Writers in the Storm

NaNoWriMo, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is National Novel Writing Month, where hundreds of thousands of writers gather to bang out many many words in a month. Many writers skip it and many writers treat it as a yearly pilgrimage to Writing Mecca.

NaNoWriMo is my birthday present to myself each year. Every year, I love it. And every year, I hate it...there's simply too much to do in the tiny little month of November. Why isn't it in January? There's nothing going on then.

I tend to arrive at December 1st a little bit out of breath. And still, I love NaNo.

I love the community, the late-night writing sprints, the before and after parties my local team throws. I love the write-ins, the pep talks, the excitement and uploading my word count. I adore getting the chance to encourage my peeps and watch everyone chase their goals.

Whether you're gearing up for NaNoWriMo or not, I wish you luck in your writing goals this month.

If you're feeling the push to "Go 50K or Bust" you are going to love browsing the new website at https://nanowrimo.org/ . They have totally upped their game over there!

The pep talks are still there, under Writer's Resources in the main menu, but there is also a "NaNo Prep" section that is amazeballs. It is like a mini-NaNoWriMo online class.

Seriously. They now have a NaNo Prep Handbook. Yowza! (Where was that thing 10 years ago when I started?)

So far I've spotted:

• Targeted forum discussions with a schedule. Although we missed most of that, you can still go browse the threads.

The Course Outline

1. Develop a Story Idea (September 9-13)
2. Create Complex Characters (September 16-20)
3. Construct a Detailed Plot or Outline (September 23-27)
4. Build a Strong World (September 30 – October 4)
5. Organize Your Life for Writing! (October 7-11)
6. Find and Manage Your Time (October 14-18)

• There's also exercises to complete
• Social accounts to follow
• Progress stickers and writing buddy contracts
• Webinars to listen to
• A "somewhat binding magical contract
• Blog posts - my fave so far is 20 Questions to Ask Yourself When World Building.

And my favorite...an infographic on "caring for a NaNoWriMo writer" - found here.

I told you. Upped. Their. Game. Even if you don't do NaNo, I recommend that NaNo Prep 101 page. The only thing I miss on the new site is the old "Writing Sprints Timer." So far, I haven't found those but I've sent in a Help Desk question. Here's a list of Word Sprint tools...even though the NaNo one doesn't work anymore. *sob*

But let's not forget about those tips, for all of you who love lists.

Behold...the NaNo Team's "Tips for Successful WriMos"

1. It’s okay to not know what you’re doing. Really. You’ve read a lot of novels, so you’re completely up to the challenge of writing one. (Yes, you can laugh at that.)

2. If you feel more comfortable outlining your story ahead of time, do it! But it’s also fine to just wing it.

3. Write every day, and a book-worthy story will appear, even if you’re not sure what that story might be right now.

4. Do not edit as you go. Editing is for December and beyond. Think of November as an experiment in pure output.

5. Even if it’s hard at first, leave ugly prose and poorly written passages on the page to be cleaned up later. Your inner editor will be very grumpy about this, but your inner editor is a nitpicky jerk who foolishly believes that it is possible to write a brilliant first draft if you write it slowly enough. It isn’t.

6. Every book you’ve ever loved started out as a beautifully flawed first draft. In November, embrace imperfection and see where it takes you.

7. Tell everyone you know that you’re writing a novel in November. This will pay big dividends in Week Two, when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who’ve had to hear about your novel for the past month.

8. Seriously. The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse.

9. There will be times you’ll want to quit during November. This is okay. Everyone who wins NaNoWriMo wanted to quit at some point in November. Stick it out. See it through.

Above are the NaNo team's words. They have them squinched together into just a few tips, but I spread it out. All this wisdom needs to be heard. (There's years of writing pep talks here.)

Now, for #10, which comes to you from the always-awesome Chuck Wendig.

10. Two-for-one on writing advice - Write and Finish.

Writing requires writing.
Writing requires finishing.

That advice is harder than it looks. As always, I love the way he puts it:

"It helps to look at your NaNoWriMo novel as the zero draft — it has a beginning, it has an ending, it has a whole lot of something in the middle. The puzzle pieces are all on the table and, at the very least, you’ve got an image starting to come together (“is that a dolphin riding side-saddle on a mechanical warhorse through a hail of lasers?”).

"But the zero draft isn’t done cooking. A proper first draft awaits. A first draft that will see more meat slapped onto those exposed bones, taking your word count into more realistic territory."

Now, before I jump down to visit with y'all in the comments, I'd like to address the dreaded phenomenon of the Week Two Wall in the NaNo challenge.

