Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Microsoft Excel word-counting spreadsheet for NaNoWriMo

Erik Benson's spreadsheet is terrific.

He says:

"The NaNo Report Card works by taking the total word count for your novel and the number of hours spent writing each day, and giving you back a slew of charts, graphs, and colorful numbers about how much you've written today versus yesterday, and the number of words per hour, percent complete, and estimated complete date. It also sets word count goals that you can use to hit a Nov. 30 completion date. Missing a day of writing doesn't seem as futile because the spreadsheet will tell you that you just need to write a little more each day rather than try to write twice as much tomorrow. I think it helps prevent your brain from declaring doom too early. "

Here's the link. When you get to the page, scroll down until you see Erik Benson's question, and you'll find the download link.

Plan your novel with the Snowflake Process

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. How exciting!

If you haven't signed up for November's novel-writing marathon, go and do it now. You'll have lots of support to help you, and most amazing of all, you'll have 50K bright new words to work with on November 30.

I'm spending a little time today reading through the notes for my new novel, and nutting out a few scenes so that I'm ready to start tomorrow morning. On good days, I can write a thousands words an hour, but the first few days will be the hardest, because they always are. When you start a novel, you don't know the characters, the plot (what plot?!) is just a hazy idea and a series of What If?? questions. So the first week will be a struggle, but by the end of it, the words will flow more easily.

If you've never written a novel before, try Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Process. It's succinct, and it gives you a way to structure and think about your novel that works.

Randy says:

"That's how you design a novel -- you start small, then build stuff up until it looks like a story. Part of this is creative work, and I can't teach you how to do that. Not here, anyway. But part of the work is just managing your creativity -- getting it organized into a well-structured novel. That's what I'd like to teach you here."

However, don't forget that the aim is just to get 50K words written. You'll be a different person at the end of November than you are right now, you'll be a novelist. :-)

I'll be writing along with you, so check in regularly for ideas and inspiration throughout the next month.

When you're writing, there's always a solution

I'm happily back writing fiction again, for the first time in over 20 years.

A lot's changed in my attitude toward writing in that time. I still suffer creative anxiety, even now, but it's not like those early days, when my hands shook when I put my fingers on the keyboard of my big green Olivetti golfball typewriter. Yes, typewriter, I didn’t get an Apple IIe computer until 1981.:-)

The biggest change is that I know that whatever the problem in your writing happens to be, there's always a solution, and you get to that solution by writing. A lot. You get the best results by keeping your fingers on the keyboard, and tapping the keys. Talk to yourself on paper about your work. You'll be pleased with the results. David Morrell discusses this in his book --- see the What I'm Reading list on the left.

Write 400 words a day

Great advice from the inimitable Terry Pratchett:

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"1) Watch everything, read everything, and especially read outside your subject -- you should be importing, not recycling.

2) Use a word processor... why do I feel this is not unnecessary advice here? It makes everything mutable. It's better for the ego. And you can play games when all else fails.

3) Write. For more than three years I wrote more than 400 words every day. I mean, every calendar day. If for some reason, in those pre-portable days, I couldn't get to a keyboard, I wrote hard the previous night and caught up the following day, and if it ever seemed that it was easy to do the average I upped the average. I also did a hell of a lot of editing afterwards but the point was there was something there to edit. I had a more than full-time job as well. I hate to say this, but most of the successful (well, okay... rich) authors I know seem to put 'application' around the top of the list of How-to-do-its. Tough but true."

-------Terry Pratchett on writing.

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My favourite quote from the page:

"Let's just say that if complete and utter chaos was lightning, he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards'."

-------Rincewind discussing Twoflower (Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic)

New Your EveryDay Write ezine out on 30th

We've been publishing Your EveryDay Write for a couple of years. If you're not a subscriber, you can sign up here. (The Yahoo version is free; Pro Write members get the issues, plus archives, as part of their membership.)

We took a two-month break from publishing the ezine every weekday because with email hassles, many subscribers were not receiving their issues.

We've gone to a monthly schedule, with five writing prompts, and five writing tips in each issue --- plus a NEW writing technique in each issue. The techniques are ones I use myself, and are often techniques I've developed --- so you won't find them elsewhere.

If you're a longterm subscriber, and you're disappointed we're not publishing daily, cheer up. You can visit this blog to get your daily fix. :-) Want writing exercises? Not a problem. Send me an email message, or leave a comment below, and I'll happily post an exercise here for you.

Please let me know how the techniques work for you.

Everyday creativity

Visit this gorgeous site, and be inspired ---

From the site:

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Warren E. Saul (1921-1996)
An Appreciation

Some people read while they wait. My father sketched.

Constantly.

For over 20 years, Warren Saul kept a daily self-illustrated diary he called "Sketchnotes." It ran to some 55 volumes, including many thousands of quick sketches, comments, and watercolors on all conceivable topics. His notebooks at times are reminiscent of an almost Leonardo DaVinci-like rambling, but entirely serious visual inquiry into the world around us. Sometimes, the drawings are just stream-of-consciousness cartoons done while my Dad sat at the kitchen table, at a meeting, or in a waiting room. He sketched from his car in a parking lot, or at a stop light or drive-up window. I like these the best. They are his take on his own life, seen through his own eyes.

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Image Copyright 2002 Andrew Saul

Real writers do/ don't … blog

There's a lot of discussion around the Web about whether blogging is good for writers, or whether it's another time-sink.

