Category: National Novel Writing Year

My Best Writing Year Ever: How I Did It

December 25th, 2012

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

December 13th, 2011

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 30^th,the next year I hit the goal on the 25^th, and this year I took ahuge leap forward in finishing on the 17^th.

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.

Category: National Novel Writing Year

My Best Writing Year Ever: How I Did It

Raising the Stakes on NaNoWriMo