Category: novels

Goodbye and Good Riddance NaNoWriMo

Well, it’s happened.

I woke up to the news this morning that NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) will be no more. They’re shutting down.

Part of me hopes this is an April Fools’ prank. Part of me feels like a weight is lifted from my shoulders.

After the controversy in 2023, and so many more issues (which you can read about here), and the mess that was early 2024, I denounced them entirely.

Ironically, 2023 was my best writing year where I finished my draft in December.

Perhaps that proved that I’m past needing external validation to write a full-length novel. Perhaps that was the first sign it was time to move on. Still, I held out hope. I hoped the admin would clean up the mess that was 2023 and give the long time users and volunteers and supporters a reason to come back and support the cause.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. After the events of 2023, I was on the fence. I’d been an ML for 8 years, NaNoWriMo was something I supported fully and at one time defended through any vitriol, but 2024 was a rough year. I wasn’t in the right headspace for any volunteering, any creative writing or creation at all. Then, before I could make the decision, all the MLs and volunteers were let go with little mention. Some of us didn’t even get an email.

I grieved NaNoWriMo just as I grieved the other handful of deaths I had in 2024. I went through all the stages of grief:

Denial (No, NaNoWriMo wouldn’t…)

Anger (How could I have not known?!)

Bargaining (Ok, NaNo is sucking right now, but they’re making positive changes. I’ll return when they’re better)

Depression (Great, another thing that’s fucked up in the world and triggering my anxiety through the roof)

and

Acceptance (Fuck ‘em).

That’s about where I am right now. Does it absolutely suck that NaNoWriMo as an organization is over? Yes.

But, at the same time, the program has done what it set out to do when it started in 1999. It had a hand in building writing communities all over the world, it helped writers find the drive to tell their stories. It proved to writers that yes you CAN write that novel.

Several writers have taken up the challenge and have amazing work to show for it. I wrote an entire series over a decade out of the 15 years I participated. I have a lot more finished novels because of NaNoWriMo.

I have a million words thanks to NaNoWriMo.

I’m thankful, but at the same time, good riddance. I hate to be blunt, but they dug their own grave with everything that happened in 2023/2024 and even way before that.

The website change in 2018/19- awful.

The increase of donation reminders over writing pep talks to help fund the website- awful.

The allegations in 2023 and the fall out into 2024- awful.

How they treated users and volunteers who only wanted answers- awful.

That being said, I hope the positives of NaNoWriMo live on. The writing community, the steadfast belief that anyone can tell a story, and the frenzied writing of a lot of crap to fertilize a beautiful future novel that the story could be.

All this toxic BS of blaming users and volunteers, ableism, and gaslighting can go.

So what do we do now?

Thankfully, from the fallout of NaNoWriMo in 2023/2024, a lot of other organizations and programs have stepped up. Plotterati, Royal Road’s Writathon, Writetrack, among several others.

Here’s a decent list. Maybe give the internet a few days to catch up. When I did my search, NaNoWriMo was still listed in most of them.

As a writer, join or make a local writing group. Keep the idea of “writing dangerously” and “by the seat of your pants” alive and well.

Donate to other writing projects, or charity.

As for me, I’m still writing. I still have a writing community.

That’s what matters most.

Keep writing. That’s all we can do.

Programs and organizations may come and go, but the writing will always be there.

 

Bre’s Writing Process Part One: Pre-Writing Notes

Over the past few months, I’ve been playing around with my writing process and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. It’s a relatively slow process with a little bit of fine-tuning here and there between every day life. I’m doing a deep dive of my process and playing around with what works and throwing out what doesn’t.

So I figured why not blog the process from start to finished project.

(Is a project ever truly finished?)

Every project I’ve started, every spark of an idea that has gone anywhere, whether finished or not, started with notes. The idea would come, wherever I was at the time, or what I was doing doesn’t matter, but writing the idea down did matter. Writing the idea down ensures I will return to it later and with any luck flesh out the idea.

