Category: National Novel Writing Month

My Best Writing Year Ever: How I Did It

Posted on by writermike in Michael Young, National Novel Writing Month, National Novel Writing Year, Sing We Now of Christmas, The Canticle Kingdom, The Last Archangel, Writing Goals

 600,000 words in 365 days. In December 2011, that was my goal. I honestly didn’t know if I could do it. That was like writing words equal to NaNoWriMo (50,000) every month for an entire year. As of Dec 20th, 2012, I hit 609,548 words for the year.

I had to set some ground rules for myself. I said that only writing that I intended to try to publish in some form would count, and the prewriting that I did for any novels or short stories. Anything I did for work, emails, etc would not count. 
I also thought that I needed to keep very good track so I could have exact word counts. My first step was to create an excel spreadsheet with 12 tabs, and label them for the months. I took a cell and set it up to display the total of the all numbers in the first column. Then, any time I wrote something, I put the word total in the next open cell in the first column. This kept an automatic running total with little hassle. I then set up a cell in each sheet that added up all of the total cells, so I could have a running total of everything I had done for the year. 
This sheet helped keep me motivated. I could always tell how much progress I had made and how much I had yet to do. 
I then evaluated my writing style. I know that I work best when I have a few projects going at a time, and so I mapped out the things I wanted to work on next and decided to work on each of these projects every day. I prioritized the projects to work on the ones I wanted to get done first early in the year. 
Then, there really wasn’t a big trick to it. I committed to writing every day and anytime I could. I tried to bring my laptop with me for times when I had a few minutes. If I didn’t have my laptop, I wrote using my iPod. If I didn’t have that, I kept a notebook handy to write, or prepare myself for writing so that I could move more quickly when I got to it.  
The biggest thing is to know when your best productive times of the day are and really use them for all they are worth. During these times, minimize distractions. Turn off Facebook, check your email once before you got to the writing zone, or whatever you need to do. Pinterest will still be there when you get back. There are even programs such as Cold Turkey, which will allow you to block these sites for a certain time limit while you write. Pretty useful. 
I experienced some major setbacks. I had some really busy weeks, such as the week before “The Secret Garden ” opened, in which I was an actor. Two LDS General Conferences and countless other events for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Looming deadlines for work, a complete hard drive meltdown, severe sickness and many other things inhibited my ability to write. There were times when I fell way behind and had to rush forward by writing 10,000 words on the last two days of the month. 
I’m here to tell you that persistence pays. Just like in running a marathon, it does not do you any good to spend all of your energy in one burst and then stop running. You must keep a steady pace, with occasional bursts of speed to catch up in order to do your best. I believe that goals help writers push themselves to accomplish more than they normally would. Here’s a glimpse into what I wrote this year: 
Novels
The Canticle Kingdom Book III
The Last Archangels, Books II and III
Wandaful 
Elected (Partial) 
The Death Seer (Partial) 
Non-Fiction
The Ward Choir Survival Guide 
The Ultimate Morning Study Companion (German/English) 
Voices in My Blood (Partial, co-authored)
Personal History 2012 
Short Stories 
Many, including ones for two anthologies “Sing We Now of Christmas” and “Carol of the Tales”. 
Stage
When Death Comes (Musical) 
Christmas Spirits the Musical (Partial) 
Serial Stories
Canticle of Dawn
Canticle of Twilight
Age of Archangels Seasons I and II
Christmas Spirits 
Articles
Dozens of articles for GospelIdeals.org 
This next year is going to be taken up in revision and getting these and works from past years polished up and better ready to submit. If anyone else is up to the challenge, I highly recommend it. I accomplished so much this year and it is great now to look back and see that it all worked out. I am committed and serious about writing and will continue to put in the long hours that it takes to realize my potential. 
What are your writing goals for the coming year? 
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! 

Raising the Stakes on NaNoWriMo

Posted on by writermike in Charity, Donation, Michael D Young, National Novel Writing Month, National Novel Writing Year

I always look forward to November each year for more reasonsthan Thanksgiving. Though I am a sucker for turkey and stuffing, I also lovewatching my word counts skyrocket as I take part in National Novel WritingMonth.  (NaNoWriMo for short) For theuninitiated, during NaNoWriMo, writers seek to write 50,000 words in 30 days,which is the length of a short novel.
I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo for three years, and I’veimproved every year. My first year, I barely squeaked by on the 30th,the next year I hit the goal on the 25th, and this year I took ahuge leap forward in finishing on the 17th. 
This got me to thinking—why couldn’t every month be likeNaNoWriMo? If I can do in November, what makes it impossible in January orJuly? The answer for me is: nothing. I just try harder in November to work hardand minimize distractions because I have a firm target.
With that in mind, I want to set a very high goal this year:I literally want to make every month like NaNoWriMo. I think I’ll call itNational Novel Writing Year (or NaNoWriYe) for short. I want to write 50,000per month for every month in 2012 for a grand total of 600,000 words.
To put that in perspective that’s about two installments ofRobert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series.  It is much more than I have ever written, butI think that I can do it. I am serious in my commitment to writing, and I thinkthis will be a formative year in my career.
I’m sure that many full-time authors can easily pull of thisfeat.  However, I’m working a full-timejob, have a wife and two kids, and a very busy schedule with the MormonTabernacle Choir.  I hope that in doingthis, I can inspire others who have busy lives to see that they can still fitwriting into their schedules.
I have also decided that I want to take it a step further.Many runners run to raise money for charity. I thought I would go ahead andwrite for charity instead. To help out, you can pledge an amount, howeversmall, for every month’s worth of words I write (every 50,000 words). Thatmeans, if you pledge $1, and I reach my goal, you would donate $12 to charity. In this case, I have selected the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) in honor of a good friend who suffers from this disease. 
To pledge an amount, fill out the form below. All you needis a full name and email address.  I willthen send you an invoice through PayPal at the end of the challenge for theproper amount. I will be taking charity suggestions from my readers to figureout where the money should go.  I won’tkeep a dime.
Anyone else up to the challenge? I’m excited and already alittle tired just thinking about it. Luckily, I have several full noveloutlines ready to hash out, and I’ll be giving constant updates here on my blogthroughout the year. 
In this season of giving, I encourage you all to think ofways to spread the abundance we all have been given.  Have a happy and blessed Holiday Season. 

