 Noticing Newbies: October 30, 2013 Issue [#5971] |
  Noticing Newbies
This week: Are you ready for NaNoWriMo? Edited by: Tornado Dodger  
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Five ways to survive National Novel Writer's Month:
 Instead of stopping to do research when you need to know a certain fact, some writers say to use “TK” as it doesn’t appear in a lot of American words and will be easier to search in a completed document. However, there are other letter combinations or even symbols that would be easier and would make a search for editing after NaNo is over. Some NaNo writers choose “XX” or “@@”. Whatever you choose it will help you keep writing and not lose your rhythm. Even if you’re choosing to write your novel longhand (do people still do that?) then it’s still a valid idea.
The most important thing is to stay writing. Sometimes changing up your normal routine can make a huge difference. When in doubt, try writing in a different location, or at different times of the day. Some writers may even benefit from writing longhand like I mentioned above. When you’re done, you will have to manually count your words though, which could be a turn off to many authors. Above all, get comfortable, the right temperature, even the right scent in the air just might be the key.
Limit distractions. This is a no-brainer for most writers. If you want to keep your focus, that means no Facebook, no Twitter, and for some, no internet at all. However, I can’t say that’s entirely what I’d choose. There are reasons to stay connected and the top reason for me is – autosave. Many programs and some applications will allow you to automatically save your work to your hard drive or even to a cloud server. Don’t underestimate this tool when you’re doing something as time intensive as NaNoWriMo. There are many programs that take the no distraction rule to a new height. Apple owners have programs like OmniWriter, Pages, and WriteRoom. Windows users have DarkRoom (which is a fave of mine) or even GoogleDocs or ZohoDocs. The latest application I have heard of is “My Writing Nook” which is a minimalist word processor like the rest but goes one step further by including a word counter, a dictionary, and a thesaurus while integrating with your Google account. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.
Speaking of thesaurus’ yes, I know Stephen King doesn’t like them, but he didn’t say anything about dictionaries. I love using a thesaurus for inspiration, for swapping words out and fleshing out a description especially when writing poetry. Sometimes you just know THAT word isn’t the right one. You could sit there and think about it for 30 minutes and come up with a substitute or you can pop up VisuWords – the online graphical dictionary and find a handful of words within seconds. It’s like a thesaurus but better.
Motivation is more important than you think. You may not want to even think about writing someone else besides your novel but consider a couple ways to keep in touch with other authors. Writing a short entry in a blog or even making a Twitter post to let your friends know where you’re at, if you had a good writing day or bad, can make a huge difference. How you say? Comments and encouragement can come in many different ways. You’ll soon find you look forward to it and it can motivate you to get back on that bike and peddle when you’ve gotten a little behind.
Write and Review on! ~ Brooke
 Check out this book about how to survive NaNoWriMo.
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[Related Links] 
This month's links are items related to National Novel Writing Month.
 "The WDC NanoLounge" by The StoryMaster 
A nano place to chat about NanoWrimo 2013...
 "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor
NaNoWriMo cnotes of encouragement, motivation and a bit of humour to spice up November!
 80% of proceeds of the c-notes above go to " NaNoWriMo Write-A-Thon"
 "NaNoWriMo Plus" by Dawn Embers 
A writing group inspired by NaNoWriMo with monthly goals.
[This is a group for people who would like to take part in National Novel Writing Month but don't want to follow all of the rules.]
 "NaNoWriMo Write-A-Thon" by Jeff 
A NaNoWriMo fundraiser... compete as a NaNo writer or donate by sponsoring one!
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