Hello all! Welcome back to this blog… Let’s talk about writing.
November came and went, and so did NaNoWriMo. You know, the challenge where we corner ourselves into writing 50 000 words in one month, and then get pretty upset when that shit doesn’t happen.
This year, I came up half short on the word count — 25 400, was the tally at Nov.30th.
But there’s no problem AT ALL.
The previous book took two NaNoWriMo’s to get to it’s “final” form, so I’m kind of used to taking a really long time in completing a writing project.
I’m currently working on my second novel for The Shapeshifters World. First book took three years in the making and it’s pretty much done. Just a bit of fiddling after the third book is complete, so that I can erase the unforeseens. Yes, I am a detail tweaking maniac, but I intent to produce the best book I can, so… to tweak it is.
At this point in time the status of the situation is:
The Shapeshifters #1 (which has a secret book title only to disclose if I’ll manage to publish) is complete and I’m very happy to have finish it. Truth be told, I did not imagined it could be such a arduous ride. And it is subject to final tweaks, as previously mentioned.
The Shapeshifters #2 (also book title is a secret) is on the way, almost halfway written, on his zero draft. It has diverted from the initial idea plot wise, but these characters have been talking to me… And I will listen! We should listen to our work (tip for future me) before it starts talking in batshit mode and get us stuck on a “and now what?!” type of conundrum.
The Shapeshifters #3 is also growing. Initial plots and plans have altered, and grew a bit, as it should. But this one is a future me problem, so… onward.
So, this is the plan, for now: just keep going.
To be able to write this story has been something very powerful. Time, effort, skills, learning… it all enters the pot before something (a book) can come out of it. I have been playing with some fears, some stories, some happenings, and it’s one hell of a ride home.
To find my Home in my Writing, and make it my Work, is a magical force, made of all the on goings, the smooth, the tempests, the it is what it is moments.
And it’s all worth it.
∞
What have you been writing? Tell me everything in the comments section below!
This week I have been working on revising ‘The Shapeshifters’, my current major work in progress. I am trying to work out how to do my first big revision on an english written novel.
I confess, I am quite scared by the task. After all, I have a lot to practice until I find myself content with my english writing voice (does it makes any sense to you?)
But I found myself really enjoying the rereadings of this story. I always find something to revise and correct and even that being the case, I feel quite taken with this story… and by mulling over about the next two books on this series.
My transitional period from NaNoWriMo efforts into revising mode got cut quite short. Usually I take a few months before getting back to a project but, this time, I really didn’t want to lose the momentum. So I got back into revising just a few days after completing this draft.
Quoting from Neil Gaiman’s blog post, which you can read fully here…
I like to do this exercise also but, in this project, I feel I have been doing it since the beginning, always comparing notes with that first outline and see how I could improve upon.
I know my first outline didn’t have one third of what I managed to build into it on its third draft.
But I’m still not done with it. I want to tweak some details and to build solid foundations for the two books to come.
Paying other attentions to the writing craft
As I mentioned before (in this article here…), I’m experimenting Scrivener for my writing efforts and it’s been very fun. I find it very useful, specially in the writing and editing mode. I’m kind of exploring it as I go, and I am feeling that maybe I found a way to simplify some of my writerly messes.
And, for now, I’m just rereading it and tweaking it like that. Later, it will come the time to thoroughly research all the terms I have been outlining, and test for their consistency and service to the story.
Does it need a big edit or rewrite?
Honestly? I don’t think so… which just adds to the scary part of things.
It would be easier to handle if I perceived big flaws and went about solving them. But if I don’t perceive them does it mean that they don’t exist? Or that I am just not seeing straight? I guess this is just me overthinking… as usual. Or is it?
So this is all a big work in progress. One that I am enjoying thoroughly, even if it gets me unsure on lots of aspects. Now I intent to follow the schedule, keep working on this story (and the others to come), and do my best in building this universe I have been so fond of.
Some life updates…
Also, I couldn’t refrain from writing about our underwater daily life here in Lisbon, Portugal.
It’s been raining a lot, for more than a week now. We are a tempered climate sort of place, and people, and we are usually very unprepared for any real change in the weather. For the last week there have been lot’s of floods, and landslides, and occurrences derived from the excess rain water.
