Writing a Book in Month

The following is taken from the book " Book in a Month" by Victoria Schmidt, Ph.D.

The five secrets to keeping the momentum of your writing moving forward are:

Secret number 1) work as if - which means that as you write and decide to make a change in plot, character, or setting (make a note on the margins of the change made and keep writing as if you have already gone back and made your change (Don't stop your forward momentum by going backwards and changing the character.
for example:
Betty was a nurse at County General working the graveyard shift. She liked working in the dead of night because she felt she was away from the general madness that takes place on the other shifts.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE] I decided to change Betty from a nurse to a kindergarten teacher so she can be closer to children.

Betty liked her job because now that her own children were grown she could still be around youngsters who appreciated her.

Secret number 2) Leave out subplots (to get a book finished fast this is a must) Side plots and subplots tend to distract you the author from the main plot.

Secret number 3) be realistic -MOST IMPORTANT SECRET - Don't try to write more than you can - if work, kids, and other things (holidays) take up your time so be it - DO WHAT YOU CAN as far as writing goes

Secret number 4) Don't use guilt or shame as motivation to write, don't put yourself down for not writing enough, or good enough - Just write as much as you want because you like what writing your book does for your own self-esteem. Positive motivation always is better than negative motivation

Secret number 5) Trust Yourself - when nagging little (or big) doubts come into your head such as 'Is this good enough' or 'I don't think I can do this' - TRUST YOURSELF - trust that you will make some adjustment in order to deal with whatever comes up
YOU CAN DO THIS
The author admits that secrets 4 and 5 are psychological in nature but says that a trick of writing is learning how to deal with yourself and the ways you block yourself.

I hope this helps you.
Frank

Semi-Big News

All you writers who want to post your stories but do not want to have to go through a lot of technical, tedious details of learning how to make a blog or post on a blog, I have news for you.
I have created a new blog for you. It is called

Our Write Place

You can get there by clicking the below link

Our Write Place

There I will post any and everything, you writers give me. I will also provide links to your websites and blogs unless you tell me not to. I hope you like it - Frank

Classes set for Jan. 2009

Coming In January - More creative Writing Classes
Afternoons ( 1 pm to 3 pm) on Wednesdays starting January 14th

Evenings (6:30 pm - 8:30 pm) on Mondays starting January 11th

All creative writing classes encourage you to write -
Both fiction and non-fiction
Novels, short stories and poems
Essays and narratives
Memoirs and Biographies
Humor, romance, and scary stories

Come and find your inner writer
Come and find the stories inside of you

World Famous Author Mocks Me

Here is a link to an email I received a couple of days ago.

World Famous Author Mocks My attempt at Novel writing ! Read all about it.

Enjoy and Keep Writing,
Frank

Welcome Patty to the world of Creative Blogging

Patty Mc has just made a new blogsite for her stories and commentaries. I hope she posts often as I have always enjoyed her writings (especially the last one about the tree that sheds its bark.

Visit Patty's blog via the link I have just added in the member website section (on the right, 1/2 way down or so).

Good luck to you, Patty

Frank

Writing 2 weeks worth

The assignment for this week is to write about LISTENING. This means you can write about something you heard (that perhaps you were not meant to hear) or Why won't anyone listen to me or Listening to the sounds of life (whatever that may be) or A telephone call or a Radio show or Whatever you can come up with involving the word Listen (or any of its derivatives). 

Your writing piece can be nonFiction or Fiction or both (best choice).

Also the day class agreed to write their novel for Xmas as long as I show them it can be done (by emailing them the progress). To that extent I have checked out of the library the book A NOVEL IN 30 DAYS GUARANTEED

ALSO class will not meet next week due to lots of people cooking on wednesday.

Let me know if you want to be in the Xmas novel club.

Frank

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

I just found out that November is National Novel Writing month - I got the below article from a website promoting it.

I think that I will lay down the challenge to any Want-To-Be-Writers to finish a novel by CHRISTMAS. I will try it myself and keep you guys posted on my progress (both here and on my Frank Speaks blog)

Good Luck and Keep Writing,

Frank

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2007, we had over 100,000 participants. More than 15,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Still confused? Just visit the How NaNoWriMo Works page!