A NaNo Distracting

Last year I successfully completed NaNoWriMo. Although the experience was positive, and made a lasting improvement in my writing technique, I decided not to take part this year because I wanted to focus on completing existing projects. What I did not expect was that not participating would produce a noticeable reduction in my productivity. Most …

High Days and Holidays

With the rain hammering down into my garden for the third day running, my mind has naturally turned to holidays. One of the steps I took when I started to write seriously again was to create an escalating schedule of writing, moving from the hobby-like "when I feel in the mood", towards the job-like "whether …

Bathing In The After-Glower

Everyone who has submitted an essay, written a presentation, or undertaken any creative act is familiar with the feeling of failure that can come after it has left our control: a feeling of having missed out a key point, used graceless language, or forged dross. With many people having just attempted the project of writing …

NaNoEvolution

As my wife posted, we both won NaNoWriMo last month. As many of you already know I did not enter to merely write 50,000 words; I wished to pressure myself into not editing as I wrote. I am letting the draft mature before I edit so I do not know how much extra time it …

Chasing the Cheetah

With NaNoWriMo starting tomorrow I felt like sharing some suggestions for prioritising on a task when you do not have weeks to build up to it. To fit with the continuing animal theme I have called upon Cheetah for his ability to sprint. As fits the need to quickly meet a goal, each suggestion is …