Sometimes, an idea starts as a simple question like: What if?

Other times, I’ll be listening to music in the car or the shower and an idea will simply spring forth and I’ll rush to find a safe and dry space to write it down.

The last novel I finished was an experiment to see what I could emulate from one of my favorite books/movies and a deep dive of taking elements I liked and putting my own spin on it. The project turned out much better than I had hoped and expanded way past the original work. It’s been one of my favorite projects yet.

No matter what the idea, big or small, novel or short story, it all starts with a notes page in my writing program. I currently use Ulysses, but have used Google Docs in the past. The idea is still the same. I take the page with the original idea and I put all of the ideas, little scenes I can see or hear, the ideas for the ending and anything else relevant to the story for as long as it takes to feel comfortable enough to start the story.

Everything ends up in one place, one spot where all the ideas live and work out on the page. Sometimes it becomes a super loose outline where I’ll have the beginning, the end and maybe some small parts of the middle. Most of the time it’s a jumbled mess of: “I like this name” and “THIS IS THE THEME!” Or some other wild notes.

One of these days, I’ll do a greatest hits of the weird things that end up in my notes (whether while writing the piece or before)

Here’s one of my favorite notes in one of my pieces.

I’ve only started doing this process in the last 6 months or so. Before, I would start novels and pieces with such high hopes and lose traction and once again find myself in the loop of the “shiny new project” syndrome.

Looking back on a few projects before notes, perhaps they lost traction and stalled because I didn’t have enough notes or direction of where I wanted to go, or it wasn’t my idea in the first place. Someday we’ll talk about my tendency to think I can write an entire novel based on an album (but not today).

Not every small idea has enough traction to become a successful or finished idea, but most of the good ones so far have started with a notes document or an entire notebook.

 

Tools I’ve used to Write a Novel in 60 Days

I wrote a near 130K novel in 60 days from November 1st to December 30th. While it was a wild adventure and a wonderful flurry of words, I’m so happy I documented my progress day by day and took notice of what worked and what didn’t.

It was a great experience and I would definitely love to do it again (once the book hangover wears off!)

Timers

What Worked: When I started in November, I set out to find out why November is always such a good writing month and what makes it feel so magical to me. I started documenting my time, and for that, I used timers. Little bits of time, ranging from 5 to 30 minutes worked wonders. I could see how long it took me to write as many words as I needed for the day and could account for that time. I could easily tally up my writing minutes for the day and find out how long it took me to reach a goal.

What Didn’t Work: Stopwatch. The few times I used a stopwatch, usually for long periods of time during writing meeting groups, I did not like it. Something about the timer counting down pushed me to write faster. The stopwatch, I forgot about for 2 days (yes, the stopwatch on Apple Watch can run for quite a while in the background).

Verdict: I will definitely keep using timers while writing, but not a stopwatch.

Outline

What Worked: I wrote an outline before November started. The last time I wrote an outline was around 2012 or 2013 and I struggled to follow it. This is the first project I’ve outlined all the way through and didn’t go too far off the outline. The outline kept me accountable and helped me when I was interested in adding or changing things.

What didn’t Work: My outline was loose (It works better for me that way), but not written in the best order. I was pulling plot points from halfway through the outline into the first few chapters because it made sense to put it there. The plot points were not fleshed out enough in the outline, so when it got closer to the time to consult it at the end, I had to do a lot of fudgery to make sure the plot points worked and in my mind certain scenes were too long or too rushed. Easily fixable in the next drafts, but in some places the outline felt too rigid.

Verdict: I will keep using outlines, and will outline projects before I start them, especially since my next few projects (if timing works out) will be a bit more complicated.

