NaNoWriMo-Wrap-up

Posted on 26. November 2015 by fmoebius
Your novel

Your novel

Validation for NaNoWriMo has started. One of my friends has already finished, at a little above 50,000 words.

And with a little luck, you’re finishing your novel in a few days.

At least, that’s my wish for you.

So if you are doing NaNo and have continued this far, go for a little final push. And yes, write a little bit even today, on Thanksgiving.

Really?

Yes. Because if you can manage to take five or ten minutes today, or even half an hour on this day, you are well on your way to being a better writer than most. Because writing is a priority in your life.

Writing every day, even if it’s just a little, will get you far. It’s much more productive than waiting for word spurts to come to you. A daily writing habit is the one thing that will turn you into a productive writer.

And productivity is key in this new world of publishing.

Publishing? You mean, this NaNovel can get published?

Of course, it can. Probably not the way it is right now, though. It will need cleaning and editing and polishing, but then, you could self-publish it.

It is very doable. Yes, it takes work and determination, but it is doable. Continue reading →

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NaNoWriMo – Written Yourself into a Corner?

Posted on 19. November 2015 by fmoebius
I'm stuck!

I’m stuck!

You can land there even if you plot, but it happens especially during NaNo when people are typing fast and for the word count: You’re writing along happily, and suddenly you realize you’ve put your characters into a situation even YOU don’t know how to get them out again. Things look hopeless.

Yikes.

How in the world is this going to be resolved?

Well, there are some options:

1) Introduce a (new) character who saves them.

Of course, that means going back in editing and at least hint at their existence earlier in the story. Otherwise it’ll feel rather unrealistic.

I have to admit that I’ve found quite a few very likable and fascinating characters this way. And it’s only cheating if you don’t edit in an earlier appearance for the sake of story flow.

Alternatively, one of the villain’s henchmen might desert and join the good guys. You never know unless you try it. Continue reading →

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NaNoWriMo – No Plot?

Posted on 12. November 2015 by fmoebius
Plotting

To plot or not?

One of the old rules of NaNoWriMo is that one shouldn’t sit down and plot before writing. Of course, many people do anyway, and in reality, nobody cares. It’s a month to write lots, basically.

You probably know that whether to plot or not is a huge topic in all writing circles. I like to see it as a spectrum, however, with no plotting at all on one end and plotting every single chapter in detail on the other.

People who plot are called “plotters” while people who don’t plot are called “pantsers”. The pants part refers to the saying “flying by the seat of your pants”.

Neither way is wrong.

The trick is to find out what works for you.

I’m leaning towards not plotting a lot. I do know the starting point, I know a few plot points I want to hit in the middle, and I usually know the climax and ending even before I begin to write. That’s my scaffolding. I build the story around that.

I’ve tried chapter plotting. And a funny thing happens to me when I do that: I lose all interest in even telling the story. That’s because a lot of the fun in writing for me lies in discovering fascinating twists and turns while I write. That means I need the structure to keep a story working, but I also need the room to play with my characters.

On the other hand, I know people who plot in great detail. And it works for them, in fact, it allows them to write the story really fast once they know what’s going to happen. And that is a huge advantage in these days of indie publishing, since it allows them to publish often, and making their fans happy. Not to mention that there are more books to sell.

Check out our podcast with Libbie Hawker about plotting and writing fast here. Continue reading →

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Is Writing Fast a Good Idea?

Posted on 5. November 2015 by fmoebius
Daily Word Count

Daily Word Count

Well, you all probably know that it’s NaNoWriMo again.

And people all over the world are writing like mad and tracking their word count. I personally know a few who have written 10,000 words or more since Sunday. They are writing fast.

Is writing fast a good idea?

In many minds, there is the visual image of the writer who toils at the desk, taking hours to create the perfect sentence or perfect page. And the longer it takes, the more work has been put into it and the better it must be. This seems to be especially true for literary novels.

Right?

Not really. Continue reading →

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Refilling the Well?

Posted on 22. October 2015 by fmoebius
Relaxed Author

Relaxed Author

You may know that I was traveling last week and the first half of this week. And a funny thing happened:

I had been writing a lot before my journey. And I didn’t want to break my run in getting high word counts every week. So I borrowed a laptop. I felt all set when I boarded the train on Wednesday morning.

