This year I’m taking a different approach to NaNoWriMo. So far I’ve been a real discovery writer, or a pantser as they say. Never made an outline in my life. However I do tend to drift and get lost in the story. Somehow there’s always more to tell…
So this year I thought I’d do it differently. I signed up for Skillshare and followed a class (or two, maybe more) and made an outline for my story. My goal is to write one story from start to finish in about 50,000 words. I don’t care how good it’s going to be, I just care that it’s written from start to finish.
–Yes you are seeing it correctly, I traded my previous B6 with my husband, because I wanted a lighter color. This Saddle tan cover somehow goes better with my mood.-
I have my B6 writer Notebook all setup for this approach. I have the NaNoWriMo insert as the first insert, but as it’s not November yet, I’m not allowed to write in this. Except perhaps for a few to-do’s that I may “accidentally” have put in it…
The second insert is a bullet journal, which I use to take notes from the classes I’m following. I’m really enjoying those classes.
One of the classes is a project based class by writer Steve Alcorn. He breaks the writing process down in several projects and gives assignments per project. As you can see my notes are not that nice and neat, mostly because I sit on the couch while watching the class video and have the notebook in my lap. Also I tend to want to write fast, so no time to fancy it all up with pretty handwriting.
I’ve made all the assignments in the past weeks and wrote it all down in the third insert, which is a random lined insert I had lying around, but has 120 pages, so I can write a lot.
I enjoyed his approach where he first starts with brainstorming the story and places a lot of emphasis on how important it is to write about something your passionate about.
Which is why I spend a good amount of time trying to figure out what is is that I like about the stories that I love to read.
The class takes you from brainstorming your story, structuring and determining act 1 through 3, creating characters and scenes, to finalizing and publishing your story.
Now I’m not there by a long shot, as November isn’t even here yet, but I did do all the classes and feel that this was particularly helpful to me.
Especially since I’m not used to working in a structured way, but rather fly by the seat of my pants…or is that a cliche and should be avoided at all cost.
I’m now putting all I wrote about my story and characters, some 44 pages, in Scrivener and am working out the rest of the outline on the index cards on the corkboard,… as you can obviously deduct from this here blogpost I’m writing.
However there’s coffee and I promised myself no more distractions after I finish writing this and just sit and outline a bit today, because what else is there to do at the weekend…
Good luck to all you NaNoWriMo-ers out there…November is nearly here. You can do it!
Have a lovely weekend,
xoxo Monique
Falcon Travelers 
You have no idea how excited this makes me. Love stationery.
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Thank you 😃 me too 😉
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Really like your set-up and enjoy reading how the NaoWriMo is going. I love the pencase and also the phone case.
Looking forward to read about your progess.
What kind of fountain pen and inkt do you use?
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Thank you Maria. I’m using a TWSBI eco with Extra fine nib and permanent brown ink. I’d have to check the brand. I do find the extra fine nib a bit scratchy, so I promised myself a new fountain pen. Though I do like how the TWSBI’s just keep writing and have this huge ink reservoir 😃
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Dear Monique,
You know what ? The most important sentence you’ve written up is :
“I don’t care how good it’s going to be, I just care that it’s written from start to finish.”
Because it is the only way to write. Only at the end, I mean as you will have “finished” you may read what you’ve written, never do it befor the END 😉
Because if you read your text before the end, you will constantly delete words, phrases so much that you will not advance in your writing.
Writing without re-reading is the secret of success.
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Thank you Anna. I’m going to take your advice to heart and not read what I’ve written. 😉 Time enough to do that after November.
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Okay Monique 🙂 good luck !
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