Tag: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo here I come!

Chris Hall22 Comments

nanowrimo 2019

But not officially.

I’m going to write, write and write some more under the ‘NaNo’ umbrella, but just for me, just as I did last year. That was pretty successful. I have the recently released ‘Following the Green Rabbit‘ to show for it!

I don’t do unachievable targets. I don’t set myself up to fail.

I’ll consider around 30,000 words a major success. I won’t have finished a new book, but I’ll be well on the way. And that suits me.

I’ll be touching base out there in ‘twitter-land’ and I’ll post a little weekly update to brag (or shame myself).

And for a little light relief, I’ll be continuing with the ‘what do you see?’ challenge, which has recently been revived by Sadje.

Good luck to everyone who’s doing this! See you on the other side.

 

My Writing Year

Chris Hall13 Comments
editing you'll never walk alone by chris hall lunasonline
My writing space – yes, it’s messy.

2018 has been the year when:

  1. I managed to complete a pretty decent draft of my second novel, now at the MS stage. I’m just taking a little break from editing it now to write this.
  2. I (informally) took part in NaNoWriMo and almost completed a rough draft of a middle grade children’s book.
  3. I had some modest success in getting my first novel, ‘The Silver Locket’, out there. I had a look at the KDP stats and I sold a few dozen – enough to buy a couple of cups of coffee with cake!
    What I hadn’t realised was that 91 of you lovely folk read it on Kindle Unlimited. I hope you enjoyed!
    Note to self: I need to work on that marketing stuff next year.
  4. And finally, and unexpectedly, I accidentally became a blogger. This has been awesome. Writing can be lonely; being a homeworker also can be lonely. But you’re never alone when you have mates out there in inter-web-land. Thank you all!

And look at all these words I’ve so happily churned out:

Annual Site Stats lunasonline

Thanks for reading, and thanks for liking and commenting.

Here’s to a wonderful 2019. Happy New Year!

 

 

NaNoWriMo – hitting the buffers

Chris Hall11 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

Week 4

Last day, last update!

Buffer Bashing NaNoWriMo LunasonlineWell, to continue the railway analogy: I haven’t run out of steam (far from it), but I have run out of time. But only just. I’m nearly there.

I might manage to squeeze another chapter out before the end of today, but I’ll still won’t have finished. That’s fine.

It was always ‘my rules’, so I’m extending my deadline into next week. And why not? Then I will have a completed ‘rough-ish’ first draft to work on next year.
It will be a good start to 2019.

So, how was it for me?

It was a good experience.
I enjoyed it.
It hasn’t mattered that I didn’t quite reach my goal.
I wrote every single day (apart from two Thursdays, which I’d anticipated).
Other priorities permitting, I discovered that I can write more, and I can write more quickly without (I believe) compromising on quality.

Would I do it again? Quite possibly.

So, all you other ‘NaNoWriMos’ out there. How was it for you?
I hope you achieved success – however you care to measure it – and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! See you next year?

Normal service will be resumed shortly.

 

NaNoWriMo – are we flagging?

Chris Hall6 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

Week 3

Actually, no, not flagging!

Three-quarters of the way into the month and my children’s novella is coming along quite nicely, in fact it’s probably just about at the right point in the story now for it to crank up, wind down and come in close to the finishing line by this time next week; lucky I set the bar low. But I mustn’t be complacent. Just plug away. I never know quite what the pesky characters are going to do to trip me up!

Meanwhile, back in the real world…

Swept up in all the Black Friday hype (no, not really, that’s a lie); rather slightly aware of an opportunity, I went for the old ‘Kindle giveaway’ for ‘The Silver Locket’. Now that was a handsome piece of prevarication, don’t you think. Still, I’ve taken advantage of so many freebies and cheapies from other Indie Authors, that I wanted to join in with a free offer – don’t worry about missing it – I’ll be tweeting the odd reminder next week.

So, have a pleasant and productive week all you NaNo people – and everyone else by the way!

NaNoWriMo – onward and upward

Chris Hall8 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

Week 2

This morning, having once again had a terrible Thursday – not even one paragraph completed – I was feeling discouraged. The whole day before me and I just couldn’t get going. Maybe I’d put my characters through too much in the last couple of chapters? Charred bodies? Too gruesome for a middle grade story?

Leave it. Move on. I can always tone it down later.

Then after doing a spot of ‘real work’ up they popped, ready to go. Now Chapter 10 is all finished and I’m pretty much on track for my 30,000 word target for the month – 14,290 to be precise – and they’re ‘all good’ words (I think).

So, onward and upward to fellow ‘NaNo’s next week, and to everyone else busy toiling at the keyboard!

NaNoWriMo – update

Chris Hall6 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

The first week is almost over. Well, it’s been a week and a day, strictly speaking, but since my Thursdays have been too chock-full of ‘other stuff’, I’m not counting them (or on them).

I am enjoying it. I’m having fun. Maybe not getting quite the word count… but I have (mostly) finished my first five chapters. I’ve allowed myself to miss bits out: not worry about names, or particular locations. I’ve left notes to myself to look up this and fill in that. It’s working, at least in the context of my own particular goal for a short novel for children.

Oh, and the planning has mostly gone out the window. I’ve discovered I can’t write that way. Although I do still have the end written. It might change , I’ll have to see what my characters do. And I’m loving them!

So, my writerly friends out there who are busy with this little adventure too: may your words flow fluently, your plots thicken seamlessly and your characters give you joy! (Was that too many adverbs??).

On with the journey…

NaNoWriMo

Chris Hall6 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

It’s started and not quite as I’d imagined. Of course, I must start by coming clean and admitting to those who didn’t catch my admission on Twitter the other day, that I haven’t signed up for this properly and officially.

No. I decided to be easy(ish) on myself and aim for a modest target of 20,000 – 30,000 words. A children’s story. Something I could add to later: parts two and three perhaps.

So, at the start of the week, I did a little light planning, which was good. Feeling confident!

And then midweek, and I shouldn’t complain,  I got a whole bunch of ‘proper work’ to do. That, incidentally, means paid work for clients which, of course is good. But it did include reproducing a 28 page, closely worded, legal document, which took hours (it’s not something I’d normally do) and it numbed my brain, something chronic!

NaNoWriMo Day One – 7,239 words… and none of them fiction! Day Two has been better.

Good luck to everyone who’s doing this! I wish you very well. See you next month.

The Clock’s Ticking!

Chris Hall15 Comments
the clock is ticking lunasonline Photo by Jordan Benton from Pexels
Photo by Jordan Benton from Pexels

Just to let you know that I won’t be around quite so much for the next 6 weeks. It’s nothing bad.

I promised myself at the beginning of March that I would finish the draft of my new novel by the end of October (this year), and then do something I’ve never done before, and which I’ve wanted to do for almost 10 years: NaNoWriMo.

2018 is the year.
It’s going to be a challenge because I’m going to have to plan this properly.
Starting…now! Well, soon.

I’ll be popping up for air to see what everyone’s up to, but if I don’t interact with you much, you’ll know it’s going well. If I do start wittering on it will mean I’m prevaricating which will not be so good. You might even find me crying in a corner of Twitter.

But let’s be positive. I’m going to get it done.

Wish me luck!