Tag Archives: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo: Getting on My Crazy

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Jennifer Jensen

This is the time of year when hundreds of thousands of writers around the world, including me, get antsy.  Stories flit through our heads, a few characters decide to burrow in and stay a while, and we can’t wait for November 1st to start writing. NaNoWriMo, aka National Novel Writing Month, is a time when hundreds of thousands of writers around the world get crazy and try to write 50,000 words during the month of November.  We even manage to go to work, school, holiday gatherings, and sometimes even make a few dinners for our families! 1,667 words a day, every day, or catch up on weekends.  If, like me, you take Sundays and Thanksgiving off, it jumps to 2,000 a day.  Why drive ourselves like this?  Jaime Raintree put her thoughts into a brilliant post over on Writers in the Storm, and she not only ticked all my boxes but … Continue reading →

Posted in WRITING | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Flunking NaNoWriMo, Finding a Writing Rhythm

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Jennifer Jensen

I admit it:  I flunked NaNo this year. I had great plans of using the month to crank out a down-and-dirty rough draft of Shimmer #2.  What I discovered was that a good story (not just a large word count), necessary historical research and a 30-day deadline do not make a good combination! At about the 10,000 word mark, I discovered a resource that filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge about life in the canal construction camps of the 1830s.  Great info, but it also meant stopping to read, re-imagine and re-plot before I could move forward again.  And when local book signings and a marketing push on Mother-Daughter Book Reviews took over my brain, and NaNoWriMo went completely kaput. Sigh. On the other hand, when I was working on those 10,000 words, I discovered a great rhythm for my writing time! As many of you know, … Continue reading →

Posted in WRITING | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

NaNoWriMo and Shimmer of Time 2

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Jennifer Jensen

It’s that time of year again, when writers all over the world hunker down together and begin a new novel, with the goal of at least 50,000 words (that’s about 200 double-spaced pages) by the end of November – National Novel Writing Month.  Would you believe there were 310,000 NaNoWriMo writers last year?? I’ve “won” NaNo twice before, once finishing the majority of an adult novel, and once with a YA experiment with mixed results.  I haven’t participated since I got back from Ireland, but now I’m all set to go with the sequel to Through the Shimmer of Time (click to read an excerpt of Book 1). Jim and Hannah will be back, of course, along with a new village resident named Mr. Oppenheimer, a young Irishman named Donal, and their immigrant canal-building buddies.  Plus a nasty dude who has no name yet, and plenty of adventure and danger.  … Continue reading →

Posted in SHIMMER OF TIME, WRITING | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

BlogMash: Strong Daughters, Reading & NaNoWriMo

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Jennifer Jensen

While I’m off traveling once more (to Oregon for a visit with my mother, this time), I’ve collected some cool stuff for you to read until I manage the next installment of our Irish adventure: *** We can teach our kids to be strong and stand up for themselves, but what about when they’re facing an authority figure?  Here’s Carissa Rogers on raising strong daughters. *** Myndi Shafer shares a heartbreaking post about the repercussions of calling someone fat.  And we should all shut up and quit asking women when their is due unless they’ve announced it publicly. *** Jenny Lussier sheds some insight on where she would be without books and reading.  What would your life look like? *** For a follow-on, Pragmatic Mom (aka Mia Wenjen) has some great tips for encouraging kids to read. *** If you’re a writer considering plotting vs. flying by the seat of … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog Mashups | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

I’m B-a-a-ck! (And Setting Writing Goals)

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Jennifer Jensen

OK, writer friends, first I need to apologize.  Between the holidays, keeping my personal blog going, and taking some long trips to Oregon, not to mention my brain getting sucked away for alien study (hmm, study by aliens or study because I am one?), I haven’t posted here since before Christmas.  But thanks to a little thing called ROW80, I’m back. What the heck is ROW80? you ask.  Begun by the awesome writer Kait Nolan (check out her book Red), it’s “the writing challenge that knows you have a life.”  ROW80 stands for Round of Words in 80 Days.  You get to set writing goals, blogging goals, and whatever other goals you like (health/exercise is popular).  You check in twice a week for accountability, and if you can, you go cheer on other ROW80’ers. The whole thing lasts just less than three months, and there are four rounds per year.  … Continue reading →

Posted in ROW80 | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on I’m B-a-a-ck! (And Setting Writing Goals)