Yesterday, I woke up to water in the middle of the living room. It had been slowly entering the house during the night, infiltrating through the roof, descending the wall and pooling on the floor.
This is a major problem since it keeps raining, and no one will risk going to the roof, to fix the source of the damage. We are doing shifts in tending to the kind of cascading water inside the apartment and just wishing this rain to abade.
It could be worse. There are lot’s of other situations worse than ours. So let’s hope for clear skies and tend to our businesses anyway.
And this is why this post is coming so out of schedule… lot’s of water to clean ☔
Thank you so much for reading this blog. I hope you have a happy and tranquil December.
Please leave a comment and subscribe for more content.
Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼
***
References:
Image: The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai Katsushika
Have you seen any of the videos “I tried writing like (famous author) for (whatever) days or months”?
It’s kind of a trend on YouTube and I always find them inspiring, educational and fun!
This is kind of a “I tried writing in NaNoWriMo for 12 years”
Today’s article is kind of an overview about the 12 years I have been registered in NaNoWriMo website and all the times I decided to write a book in November.
✍️ I have entered the November’s challenge for 7 times.
✍️ I have completed the 50K, and then some, for 5 times.
✍️ The website says that I have wrote 343,660 words for NaNo projects.
Is this an impressive count? Nop. I don’t think so. But it’s good to know all of these things.
Let’s go on this memory lane, shall we?
I recall finding this challenge online and starting to mull over it. Back in the day, I had so much fear of being tricked that anything new gave me tons of food for thought.
Contrary to my later developed tendencies, which are to see something fun online, subscribe it immediately, and then ask the questions.
For NaNoWriMo contemplations, I really took my time deciding if I wanted to make an account on https://nanowrimo.org/ and enter the challenge. Back in those days we had to put all our written text on a word counting window, only available on the website. So it was a bit strange to reveal the text like that.
I decided to enter the 2010 challenge, only after I had all my stuff worked out in my head, and was willing to try the 50K in one month.
I registered at the Oct.29 and started writing at the Nov.01.
📣 I would like to mention that I already had one book in the midst of being self-published, which happened in Nov. 2011. And it wasn’t any of my NaNo writing projects.
I remember talking to a few people about this challenge and being quite freaked out about it. But I pulled through and wrote ‘Amria’ a fantasy novel about angels and demons and really bad (and good) people in between.
Amria, with a word count of 63,472, was my debut novel in NaNoWriMo and I quite liked it… so I stuck it in the drawer.
In 2011, I didn’t managed to enter NaNo. Fast-forward to some conclusions, I find that it takes me a good two year period to develop an idea into a book and make it come alive.
But, in 2012, I was back with ‘O Pária’ (‘The Pariah’). I had a full sketch book reeling with characters, and plot twists, and big ideas for a greater universe of… shapeshifters (does this ring a bell?!?)
Then it came 2013. It was a truly shitty year! My life changed so much during that year, and the ones that followed, and I felt so badly that I really tried to write my NaNo novel but just couldn’t do it. 2013 saw the beginning of ‘Road to Nowhere’ but it fell through the cracks of poor planning and not enough mental space to create this story.
Next NaNo novel came in 2018. ‘At risk’ was also a failed experience. Why I thought I could change day jobs, have a toddler in my hands, and be overwhelmed about it all, and still write a book, I do not know.
‘At Risk’ was my first try at writing a sequel for my self-published book… which didn’t happen.
Moving on to 2020, I was back with the proper drafting in place, plans and projects and all the twists and turns of a new fantasy novel. ‘Fire and Ice’ word count was 54,933 in a universe full of vampires and monsters ready to strike back. I loved writing this book, and I still feel it has so much I can expand upon… so it went straight to the drawer.
2021 saw ‘Os Metamorfos’ aka ‘The Shapeshifters’ come to life. In November of 2021 I wrote my second draft during NaNoWriMo. It was a book imagined, planned, and executed in Portuguese. Word count? 50,412.
2022 saw the biggest change of all. During my first Camp NaNo, in July 2022, I started rewriting ‘The Shapeshifters’ but in English. I went with it and after a not so successful Camp NaNo, due to some health issues, I got all in this project, planned and plotted, and managed to write 77,420 words for this book in this year’s NaNoWriMo.