I love this insight from Alison Kent:

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My response? You're not writing in your novel if you're posting messages about blogging to a Yahoo Groups list! Might as well BE blogging. It's great therapy. It keeps you in touch with authors walking in your same shoes. It loosens your writing muscles. It's often times as valuable as attending a writing workshop. Or a marketing workshop. Blogging is an idea generator, a mental exercise program, and a hell of a lot cheaper than a psychiatrist!

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Yes, you're a writer, but take a couple of pictures to go with your article, you'll sell more

In the age of digital photography, anyone can take photos. Digital cameras are easy to use, inexpensive, and they help you to sell your writing. You don't have to be a genius writer or photographer.

Almost anything you know how to do can be the basis of a how-to article, for example.

How-to articles always sell. "How to" what? How to build a bird bath, rewire your house, backpack around Australia --- how to anything. Editors love how-tos.

Digital Photography Weblog says:

"325 per day. 9750 per month. 117,000 per year.* That's how many times people are conducting searches for photographers on the "Find A Photographer" search engine at www.ppa.com. These numbers are staggering! On average 19,107 names are included in response to these searches every single day."

Your digital photography skills add a valuable string to your writing bow.

Image copyright (c) Ian Britton - FreeFoto.com.

Full-service copywriting, or Web copywriting?

If you're a newly minted copywriter (writer for business), should you set yourself up as a full-service copywriter, or as a Web copywriter?

I was recently asked this question, and thought that my response might be useful for other writers. Here you go --- :-)

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If you need to get up and running fast, I'd recommend going for full-service copywriting, rather than strictly Web-based, because:

* it takes longer to build a client base if you're only working online;

* if you're a full-service copywriter, you can put your local knowledge to work. As a new copywriter, your local clients give you a network of contacts who will give you easy referrals. There's much less competition locally, and by locally, I mean state-wide, no matter which country you live in. Locals are impressed by a copywriter ---after you explain what a copywriter can do for them, because you'll often be the first one they've ever had contact with. :-);

* unless you LOVE the Web, and are prepared to spend money regularly on advertising at places like Google Adwords, you'll struggle for Web clients in the first couple of years. There are too many Web "copywriters" around to build a client base quickly;

* you MUST HAVE a Web site to work on the Web, and a site takes time to build its search engine rankings (anywhere from 18 months to a couple of years);

I don't know what your circumstances are, or what you're passionate about. If you truly love the Web (as I do) then go for Web copywriting, but it's very much YOUR decision. :-)

Hope this helps.

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If you're a copywriter, please post your thoughts in the Comments section.

If you're wondering whether to start a copywriting services business, and have questions, please ask. :-) Or take our free mini-copywriting course at Digital-e.

Left Brain or Right Brain?

Earlier this year, Australia's ABC Science Online program did a show called Left Brain Right Brain. It demonstrated research which suggests that "people who were more active in the left frontal brain dealt with the stressful situation with continued optimism… More right brained people reacted with anxiety."

Which are you, right brain oriented or left? Read the show's transcript, here. Writers, as a group, are right-brain oriented, which goes some way towards explaining creative anxiety.

If writing makes you nervous, I wrote this article that may help.

No Internet = sheer misery

I was offline from 4pm yesterday to 11am today, and discovered that everything I wanted to do (jobs for business clients, work on a couple of magazine articles, research for a book) required an Internet connection. What a shock. I'm Internet-dependent.

Well, I'm back.

To console myself, I'm dreaming of pens. All you need is ink. No electricity or plug-ins required.

I'm printing out this page, inkrecipes, in case my connection flakes out again.

This sounds great:

Black Cherry ink (Morris Tranen) 10ml Omas Vespucci Red 8ml Herbin Blue Night 1ml Aurora black

Giggle of the day

Democracy may not be perfect, but so far it's the best system on offer. I choked on my coffee when I read this:

John Hawkins: Do you think we're going to be able to successfully help the Iraqis become a Democratic country?

Ann Coulter: I was kind of hoping they'd go Republican.

Read the full interview here.

Tying it to writing, whatever you think of her politics, Ann Coulter can write.

Intuition: the ultimate creativity enhancer

Imagination and intuition are cousins, so if you want to spark your imagination, build your intuitive skills. I'm currently reading Divine Intuition: Your Guide to Creating a Life You Love, and it's proving to be the best manual on developing your imagination I've ever read.

The book's design is outstanding. Beautiful photos, mixed with inspiring quotes, and combined with author Lynn Robinson's deep understanding of what intuition is, how to develop your intuition, and why it all matters.

Here's a quote from the book. It's a Zen poem:

Sitting quietly,
Doing nothing,
Spring comes and grass grows
By itself.

Getting in the mood to write: use images

I'm writing a Regency romance, and getting out of the mindset of the 21st century and into the 19th is a challenge. Images help.

Try it. Go to the Images search on Google, or the search engine of your choice, and type in your query. This image came up when I searched on "Regency lady". Click this link to see it in its original context.

You can do a lot with image searches: find house plans, scout locations, etc. Just don't spend too much time on it when you could be writing. ;-)

A writer needs a private blog

A growing number of writers have public blogs. Fewer writers maintain private blogs. (A private blog is password protected, and only the writer has access.)

The big advantage of any blog is that it's accessible anywhere you can access a computer. This accessibility makes a private blog a highly useful tool for any writer.

If you're a new writer, your private blog helps you to keep track of your writing. Your work is stored online chronologically, so you can see how your writing develops over the course of a year or longer. You can also maintain your own personal writer's resource file.

If you're an experienced writer, your private blog lets you post versions of documents so you can go back to earlier versions if you want to. You can also access the blog from anywhere, whether it's the library or the airport, so you can work where and when you wish.

Do YOU have a private blog? If you do, please share your thoughts in the Comments section.