Blogs & Pep Talks

Welcome to London Nano 2012!
by Jenepel

It’s the last week of October and our kick-off parties are almost upon us, so it’s time to get ready to write! Whether you’re a newbie, a second year, or veteran, there’s something in our region for you. We’re a diverse bunch, with native Londoners, many other Brits, and lots of people from various countries who are currently making the city their home. So whatever you plan to get out of Nanowrimo 2012, London is a great place for it, because... (read more at nanolondon.org)

The current LondonNano blogging theme is "Nano Preparation". If you write a blog on it, feel free to link in this thread!

Music and Macguffins
by holly6000

Not sure what you’re going to write for NaNoWriMo 2012 yet? Don’t panic, there’s still plenty of time to inspire yourself, and I’m going to let you in on a technique that’s worked for me several times in the past.

First, pick up your MP3 player. I’ll do the same. Go on, put your headphones on, and hit “shuffle” across your entire music collection. Listen to the first few lines of every song, and if it doesn’t sound inspiring to you, skip ahead. Keep going until you’ve listened to something for more than thirty seconds. (read more at nanolondon.org)

Hi,

I am joining the London Forum for the first time. Hope to read and pick up some inpirational technique like above holly 6000,
Thank you holly.

Discovering Your Novel
by Kaleidoscope 27

One of the most common questions to be asked pre-NaNo is “how’s the planning coming along?” It’s a fair enough question and a great way to get people talking about their novels. But, what if you don’t have a plan?

‘Discovery Writing’ (or ‘pantsing’ as it is more commonly known in the NaNo world and thus shall hereforth be known) is the exact opposite of plotting your novel. It’s a method of writing which involves knowing very little about what you will be writing before you actually write it. Effectively, writing by.... (read more at nanolondon.org)

Outlining Nerdiness
by Claire Rousseau

I must confess, I’m a complete outlining nerd.

I scheme, plot, sketch and play around with my ideas pre-November, stopping just short of the ‘No prose before November’ rule. When I tried discovery writing (Nano ’09 and ’10), I found myself wandering aimlessly from November 5th onwards. Though I enjoyed these Nanos, I know that’s not what works best for me.

That’s not to say discovery writing isn’t a good way to go (in fact it might be the best way to go for you), but simply that there are about as many ways to get ready for Nano as there are Wrimos. (read more at nanolondon.org)

This is my first nano preparation blog post (got a couple more to do this week)

http://nowondiversion.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/getting-ready-for-nanowrimo-part-1-research/

Pep Talk #1: There's No Wrong Way to Nano
By Jenepel

Well here we are, two days to go, standing on the precipice of Nanowrimo 2012. Are you ready? Are you panicking? Or are you the steady calm of a stormless sea?

Well, no matter, because I’m here to tell you it’s all going to be okay! You can’t screw this up. Whatever your previous Nano or writing experience, you’re going to be successful at Nano as long as you try. If you give any amount of time and attention and effort to Nano this year, then it’s going to work out. (read more at nanolondon.org)

I'm really excited about NanoWrimo! I don't believe there's a right or wrong way to approach a nanowrimo novel and I blogged about two different approaches here: http://rjheald.com/two-approaches-to-writing-a-novel/

My NaNo preparation, documented in blog form. For my sanity, if nothing else, although there is at least one okay joke too. And a photo of the massive pile of boxes in my room too!
http://nickbryan.com/post/34697126719/nanoprep2012

This week's NanoLondon blogging theme is "Wrimo Survival Kits". If you write a blog on it, feel free to link in this thread!

New NaNo London blog post: Wise Wrimos' Survival Kit: Backups

by Tom Wilkinson

If you’re a long-time NaNoer, you’ve no doubt heard my tale of backup failures before. If you haven’t, then look no further than this blog entry from last year. Backup tools should be part of everyone’s NaNoWriMo arsenal, and there are a few ways you can protect your work from the unforeseen doom that is a broken computer, or a stolen tablet PC.
The first thing to bear in mind is there are two different factors to bear in mind when approaching a backup strategy.


Read more at nanolondon.org.

NanoLondon Blog Post
Wise Wrimo's Survival Kit: Fitting Writing Into Your Busy Life
By Jenepel

So we’re almost a week into Nano. How’s it going? Are you pretty tidily managing your 1667 words a day? Or are you struggling, and suddenly realising how BUSY your life is?! The thing is, we’re all busy. We work, we study, we go out, and we live in a huge city that always has something ready to tempt or distract us. So how do you fit that 1667 a day around all of that? Well, in my opinion, the best thing to do is to make your busy life work for you. (read more at nanolondon.org)

NaNoLondon Blog Post
Wise Wrimo’s Survival Kit: The Bare Necessities
by Suzanne / Kaleidoscope27

"“Look for the bear necessities, the simple bear necessities, forget about your worry and your strife!”

And I’m proud to say that I typed those lyrics from memory. Who doesn’t love a bit of Disney on a cold November day? (It’s also kind of a good NaNo mantra if you think about it.)

If you ask any NaNoers (or non-NaNoing writer) what they need before they can start, what’s in their “writing kit” or “survival kit”, you’re more than likely to get a longish list involving one or more computers, notebooks, pens, pencils, highlighters, post-it notes, chocolate, candy, carrot sticks, pretzels, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, scented candles, their pet parrot…(read more at nanolondon.org)"

Writing without tea?! What kind of dark magic is this!

Pep talk #2: Random Strangers on the tube

by Tom Wilkinson

Once upon a time, it was very nearly the second week of November, and NaNoWriMo 2012 was already almost a quarter complete. But don’t panic!

By writing your novel during the month of November, you are guaranteed to win accolades from friends, family, and most especially those random strangers you lock eyes with on the Tube in order to tell them, “I’m a novelist, you know."

Read more at NaNoLondon.org

NaNoLondon Blog Post
Coping With NaNo: Fawning For Forums
by Suzanne / Kaleidoscope27

"If you haven’t checked out the NaNoWriMo Forums already, why on Earth not? The forums are your Number One source for all things NaNo and novel writing. Go, go now! Well, read my blog first…

The forums are a huge part of the NaNoWriMo world. You can get literally anything you need on there. You want to celebrate? There’s a forum for that. Moan? That too! Need help researching? Yup, got that. Want to hang out with NaNoers your age? All there!...."(read more at nanolondon.org)"

Could anyone tell me how I can upload a photo of myself, I can't find the option on my profile page.

NanoLondon Blog Post
Coping With NaNo: Charting Your Way To Success
By Jenepel

I’m not sure how many of you know this, but I work in accounting. Numbers are a comfort zone for me in the same day words are. Throughout all of November, not only do I pretty obsessively track my word count on the Nano site, I also use an excel chart of my own to look at various other stats. Nothing gives me more pleasure then typing in my wordcount for the day and looking at how it all measures up. I even have a comparison between where I was at each date during my previous Nanos, so I can measure patterns and see if I’m beating my past self! I’m proud to say for 2012 I’m ahead of my wordcount from any other year at this date. Maybe I'm getting better at Nanoing?! (read more at nanolondon.org)