What did this 12 years writing experience taught me?
🪄I have so much to learn it pains me to think about it. This seems the appropriate lesson to put here first. I need to get my bearings on my schedule, and to define better goals, and to devote myself more to this writerly life.
🪄Fear of showing up trumps all efforts. I have the best intentions in regard to my writing but if I am afraid to show up for my writing practice, there are no efforts that can subsist and produce good outcomes.
🪄Go all in. I have been doing this thing, this dance with my writing, for more than two decades (I am almost too good at waiting!). Deciding to write a book and leaving it unfinished isn’t going all in. Deciding to write as a life choice, path, career, and then refuse to do the work isn’t going all in. Go all in.
🪄Work in small increments every day. Have specific goals, and a major goal, and work myself towards every day completion. This challenge is very good to help us set a writing pace.
🪄I need a lot of prep time. I take, at least, two years until I am ready to write a story. There are a few steps, a few long steps I need to work on before I can write a book (or any story). There’s no jumping ahead or ignoring some parts of this process. Not if I want it to be valid for my learning purposes.
🪄I can work in more than a project at a time. I have been doing it for a long time now. And if I don’t count the time (a few years) when I got my life turned upside down, I am able to see that these ideas kind of lived in a parallel form inside my head. It’s just the physical effort of putting them in paper that has to be separated from each other. I can work in more than a project at a time, I just have to be more organised.
🪄These 12 years helped me see that I am here for the long haul. There was no way I would get back to writing, after some of the sh** I have been through, if stoping entirely was remotely possible.
🪄It has help me define my writing goals, setting boundaries for my writing time, focus on my writing projects, and create a space through which I share my writing journey online (I share a lot in Instagram and Facebook).
I tried writing novels with NaNoWriMo for 12 years and it taught me to feel less alone in pursuing my writing goals.
What doesn’t work for me?
💭A sustainable rhythm is imperative if we intent to keep writing. This daily quote requires that I spend some hours devoted to writing… and then life gets in the way, and I am unable to do all the other stuff that helps me stay creative. And this isn’t positive for me.
💭I am a slow writer… reader… whatever. I am. If I speed things too much I end up making stupid mistakes and feeling depressed about it. Having to maintain a great window of time to devote to actual writing doesn’t work for me in other phases of the writing projects. So this isn’t a good thing to adopt out of NaNoWriMo month.
I can’t work out anything more as a downside… Maybe just being nagged by people when I’m unable to attend to their stuff in November. Hey! Sorry (not sorry). It’s called priorities.
I don’t intend to stop entering NaNoWriMo, as long as life permits me to, and I do recommend it.
Have you entered this year’s NaNoWriMo? Can you share your experience with us?
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This week I have been working on a few projects. A few, very important, Writing Projects.
First and, I daresay, the most important is ‘The Shapeshifters’ #1. This is a third draft and has brought me a lot of challenges in itself. But you can read all about it on the article Hello NaNoWriMo and lots of ‘Shapeshifters’
thI have been writing for it during this year’s NaNoWriMo and I had already passed the 50K mark. YAY!!! Good for me!
It just seemed wrong for me to share my last achievement in all of my other social platforms and not here. After all this is my ‘Let’s talk about writing’ special place!
So this is the short video I made of the moment when I managed to write the 50K words.
It has been a source of great joy, even if it’s been quietly celebrated.
But I am aiming at 100k for this project, so that I have lots of wiggle room to edit later 😃
Blog Writing
Another of my writing projects are my two blogs. The present one and my Portuguese counterpart.
I have been writing about writing, about books, about productivity and about writer’s resources over there, and it has been fifteen years of research and content creation, that have helped me a lot on my writing efforts.
I still believe a blog is a wonderful way to share our writing. After all, we want to write and this is a mean that demands for it.
Here, on this virtual space, I have narrowed the scope a bit more. The resources I want to bring you are:
And I just got my channel’s handle, @vlooksarafarinha and I am happy to put my name on it.
