WRITING MY WAY - Part 1

 Good morning, friends!

I'm trying to get back into sharing my process. In return, I'd love to hear yours in the comments.

I've always been a writer. When I first wrote An Ozarks Christmas, (almost 30 years ago), I raised our daughter, had an in-home daycare, was a leader to multiple Girl Scout troups, and managed our home. After closing the daycare I worked at our local Girl Scout council, helping to design the Talking With TJ (an anti-violence educational program) for National. For a side-hustle, I would enter up to one hundred categories in each of five county fairs. I also led a weekly writing group on AOL called The Writer's Zone. I networked with some amazing and talented authors. I kept busy. Maybe that's why I needed all of those years to write Book 1 in the Planned to Perfection series.

After we moved to south east Missouri, I found a yahoo group using writing sprints as our medium. The core group of six, met every day. I did okay with the on again, off again, sprint times as I was reworking the then titled Ozarks Angel. Then I found Sara Cannon and my whole writing process changed.

Through her series about the Pomodoro method and how to find your best writing time was a lightbulb moment for me. Here are links to the 5-part series in order.

DAY 1 - Pep Talk

DAY 2 -  Live Writing Sprints

DAY 3 - Night Owl Sprints with Sarra

DAY 4 - Your Choice

DAY 5 - Sprint Boss!

The idea is to take each day's challenge. By the end of Day 5 you should have a feel of when the words flow best for you.

Prior to taking Sarra's challenge, I dedicated an entire day to sprint with my group. What I discovered is that for long pieces, such as my novel, the word counts escalated after about 4 p.m. My word counts were much higher in the time frame of between 4-6 p.m I've sinced backed that up to begin writing around 3 p.m. That gives me a chance to settle in and the word count climbs from there.

So why, is this time frame best for me? We'll talk about that more next week. In the mean time, I suggest you check out Sarra's challenge. The workbook is available in her Google Docs. Signing up for her newsletter will give you access to everything including the workbook and so much more.

Until next week..

All my best!

~ Angela

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH - Week 1

National Novel Writing Month is here again! I almost look as forward to Nano as I do any holiday of the year - except for maybe Halloween. 

I really put my best foot forward this year. As crazy as September and October was for me, I was determined that November would be about writing. 

I started by taking days in October to really go through the Preptober Planner by Sarra Cannon. I printed out all 95 pages, made notes on the book, decorated the tracking pages and got in the mind set that I would be writing in November.

While the planner is primarily for NanoWriMo, there is a lot of 'plan of attack' tips in the booklet as well. You can get your free download by subscribing to her mailing list. With that you have access to all of her other great writing tools. She will update the Camp Nano Planner in March of 2024.

Here is the video for her Preptober Planner 2023. Links to her website so you can get yours is in her description box.

Book 2 of the Planned to Perfection series is coming along, finally. I figured out my problem.

I was putting all of my attention into the crafting for the etsy shop and not immersing myself in things writing. 

So, while I'm still crafting, I'm also back to watching the writing videos and sprinting with folks on YouTube again.... every day! Even if I only get 200-300 words, it's more than I've written in a long time.  I took part in Double Down Day on Saturday and wrote over 3400 words!!! My goal was 3400.

If you aren't familiar, Double Down Day is the first Saturday of each month where you try to double your best word count for the week in a single day. I was tired by 8 p.m. but proud for having done what I sat out to do. I didn't give up. That's why I thought yesterday's Thoughtful Monday was so appropriate.

Are you doing, Nano? If so, share your goal/ progress below. And if you'd like to buddy up - you'll find me as Rainlyte on the nano boards.

All my best!

~ Angela

 

CAMP NANO PROGRESS & HEARTIES RETREAT!

 

Hi everyone!

We are just past the half way mark through Camp Nano.   How are you doing? 

I'm off to a very slow start. I knew I would be. I'm just too much of a housewife. I can't let things go.

I have made strides in the story just not where I wanted to be. 

The first month of each quarter, Sarra Cannon and her Admin Team in our Hearties Facebook group put together a Virtual Writing Retreat. Each retreat is set in a virtual locale. The location for this month's retreat hasn't been announced yet and we are set to start on Friday. I have no clue what to 'pack' beyond my writing supplies. 

There are a lot of scheduled sprints over the course of the three-day weekend, allowing ample time to get some writing in.  You can join us either by being a part of the Heartbreathings Writing Community on Facebook or just following the sprints. You'll find a list of sprints on this month's Google Calendar on Sarra's website.  Go HERE then scroll down to see the Google Calendar. You can add this to your own Google calendar. 

