Preparation

by G.Parker

I hope you have enjoyed the foray into the past with the month of September.  It was a nice break for me, and kind of fun to see what I wrote about several years ago.  Weird, but fun.

Now we are in the month of preparation.  If you read my last post, you'll notice I mentioned National Novel Writing Month.  This is a big deal in my world.  My husband dreads it, and my children have mixed feelings.  A couple of them have joined me, but the rest suffer -- I wish they'd do it in silence...lol.

The month of November takes a lot of preparation if I'm to approach it with a calm and level head.  If I'm not prepared, then I'm stressed the whole time and totally worn out by the 30th.

Have you participated in a writing challenge?  Have you done NaNoWriMo before?  What preparations have you done for it?

I need to have the basic story idea, and all the background research I can gather.  If I'm the slightest bit confused or lost, then the story gets messed up and while I  may finish it, it's not done.  I have to rewrite it.  I hate when that happens.

I also need to budget my time each day.  I need to write as soon as I get home before my children get home from school so I have no interruptions.  Then I write till my hubby gets home, hopefully without too many more questions or needs.  Then it's dinner time, and then I try and get at least another hour in before bed.  If I follow that schedule, I'm usually ahead on my word count by Sunday which enables me to skip that day and relax.  I also am able to enjoy Thanksgiving without too much guilt if I'm ahead on the words.

I live by the word in November.  Not so much the chapter or the time spent, but each word counts.

This years project was thought up a couple of months ago, actually.  Then, when my hubby agreed to get Direct TV so we could watch the Olympics as much as I wanted, I had to agree to some very specific writing goals.  Sigh.  It's terrible having a supportive spouse, isn't it?  I don't know how I got so lucky, but he's the best.

So the month of October is going to be spent researching, organizing and getting my writing space ready.  Since we emptied out the sunroom (which holds my desk) for the wedding, it's going to take some doing to get it all back.  Did I mention how great the floor looks?
Just for comparison, this is before:

And this is After:

When I think about it, preparing for writing is a lot like preparing to paint a room.  There is the cleaning of the space so you can have elbow room, like you clean off the walls and the trim.  Then there is the taping so that you don't have to watch every stroke of the brush and have to repaint.  With writing, you don't always use something like tape - but I would imagine it would be similar to an outline.  A plot.  Something that helps you kind of stay on the right path.  Then there's the paint itself -- rollers, brushes, little sponge brushes and drop cloths.  The computer or notebook would be the rollers.  Pens and pencils, keyboards or some kind of word processing system would be the brushes.  Candy and music would be the little sponge brushes and drop cloths.  Motivation is a beautiful thing.  ;)

Anyway - enough of my rambling.  Now you see why I need preparation, or else I would be VERY distracted the whole time I'm trying to write.  My children came by their ADHD very honestly.

I'd be curious how you prepare to write.  Drop us a line and let us know.  ;)