But back to the transformative parts of having my own YouTube channel…
First, I get to write for it, and compose what I want to say. Second, I am able to practice my English in a more inventive way. Third, it had worked wonders on my introversion and general shyness (call it traumas! It was what they were!). Four, I have been learning so much about filming, and editing, and writing for it, that it has blown my mind.
Even if I’m trying to discover what I enjoy doing, and how to do it, this process is helping me grow in so many ways it astonishes me.
So, these have been my major writing projects for this week and I did enjoy working on all of them.
But, tell me…
Are you entering NaNoWriMo?
Have you got some special question about writing, blogging or vídeo making, that you think I could help you with?
And, please let me know how’s your project going.
Please leave a comment and subscribe for more content.
Let’s make a resume of this project during all of it’s existence.
A few years ago, I plotted, planned, and wrote a book in a Universe I called ‘The Shapeshifters’. It was 2012 and it was entitled ‘The Pariah’.
I devoted a lot of time thinking about this concept which, being far from a novelty, I wanted to work out in my particular way.
Fast forward a few years… in the beginning of 2021
Freshly out of writing a Vampire Story… I decided to enter The 100 Day Challenge.
During the development of some short texts, which were my #the100daychallenge object, and with some twenty days in, I started to write this story in the Shapeshifters Universe.
I began in it’s middle and then, worked my way through until the end, and then wrote the beginning.
The idea to write about a particular scene, in ‘The Shapeshifters’ Universe had been there for a while. I had a vivid snippet of events that kept coming back, and didn’t stop until I got it on a page.
Finishing the #the100daychallenge I kept going, until the first rough draft was finished.
Then I gave it a rest.
On November of 2021
I got back to it, writing the Portuguese second draft during NaNoWriMo. With 50 412 words, just in time to accomplished the word count.
And then, it went into the back burner again. There was something about this story which seemed to be incomplete. It just felt pale in comparison to what I wanted to convey.
I’ve kept thinking about it, and spending a lot of time trying to work it all out in my mind, after all it’s a project into which I had put a lot of my faith into.
June 2022
With the approaching of June, entering in my first Camp NaNo ever, getting back to ‘The Shapeshifters’ seemed the right thing to do. So I started to rewrite a third draft, but…
Suddenly I noticed I had been reimagining a new first scene in another language. Going with it, I thought ‘I’ll change this later…’
Then it got me thinking again. Maybe this was my opportunity to strike another milestone on my path: to write a book in the English language.
Why? Quite frankly, because it seemed exciting, adding several more complex layers to this task.
I know, it isn’t some big deal but, to me, it was a strange and almost providential turn on this life’s project.
Now I had a new draft to rewrite, in a new language, in his full right of existing separately from the previous drafts.
Camp NaNo didn’t saw my expectations of advancing on a third draft fulfilled. Instead I added more layers to the complexity of this task.
But, at the same time, it got me thinking in all that I wanted to do with it; All the backstory I missed including; All the characters which were appearing shallow and unidimensional; The entirety of a Universe that palled in its previous versions.
In September…
I got really focused on polishing my notes for this project. From polishing notes to expand on the things I thought were missing, was a short step.
And then, with the proximity of this year’s NaNoWriMo event, it grew exponentially. I went from having a sketch of a story, to plotting a trilogy with all it’s flair.
On the 1st of November of 2022, I’ve started to write ‘The Shapeshifters #1’ which already has another title, but it will remain with this one until the trilogy is completed.
I am stoked by all of this process. I’m loving to bring to life the ideas I plotted for this story. I’m focusing on meeting my writing goals and in the task of building a good story… and trying to ‘never mind the rest’.
Are you entering NaNoWriMo? Let’s be buddies?
(I’m sara-farinha from Portugal)
And, please let me know how’s your project going.
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This is the month before NaNoWriMo. As some people call it it’s Prep October… and I am starting to feel the pressure.
I have been working on a manuscript, for a couple of years now, and in this year’s Camp Nano I saw myself setting its first two drafts in a limbo on uncertainty (more than usual) and started to test writing an english version instead.
I can tell you, it has been a wild emotional ride.
But first, some backstory. I’m writing a novel named ‘The Shapeshifters’ since 2021. You can read more about it the article: Drafts, writing plans and mind the gap
I have been imagining, and reimagining, and trying to create a story that has been with me for a long time. Mainly because I choose some difficult themes to work with… but this is personal, and it’s not for full disclosure at this point.
