Nano Magic :D

I am sitting right now in the Bragelonne Editions offices for the NaNoWriMo kick-off party. The excellent Julien Morgan just gave me a copy of his latest book “Breizh of the Dead”

I will keep you posted about this novel! 🙂

Winner!

Nano Winner 2013

Oh joy, I am a Nano winner! I managed to finish with 50044 words!
The great French Municipal Liaison Officer had organised a raclette last Friday and it paned out quite well: we had a great time and some great food and some good word wars, which is always a win!

I have loved this year’s Nano: I am a winner, I now have my first (very rough around the edges) draft. I will leave it to rest for a couple of months before I have a look at it. Nonetheless, it is done and I can continue to move forward with this novel.

The whole Nano experience was a fascinating one. Despite people raining on the parade and pointed out that Nano generates a lot of novels whose quality is disputable, it has a great merit: it makes people write. In a way, I think it doesn’t matter if the books which are produced are not going to be published. Doing a NaNoWrimo is an achievement in itself. It is easy to criticise but unless you have done it, you can’t talk about it. For me, it made me realise something I knew intellectually: I love writing, it makes me so happy, I would even say elated. I had never spent so much time writing for my own pleasure. I have liked every minute of it. The Nano helped me to get out of one of my big weaknesses: the glass head. I see things very clearly and forget to describe them… Needing words for the word count made this major drawback melt away. Another thing you know to be true but don’t quite get it is: to become a writer, you need to be disciplined and write regularly.

The French community was absolutely ace: I met the most amazing people and have serious hopes that some of the Wrimos will become friends. Our ML masterminded the entire operations and she did it with a great maestria. Kudos to her! I am hoping to see more writing workshops and the likes to sprawl next year.

Anyhow, I have done it! I am really happy and extremely tired. My flat is in a real state. The post-nano will mean for me:

– more writing

– a cleaner and tidier flat

– a lovely translation project

– getting ready for Xmas

 

 

16 893 words: the final frontier

For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I am currently doing the NaNoWriMo challenge.

They don’t call it a challenge for nothing, I am telling you. I am finding incredibly hard to keep up with the pace and reconciling a very busy work life.  It is pretty hectic!

Nonetheless, I have made the choice not to sacrifice my entire social life. Come on! I had to watch Dr Who’s 50th birthday episode. 😉

It was somewhat a mistake.  I also discovered on the late that doing word wars were a great way to make me write a substantial amount of words in 15 minutes. I will know this for next year. Lesson learnt!

I am lagging behind the recommended average but there are still a few days on, so I have never given up yet! The draft is very rough around the edges but I am quite pleased with quite a few of the chapters. Not everything will go to the trash when I review and edit myself in a couple of months.

More importantly,  this Nano has made me realise one big thing: I love writing. I love it far more than I have ever known. Somewhat, I have always known it deep down but I have never been honest enough with myself to admit it. Writing possesses me and I totally lose track of time when I write. I can start it is daytime and stop it is night time.

I have been very lucky to receive great moral support from friends and I am really delighted that a very talented illustrator has accepted to draw the cover of my book but this is a story for another time 😉

 

NaNoWrimo: Write-in and Word Count

Last Friday, I attended the Nano Write-in at La cordée in Paris. I met the most amazing people. I was blown away by the quality of the people I met!

I did manage to increase my word count even if I am lagging behind as per the average suggested by Nano. I don’t mind so much as it is my novel’s first draft. I still want to write something good versus crunching down the number of words. I am vaguely under pressure since I saw a rather threatening reply to my Facebook status from my publisher ‘I am watching you’! X-D

More seriously, I am really enjoying dedicating most of my free time to writing. I have always wanted to spend more time writing and somehow I can’t believe it has taken me so long to come to this realisation. Nano is being a good thing for me. It prevents me from falling into my usual writing downfall: the ‘glass head’.

The ‘glass head’ is this bad habit you have as a writer of omitting descriptions: in your head, it is crystal clear what is going on and what can be seen but it isn’t for the reader. Having to still get the word count, it forces to describe more than I would normally do. I am feeling more at ease with the descriptions now.