This is that spooky time when the initial endorphins have faded and the grind of the 1,667 words-a-day writing schedule sets in. When the shiny has worn right off our fabulous idea. Words like "can't," "shouldn't," and "haven't" begin to rear their ugly heads. 

We all hate those words, whether we're doing a writing challenge or not. So before NaNo starts, I'd like to chat about what I consider to be a NaNo "win":

• Your very best = a NaNo win
• Achieving your goal numbers = a NaNo win (ex: my goal this month is 30K, not 50K)
• Finishing a project = a NaNo win
• Forming amazing writing habits = a NaNo win

I think people get twitchy about some things that don't matter during the month of November. You've seen this fabulous cartoon from InkyGirl, right?

NaNo should be fun.

The only word count that matters is YOURS. So, go forth and write your story. Enjoy the hell out of it...that's what NaNoWriMo is all about.

Do you participate in writing challenges? Do you do NaNoWriMo? For my WriMo pals, what do you do in advance of November to get ready?

*  *  *  *  *  *

About Jenny Hansen

By day, Jenny provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction and short stories. After 18 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter at JennyHansenCA or at Writers In The Storm.

by Julie Glover

The last time I was here, I addressed introversion and extroversion and how they relate to whether we're more likely to plot our novel or write by the seat of our pants.

Given the great feedback on that post, I want to continue looking into how the personality traits identified by the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator (MBTI) may impact our writing process.

What's the MBTI?

Just a quick reminder that the MBTI is a thoroughly researched and often used measure that describes personality on the continua of four dichotomies.

The result of the MBTI is a 4-letter code with a description of that personality type. For instance, an INFP (like me) is Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving. If you want to know your own code, I highly recommended taking the MBTI itself, as it's the best gauge.

However, you can find a rough version to provide your 4-letter personality type at Human Metrics.

Can the MBTI predict writing process?

The short answer is I don't know. While there are theories and plenty of articles suggesting a link, firm research on this question wasn't readily available. (Despite clicking through many pages of Google results.)

However, having studied and administered the MBTI, the most promising connection could be on the last continuum — judging versus perceiving.

Our common definition of judging and perceiving is not what the test's authors mean. Rather, Judging-Perceiving here describes the structure you use when dealing with the outer world. Essentially, do you prefer to get thing decided and done? Or do you like to leave things open-ended?

The Myers-Briggs Foundation lists this characteristics as identifying Judgers and Perceivers:

Given those descriptions, one might easily surmise that Judgers would be more likely plotters and Perceivers would be more likely pantsers.

What do y'all think?

Again, through the wonder of social media, I posted a question on Facebook to find out if this theory had any support.

I didn't receive nearly as many responses this time, perhaps because I was late getting the question up. But I also suspect that, while many people know whether they're introverts or extraverts, fewer know their J-P designation. In total, I only had 18 responses to work with—hardly a statistical sample.

At this point, the information is anecdotal, but it's still interesting in that there was an imbalance. Judgers tended to be plotters, while Perceivers tended to be pantsers.

My Survey Results

	Judger	Perceiver
Plotter	7	3
Pantser	1	7

Obviously, more data is needed! I'd love to hear from y'all in the comments.

Does personality play into writing process?

As I've been looking at theories on personality type and writing process, most of it is conjecture. Which is little surprise, since not only are the four dichomoties of the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator on continua, but the whole plotter versus pantser question lies on a continuum as well.

Moreover, what do those terms even mean? Two people who do the exact same thing — for example, outline plot points then free-write each chapter — might differ, with one saying plotter and the other saying pantser. Where you fall on the continuum is largely self-defined. And that's not even addressing other monikers like plontser, plantser, quilter, puzzler, and more.

Even so, I believe personality is a factor. Though maybe the better indication is the whole 4-letter personality type. Perhaps it's ESFPs who are fairly certain pantsers while INTJs are likely plotters, with a lot of good guessing in between.

Since I'm super-curious, I'm hoping to launch an informal study soon to see what connection, if any, there really is between personality type and writing process. If a strong correlation exists, that data could be particularly helpful to writing rookies or experienced-but-frustrated writers who would benefit from changing their approach.

Meanwhile, are you a Judger or a Perceiver? Are you more of a plotter or a pantser? Do you think those are connected?

About Julie

A long time ago, Julie Glover administered the MBTI in her master's degree internship. While still a fan of personality type, she now writes cozy mysteries, supernatural suspense, and young adult fiction. Be sure to check out Muse Island series, which begins with Mark of the Gods.