I was so happy when, in the beginning of 2021, I was able to put pen into paper and craft the major parts of this story.
Then I started working on a second draft, adding to the story, and getting my sub-plots aligned. Second draft completed and then…
I started writing the third draft in English.
It just came out that way!
This change gave me a pretty good amount of difficult feelings. I was supposed to continue this project, as planned, just trying to get it written in Portuguese, and polished to the best of my abilities.
But there I was… writing a new first scene, in another language.
It’s not that I want to translate what I have written. No, I want to write it anew, as if the first two drafts were totally exploratory.
And this added to the complexity of the writing process.
Very well, then!
What now?
One of my main goals/tasks for this Autumn was to finish my third-or-first draft of ‘The Shapeshifters’. Third draft because it’s the third time I’m rewriting this story. Or-First because it suddenly got rewritten in English.
It was reiterated in July’s Camp NaNo but I am still struggling with it.
As I wrote before…
“I need to go back to the drawing board and write a new plan for this story. There are some changes, that I want to make, regarding characters and story line. I’ve noticed that I designed a lot of backstory but failed to put it to good use.
Characters backstory, connections and past traumas are important and need to be carefully embedded in the story. How could I write a story with 79341 words and not put enough density is beyond me.
I’m always careful about not overdoing on what might be considered the boring stuff, an excess of whatever isn’t required. But it seems I trimmed it too much, leaving out even the important story details.“
As much as I see the need for all of this, the overthinking about the details, the decision making process, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the subject. I needed to get my real bearings and find a way to get back to ‘The Shapeshifters’.
And the Muse has to find me working, so…
Five days ago, in a fit of “I am really fed up with all of these thoughts that lead to nowhere, and mind as well stick with the program!“
I took a seat in the most improbable place of my apartment, (not the toilet, it must be the only place where I don’t find myself inspired to write) at the kitchen table. Accompanied by somme draft papers (basically A4 sheets, half used my my daughter’s scribbles, cut in A5 format) and a pen, and started chipping away at the work of putting all the scenes I had in those.
Oh, and it was after dinner, a writing schedule I usually don’t think very well of, since I’m more of an early bird, than a night owl.
It took me 4 blocks of about two hours to finish that work.
Looking ahead
Now, I’m on a crossroads… again. I need to have a visual of the whole project and need to make a better effort.
So on the fifth day I went back to the drawing table and started rereading and adding and adjusting.
I do not know how this will turn out. I know I’m prepping this project to be properly written during this year’s NaNoWriMo, next month.
But let’s see how all of this goes.
So this is the situation at this point… and you? Are you doing the NaNo challenge? How’s your writing process going?
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How does it feel to achieve a most desired milestone? Awesome!
But how many times we can boast about achieving one? Not as many as we should.
If we could just stick to the writing plan!!!
Nevertheless, I believe writing must be thought in increments, different phases, almost all of them composed by long and arduous stretches of work, that culminate in a finished piece.
First, the idea. Then working out all the most relevant aspects of this idea (plot, subplot, characters...). Research and first draft. Then first/second draft... and all that are needed. Then multiple revisions... and so on... until beta reading... alfa reading... submitting...
At least, that’s how I’ve been working all this stuff in my head. Some milestones to get me properly focused on minor parts that contribute to the major work.
For those who follow my other blog – in portuguese, my vlog – VLook, or my social media presence – Instagram, there is no secret about my last writing milestone achievement:
I have finished the second draft of my currently-working-on novel.
Originally named ‘Os Metamorfos’ and a straightforward translation as ‘The Shapeshifters’.
I do love to design covers for my writing projects.
By the time I’ll hit Publish on this post, another milestone has been achieved…
As you may have read in the previous article, and even though it wasn’t what I planned to do, it was a most welcome change.
Building this story is a roller-coaster of emotions. Mainly because, I have been trying to formulate it, without seeming to find the right way to make it work.
I’ve tried some former iterations without any result to show for. 20K and I would abandon the manuscript and would go sulk in a nearby sofa… I’ve tried this approach for three times.
It has been a not so joyous procedure.
