Tag: instawrimo

October Results and November Goals

Another month has come and passed and more goals have been attempted and achieved. October has been fun and I am excited for all the progress I’ve made. Here’s how I did on my goals for October:

October Results

Instawrimo

Instawrimo went very well this year. It was wonderful to get reacquainted with instagram and do something out of the ordinary. I’m used to writing, and keeping to myself for the most part, but it was nice to expand my creative horizons and share more of myself with the world. You can see my progress in Instawrimo (here)

Inktober

Inktober was quite interesting this year. I doodled and created. As hectic as this month was, doodling was so calming, it made me want to continue and reduce my stress further. In the past few years I have played around with making a social media for my doodles, and so I finally did. You can see my progress from Inktober (here).

NaNoWriMo Preparation

Preparation for NaNoWriMo went rather well this year. I found which direction I wanted to go, and for a lot of the days it felt like something new came up and helped get the story into place. I am so excited to finally start writing something new in November. Hopefully this will be something I can finish in a relatively speedy manner.

Finish an Original Novel

I wrote quite a lot in October. I chugged away every day on my original novel that’s been patient while I shove it to the side to work on other things. While it wasn’t necessarily the writing progress I wanted, I still managed to make a lot of progress. Now I feel more confident in my ability to finish the novel (hopefully in December!). I have finally reached the fun part, just in time to put it away and start something new.

In October, I started a new instagram for my doodles. I also completed my Shakespeare class (Thank Goodness!) and started a new class in my Bachelor’s program. At my job, I have been given more responsibilities, which is nice, but also makes writing and creating harder some days. Still, my job makes me happier than I was at the previous place so I am in no way complaining.

In October, I also found out I placed second in the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Contest and the joy was such a relief after a difficult work week. Unfortunately, I did not get to compete in round 3 of the competition, but I will definitely take the win. There’s always next year!

Word Count: 11,347

November Goals

NaNoWriMo

This year for NaNoWriMo I am writing a sequel to a novel I finished in 2019. I loved writing the first book, but a lot of plot points got shoved into the last few chapters. I realized a sequel would be the perfect remedy, so that’s what I’m writing this year. You can see all the details I have so far (here).

Doodle More

Last Month, during Inktober, I really enjoyed doodling and making something with my hands. Writing is an interesting hobby because for most of the time it’s looking at a screen and typing but having nothing truly physical to show for it. There are times that I feel like I really want to make something with my hands, so I’m hoping doodling will cure that itch and help me to stress less.

What I Learned Doing a 30 Day Challenge on Instagram

The internet is full of people and ideas and social media platforms. There are hundreds and hundreds of posting challenges happening at any time.

In September, I participated in Instawrimo. Instawrimo is a thirty day posting challenge on Instagram for getting prepared for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Here’s what I learned over the last 30 days.

1. Be Prepared

This may seem obvious, but if I hadn’t been prepared with some ideas before the challenge started, there would be some days that didn’t get done. For most days, I had at least a general plan, but sometimes it ended up not working out.

There were some days that I had no plan at all and got to fly by the seat of my pants to post anything.

Some days, the plan changed entirely, but it all worked out. I was able to post all 30 days on time.

2. Formatting is Huge

Because the challenge is on Instagram, and they are mainly photo based, the size of the photos played a huge part in what I could post and what I couldn’t. Thanks to Google, I have every single photo I have ever taken or downloaded since about 2014. Some of them, transfering over several devices, or due to the sheer download size, wouldn’t fit in the instagram design effectively. I had to use several back ups when the picture was too big, or it didn’t post correctly.

3. Flexibility Can Save the Day

The prompt list was very open, with several days of the prompts being interpreted different by different users. There were days that I looked at the prompts and had a brief panic and had to think outside the box. I will admit, there are several days that I waited until later in the afternoon and looked up what others had done first.

4. A Healthy Dose of Fear Helps

Before I started this challenge, I probably posted original content on my instagram like once in a blue moon. The last post before the 30 day challenge was from February of 2018. I was terrified nearly every day before I posted, some days more than others, but I did it anyway. It was a huge confidence boost to just post and then to have people respond was even better.

5. Continuous Posting (the right way) Helps You Get Seen.

I have to say, what I most enjoyed about this challenge is that it was only once a day for 30 days. It was an easy 10 to 20 minutes a day for one post, but by the end of the month, I had 30 new posts and a lot more content than I had before. It helped me get more followers, helped me make new connections and even better, there was no spamming involved.

The Bottom Line:

Participating in a 30 day challenge was fun and informative and I’m looking forward to continuing to post and continue to build my social media presence.

If you’re interested in what I posted for the prompts, you can find the first one here.

September Results and October Plans

Here we are at the end of another month already.
September Results

September has been very interesting for writing. I haven’t really focused on all the projects I said I would be working on a few months ago, but sometimes that’s how it goes.

The Kiss: 23849

Inktober prep: 339

Blog: 1017

Total:

25205

Other things I’ve worked on that aren’t exactly writing, but are related.

Instawrimo Challenge: For the first time in a monthly challenge that isn’t NaNoWriMo, I finally managed to complete 30 days of posts over on Instagram. There will be a post on all of the fun I had with that later.

Attended a Writing Conference: At the end of September I was lucky enough to attend the Central Coast Writer’s Conference. Being the first conference I have ever been to, it was everything I hoped for and more. I would highly recommend if you are a writer and want to do something to kick your writing into gear, go to a conference near you. There is something just so inspiring about being there with other writers who have started out where I am now. Keep an eye out for several posts on that later in this upcoming month.
October Goals

There is still a part of me that can’t believe that October is already here. But it is here, and ever fleeting. Before we know it the year will be up. I have some goals to smash, so here they are.

Finish The Kiss: There is still about 30% left to write and my plan is to finish in October before I start a new project in November.

Inktober (Writer Edition): This will be the third year I attempt Inktober, but this year will be a little different. Thankfully (especially since I am not an artist) someone on instagram came up with a writing edition for Inktober. So I will be writing a 50 word story and posting a doodle (Because it’s a challenge, right?)

Edits: I’ve spent so long writing over these past few years that I have a huge backlog of things to edit. With this year’s project for NaNoWriMo being the mirror to the first book of my series, and so close to the end. It’s really time to start editing it and getting it out there for publication. I got so much inspiration from the writing conference and I’m feeding off of that to push myself forward to do things that will get my work out there and published.

August Results and September Plans

August Results

August has been a very interesting month for writing. I’ve been distracted by a fewcthins here and there and working on a few projects that have been super fun this month.

  • The Kiss: 25737
  • Seven short pieces for Hidge Week (You can start with Day One): 3507
  • LE poetry (Winter Here): 40
  • Fanfiction: 2890

Total: 32174

This month was fun for writing and continuing my goals for writing at least a few words daily. I wrote every single day of August. There was one day I ended up writing 3 words. Other days I was able to write 3,000. It all depended on the day and what ended up popping up to distract me.

September Plans

September is quickly approaching and that means fall is on the way! With the seasons changing that means November (and NaNoWriMo) is on the way.

Here are my plans for September:

  • Getting things planned and organizing events for NaNoWriMo in my area.
  • Participating in Instawrimo on Instagram
  • Finishing The Kiss
  • Attending my first writing conference ever at the Central Coast Writer’s Conference.

September is going to be fun!