Well, it turned out the laptop was broken. It had a fault that made it jump lines while typing. All the time. I didn’t even try to go for any sustained writing with that constant error. I wouldn’t have been able to lose myself in a scene the way I usually do, and if I had, the result would have been jumbled text. I was forced to take a break from writing.

No writing for about ten days.

And something strange happened: I felt myself calm down. I managed to release the frenzy of writing constantly, of being completely immersed in my stories. My characters took a step back. I slept better. I started contemplating business strategy instead of just the next scene.

And it felt good. Continue reading →

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How Family Rules Hurt your Bottom Line

Posted on 15. October 2015 by fmoebius
Family

Family

Did you know that beliefs you probably learned as kid can influence your bottom line?

No matter if you’re an writer, editor, entrepreneur or not – what you believe deep inside determines your way of life, including how much money or success you may have.

These limiting beliefs are not inherently bad. We created them as kids to keep us safe in this world. We learned them from our parents, our larger family and our friends. They became a part of us.

They are our safety walls.

However, as we created them as kids, they are most likely outdated now that we are adults. That’s where the “limiting” comes in. The safety walls have become too tight.

These walls show up as mental blocks. As fears. Or as stories we tell ourselves about what we can do or not. As the voices in our heads telling us who we should be.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with those. And every one of us runs into them almost every day. Continue reading →

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Why you are Wasting Time with Solitaire

Posted on 8. October 2015 by fmoebius
Solitaire

Solitaire

So today, I’m going to talk about time wasters.

We writers are really good at wasting our time, and not writing. Facebook, Twitter, Solitaire – great time sinks. Great places to rest our minds and to not worry about a story or sales numbers.

And sometimes, our minds truly need a break.

But especially Facebook and Solitaire are very, very good at seducing our mind away from the task of writing. Even better than chocolate.

And it’s not your fault.

Oh, I hear you say, how is it not? I’m the one doing this, after all. Continue reading →

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Tapping for Pain

Posted on 1. October 2015 by fmoebius
Pain

Pain

So many of my writing friends are chronically ill. Many are in pain. For some, that’s the reason they write. And even though I usually focus on mindset and how that influences success as author, physical pain is a big thing.

EFT works even for bringing down pain. Sometimes, it can eliminate the pain, if we dissolve the underlying emotional reasons for it. Sometimes, tapping can take it away for a while, or reduce it.

And just in case you don’t believe it: I used simple, easy tapping to bring down the pain from my broken collar-bone when the pain killers stopped working and I couldn’t take another one just yet. The pain came back after a while – that’s what happens if there is a physical reason for pain, you can’t cheat your body with EFT – but it got so bearable that I could actually fall asleep at night. And let me tell you, sleep is welcome when you’re waiting for your collar-bone to be put back together surgically.

I had smashed my bone good, into two large pieces and two smaller ones. That x-ray is impressive. It healed amazingly fast, and I attribute a lot of that to all my EFT work around the accident and surgery, and the mindset I created for that. Continue reading →

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Tapping for Inspiration

Posted on 24. September 2015 by fmoebius
Inspired Author

Inspired Author

I’ve said it several times: I’m a pantser, even if I have a good idea of the main structure of a story. But knowing a chapter is to be about a hunt, for example, doesn’t mean I know every detail and how to make it exciting.

So sometimes, I sit at my desk and don’t know what to write next.

And that’s when take a deep breath and tap.

Yes, it works.

I believe it actually works on two levels:

It calms any anxiety about not being able to write.

That’s about the worst thing that can happen to a writer, not being able to write. It’s an extremely frustrating feeling. The story wants out, and it’s stuck. Ugh. Continue reading →

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The Law of Attraction for Writers

Posted on 17. September 2015 by fmoebius
Happy Author

Happy Author

I’m sure some of you have heard of the Law of Attraction, and the power of positive thinking. And I believe that it exists and that it works.

However, it’s not as easy as it seems or as we have been told. It’s not about creating a nice affirmation and sticking it on the mirror and reading it once every morning. It’s not about catching yourself thinking something harsh and turning it into something nice. It’s not about daydreaming about your goals, or even telling your friends how great life is when you feel it sucks.

Doing all those things is not going to work. I dare say, most of you know that as well, and might even have been disappointed by it.

That’s because the Law of Attraction is not about thinking positive thoughts.

It goes much, much deeper. Continue reading →

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