November 1, 2023 • 34 mins
Get set for a writing sprint with this motivating episode! Join writing coaches Sharon and Christy as they share tips to optimize writing sprints like NaNoWriMo.
Whether you're gearing up for a 30-day creative marathon or simply trying to make steady progress on your WIP, you'll gather insightful advice on planning, accountability, tracking achievements, celebrating small successes, and keeping perspective along the way.
Sharon and Christy draw from their personal experiences with writing challenges to provide an encouraging mix of practical strategies, managing expectations, and giving grace when life happens. You'll walk away inspired to start moving the needle on your writing goals.
Key topics include:
- Crafting reasonable daily word count objectives
- Leveraging accountability partners and writing communities
- Using outlines and placeholder notes to boost efficiency
- Tracking progress thoughtfully with data
- Rewards and reflections for mini-milestones
- Avoiding comparison and discouragement traps
- Planning for inevitable disruptions
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @CoachingKidLit
For more information about Sharon Skinner, visit bookcoachingbysharon.com or follow her on Instagram @sharon_skinner_author_bookcoach and Twitter @SharonSkinner56.
For more information about Christy Yaros, visit christyyaros.com or follow her on Instagram and Twitter@ChristyYaros.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Coaching KidLit, a podcast about writing and publishing good KidLit.
We dig into various aspects of writing craft through a KidLit lens and provide inspiration and clear, actionable items to help writers like you move forward on their KidLit writing journeys. 3 00:00:19,760.001 --> 00:00:30,330 I'm Sharon Skinner, author accelerator, certified book coach, and author of speculative fiction and KidLit, including picture books, middle grade, and young adult.
(00:31):
And I'm Christy Yaros, author accelerator certified book coach and story editor, focusing on KidLit, including middle grade and young adult. 5 00:00:41,149.319727891 --> 00:00:41,799.319727891 Hey, Christy. 6 00:00:41,959.319727891 --> 00:00:42,569.319727891 Hey Sharon. 7 00:00:43,569.319727891 --> 00:00:50,849.320727891 So what are we gonna talk about today? Oh, let's talk about people who are participating in... 8 00:00:51,849.320727891 --> 00:00:53,459.320727891 writing sprints for the month. 9 00:00:54,459.320727891 --> 00:01:00,299.320727891 Something like NaNoWriMo or anything where you're trying to write a large amount in a short amount of time. 10 00:01:01,299.320727891 --> 00:01:02,479.320727891 I think that's a great idea. 11 00:01:02,479.320727891 --> 00:01:15,639.320727891 I think it's good timing because there are a lot of people who participate in, at least in NaNoWriMo, and I think that this would be a great time to talk about, first of all, that we're cheering them on. 12 00:01:16,169.320727891 --> 00:01:21,359.320727891 We are excited for anybody participating in that kind of a writing sprint. 13 00:01:22,359.320727891 --> 00:01:26,899.320727891 And there are some ways that you can make it so it's not too onerous on yourself. 14 00:01:27,299.320727891 --> 00:01:33,224.320727891 And, Get to where you want to be or at least make progress and feel good about it. 15 00:01:34,224.320727891 --> 00:01:34,884.320727891 Yeah, definitely. 16 00:01:34,894.320727891 --> 00:01:39,204.320727891 Have you ever done NaNo? I personally am not a NaNo person. 17 00:01:39,544.320727891 --> 00:01:41,384.32072789 I'm a novel in 90 kind of person. 18 00:01:41,434.32072789 --> 00:01:46,534.32072789 I need a little more time to stretch my writing out. 19 00:01:46,564.32072789 --> 00:01:50,184.31972789 I've done novel in 90 and been quite successful at it. 20 00:01:50,184.31972789 --> 00:01:54,994.32172789 But I think something where I had to write 50,000 words in a month might break me. 21 00:01:55,44.32172789 --> 00:01:56,264.32172789 I am not that writer. 22 00:01:56,569.32172789 --> 00:02:04,639.32172789 that's not who I am, but I think it's really great when people do it or at least set a goal to do it. 23 00:02:05,619.32172789 --> 00:02:11,79.32172789 I will say that if you're more like me, there's no reason why you can't participate, but just adjust your goal. 24 00:02:11,339.32072789 --> 00:02:13,959.32072789 You don't have to be competitive about it. 25 00:02:13,959.32172789 --> 00:02:17,399.32172789 You don't have to hit that 50, 000 words. 26 00:02:17,649.32172789 --> 00:02:21,799.32172789 You could maybe set a goal of 25, 000 words for yourself for that month. 27 00:02:22,239.32172789 --> 00:02:23,219.32172789 And that would be cool. 28 00:02:23,724.32172789 --> 00:02:33,369.32172789 whatever works for you, but to feel like you're part of that community is really a great way to get your butt in your chair and do the writing. 29 00:02:33,919.32172789 --> 00:02:41,24.32172789 How about you? 20 years ago, in 2003, I did do it with, some coworkers and I finished and it was crazy. 