Ulysses

What Worked: I’ve been using Ulysses for over 3 years now. I really enjoy the program (and the app) now that I’ve created a routine. I enjoy that I can create projects (a new feature I used for this novel which REALLY helped), I enjoy that I can organize a group and page however I want. I started using a page per day during NaNoWriMo 2020 and it worked really well to keep myself accountable and not get freaked out by such a large number and the WHOLE document in one place. I kept it up for the last few years and it’s nice to start with a blank page every day.

What Didn’t Work: I write a lot on my phone, and while this isn’t a bad thing, the new feature in Ulysses where it autocorrects to what it thinks you’re wanting to write was annoying as hell. The program struggles between to and so a lot, and it and to for some reason. Autocorrect would pick the stupidest replacements, even changing my main character’s name to Sandwich once. It did not help my word count, especially as I was speeding toward the end and yelling at my phone (and occasionally the computer) “NOT THAT ONE! UGH!” and going back to edit.

Verdict: Despite the obvious autocorrect issues, I like Ulysses. It’s been a great writing tool for quite a while. While I don’t agree with all the updates (looking at you predictive text), I will continue to use it for multiple projects and posts, and I am going to attempt to start a blank page every day in the next projects I’m working on this year.

Notebook with Daily Tally and Brief Summary of Writing Day

What Worked: I liked handwriting my tally down and breaking it down into minutes. It was nice to write about how writing went that day and what I wanted get done, did get done, or didn’t get done. It was nice to decompress after writing and assess patterns in my daily routine of where I could improve or where I could pull back.

What Didn’t Work: A lot of the days, I would finish my daily quota right before I fell asleep in bed and wouldn’t write in the notebook until a day or two (or 15) later. December was notorious for this, and so a lot of the little notes about how writing went weren’t entirely genuine, but the daily tallys were.

Verdict: I think I will continue this idea for big projects, like novels and maybe edits when I get there, but not for every project I write. It was fun to use a notebook and print out my cover to make the notebook fancy, but I doubt I’ll do it for every project.

60 days is the fastest I’ve ever written a first draft of a novel. I think the tools helped, but I also think if I had only had a pen and paper and the drive to tell a story, I would have still been able to write a successful story, it just would have taken me longer.

A writer’s tools can help or hinder, but I truly believe the best tool a writer can have is the determination and motivation to continue the work even when it gets hard and push through to the end.

 

Week Four Updates and Monthly Insights

Here we are in the last week (and last few days!) of November. This month has been quite the creative and productive month with writing and posting on the blog (and other places). I’ve made it through approximately 25% of my novel (I started the plot a little early- more on that later) and I technically won NaNoWriMo with 50,000 words on the 26th.

In these last few days of November, filled with attempting to continue writing my novel, finishing up some blog posts and coming up with plans for December and beyond, I’ve been fortunate to have time and drive to create.

Here’s how I did in the last week:

Day 22: 2055 in 55 minutes

Day 23: 1688 in 42 minutes

Day 24: 1676 in 45 minutes

Day 25:1720 in 40 minutes

Day 26: 1940 in 50 minutes

Day 27: 1774 in 45 minutes

Day 28:1747 in 45 minutes

Monthly Total: 55,281

Here’s what the last week (and the whole month) has taught me:

Focusing on one big project (and one smaller one) boosts word count

In previous months, I’ve attempted to focus on multiple projects at the same time and attempt to get them finished in a timely manner. When I started documenting my time this month, attempting to find the magic, I focused on one project and a few little smaller projects (such as this blog, substack and medium posts). I’ve realized focusing on one big project (like a novel) and one non-creative project, like blogging really is the key to getting things done. In the past Novembers, I’ve mainly focused on one project and done really well on that project. As November comes to a close, I hope I can continue through this novel until the first draft is complete (and of course keep posting updates and other noteworthy items on the blog!)

The first 1000 words of the day is always the hardest

I’ve come to this realization several times over my tenure as a NaNoWriMo participant. From the years that I struggled to make word counts, to the years I doubled my word count and overshot the 50K by double, one thing has stayed the same: The first 1000 words of the day are the most difficult. I’m not sure exactly why, maybe because it’s a big number to attempt to reach, or perhaps it’s all in my head, but to write for a while and only see three digits is frustrating. Everything after the 1K mark for the day comes easy.

