JulNoWriMo (or July Novel Writing Month) is just like NaNoWriMo except it takes place in July instead of November.

Rules:

1. Write 50,000 words in 31 days. (You get an EXTRA day in July!)
2. Write a minimum of 1,613 words per day. (Unless you want to cram.)
3. Writing begins midnight of July 1 and ends 11:59pm July 31 (your timezone).

That’s it! Now, it helps to register at the URL above, but it’s not necessary. (If you choose not to, you won’t get all the free goodies at the end of the month if you win.) It’s free to register, and there’s even a forum where you can talk to other writers and post your successes.

Okay, now technicalities: In NaNo, you can’t use a previous WIP (work in progress), but in JulNo, you can use whatever you’d like, but you have to write 50,000 NEW words in July.

So, you have TWENTY days to get your outlines together for the BIG DAY. Get on it! :)

I created a website. I know, how tech-savvy am I? Actually not really, but I am excited about this new adventure.

It’s a writing forum with specific groups to discuss anything about writing, film, reading. Anything really. There’s even a coffeehouse group where (near) anything can be discussed.

Here is the link. To use it, you’ll have to sign up; but don’t worry, it’s free. :) I hope to develop it further. It’s a huge work in progress and I made it last night around 2am on a whim.

Comments, suggestions, critiques are greatly appreciated.

I just read this article that made me (seriously) laugh out loud. You can find the full featured article here.

It got me thinking. We all procrastinate some time or another. Nobody is immune. So why do we let it get us down? Embrace the procrastination.

Mull over your short story, poem, novel, screenplay, whatever you’re writing, think about it. And I mean really think about it.

It’s not about the finished product. It’s all about the journey taken to finish the thing. I mean, when you’re done, you’re done. That’s it. It’s over.

But, if you never quite finish, it’ll always be there. Kind of like a crutch when you break a leg. I’ve never personally broken a bone, but if I broke a leg, I’d sure as heck want a cast and some crutches (if not a wheelchair) to get around. I’d want those for the entire time, and maybe a little longer to get out of other responsibilities.

If someone took them away a week after I broke my leg, you can bet I’d be writing their death sentence. Or at least a hospital visit.

Same thing. People rely on their stories. Their plots. Characters. Everything. If for one day they should suddenly disappear, there’s nothing left for the writer.

So, to sum it all up: take your time in writing. You can never enjoy the journey too much.

But then again, if you want to be known as a writer you’ll have to step up the pace…just a bit. ;)

Okay, so those who follow my blog know I’m in the middle of a huge undertaking of impossible proportions. That is, I’m writing one million words this year.

What you may not know is what I’m writing about.

Project 1 (the ‘current’ one that’s not so current anymore) was about four high school seniors and the pressures of university and how each change to better fit that ideal of ‘you have to be perfect or you’ll never make it.’ Well, tons of people go to college, and while that’s great, it’s not terribly ‘significant’ in writing. (By all means, it’s significant in life and I highly encourage education.) Anyway, what set these kids apart was the fact they all wanted to be accepted in the Ivy League universities. The problem? So did everyone else in their high school…and the world.

Sounds like an okay story, right? What could possibly be wrong?

Someone wrote a very similar one already and while it’s said that every story has already been written before, this was too similar. It would never get anywhere. It just bothers me and I had to abort that idea.

I want to know if this has ever happened to you guy before? There has to be more people out there.

By the way, the novel was called “Acceptance” by Susan Coll. It’s a great book and it wouldn’t feel ‘right’ if I were to continue on writing this idea.

No worries, I have plenty more up my sleeve. ;)

Please leave your comments in either the answer box below or the disqus comment box by clicking on the time this was posted. Thank you in advance!

Have you ever been in the middle of a project, immersed in the plot, characters, everything when all of a sudden another character from a different project tugs at your shirt tail? I mean, what are you supposed to do then?

This happened to me yesterday. And I gave in. Maybe it wasn’t the right choice, but I couldn’t take the whining anymore. (It’s quite like raising your own children, though I wouldn’t know anything about that.)

This nouveau idea popped in my head and I thought, “Whoa. This is cool. I better write this down.” And that was the end of it. The idea I wrote down was just a plot bunny, no characters involved.

Okay, this is going to sound really strange, but hey, we’re all writers here, so it’s okay.

Later in the evening a young lady, she was no older than seventeen, started to follow me around in my head. I knew she didn’t belong in the story I was writing, but she belonged in the one I wrote the idea about. She wouldn’t let up so I finally caved in, listened, and wrote. Now, I feel like I have to continuously write more since I’m in the “zone.”

Has this ever happened to you? And to what extent?