NaNoWriMo Day 3

Posted on by writermike in Day 3, Michael Young, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month

Leaderboard: 


Had a super busy day that meant I didn’t get to writing unit about 11pm. I have our first person on the leaderboard. (Just post a comment on the latest post with your word total and be sure to keep me updated) Well done Misha. You’re in the lead.

1. Misha 3389
2. Writermike: 3,264

Word Count: 

3264 / 50000
(6.53%)

Writing tip of the Day: Especially during NaNoWriMo, don’t break your forward momentum. You will have plenty of time to go back and rework what you have written, and you really should. Right now, you just need to let the sentences flow without worrying too much about typos and others problems. It is much better to get something down on paper and then go back to perfect it. It is hard to do sometimes, but resist the urge!

Saturday November 4th: Mark this date on your calendar. I’ll be announcing the winner of the Spooktacular Blog Hop and I’ll be participating in a NaNoWriMo 4-hour writing contest, with a $50 Amazon gift card on the line, as well as other great prizes. You can participate too.  Details are here: http://writingonthewallblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/its-baaaack-write-thon-contest.html

RafflecopterSettings = { raffleID: ‘ZGM1OTRjYmFhNjUwNGM1OWE3ZTQxMmE4NzQ5MTc3OjY=’};<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

Ring Out One Contest, Ring In Another

Posted on by writermike in Contest, Michael D Young, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, Young Adult Fiction
I’d like to announce that the winner of this month’s blog hop is Diana! She has won a signed copy of The Last Archangel. Thanks to everyone who entered and I hope that you will stop by often.

 As you might have noticed in last post, I’m very excited for National Novel Writing Month, which starts on November 1st. I’ve managed to write 50,000 words both of the last two years I’ve done it and got done before the 30th. This year, I’d like to raise the stakes a little bit and encourage some of you, who I am sure are also writers, to participate.

On the entry form below, you can show that you have registered for NaNoWriMo. There is another button for when you “win” NaNoWriMo (which means reaching the word count goal). Each entry is timestamped, so I can tell in which order they come in. If any of you can “win” NaNoWriMo before I do, I will agree to do a full manuscript evaluation of your NaNoWriMo manuscript. If I get there first, I will still give a 50 page evaluation to the first person who wins after me. From all those who enter, I will pick three random people to receive a first chapter evaluation of their NaNoWriMo manuscript and other prizes at my discretion.

You can also get additional entries for prizes by spreading the word about this contest. If you have any questions or need writing advice, know that I’m always available at thecanticlekingdom@gmail.com.

Let the writing commence!

Writing Update: Had a great writing week. Simon Says is up to 36,370 and the Last Archangel II is up to 23,143. I’m also working with a company provide a serial story that chronicles some of the backstory behind The Canticle Kingdom, specifically the lives of the creators of the music box and how one of them became corrupted. I’ll have more news about that as it progresses. They let you retain the rights, so hopefully, I can let the series run and then publish the entire series in an inexpensive ebook somewhere down the road.
Come visit me this Saturday the 22nd at Barnes and Noble in Orem, UT from 1pm – 4pm. There will be many other authors there as well and it promises to be a great event.

RafflecopterSettings = { raffleID: ‘ZGM1OTRjYmFhNjUwNGM1OWE3ZTQxMmE4NzQ5MTc3OjY=’};<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

Prelude to NaNoWriMo

Posted on by writermike in Michael Young, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, The Last Archangel, The Last Archangel II

It’s that time again! It’s a month that I look forward to every year, where I can jointhousands of others across the globe in rapidly racking up the word count onour newest novels. For the uninitiated, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMofor short) is a challenge to write 50,000 words (or the length of a shortnovel) between November 1st and midnight on November 30th.That translates to about 1,666 words every day, which is no small feat.
I have participated for the last two years, and both years I‘won’, which means that I was able to reach 50,000 words before thedeadline.  The first year, I wrote thefirst draft of a sequel to “The Canticle Kingdom” called “The Frozen Globe”,which should still be on the horizon. For my second year, I wrote most of the anovel called “Starspire” which I finished in another 20 days to round it out atabout 80,000.  It’s my personal record at50 days from zero to novel. 
This year, I’m going to do the reverse of last year.  By the end of October, I should have about30,000 words towards the as yet unnamed sequel to “The Last Archangel”. DuringNaNoWriMo, I will write the rest of the 50,000 words to finish the first draftof the novel by the end of November.  I’mvery excited about it. 
You may ask if with such speed you see a drop inquality.  The great thing about NaNoWriMois that you are allowed and even encouraged to do extensive planningbeforehand.  Some authors are pure “discoverywriters” and just want to see where the story takes them.  Though I do this to a point, I find that withNaNoWriMo, it is “plan or perish”. If you are going to write that many words ina single month, you need to have an  ideawhere you are headed or you might find yourself 50,000 words richer, but in thewrong direction.
So, hop on board! Visit http://www.nanowrimo.org tosign up and take part.  In the comments,let me know what you are planning to write.