What changed? What got me from Idea to Writing things down?
Last year, in 2021, I decided to enroll in a challenge called the 100 day challenge.
It was my second time participating, so I chose to do a writing related project. For one hundred days straight, I would write approximately for one hour, and this time around – because I had enrolled twice before with some mixed media projects – I chose some short quotes from other authors as a starting point, or a theme for each day, and would allow for a short text, in whatever form or genre, to evolve from that.
Another cover design for the 100 day project, named Impromptuarium.
I wasn’t planning to come back to this story concept but it kind of materialised itself that way.
In my the 100 day challenge I’ve written a few poems, short-stories, snippets of texts, sorts of diary entries and, right about the 47th day of the challenge, I started writing about these characters, and this story, that have been trying to get out of my head, and into the page, without much success.
It’s been years since I first thought about this story for the first time.
In the middle of Impromptuarium this story started to emerge. And right in the middle of itself. The long, dull, big bulk of the middle… and I had to work my way to the end. After that, I resumed to the starting point and wrote the beginning. It took me an extra twenty days of this challenge to complete the first big chunk of the work.
The 100 day challenge ended for me at 120 days straight of writing, one hour a day, of whatever fit my fancy. Which helped me getting the writing flow going. And I ended up with a very unpolished first draft (can I call it a first draft?)
What now?
After finishing this first round, I got a bit lost. I let it stew for a few months without looking at it, in pains that it would show me another big chunk of wasted time.
This is what imposter syndrome feels like. Exposed, broken, cold, water in a bedroom kind of feel and a bed calling for our bones to hide from the world…
In the meantime, I felt like crap. All of it felt like absolute sh**… and then I started to remind myself of that speech of shitty first drafts and all (from a very wise writer called Anne Lamott). I couldn’t fix what didn’t exist, but I could work with a shitty first draft.
And then came September… and October… I felt November approaching and knew I should give this story a go… again.
It was my tenth year on NaNoWriMo and I couldn’t forget that I had a pretty successful run in 2020, producing another novel (which, until today, I haven’t reviewed… yet).
And, it was NaNoWriMo that got me going into a second rewrite.
Mind the gap…
I finished November with a little bit more than the 50k needed to complete this challenge, but Oh, I definitely went through a hard time.
The story was born crooked, missing big chunks of information. In a very confusing manner by being thought out from the middle to the end, to the beginning, to the middle again.
I got really confused with myself.
I had a huge gap somewhere in there, that I fondly named ‘mind the gap’ in tribute to my love of London and its tube. And was just trying to smooth out a part that was driving me crazy.
November comes to an end…
The end of November approached and I was not even near finished my second draft.
So, I put it on a new goal. I would finish my second draft until the end of 2021. How’s that saying ‘man plans, god laughs’, or something like that.
December came, and went, and ‘The Shapeshifters’ kept being slowly written. Then I got kind of lazy… or had an impostor’s syndrome attack.
Dealing with the imposter in me…
I started feeling a huge amount of fears, and doubts, regarding the quality of this story, and a lot of shame associated with the high fantasy concept that I BELIEVED ISHOULD be writing.
I had to convince myself, all over again, that I didn’t need to come up with some high whatever concept, difficult to craft, boring, unsellable, gender and cultural dominated, and just NOT ME, to finish this story. And let all that nonsense go.
All I care about is giving it all I have, do my best, and keep crafting stories.
I had to remind myself, again and again, that I know my soft spots and strengths in my writing. That I could finish the draft and then make it better. I ended up with 79341 words on this draft.
As for making it better, I will leave it to the following efforts to prove or disprove me. But I am carving the will to start my third draft, to put in the work I think it needs, and make it one of my stories, full of those nuggets that turn a simple tale in something to think about.
Still working on it…
I am not near completion with this story but I am focused and willing to give it my best… and to edit like a maniac, cutting all darlings out of there.
Meanwhile, this isn’t my only ongoing project, so I’m trying to be organised here, and juggle a lot of projects all around… including all of life’s projects.
But, about these other writing projects, I will tell you all about it in another post.
How are your writing projects going? Do you find it hard to finish a second draft? And if you use NaNoWriMo as an added motivation to write your stories?
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