Small sprints make big leaps

This month, I’ve tried something new and tracked my writing time religiously. I’ve only written when I have a timer going (usually 5, 10 or 15 minutes) and I don’t let anything distract me during that stretch of time (unless I’m at work and something comes up). I’ve been tracking how long it takes me to get the required word count for the day and I’ve noticed even the smallest amount of time (between 2 and 5 minutes) can make a big difference in word count. 5 minutes for me is around 250 words, which is a decent dent in the day’s count. Even when I feel like I don’t have a full 45 minutes to an hour to sit down and write, several 5 minute sprints can help reach the goal.

Writing takes a community

This realization has come to me once again post-pandemic after it was “safe” to go out in public again. I feel like growing up writing I was always doing it by myself, in the dark of my room after I was supposed to go to bed, or between classes, or on breaks at work. While there is some controversy with NaNoWriMo currently, they do have one aspect right: Writing takes a community. I’m very fortunate to have found my community in my area. I’ve been able to attend write-ins every week and find inspiration with my fellow writers, even if it’s not always in person.

See you in December for more writing updates!

 

NaNoWriMo 2023 Week One Update

Usually for NaNoWriMo, I go all out and just write with abandon (which is part of their motto), in a frantic race toward the end. This year, I’m doing something a little different.

I want to try and find out what makes November so successful for me. Is it the high of starting a new project? Is it the time spent focusing on writing and not social media or other distractions on my phone? Is it simply the magic of November?

This year, I’ve decided to track my minutes and hours written and my word count for the day. I want to know how long it takes me to reach par (1667 words) a day and how to continue something like that into 2024 and hopefully much longer than that.

Lately, writing and editing and working on every project has felt like a chore and I’m hoping to take what I learn this month in November and find the joy of writing again.

Here’s how I’ve done in the first week of NaNoWriMo and the first 16,409/50,000 of To Have a Heart.

Day One

Day one is usually always the best day of NaNoWriMo. I’ve spent the last few weeks pumping myself up to get some writing started and when midnight hits, I go without a care in the world. This year, I’m doing something different and tracking my words and the time spent writing.

I started at midnight, despite the exhaustion and got about 200 words. I kept pushing throughout the day (with timers ranging between 5 and 15 minutes). I also went to a write-in for my region.

4,549 Words in 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Day Two

Day two was a lot of world building and struggling with names. I felt like I needed to research, but pushed through and kept writing. Research is something I can do in December or when the full story is completed (which I am also hoping is in December.

1,694 words in 40 minutes

Day Three

Day three was the first day I went back to work after NaNoWriMo had started. I was fortunate to get the first two days off without asking for them and it was a great jumpstart to the novel. Day three was not the best writing day, especially with distractions from work, but it could have been worse.

2,200 words in 50 minutes.

Day Four

Day four was the first day I had off together with my husband and the writing was a bit slow to start with more distractions of spending time together and catching up after our week of work. It wasn’t the best writing day, but I did still manage to reach par (1,667). Day four was when I decided I am going to strive for par every single day of the month and get ALL the badges on the NaNoWriMo site.

1,897 words in 40 minutes.

Day Five

Day Five was a busy day and not because of writing. There was a lot of running around, thankfully all of it fun on a day off with Wine Tasting and delicious food. This was the first day I feared I wouldn’t make par, but thankfully long car trips and small breaks in between really saved the day.

1,882 in 1 hour and 12 minutes.

Day Six

Day Six was another day back at work. I always try to get started with the daily count in the morning (especially since the first few hundred words are the hardest on a new day). On day six it was a struggle. Still, I persevered and made writing a priority even though distractions were calling my name. I also started to go off outline a little because for some reason I put a crucial scene and character way down in the outline and realized I could introduce her way earlier.