Maybe this happened to you. Maybe it happened to someone you know. All I know for sure is that this happened to me and I’m going through this situation right now.

I haven’t put fingers to the keyboard and wrote on my writing project in a long time. Nearly a week or two. I opened my document and scrolled through the pages and the fire, the passion is gone. I no longer feel “connected” with my characters, plot, little twists, anything.

I don’t quite blame them. It’s as if I abandoned them when the waves crashed in. Although the circumstances weren’t my fault, it’s now my responsibility to jump back in and continue writing.

What do you do if this happens to you?

Naturally, the first answer is: Don’t panic.

I did. It wasn’t good. I resorted to yogurt, ice cream, fatty things. Sleep was lost. Homework was drawn out from an hour to three. All very bad things. Face it, I freaked out.

Second thing, reread your outline you wrote before diving in the prose.

What do you do if you didn’t write an outline?

Whether a full, 100 pages outline or a short half page outline, every author needs one. At least a page with characters’ names, age, motive, wants, desires on it. That is important, at the very least.

Okay, so you didn’t make one. It’s not the end of the world. Read your prose you’ve written already and write down key things that jump out at you. If you have a character named Suzie, write her down. Next to her name write her age, hair color, grade/job if applicable, and other little things that makes Suzie unique.

Go through this no matter how long or short your WIP is.

Now, that you have an outline, join the rest of us.

So, you’ve read your outline. What else could there possibly be? Now, you want to read your prose and makes sure things match up. Don’t just breeze through it quickly, read it for what it is. Pick up on the pace. Is it quick in some, slow in others?

The most important part you’ll read is the last few pages. Pay special attention to what’s happening, how your characters are acting and reacting.

Well, now that you’ve read, what do you do now?

Now you know the pace of the story, you’re reacquainted with the characters, maybe they’ve forgiven you. You start listening to them and just write. Continue where you left off. Make mistakes. Just don’t stop. There’s no excuse for giving up entirely.*

So get back out there and write! :)

*No, laziness is NOT an excuse.

I have to apologize for not posting. I’ve gone off the charts completely. I have no laptop. That’s right. The lightbulb burned out plus the inverter died. No worries; I’m having another part sent here.

Classes started this week and, as most of you know, I did change my major. Let me disspell a little thought about Writing majors: It’s not easy, even coming from a biology major. It’s more work and it’s completely different in nature. So if I do happen to slack on the posts, that’s why.

I can tell you now that I cannot physically or mentally post once a day. Three times a week, maybe, but even that’s pushing it. Until I can organize myself, my thoughts, my job, school work, outside issues, posting will cease. (Except for the random post every now and again quite like this one.)

I will also say that writing has come to a halt, although short. Since I don’t have a computer (I’m at the library now in between classes), I can’t always write, although I do know there’s the option of handwriting it but I don’t have that kind of cash. This is no excuse, and I know this. This is merely a speed bump. They come around every now and again, and the most important thing is you recognize it as such and deal accordingly.

Enough sounding omniscient, I will see you all later and I hope your lives aren’t as hectic as mine.

Happy writing! Don’t give up. :)

Okay this one is a little different.

Find a print dictionary (not online) and open it to a random page, close your eyes, and point to a word.

*I dare you to write a short story OR poem centered around that word.

**I double dare you to somehow incorporate the short story in your novel OR the poem in your poetry collection.

I was looking on Amazon right now for grammar books. One can never know too many grammar rules.

Well, while I was looking at “Eats, Shoots and Leaves,” I saw in the recommended box another book “Woe Is I.”

In it, I found a valuable lesson all writers could learn from (even me and you!). It’s the difference between “that” and “which.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve crossed one out only to replace it with the other, and still not know which word was correct.

This, my dear readers, solves everything. And it comes in a cute poem form!

“Commas, which cut out the fat,
Go with which, never with that.”

What does this mean in simplistic terms? Well, I had to do a little extra digging in the pages provided on Amazon. But lo and behold, I found the meaning.

The golden rule is: If you can remove the clause contained in the comma and keep the meaning of the sentence, use which. If there isn’t a comma, then usually there is no clause or unnecessary information, you use that.

Simple, no?

Do you know anybody who has bad grammar? Maybe it’s you. Or maybe you’re a stickler when it comes to grammar. Maybe you’re like me and manually fix grammatical errors wherever you go whether the grocery store or library.

Well, do I have a solution for you!? It’s called the “Apostrophe Protection Society.” It’s much like the Witness Protection Program, but instead, you know the witnesses: apostrophes. I just checked out the site and besides it making me go absolutely out of my mind, it’s a great web page for anyone who wants to brush up on their grammar in a fun way.

