Category: NaNoWriMo

Healing, Latino culture, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo Comics, Writing

Who Really Uses NaNoWriMo?

Mona Alvarado Frazier

 

NaNoToon
NaNoToon

Who writes 50,000 words in 30 days during November?

Crazy writers. Passionate writers. Driven writers.

Writers who have trouble keeping their butt in the chair and hands on the keys use NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as a last ditch effort to focus.

Completion rather than perfection is the goal.

We wait, crunked up on leftover trick or treat candy, swigging an energy drink, ready for the clock to strike midnight.

Who are these crazy people pushing their pens, tapping their computer keys at 12 a.m on Halloween night?

We are the Nano’s, peculiar writer beings who believe we can write 50,000 words in 30 days, November 1st to November 30th.

Really, we do believe.

This year I’m actually adding to last year’s draft. The working title for this New Adult novel is La Curandera*. Here’s my logline and a description:

Three generations of women, three broken hearts, one love potion.

Violet Romero is just as ambitious as her father, the city mayor. She has a five and ten-year plan to become the young politician who will change the world. That’s the strategy until her fiancé dumps her for her best friend and she spirals into depression, dropping out of her master’s program. Now she’s on the verge of losing her summer internship at the state capitol.

When she finds a job at a shop that specializes in cures, spells, and potions, run by two curanderas, she decides to take matters into her own hands and concoct her own remedy. But when Violet’s love potion causes her ex-fiancé to fall in love with her mother, and her grandmother’s 70-year-old love interest falls for Violet instead, she has to make things right again. She must travel to Mexico to seek a 100-year-old curandera who possibly has the cure if Violet can accomplish a vision quest.

I’m using this photo as inspiration to write:

The Healing Arts of Mexico by German Rubio
The Healing Arts of Mexico by German Rubio

I have my storyboard up on Pinterest for more inspiration.

So this writer will use the next 30 days to complete the story because I am driven, passionate and crazy about writing.

This means much less time on social media and no blogging for 30 days (unless there is a blogging emergency).

See you next month. Happy November!

*Curandera: Traditional healer who uses centuries-old herbal remedies for a variety of ailments. A spiritual element is also part of the healing. Usually, the healers are generational and native people of Mexico, Central, and South America.

 

Encouragement, NaNoWriMo, Nathan Bransford, Writing

How About that NaNoWriMo?

Mona Alvarado Frazier
National Novel Writing Month 2014
National Novel Writing Month 2014

So, who’s taking up the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel during the month of November?

Me, me, me—I have my hand up—I’m working on a novel about three generations of women, three broken hearts and one love potion that goes awry.

Yes, I know, it’s going to be a busy month, with Thanksgiving coming up and Black Friday shopping, but what about having some fun before all that starts?

Are you in?

Yes! Keep reading.

Here’s a few “How’s” and a “Why” to challenge yourself during National Novel Writing Month.

How about putting those novel ideas, the ones you’ve had for months or years, down on the computer screen?

How about resuscitating that shelved 5,000 word piece you started?

How about building a daily habit of writing—at least for 30 days?

How about going crazy and letting your fingers fly over the keyboard without self-editing judgement?

Why write alone? Follow other Nano’s, write in community, and find some writing buddies.

Here’s what you get:

  1. Pep talks from Veronica Roth, Chuck Wendig, Kami Garcia and others.
  2. Five tips from Nathan Bransford on How To Get Started and other advice.
  3. Self satisfaction that you completed a challenge and a badge graphic to prove it.
  4. Sponsor discounts on some great deals from Createspace, Scrivener (word processing/project management), and other stuff.
  5. Cool web graphics for your social media.
  6. A first draft—sh*tty or otherwise— of a novel (at least 50k of a novel, just 10K more to go).
  7. Something to show for November other than a turkey.
  8. The ire of Nano haters. Ignore them and just write. Don’t look back.
  9. Proof that you can commit to writing for 30 days.
  10. The incentive to make new goals for your first draft: rewrite, revise, rinse, repeat.

Here’s what you don’t get:

  1. You do not get to send your first draft to an agent, publisher, or make it into an E-book.

Go through the process, see numero #10, to make your novel viable for beta readers, editors, agents, or submit for an E-book.

Good luck to those of you who take up the challenge.

See you at #NaNoWriMo2014.

Write On!