally, probably just with pencil .  

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vmsurbat1

vmsurbat1

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Well, I'm going to be lurking here for awhile.  Won't be in a position to realistically commit to writing until end of January.  I did like the "I'm a writer" mindset I began developing while writing every day, but can't see why I need to stress myself out about that.  Feb. will roll around soon enough....

Just know that I'm vicariously enjoying your successes!

Vicki

PS. @Nemom, how does the Couch to 80K program work???  Sounds intriguing....

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Pen

Pen

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I started to listen to the first couch to 80k podcast after wondering same thing and googling it, but it said not to continue if not ready to write for 10 minutes, so I stopped. 

I have other things to do, but could find 10 minutes daily. I just was not prepared at that moment. 

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Nemom

Nemom

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20 hours ago, Pen said:

Thanks.  

My new concern is that the bill (a credit card one) did not come—as in could have been stolen. And info could have been compromised. 

Because, I found I was keeping up on bills that did physically arrive in November. 

I decided to order Save the Cat Writes a Novel about writing.

But mostly I ordered (or found on my shelves) 6 or so fiction books toward the edge between detective mystery and thriller,  two thriller not mystery, and two mystery not thriller,  to analyze and to compare thriller with non-thriller mystery genre.  And to deconstruct, possibly literally, probably just with pencil .  

I have been thinking about ordering Save the Cat Writes a Novel.  Now I am going to have too!  😁  Can we compare notes and thoughts as we work through it??

Praying the bill was just lost in the mail and not stolen.  That is a scary feeling.  

 

20 hours ago, vmsurbat1 said:

Well, I'm going to be lurking here for awhile.  Won't be in a position to realistically commit to writing until end of January.  I did like the "I'm a writer" mindset I began developing while writing every day, but can't see why I need to stress myself out about that.  Feb. will roll around soon enough....

Just know that I'm vicariously enjoying your successes!

Vicki

PS. @Nemom, how does the Couch to 80K program work???  Sounds intriguing....

Couch to 80K is a podcast that I have heard really good things about from other writers.  It is an eight week course for six days a week.  Each podcast lasts about 20 minutes with 10 minutes of that time devoted to writing.  I have made it through the first week.  So far the writing has been very simple-just making lists to get the brain thinking.  I think week two the writing becomes a little more challenging but it is still only ten minutes.  

http://www.timclarepoet.co.uk/couchto80kwritingbootcamp/

 

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Pen

Pen

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1 hour ago, Nemom said:

I have been thinking about ordering Save the Cat Writes a Novel.  Now I am going to have too!  😁  Can we compare notes and thoughts as we work through it??

 

Sure, I d love to!

 

1 hour ago, Nemom said:

 

Praying the bill was just lost in the mail and not stolen.  That is a scary feeling.  

 

Thanks for empathizing.  

 

1 hour ago, Nemom said:

Couch to 80K is a podcast that I have heard really good things about from other writers.  It is an eight week course for six days a week.  Each podcast lasts about 20 minutes with 10 minutes of that time devoted to writing.  I have made it through the first week.  So far the writing has been very simple-just making lists to get the brain thinking.  I think week two the writing becomes a little more challenging but it is still only ten minutes.  

http://www.timclarepoet.co.uk/couchto80kwritingbootcamp/

 

 

This looks like something I want to try too. 

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Nemom

Nemom

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@Pen  Ordered Save the Cat Writes a Novel from Amazon today.  My dd and I went out shopping this afternoon, and we stopped at Barnes & Noble.  They never have the writing books I want but of course, they had Save the Cat.  Lol.  

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Nemom

Nemom

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18 hours ago, Pen said:

 

Any impressions so far?

I've only made it to page 12. I'm hoping to get some reading done this afternoon.  So far, I think I will like it.  Can't say that I've read anything that I didn't already know but I am looking forward to see how she breaks it down the process of planning.  I am normally a planner in life but haven't for either NaNo.  So I'm hoping her ideas will work for me.  

I had a fiction book that I wanted to finish reading first.  

How far have you made it & what are your thoughts?

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Pen

Pen

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I think up to page 79 it has things that may be helpful beyond just the beat sheet bare bones available online. 

So far, past page 79, I don’t find the categories of “genre” it gives more useful than a more standard approach to that. 

I am finding going into fiction books and analyzing very helpful, so as I do that I’ll keep the Save the Cat ideas in mind too.  

I have not thus far found the “theme” beat 2,  in any book I have been looking at.  I may just not be good at identifying it  .  

 Have you found it in the fiction book you were reading?

Other than theme, the beats it identifies do seem to be present in what I have been analyzing.  

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Pen

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I came to a new realization.  I think the reason the Save the Cat genres aren’t especially useful to me is that my standardly names genre areas are already story related. 

If my genre were one where the standard name had to do with audience such as “women’s fiction” or “young adult “ (or with reality level such as science fiction), then assigning it a genre based on the inner content of the story would be more helpful. 

If, for example, something is a “mystery” calling that a “whydunnit”, or if a “thriller,” calling that “Dude with a Problem” doesn’t seem as helpful to me.  But if it is a “Women’s Fiction “ book, knowing if it is a “Dude with a problem” story (maybe main character having to escape abusive husband), or a right of passage story (maybe main character having come to terms with realities of marriage rather than fairy tale happily ever after). etc, then the Save the Cat terms could help a lot.   

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