I would like to inform readers, Facebook, and Twitter that I just typed a post. In lieu of the writing tip of the week, I had an emotional breakdown. Most of it was due to unsuccessful days spent staring at the screen, watching TV, sleeping, or anything else that kept me from writing and, of course, the computer.

Everything I said in the previous post was raw and unedited. I do not plan on editing it for common spelling mistakes and if I made them, I did so for a reason, of which I am not sure of yet.

Please do not send me the number of your psychologists. I am okay. This is just part of the job description. If you’ve missed it in the ad, you might want to take out your magnifying glass and read the fine print more closely.

It clearly states that if you’d like to take up the the lifelong job of being a writer, you’ll have to suffer several (yes, several) minor emotional breakdowns, up to five major emotional breakdown, and at least one mental breakdown.

Are you on for the ride of your lifetime?

Well, I suppose since I’ve already made a reference to the writing tip of the week, I thought I would talk about other things. (In case you haven’t been following daily, I made a reference a few posts back. If not yesterday. My memory seems to fail me at crucial moments.)

I still have writer’s block and as such, little words have been written. I now know that it’s not necessarily about the amount of words that are written, but the actual words. (Reference to the tip.) It just can’t escape me that I did make a personal promise to write each and every day something that comes to mind, whether utterly significant or not. I suppose I have, really. I do type here, I write in my journal, I write in my planner, I even write essays for scholarships; yet I can’t seem to find the words to write for the story; to continue my characters’ lives.

As of yesterday, I’ve hit 70 pages. Seventy pages and not too many words. Right now, the grand total is 16,361. Last week sometime (again, memory problems), I printed out what I had written, which was approximately 26 pages. I keep it paperclipped and near me at all times. When I get stuck and stumble over my words, I pick it up and it feels real.

I’m not trying to get all sentimental, but holding the printed manuscript makes it all feel real; and that I know if I don’t finish this, if I don’t find the words to complete the story, it’ll all disappear. Perhaps it’s this self-inflicted fear that rendered my fingers useless and has taken my muse hostage, I’m not sure.

All I do know is that I haven’t been able to write decently in a few days, except for yesterday or the day before where I had to force myself to type, but it all felt unnatural as if the words themselves didn’t belong.

Upon finishing the first draft, those words will no doubt stick out like a sore thumb (if I may use an overused cliche), and will promptly be removed, but as a rule, I don’t delete anything until after finishing.

If you went into this year thinking that being a writer was an easy job or past time, don’t be fooled. I thought the same thing too years ago. Living up to the job is difficult and I’m constantly challenging myself, beating myself up, holding myself for ransom, and quite possibly be going mental because of it.

But even through all that, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And that, my friends, is the writer’s confession.

It’s hard to believe that a whole week has passed us by. Whether you’ve written a novel already, haven’t started, or are somewhere in between, it’s not too late.

All these posts are directly sent to my Facebook profile and people leave little comments sometimes.

My friend commented on the last post and said, and I quote, “If you’re writing to hit a word count, you’re writing numbers and not a story. Food for thought.”

Subconsciously, I suppose I knew that, but it was never a conscious thought. The last few days, I’ve been writing to just satisfy a number, a word count. Today I wrote to write a story, regardless of the number at the end of the day.

In a way, the latter, writing regardless of word count, is harder but worthwhile. Writing for a word count goal usually means useless words creep in the manuscript; words that serve no purpose except distract your reader from the action.  

So, this week, try writing not for your personal word goal, but for advancing the story and see how it plays out.

Write a not just words for .

Since I didn’t write anything yesterday, I was supposed to make up the word count today. In a perfect world, that would be easy to do, but we all know this isn’t one.

I’ve never had the “writer’s block” feeling before. Sure, I’ve blogged on it, read about, witnessed others with it, but never experience for myself- until now.

It’s a weird sensation and I don’t know what’s going on. All I know for a fact is that I’m not going to be writing 8,000 words tonight, given that it’s already 10:30pm. I’ve written maybe 100 words, stopped, read a book, and now I’m blogging.

I’m not sure how to rid of this…disease as I like to call it. I’ve blogged about how to potentially get rid of it, and I should probably review those, but those tidbits were other peoples’ advice- nothing personal, so I’m at a loss here.

If you have any tips, suggestions, comments, anything, leave one in the comment box down below. Answers are enabled in case you don’t know how to get to the comment box from the homepage.

Thanks! And good luck writing, everyone. :)

…I rested. That’s right. No writing today. It was back-up the entire computer and download Windows 7, and other things, and re-downloaded it back.

 (Hm. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t do any writing.)

So, tomorrow, I need to write a total of 8,000 words. I’m up for the challenge and I gave the novel some breathing room, which I think is good.

How is your writing progress for the new year?