The Writer's Hat

National Novel Writing Month and the Young Writers' Program

2010-11-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as Nanowrimo. The month of November is when writers from all walks of life the world over commit to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. The goal is quantity, not quality.

For me personally, it has given me permission to get creative and write without my editing self getting in the way (well, without getting in too much of the way). The idea of having a finished first draft is highly appealing to many aspiring writers and this forum is just the right kind of motivation many need to get it done. Who knows what great ideas and stories can grow from the seeds of that first draft?

My six year-old son signed up for Nanowrimo's Young Writers' Program and is creating his novel, too. He set his word count goal as 6,666 (in love with the number six because he is six). He dictates his story while I type it out for him. It is great fun to watch his mind come up with characters, descriptions and ideas for the plot.

The process is teaching him how to set a goal, how to work at it a little bit every day, and most importantly, he is learning how to use his creative side. He loves to check his word count to find out how much closer he is to his goal. He is also planning his cover art.

Nanowrimo is a good venue to get inspired to write a brand new novel, but I have discovered something else this first week of writing with my son. He is my inspiration to be a good example of what it takes to get it done.

The lesson here: It's always more fun to write with someone else and share the ups and downs of the process. No wonder Nanowrimo is so popular!

Two for One Book Review: The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

2010-07-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was such a vastly entertaining read, when I finished the book at one o'clock Sunday morning, I immediately bought the sequel, Catching Fire, on my Kindle and continued reading way past my bedtime. I wasn't sorry the next morning, either (which is saying a lot considering how much I love sleep) .

Suzanne Collins did a wonderful job building a dysoptian world of the future. If you enjoy reality television (or even if you don't), you will devour this page-turner. It's a bit of Big Brother meets Survivor with a major twist.

The sequel, Catching Fire, was equally entertaining, but I felt a particular piece of the plot to be somewhat forced. I soon got over it and lost myself in the adventures of the book. I became slighly impatient near the end for Katniss, the main character who I fell in love with at the beginning of book one, to solve pieces of the puzzle that I figured out early (does that ever happen to you?). The ending still managed to get me to do a compulsive Kindle search for book three.

The third book in the series, Mockingjay, will be released in hardcover on August 24, 2010. I am having a hard time waiting to find out what happens. I have to know. Have. To. Know. I guess I will hang out in my neighborhood bakery while I wait. At least I can satisfy my craving for freshly baked bread (yeah, you'll have to read the books to fully appreciate my reference).

On a different note, I was visiting Literary Rambles when I discovered Casey's bookshelf by Goodreads. I love this website (and Casey's blog, too)! It's like Facebook for book lovers. I am still working on stacking my bookshelf and maybe I'll create a To Be Read shelf, too. I would love to find out what you are reading or what's on your TBR list. And please, let me know what you think of The Hunger Games after you've read it.

Monday Mind Movers

2010-07-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we all need a little inspiration on Monday. I thought I would offer up what I call Monday Mind Movers: writing prompts and suggestions to get the ideas flowing. Use all of them or just a few to warm up your mind muscles.

Use the following words and phrases in a 250 word story: inclination, statuesque, "I didn't think so," garnet, lollygag.

A boy who is used to enjoying a three-month summer vacation must attend a year-round school. He has one week of vacation instead of three months. Write about his experience.
Begin a 300 word story with the following sentence: "When I saw the homeless, emaciated woman approach me..."
Suggestion: Keep a daily journal of your thoughts and feelings to clear your mind of things that need expressing. Keeping a daily journal will also help generate ideas for future projects as well as your current work in progress.

I hope you find these prompts and suggestions helpful to your writing process. For optimum writing effectiveness, work your writing muscles daily. Happy writing!

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Words

2010-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

The ten words in this list are often misused and confused in writing. Guys, the rules are gender-neutral, so this applies to you, too. Using these words correctly won't be the thing that wins him over, but if you use them incorrectly, you'll leave a poor impression and he'll delete your email. If you want your readers (or your guy) to keep hanging around, then get these rules straight.

Your is a possessive pronoun. Example: Is that your book?

You're is a contraction of two words: you and are. Example: If you're going to read that book, then I'll get a different one.

Their is used as a possesive of they. Example: They wrote two books on the subject of grammar. Amazon sells their books.

There is used to show direction or place. Example: The author is standing over there.

They're is a contraction of they and are. Example: They're coming to the author's book signing.

