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NaNoWriMo October Prep Bullet Journal
I participate in NaNoWriMo every year and most years, I succeed in hitting the 50,000 word mark in 30 days. But more often than not, I’m squeaking out those last words as the clock ticks closer and closer to midnight Nov. 30. This year, I’d like to finish early, or at least, glide through NaNoWriMo without the stress of getting stuck with nothing to write. In order to do that, I need to prepare better than I usually do, which isn’t easy because I’m a pantster (write by the seat of my pants!)
Armed with my brand new writer bullet journal, and tips and worksheets found on the Internet, I’ve made a plan for plotting out my NaNoWriMo novel in October.
Here’s a video that shares my plan and shows off my bullet page spreads for my October NaNo prep.
Pictures of my Bullet Journal page spreads as well as links to resources mentioned in the video are listed below.
Tools/Resources Mentioned:
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
Leuchtturm 1917 Hard Cover 5.8″ x 8.3″ (A5) Lime Green, Dotted/Points (other colors available)
Bullet Journal Stencils
Scrivener
NaNoWriMo Divas Facebook Group
Writing and Selling a Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron
Classic 12-Chapter Mystery Formula
Outline Your Novel (3 Act Structure)
Elements of a Scene (lots of other great novel writing downloads as well)
BoHo Berry
*Note: some resources above contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a small commission from the product company if you purchase something through the links provided. I only post links to items I’ve used and enjoy.
True Love and Tragedy
I perused a couple of “great romantic couples” lists, and found, to my surprise, that nearly all them featured romances that ended tragically. However, when I did a poll about favorite romantic couples the only tragic couples on the list were Scarlett and Rhett (3.5% vote … and who I think probably did ultimately end up together even without the sequel), and Romeo and Juliet, who didn’t get a single vote.
That got me thinking:
What makes a great enduring love story?
You can check out the lists here:
Top 20 Most Famous Love Stories in History and Literature
Classic Romance Novels Worth Reading
What do you think makes a great love story?
Read, Write, Live with Harte: Second Chance at Love
I love talking about books and writing, so I thought it would be fun to start a little video blog discussion books, writing and life. The theme of this first episode of Read, Write, Live with Harte is “second chance at love,” and in it I share my all time favorite second chance at love book, tidbits on writing second chance at love stories, and give real life examples of people who took a second chance on love. I hope you enjoy it:
Mentioned in the show:
Persuasion by Jane Austen (book)
Persuasion by Jane Austen (movie)
Meant to Be by Jenna Harte
Disclosure: Affiliate links are used for the above items.
Noisy Characters and Other Writing Challenges
A few years ago, a member of my writers group made a comment about how another writer in the group talked about his characters as if they were real people. He said it like it was a strange thing. To my thinking, the characters in books are real. Maybe not flesh and blood, but they still live.
I suspect many readers feel the same way about characters they read about. I mean…surely Darcy and Elizabeth are real! However, what might be strange for a non-writer to learn is that more often than not, characters write their own stories. Sure, I start off as the leader, creating and putting them in some sort of conflict. But once placed, the characters often take over, telling their stories without too much help from me.
I just finished and submitted book two, Southern Persuasion, of the Southern Heat Series for Penner Publishing. I have a third book, Southern Conflict, due by July 1, which is plenty of time. So much time, that my goal was to finish a cozy mystery first. There is a problem, though. The characters in Southern Conflict won’t be quiet. They’re chattering away when I sleep, drive, run…etc.
This is actually a good thing, because it’s so much easier to write when characters are essentially dictating what they want to say and do. But it definitely makes it hard to write the cozy I had planned (why aren’t those characters making noise?).
You’ll be glad to hear the Valentine’s are making themselves known as well, although not on the next book I have planned for them. Instead, Jack is in Washington, D.C. and unable to get a hold of Tess by phone or text. Something has happened at her boutique. I don’t know what, but poor Jack is beside himself.
So what’s a writer to do? Because writers block is a real thing, the safe action is to write down the story that is running in my mind, which means Southern Conflict has made it to the top of the writing list. I hope to have a draft down by the end of the month or mid-Feb so I can work on my cozy. However, I have been reading my cozy at writer’s group, so I hope to get a few thousands words written on each week. The Valentines have to wait…but not for too long. They’ll be up in April or May, assuming the characters of Southern Conflict keep talking and I’m able to get their story down, revised and edited by then.