Of course, this is Bob's last weekend home. I try not to work any more than necessary his first and last week home. Thankfully, he understands I need to write if I'm going to publish books and supplement his retirement. 

At least I have a writing space again.

While my space isn't perfect, I do have a table - if you count my sewing machine cabinet with the leaf open LOL. The important thing is I'm NOT at the dining room table anymore. Hopefully, by time for retreat I'll have my big work table cleared off and my comfy cushioned Captain's chair bar stool. Stay tuned for a picture of where my 'retreat' location will be. 

I'm hoping by next month to have this blog back on track adding back Spotlight Author. I just haven't had time to read. I do have a couple of things to share this week, though, so visit again.

All my best!

~Angela

CAMP NANO PREP - #2 - The Plan

 Good morning, friends!

Bob's been gone a week and I've been trying to accomplish stuff but this icky wet/ cold weather is just not conducive to wanting to do anything but curl up under a blanket with the Hallmark Channel. I haven't but tempting.

Monday was the first day of Spring, and while you couldn't really tell by the weather,  I took my witchy self out for a day in Poplar Bluff. I spent two hours at Bluff Coffee & Mercantile enjoying a large coffee and mapping out the entire video series for Camp Nano prep.  I posted Part 2 this morning - The Plan - where I talk about forming a writing schedule based on whatever is going on in your life while still reaching your goal. You'll find several recipe links in the description box as well as a link to Sarra Cannon's Heartbreathings (author) channel where you'll find her video and links to freebies when you sign up for her email. 

I have an art video to do today then I can work on the next Camp Prep video.

Also, because I don't want this to get lost in this post, tomorrow I'm going to post info about a 24 hour write-a-thon taking place on YouTube. twenty-four hours of sprints to help you reach your writing goal! I hope you'll come back for that tomorrow.

In the mean time, here is today's Camp Nano video:

All my best!

~ Angela

MONDAY MOTIVATION - My Weekly Plan

 

Good morning, everyone!

I've decided to go back to the Goal Setting posts for Monday with a bit of positivity woven in. Please bear with me on this transition.

Here we are - the first quarter of the year almost gone and I'm just now setting goals for the year. 

One of the first things I did was sign up for Sarra Cannon's HB90 Bootcamp course. I've followed the idea through her videos for the past three or four years but decided now was the time to actually take the course. I've followed Sarra for years. Life has thrown her lots of curves in the past year yet she is still smiling, still positive and still motivating others.

Her HB90 course has you setting and managing three main goals to through in a 90 day period.  We've just started this round but she offers the course four times a year. Follow her (under HeartBreathings) on YouTube, FB and IG to get a heads up when the next round will begin... usually the last two weeks of a quarter so the next round should begin about mid-June. She uses the Kanban board method. I'll drop one of her videos at the bottom of this post.  I love working with the Kanban board and have used her system very loosely the past couple of years. With having lost nearly the first three months of this year, I decided 'loosely' wasn't going to work if I want at least two more books published by the end of the year.  You will also find her HB90 planner in her ETSY SHOP.

We had our kick off call yesterday. For the next seven days, we'll be given assignments to help set us up for success. There's a lot of prep work. We don't even get to the KanBan board until Day 6 or 7. 

I'm already off to a slow start, having slept through the first twenty-five minutes while on pain meds. I am not a skier and usally pretty steady on my feet but...

We had about 2.5" of snow last Thursday. Most of it was gone by Saturday morning but I took the least steep part of the yard to go out to my truck. I needed a grocery trip. I made it to the truck once to start the vehicle warming up, came back into the house for my purse/ phone - then promptly fell on my backside going back to the truck. Mind you, there wasn't 1/4" of snow left anywhere I was walking and the temperature was above freezing. I was fine til I went to roll over so I could get up... and heard the #4 rib pop on the right side. So all the things I planned to do, like have my HB90 workbook/ planner ready to go for the conference call on Sunday didn't get done. I'm comfortable sitting/ reclining but getting up to move is like doing crunches, compacting the rib into the one below. So not comfortable or condusive to accomplishing anything. Of course, Bob is on the boat so I'm managing on my own.

My Top 3 for this week are simple

1 - Remember to take it easy so this rib can heal

2 - Work on An Ozarks Homecoming EVERYDAY

3 - Remember to take it easy

I'm not going to push myself. I need this rib to heal before I have to start working in the yard/ garden. That said, I think getting older is going to make healing a slower progress than I would like. It is what it is.

Here's one of Sarra's many videos using her HB90 method and her Kanban board:

What's on your agenda for this week? Are you writing? Share in the comments below what is going to be your biggest hurdle this week in achieving your goals!

All my best

~Angela