It's is a contraction of it and is. Example: It's a beautiful day to play in the park, but I'd rather stay inside and write.

Its is used as a possessive. Example: Don't judge a book by its cover. Tip: Try saying, "it is" in your sentence to see if it makes sense. If not, use the possessive.

Effect is mainly used as a noun. Example: The effects of her binge reading could be seen in the kitchen and laundry room.

Affect is mainly used as a verb. Example: The writer's manuscript deeply affected the editor.

Than and Then. I know, we have two words here. These two are confused all the time. Than is mainly used as a conjunction to compare nouns. Then is mainly used when discussing time or events. Example: Your book weighs more than my child! Example: Write your first draft, then work on revisions.

I gave you a few cut and dry examples here. Of course, be prepared for the English language to provide exceptions to the rules. Some of the words in this list (there, affect, and effect, for example) can be used in other ways. More words could have been added to this list, too, so when in doubt, do your research. The internet, style manuals, or the dictionary can help you decipher the proper use of your words.

Now you can add one more essential tool to your Writer's Hat and one more reason for your readers (and your guy) to stick around.

Finding Balance: Or I Haven't Yet Figured Out How Not To Obsess About Writing

2010-06-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

Forgive the hyperbole in this title, but I spent much of today writing. In my head. I wrote some pretty terrific scenes for my novel. I only hope after my precious wee ones drift off to sleep tonight, I can reproduce all that mental writing onto the computer screen. I feel a bit guilty for being halfway involved in the activities of the day. My mind was somewhere else; I couldn't seem to remove my Writer's Hat. There were many a "Mommy! Mommy? Mooommmeeeeee!" uttered today. Sorry kids. I'll try to do better tomorrow. I'm not usually like this. Someone told me Nora Roberts began her writing career with young children around (I don't know if this is true or not). I wonder how she did it. I don't want to be the Mommy who is physically present, but mentally checked out.

I wish I had more time to spend writing and researching my novel, but I have to squeeze it into a full life. I'm sure other writers deal with similar issues. Now that I have jumped onto the blogging bandwagon, I will really need to work on maintaining a balance. I barely find time to update my status on Facebook, return calls, drive the kids where they need to be, etc., so how will I balance the real world, the blogging world, and the world I am creating in my novel? I don't know, but I think it's a nice problem to have considering all the other possible problems out there. I'm not complaining. Just sayin'.

A few months ago, I read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. It was originally meant as a leadership book for business people, but it has gained popularity among the masses; it has sold over 10 million copies since 1990. In his book, Covey discusses time management and putting first things first. In Habit 3, he reveals a time management matrix to show how most of us spend our time: important and not important activities then urgent and not urgent ones. (Example: ringing telephone = urgent, but likely not important).

Covey says in order to be highly effective, we need to spend our time doing the activities that are deeply important, but not urgent. Activities that are in line with our purpose, values and priorites are the ones which will be at the heart of effective personal management.

My husband and children are high on my list of priorities. I value being a loving, compassionate, in-the-moment wife and parent, too, so on the days I can't seem to think of anything other than writing, I will just have to figure out a way to make everybody happy. Play dates or Grandma's house, maybe?

What do you do to ensure you live a balanced life?

Refresh What's Under Your Hat: Remembering Rules of Comma Usage

2010-06-24T21:39:00.001-07:00

We should do our best to ensure our writing reflects what we intend, whether we are writing a novel, a blog, business correspondence, or even when writing on Facebook. Fortunately, writing is a craft that can be practiced and polished. Even the best among us can refine and improve her writing skills.

Correct punctuation is important to a well-written piece (other things are also important, but we'll save those for different posts). I know I have been guilty of it: Inspiration hits and I want to get my words out quickly, so sometimes I misplace or omit the comma, and I miss catching the mistake during the edit. One or two mistakes are forgivable, but too many of them will leave your readers focused on poor grammar and punctuation rather then the message you are trying to share.

In order to utilize the many tools we have in our Writer's Hat, we need to understand how they work. I have summarized a few rules of comma usage from The Chicago Manual of Style and Strunk & White's Elements of Style. Let's refresh our memories and go over the basic rules of using our comma friends.

Use a comma when:

Your sentence contains three or more things in a series. Put a comma after each element. It is acceptable to omit the final comma in the series as long as your sentence is clear.

Example: The writer needed her coffee, computer, music, and her writer's hat before she was ready to write.

