writing – Page 2 – The Rex Blog

I found something new… again.

An online friend pointed me to this site and challenge. Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month? They call it NaNoWriMo for short. And the challenge is for you to write a novel in 30 days.

The only requirement: 50,000 words

Sure, there are few other stipulations like you can’t use stuff you’ve already started, or copy something, but basically everyone who writes 50,000 words wins! And all those words don’t even have to make sense. You can’t type the same word over and over again, but their definition of ‘novel’ is pretty loose – basically, whatever you say it is.

I thought it might be a fun challenge, and something I could get the kids into also. They have a Young Writer’s Program where they set age appropriate goals for word counts and have some really cool resources for the kids.

You can also find local writing groups who organize write-ins where they all get together and write, I guess. I haven’t been to one, but it sounds like fun because you have kind of a support group.

I don’t read novels and wasn’t really interested in writing one, never mind coming up with a story, but I read somewhere that “writing is the key to all wealth,” so I thought it would be good for me to get into the habit of writing. Since I didn’t have a storyline in my head, the only place I could think of to get stories from is my childhood. And I realized that there is a lot of material there.

So I just started writing about funny things that happened when I was a kid. Things about my house, dog, friends, elementary school, my brothers, our pool, etc. Plus my kids are always asking me what I did when I was young, so I thought it would be a good idea to get them down on paper.

If you divide 50,000 by 30 you get a daily quota of 1,667 words, so my goal was to hit the quota every day. Well, I actually made it each day for the first 3 days. I made it to 5001 words!

Then, I fell off the bandwagon. I’ve continued to write each day, but haven’t made the quota. I’m hoping to catch up this weekend.

It’s still not too late to get started, you can join any time. I know I should have posted this before I started, so you wouldn’t be so far behind, but I only found out about it 2 days before November.

Maybe if I get into the habit I’ll be able to post more entries in my blog. In fact, I’ll probably create some as part of my ‘novel’. It really is a mish mash of stuff, such as a little history or explanation about my family, crazy made up scenes that lead to an unbelieveable climax then end, some poetry, and streams of consciousness. They say editing is for December.

Write, write, write!

Experienced another breakthrough epipany – so I must write.

I’m an Actor

I’ve been acting like a writer lately at work, interviewing people and writing their stories. I guess the reason I’m doing it is because it’s kind of fun for me, even though I’m a total amatuer (although I have been told by some writers that I’m not bad, which is probably why I keep doing it.)

I Have Good Friends

Last week I was talking to a friend of mine who is a writer and I was telling her how I was kind of dabling in her business. Since she is very nice and friendly, she gave me some good advice: read copyblogger.com.

It’s kind of funny because it’s one of those things that have been right under my nose for a long time and I never saw it. It is one of Seth Godin’s recommended blogs, so why didn’t I think it was worthwhile?

Love at First Read

So when I went to copyblogger.com I quickly scanned the blog post titles and immediately fell in love. Then I started looking at the most popular posts and said, “where have you been all my life?” I guess I must really be a wannabe writer if the stuff they talk about on copyblogger gets me so jazzed. (Of course those who know me know that I get jazzed about a lot of things pretty easily.) (Which you might be able to tell from my posts.) (But never mind that, this time it’s for real.)

Here is the Best Advice Ever

So here’s one of the most popular posts on copyblogger: 10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer

Which is why I got motivated again and immediately wrote this post.

No, Actually it’s This One

But then I read this one: The Two Most Important Words in Blogging

And totally blew it in this post. Do you think it was because I didn’t want to or just habit? There, now I can say I used them.

Then Again, Maybe…

I do love writing when I produce something good. But I am pretty slow. It takes me a long time to craft a sentence sometimes. Then later, I remember how hard it was and how long it took, so I wimp out and don’t do it again.

Which is why this post grabbed my attention and gave me some good stuff: How to Write an Article in 20 Minutes.

Advice is Cheap… and Powerful

I could keep going, but you get the point. A friend gave me a little advice, read copyblogger, and that turned out to be the best writing advice ever.