While Julie is a perceiver/pantser, her co-writer is more judger/plotter. But they still work well together!

by John Peragine

One of the hardest things to do as a writer is to be organized and business-minded. We want to live within our worlds of fantasy and dare anyone or anything to break us away.

I am one of the lucky few who can say that their day job is writing. It is also my midnight job, my weekend job, my holiday job and my I’m-going-to-be-late-to-dinner-downstairs job.

I write non-fiction, fiction, and articles. A while back I realized that to be successful at writing, I needed a plan and a schedule. Not only for my writing, but for everything else that's part of being a successful writer (that I often procrastinated with).

Writing without a plan for publishing in some form is journaling. It is for your eyes only, equal to keeping those private words locked in a diary stuck under a loose floorboard.

But what if you want to see your work out in the world, have fans, and (hopefully) get paid for it?

I've found no magical formula where publishing and marketing your writing does not take time and effort. The trick is where to spend your time and resources.

Do you post on social media?
Do you write query letters?
Do you network and meet people?
What is the one best way to get your work out into the world?

[That last one is a trick question because there is no “one” way.]

It takes a myriad of cogs and wheels working together. Your job as the writer is to add quality parts, and to keep those parts oiled and maintained daily. Writing is a long game, where progress takes place over time.

Patience and diligence are the keys to a successful writing career.

Below are my Six Daily Activities to build a solid building career.

1. Write.

It seems simple, but writing often gets slotted in after laundry, floor scrubbing, and cleaning the duct work. I joke with my clients that the difference between them and a published author is that the published author finished their book.

Find the right time of day and just write. Some people do better with word count or time goals.

2. Network.

I spend time every day meeting new people or connecting with my sphere of influence. I make sure I keep in touch with the people I enjoy working with. This includes authors, agents, editors, artists, people in the publishing industry, and more. This is done via phone, email, snail mail, or in person.

These connections are vital, not only for your business but for your mental health. It can be lonely, frustrating, and even depressing to be holed up writing day after day. Connecting with other human beings in a meaningful way is important. I network for at least an hour every day in some fashion.

3. Connect with the world.

After I have connected with my sphere of influence, I step out into a larger sphere through the Internet. I blog, write articles, and get on social media. It can be a trap, and so I limit myself, and I have a daily plan of what I want to say and where.

This is how you build your sphere of influence with new people, connect with others you don’t talk to you as often, and also flex your writing skills for others to enjoy. You can let people know what you are up to, and give them the opportunity to see your work.

4. Query people.

I am always looking for the next opportunity. Writing is a numbers game. The more you query, the better your chances of being published.

Look for opportunities from your sphere of influence. I spend at least half an hour a day, sometimes more doing this activity. This can also include creating and signing contracts, or looking for opportunities to present at conferences.

5. Building your writing business.

This time includes activities like working on a website, or social media profiles. I order business cards and look for other swag that I can take to events and making sure my information is up to date, including a current bio and headshot. Old material or pictures that no longer look or sound like you are not effective.

I spend about a half-hour a day on this task.

6. Organize.

Every morning I review my calendar and lists of things I want to accomplish for the day, week and month. I create goals for myself. I used to use a lot of slips of paper, but more recently I have organized myself by using my iPad and Apple Pencil. This way I can keep all my materials in one place. I spend about twenty minutes on organizing.

Setting goals and achieving them is important, and they are more likely to happen if you write them down. If you do the math, you realize these activities take 2-3 hours a day. But it is a business and your career is worth it. Commit the time, and the opportunities in your writing career will blossom.

What habits have helped your writing success? Are there things you tried that proved unsuccessful? Please share your experience down in the comments!

Hey, WITS Friends! John is a new member of the Writers in the Storm team and we are excited to have him. Please say hello to him down in the comments! Although he lives in the Midwest, he will be with me (Jenny) on the West Coast later this month when he presents two workshops at the Writer's Digest Novel Writing Conference (Oct 24-27). We hope to see you there!

About John

John Peragine has published 14 books and ghostwritten more than 100 others. He is a contributor for HuffPost, Reuters, and The Today Show. He covered the John Edwards trial exclusively for Bloomberg News and The New York Times. He has written for Wine Enthusiast, Grapevine Magazine, Realtor.com, WineMaker magazine, and Writer's Digest.

John began writing professionally in 2007, after working 13 years in social work and as the piccolo player for the Western Piedmont Symphony for over 25 years. Peragine is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. His newest book, The No Frills Guide to Book Marketing, will be released in Summer 2020.