One of my other big realisations is the fact that being a writer entails a rather drastic discipline. Writing is like anything else: practice makes it perfect and you have to be disciplined and committed about writing.

I have discovered that I am very committed to my writing. As a result, despite being offered some good translation projects, I feel that I no longer want to dedicate myself to support other people’s projects. I want to build worlds, stories.

I will just follow the best advice I have ever read and those words came from Neil Gaiman:

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Bad Wordcount…

Trying to combine work and intense writing proves to be very difficult indeed. My wordcount truly sucks for the last two days. I can only redeem myself on Thursday as I will have more free time.

Friday should be good too: not too much going on!

I am really counting on the weekend to achieve some intense writing sessions.

Enough of the bad news! I am actually really happy with writing this novel and despite tiredness leading to a small daily word count, the story is progressing at a nice pace and it is quite magical to see it unfold. I am finding that the novel has a life of its own and it is taking me to places I never thought it would

NaNoWriMo Update n°1: 5229 words so far

NaNoWrimo is being a life changing experience. I like the discipline that I have to impose on myself. I am usually not the Queen of Discipline. My inner rebel is far too strong 😀

The NaNo France community is being very supportive and I am enjoying diving every day in my first novel that my dear publisher has been waiting for far too long.

I made the decision to buy Scrivener for another purpose (ebook production) and I am discovering every day what a wonderful tool it is for writers. I am in love with this program! It totally works with my way of writing.

I am really serious about the 50K but down the line if the book ended up being shorter, it is fine by me.
Social interactions are being tenuous or limited during this period as I really want to make the most of it!

Life is evolving around word counts!

The Pitfalls of NaNoWrimo: No Editing

A friend of mine posted a link to another blog about the pitfalls of NaNoWriMo on my timeline on Facebook. As much as I appreciate her feedback, somewhat I am not interested in any undermining process.

I am not doing NaNoWriMo just to produce a 50K novel of some sorts, just to say ‘I have done it’. Of course, I will be very happy if I achieve it. The main point is: I have a plan. I have done a lot of thinking and preparation to write this novel. This is my first novel and I must get it out of my system.

It might sound silly but this novel is the touchstone to many other stories and books that I want to write. Nonetheless, until this particular novel is out, I feel that nothing has really started.

My publisher was brilliant and told me that she would publish it after I had pitched it. She was also great in accepting a delay regarding my first draft. I needed the time to cross the Channel and get my life in order first. This is now done and I have run out of excuses and procrastination strategy now.

Of course, I am fully aware that the product of my NaNoWrimo will only be the first draft and that the first draft will need to be seriously reviewed, edited and corrected. However, I need the first draft if I want to move forward.

The time is now and the writing starts on the 1st of November! 😀

Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo 2013

Last year, I attempted to do the NaNoWriMo and failed to complete the challenge. To my defense, I think it was a little too much: I was new on the job, I had just moved houses and too much on my plate.

A year has gone by and I am nicely settled in what I feel is the perfect writer’s flat and it is high time to complete writing my first novel!

 

I am in the French school holiday period and I have two weekends. The first one will be spent celebrating the 30th birthday of a friend of mine. The next one will be spent writing, writing away and get this god damn first draft out of the way.

My resolve is strong and having lost a very unworthy boyfriend along the way, there will be no distraction. I will have to put my social life a little bit on hold until the book is written.

Go me! 🙂

 

Missed Attempt at NaNoWriMo

I had decided to dedicate my November to the famous writing challenge. It has fallen on the wayside due to a little thing called life.

My best friend came to visit me for a week and I could hardly say no.

I do not live it as a failure nonetheless. It has got me started to write the first draft of my novel. That counts for something. 🙂

December is coming up soon and I can’t help feeling like a big kid. I have decided to buy a real Xmas tree. It is very exciting. Next Sunday might be the exploration of the santons market in Sceaux. I have decided to buy my very own santons!

This blog has been neglected but I am going to be back on track! 🙂