It’s been a NaNoWriMo balancing act this week here at More Cowbell so this check-in post is a teensy bit late.
On the upside, we’ve had two posts to help you get ready for NaNo already this week.
- Monday’s post was about underpants, and I seriously doubt it will help you with NaNoWriMo. Maybe you’ll surprise me.
- But Tuesday’s post (Writing Lessons From The Late Great Stephen J Cannell) broke down 3-Act structure in easy to understand form.
- Wednesday’s post (4 Steps For Organizing Plot Ideas Into a Novel) was specifically to help those of us trying to organize ourselves to complete a 50,000 word first draft into something cohesive and saleable. Jody Hedland gave us this golden gem and it’s definitely worth a read. 🙂
Last but not least, have you voted in the Rock The ROW Twitter Party Photo Competition? Hurry up! I’m turning the results in to Kait by Friday morning.
On the downside, I’m late in posting my goals and progress!
Goals
- Finish NaNoWriMo with at least 25,000 words on my WIP. That should be enough to finish the first draft of the high-risk pregnancy memoir.
- Continue to post my regular features – More Cowbell Monday, Techie Tuesday, Thoughty Thursday, Lovin’/Life List Friday and Risky Baby Business on Saturdays. Plus I want to check-in once a week at least for ROW80.
- I want to continue to comment on at least two new people everytime I check in for ROW80 – I’ve met some great peeps this way!
Progress
- I’m meeting my blog goals and still having a great time. The More Cowbell posse of commenters continues to make me laugh every day.
- I’ve been reading posts like the ones listed above as well as anything on structure in an effort to get ready for NaNo. My favorites are listed below the progress section.
- I’m trying to get more active on Facebook. It’s really not my favorite platform, but I’m trying. 🙂
- I did my first timed sprint today with K.B. Owen and it ROCKED. We both felt like we made progress. 40-45 minutes seems like the perfect amount of time for a sprint. I’ve also lined up Lena Corazon for some late-night sprints in the coming weeks. So exciting!
- Last but not least, I’m trying to get two weeks ahead on my blog in anticipation of a busy November. It’s NaNo, my birthday AND Thanksgiving. Oh my.
Hopefully your writing is going well this week. I’m going to take time tomorrow to read through the LinkyTool posts. Here are the posts I’ve found the most helpful for NaNoWriMo planning:
- Jody Hedlund made my day today with her 4 Steps For Organizing Plot Ideas Into a Novel. The character worksheets are amazing.
- Larry Brooks at StoryFix has a 31 day series for October called Nail Your NaNoWriMo. I’ve linked to post #1 – as of today he’s on post #19. If you are a writer who’s considering the NaNoWriMo challenge, run to StoryFix and catch up these posts.
- Any of Kristen Lamb’s posts about structure. She gives wonderful advice to keep you on track.
If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, have you been to the website yet? Have you set up your NaNo profile? Have you revised your ROW80 goals? Found a ROWBro or ROWSis to help you be accountable? Enquiring minds always want to know here at More Cowbell. 🙂
As always, thanks for your support. Team ROW80 ROCKS!!!
Jenny
REMINDER: Don’t forget…this Friday is Life List Friday and there’s gonna be a blog hop of major proportions. I heard a rumor that Sonia Madeiros is doing a hilarious post for y’all. Stay tuned!
Jenny Hansen's Blog 
Great progress Jenny! Adding in the timed sprints is a cool change. I don’t regularly do those, but see how it can kick out some focused words in a short period of time. I also like your preparing ahead for the crazy buzy time of November. Good stuff. Now I’m off to lace up my shoes for a cross-country dash to your place since I hear November will be birthday party time. 🙂
LikeLike
WOOT, beach party with Barbara!!! It’s November 10th if you’d like a deadline for your timed running sprint. 🙂
LikeLike
I love doing sprints. They are like my thing, much easier for me as I found out during Round 3. Looking forward to Kait’s post of the winners of ROCK the ROW. I’ve also been looking over Storyflix even though I’m not participating in NaNo. I think I do the sidelines thing for this November.
LikeLike
Oh, sprints are awesome. That’s why I love #1k1hr on Twitter … it’s timed and a lot of writers jump in … you get “competition” and meet new writers 😉
I’m still unsure about NaNo, but I’ll let you know if I go for it, so we can be writing buddies!
LikeLike
Hey, Jenny! Thanks for the sprint shout out (check your sp, btw). It was great! At least I got words down on the digital page. They could be crap, but hey, I’m just happy to see black letters blinking at me. 🙂
You rock! Oh, and by the way, here’s a link to Thurber’s “The Macbeth Murder Mystery”: http://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/anthro/jbeatty/COURSES/Macbeth/thurber.htm
I think you’ll get a kick out of it!
Kathy
LikeLike
Thanks for the typo catch! And ooooooooh, the link! Totally excited about it.
And I’m sure your sprint stuff is brilliant. At least it’s OUT. That’s what I struggle with. You keep at it girlfriend.
LikeLike
Sounds like you’ve had great progress. I haven’t been keeping up with my social media as well this week so I can relate. I’m not doing NaNo but suspect the energy will hit me or at least I hope so 😀 Good luck with the rest of your week!
LikeLike
Fantastic progress, Jenny! I feel you on the Facebook front — ever since they made all those changes in September, I’ve been less-than-keen on using it (and I’ve been on FB since 2005). However, it seems to be the best venue for the WANA1011 class to hangout, so I’ll be on there more often.
You have so many wonderful things to look forward to in November! I’ve been outlining my NaNo tale — apparently my princess protag is going to get kidnapped by wild northmen at the end of Act 2, and I need to figure out a way to get her free. Also, EmWantsToWrite and I are starting up a NaNo support group that we just kicked off, so I’m crazy excited about that (have you met Em yet? She is an avid ROWer and a lovely person). I’m putting together a mashup of awesome NaNoWriMo/writing related posts, too, so Jody’s guest post from yesterday is totally going to be on it.
Looking forward to our sprints!
LikeLike
My God, Woman, when do you find time to even wash your undies with all the writing you’ll be doing?! LOL I’m impressed and eagerly looking forward to the LLC posts and NaNo updates on your progress and projects. Looking forward to hosting you at my place tomorrow! Please wear your leopard pants!!! I do have some snakeskin shoes.
LikeLike
You know I DO have some sassy leopard print pants. I wish I’d taken a picture just of them. Hmmmm, I’ll have to dig. 🙂
LikeLike
Facebook has actually lost some of its glam with me now that I am all lustful with Twitter…LOL!!!
I think you are kicking ass and taking names with your goals. Rocking!! You are a writing and blogging maniac and I love how far you’ve come. And writing sprints – how cool – never heard of them before. I always learn something new when I visit here. Uberlicious!
I adore your goal to comment on two new people everytime you check in for ROW80. That is a fantastic idea to encourage and support others and to make new, great friends. Nicely done classy lady!
LikeLike
Thanks, Natalie…back atcha on the classy lady bit. It helps so much to have people to cheer for and also people who cheer me. It keeps the excitement going a bit more for me.
On the timed front, I learned that this is what works best for me during the last round of ROW80. Word count just kind of freaked me out, especially if I didn’t make it. But in a sprint, I can usually crank out 3-4 pages. If you get really into it, you’ll keep typing after the hour is up. It’s magic. 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: ROW80 – Round 4 – Check-in #6 – Natalie Hartford
Good luck with all your NaNo preps and getting ahead on blog writing. I chickened out of NaNo this year (and my WIP doesn’t really work since I’m co-authoring and wait between chapters), but I’ll be pulling for all you wonderful ROW80 lovelies who are taking it on!
LikeLike