Your sentence contains two independent clauses and is connected by a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). Place the comma before the conjunction.

Example: The writer found it beneficial to review the rules of grammar, but she would rather have looked for inspiration elsewhere.

Your sentence contains an introductory element or a direct address. Place the comma after the introductory element.
Example: By the way, it's Joe's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Joe.

A comma should also be placed after the name of the person addressed when it appears like this: Joe, would you like some cake?

Your sentence contains parenthetical elements. If part of your sentence can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence, put a comma in front of and at the end of the element.

Example: She craved an iced latte, sometimes a hot cappuccino, on a daily basis.

Your sentence contains separate coordinate adjectives.

Example: The smart, funny, charming editor loves the writer's manuscript.

Your sentence contains a quoted element. Place the comma before the quoted element or inside the quote.

Example: He said, "You look great in that hat." or "You should wear that hat more often," he said.

Your sentence expresses a contrast. Place the comma to clarify the contrast.

Example: She is writing an action-adventure novel, not a science fiction one.

Your sentence contains a date, name of a city and state, or a person's title that follows his name.

Example: June 26, 2010. New York, New York. Edward Cullen, M.D.

For a more thorough discussion of the rules of grammar, please see The Chicago Manual of Style or Strunk & White's Elements of Style. Every writer should have at least one of these books on her reference desk.

There are other situations where a comma is needed that I haven't covered, so be sure to edit your piece! Editing your work before sending it out into the world should be an important part of your writing process. We all make mistakes and it is sometimes impossible to catch all of them, but at least after an edit you can rest easy knowing you gave it your best.

In other posts, I will provide more tips on grammatical rules to follow to improve your writing. For now, be inspired by your refreshed memory on the use of commas. You have a newly sharpened tool in your Writer's Hat to help bring you one step closer to creating your work of art.

I hope you have found this refresher to be helpful. I would love to hear your thoughts. What do you do to ensure your writing is the best it can be?

Put It On, Pull Out an Idea

2010-06-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Writer's Hat! Thank you for visiting my blog about finding inspiration, thoughts on the art and craft of writing, and motivation for creating and living your dreams, even if those dreams are something other than becoming a best-selling author.

Ever since I put on my Writer's Hat, I have found I need to be proactive in order to find inspiration instead of waiting around for inspiration to find me. I see inspiration and ideas everywhere now that I am looking. First, I had to think to look, then decide to do it. Who knew it all started with a thought?

Actually, many wise people have said so and have written great books on the subject. Those wise people have pointed out every great idea is born in a thought, but the wise ones didn't point out the easy way to execute those ideas. We aren't always motivated to do what it takes to see our great idea become a reality because it isn't easy to stay the course. We tend to like easy more than we like putting in the time. How many times have we heard it said the biggest obstacles to overcome are the limits we have placed on ourselves? I've heard it far too many times, but it doesn't make it any less true.

The limit I had placed on myself was thinking I didn't have time to write every day. I thought time for writing was a luxury I couldn't afford. Until I changed my thinking and my priorities, the pages of my novel had yet to be filled with my wonderful, clever, genius,[insert approbation here] story.

Once I committed to writing every day, the next obstacle I faced was the editor in me who wouldn't let the ideas flow unless everything was written perfectly and in logical order (I blame law school). So my productivity was next to nothing and my frustration was mounting heights unseen.

Some of the best advice I received to get over this was, "First get it written, then get it right." The lesson that the rewrite is where the real writing happens freed me up to allow the ideas to flow. I still sometimes get frustrated when I haven't met my daily word count goals, but I have to learn to work around interruptions (two small-sized, genetically related interruptions...good thing I'm a decent multi-tasker).

My goal is a well-written, can't-put-it-down, page turner for young adults. The industry requires at least 60,000 words for this type of novel and I'm not even half way there. It seems daunting, but the satisfaction I get from watching the pages fill up and the discovery of where my characters and story are going keep me inspired to continue.

Where do you find inspiration? I would love to hear your ideas. Some writers listen to their favorite music, read a favorite book, take a break, talk to a friend, or just keep at it until inspiration strikes. Recently, I've been inspired by Pandora.com. It lets me listen to my favorite kind of music while I write. The bonus is that it is free. I've heard about last.fm, too, but haven't tried it yet.

Bottom line: Be proactive and seek out inspiration, don't wait around for something to happen. Just sit down and start writing. Just do it. I've heard the same advice given about exercise. Still working on that one.