2,008 words in 47 minutes

Day Seven

Day Seven was another work day, a little busier, but also a little more freedom to get writing done in a strange way. The novel is really starting to get interesting, even though I feel like I started it too early before the real plot kicks in, but world building and a day in the life of a main character still counts for words, so that will be an editing problem once draft one is finished.

2,179 words in 45 minutes.

Overall Breakdown

I timed myself for every writing session I completed for this week in order to decode the magic of November and how I fare so well when writing during NaNoWriMo. I used both my computer and my phone because I rarely sit in one place when I write.

Overall, both computer and phone time were pretty close to equal with only about an hour and a half more on the computer, which surprised me with how much time I felt like I was writing on my phone .

4.5 hours average on my computer for the week and just under 3 hours on the phone.

In just over 7.5 hours, I wrote 16,409 words, which is 33% of the goal toward 50,000.

So far, November is going really well.

I have another write-in tonight, which should be a great boost for my word count, but I think Wednesdays this month will probably be my best days. I’ve learned a lot over this week analyzing my writing habits.

Tune in next week!

 

Bre Writes Book Reviews: The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg

This is the third book by Charlie N. Holmberg that I’ve read. She is slowly becoming my favorite author, and not just from her books, but from her podcast Your Mom Writes Books and her instagram.

That being said, I struggled to get into this book for the first few chapters. There was something in the writing that felt stilted to me, felt like it was trying too hard to be written in an older dialect of English. But thankfully, as the novel went on, the language relaxed and I could enjoy it more.

There were so many small things in this novel that I absolutely loved. But one aspect that really stood out that I had to really think about how awesome it was was the different point of views. For Enna, the main character with a soul, the POV was in close first, whereas for Maekallus, his few chapters, are in distant third that gets increasingly closer as he gains more of a soul.

The relationship that grows between the two characters is perfect in so many ways. There’s an old bit of writing advice that says “If your characters have to kiss to show us they’re in love, you’re doing it wrong.” This book takes that idea and turns it on its head. The characters kiss, but the romance takes a while to develop and it gives it a fresh perspective. There’s a bigger aspect than just a hinted at romance.

I really enjoyed the character of Enna and her struggles to do the right thing all while dealing with Maekallus and his shenanigans. Their relationship was so beautiful, so moving, that it was impossible not to root for them in the end. The ending was decent as far as the action went, but as a reader of romance, I was there for the romance.

The beauty of their struggles was so well written, and so well explored from both sides.

Without many spoilers, I have to say during one of their meetings, I literally said out loud: “Get you a man that flings snakes!” And then died of laughter.

I really enjoyed the book, but there are a few things that didn’t sit quite right with me. I’m going to try and write a review where I don’t give a ton of spoilers away, but I have to talk about the missteps and the beauty of the ending.

Holmberg sets up this big problem for our two protagonists, or what seems to be this big problem and mainly the reasons why these mistings (evil beings) are called to the human realm, and then it’s solved in a way that simultaneously feels right, and yet doesn’t feel right. I know the story is supposed to be a romance, but a little more than a subtle fix with the big bad would have been nice. More of a struggle for Enna and what she had to do would have been nice too. On the other hand, I love the ending for our two protagonists, so I can’t be too mad about it.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars.

I would have liked a little more explanation of the lore of the worlds. For a good part of the book, we hear about Enna’s grandmother’s notes. I thought they would be more essential to the plot, or Enna’s father’s role in the previous war, but that wasn’t that essential either. It was a great story, but I wanted more lore, more to anchor me in the world.

I would even take a sequel that explores those things more. The world was so rich it’s practically begging for it.

What should I read next?

Finally Done: Ghost House Heart

I’ve been working on and off on Ghost House Heart since January of 2020. I’m so pleased and relieved that the first draft is finally done.

Wednesday Works: A Glimpse of the Current Week

This week, this month, writing has been difficult. April is always a harsh month with a lot of painful anniversaries, but the creativity never stops.

Here’s a little look at what I’m working on this week.

NaNoWriMo project from 2021

MAR has been dragging, but I finally have a direction and an outline.

Short Story of the Month from March

Granted, the last half of March was shitty, so I’m playing catch up. I have yet to even begin the short story for April, but there’s still enough month left.

Final Essay for Mythology class

Usually, I don’t have any issues with schoolwork, but with the craziness of March and the continued craziness in April, an essay on journeying to the underworld is especially difficult with the death anniversaries I have this month.

Several Open Projects that want to come back into play.

One of my goals when I was feeling low over the weekend was 100 words in all the open projects I have. The first time, 100 words was hard, but the last few times it has opened up the floodgates and I’m excited to work on projects again.

Bre Writes Book Reviews: February 2022

This month, I managed to read two vastly different books. One I really enjoyed and one that was not my cup of tea. As a writer, I try not to DNF any books, even though the second one I really wanted to do just that. In my opinion, even books that aren’t the best can be learning lessons, and the second book I read this month was full of them!

Without further ado, here’s what I read in February:

Spellmaker by Charlie N. Holmberg

Spellmaker is the second novel in the Spellbreaker duology. I received the first book in a Scribbler subscription box, and quite enjoyed it. I bought the second one from Amazon as soon as I finished the first book and took my time reading it.

First of all, I love the characters. I love that each of them had their own personality and their own goals and drive. It was refreshing to have a female protagonist and other female characters in the late 19th century that had agency and weren’t just rewards for the men in the novel. I enjoyed that the men in the novel were dynamic and not all cookie cutter as the hero trope.

The setting, I thought was interesting, but I feel needed a bit more explanation or a bit more use as a character. Set in England where magic is real and several different kinds of magic exist, I wish there had been a better explanation for the setting and a more in-depth view of some of the magics. There were times where I was reading and going “Man, I wish I had taken better notes,” but that might have just been me, since I do tend to read quickly.

The plot was surprisingly good for the book being a sequel. The first book had a better plot, simply because it was the first book and there was a lot of introduction and excitement in meeting the characters and watching them find and reach their goals. I’m glad this series is a duology, because there was enough plot for a second book and it was nice to see the characters grow and change from the first book. The book has one of my favorite tropes of fake relationship that’s built on the basis of a real relationship underneath, and it was done absolutely beautifully.

Rating: 4.75/5

Bonus:

Here’s how I saw some of the characters in my head. I always enjoy when I can see the characters in my mind and can hear them as they speak.

Bacchus:

Ogden:

Elsie:

The Phantom of the Bathtub by Eugenia Riley

The Phantom of the Bathtub was a book I either bought or got for free from kindle a few years ago during my Phantom of the Opera phase. Let me say it is nothing like Phantom of the Opera except they share the word Phantom in the title.

I honestly expected a lot more from this book. The back blurb mentioned werewolves, ghosts and haunted houses, but it was very watered down and skimmed over in place of the romance and kissing ass to fit in with high society. I expected a lot more from this book, and I kept reading hoping to find it, but sadly the ending didn’t sit right with me at all. It felt forced and over rushed.

The characters were mainly caricatures of people one would expect to find in the south during the late 19th century, overplayed and underdeveloped. The setting of Savannah, Georgia was never really truly explored and used as a character itself. The ghosts were not as prominent as I would have liked and barely enough of a plot point to make a difference. There were plenty of erotic scenes, but even those were lackluster and made the characters even more wishy-washy. The ending was forced for a “happy ending” with little explanation.

This book was not my cup of tea, and I was honestly glad to finish it, but in reading it I noticed things I can improve upon in my own works, so for that I am thankful.

Rating: 1/5

Bonus:

How I saw some of the characters.

Maxwell:

Aubrey:

Viveca:

Stay tuned for what I’m reading next!