30 00:02:41,234.32172789 --> 00:02:46,574.32172789 And then even in 2004, I took over as a municipal liaison because of course I did. 31 00:02:46,874.32172789 --> 00:02:50,414.32172789 when I was in New York for Nassau and Suffolk County on Long Island. 32 00:02:50,414.32172789 --> 00:03:03,194.32172789 And so that was my first real writing community, I think outside of college or anything like that before my SBWI days, before grad school and all of that. 33 00:03:03,224.32172789 --> 00:03:06,494.32172789 there's something to be said for having a community in general. 34 00:03:06,744.32072789 --> 00:03:20,504.32222789 Obviously, we always advocate for having a writing community, but having a community that has the same goals at the same time, where everybody's striving for something similar, it can be very rewarding and can help you with your motivation. 35 00:03:21,504.32222789 --> 00:03:22,494.32122789 And if you like competition. 36 00:03:23,494.32122789 --> 00:03:34,804.31922789 But it's like the world's largest writing group almost, right? Even though people aren't really sharing and critiquing, it's a huge number of people who get into this and get into the swing of it. 37 00:03:34,834.31922789 --> 00:03:36,424.22022789 And there are all sorts of. 38 00:03:36,744.32022789 --> 00:03:38,334.32022789 support mechanisms for it. 39 00:03:38,334.32022789 --> 00:03:48,204.32022789 I know, I've been asked in the past for, for the JuNoWriMo group, I was asked to do a little post to cheer them on one year. 40 00:03:48,224.31922789 --> 00:03:58,684.31872789 And it's nice to have that encouragement along the way when you're doing this because, writing can feel like a total solo endeavor, right? Yeah. 41 00:03:58,774.31872789 --> 00:04:19,184.31872789 And especially if you don't normally have a community, this is a great place to build one, but it can also be very dangerous If, like you said, if you know you're not the kind of person who can do this, then I think you have to be a little bit careful about what kind of expectations you make of yourself. 42 00:04:19,514.31872789 --> 00:04:19,964.31872789 In the U. 43 00:04:19,964.31872789 --> 00:04:20,214.31872789 S., 44 00:04:20,264.31872789 --> 00:04:25,724.31872789 November is a hard month when you have Thanksgiving right there at the end, and you need to make that final push. 45 00:04:26,724.31872789 --> 00:04:42,874.31872789 well, I think the reason that JuNoWriMo came into being is because November is a very hard month for people here in my part of the country to participate in something like this because it's finally the weather breaks and we can go outside again. 46 00:04:43,304.31772789 --> 00:04:46,464.31872789 And in some parts of the country, it's. 47 00:04:47,404.31872789 --> 00:04:52,944.31872789 It's cold and it's starting to snow and you want to snuggle up inside and all of that, but we're here. 48 00:04:52,944.31872789 --> 00:04:59,334.31772789 We're all like, Oh my gosh, I can go outside again and not be burnt to a crisp as soon as I exit my door. 49 00:04:59,774.31872789 --> 00:05:14,264.31872789 So I believe that is why JuNoWriMo came into being so that people had an option in the other part of the year that for us is the time when we're like, okay, we're just going to stay inside and we're going to sit in front of a fan and drink iced tea. 50 00:05:15,264.31872789 --> 00:05:19,694.31872789 Yeah, and then the camps that go in April and over the summer, too. 51 00:05:20,254.31772789 --> 00:05:26,494.31772789 And a lot of people have been very successful with it, I mean, it proves that it is possible. 52 00:05:27,304.31772789 --> 00:05:55,474.31872789 I would say, when I first did it, I had zero plan and I just sat down and started writing and I have since learned that for me that is not necessarily a good idea and so I would encourage personally anybody to at least come up with something because I'll tell you maybe you can write 50, 000 words in November but when December comes and you have to revise those 50, 000 words That could be a little tough. 53 00:05:56,324.31872789 --> 00:06:09,184.41972789 The good thing about KidLit, the first one I did was an adult book, and so 50, 000 got me psh, like, not very far into my story, which should have just been an indication that it was already a nightmare. 54 00:06:09,464.41972789 --> 00:06:21,894.41972789 But for us now, especially with the trends, 50, 000 words is a, more than enough for a middle, most middle grades and a pretty solid start for a draft of a YA. 55 00:06:22,894.41972789 --> 00:06:23,664.41972789 Yeah, that's true. 56 00:06:23,724.41972789 --> 00:06:28,874.41972789 And I think that there are a lot of people who are very successful at it. 57 00:06:28,924.41972789 --> 00:06:37,864.41972789 I know people who swear by the writing sprints, either Juno or NaNoWriMo type writing sprints where you get a month. 58 00:06:38,364.41972789 --> 00:06:46,639.41972789 And I know a very successful author who writes big chunks of her books in during that time. 59 00:06:47,129.41972789 --> 00:06:57,729.42022789 So there's a lot to be said for it to have a container for the amount of work that you plan to do and the timeline for when you're going to do it. 60 00:06:58,729.42022789 --> 00:06:59,159.42022789 Yeah. 61 00:06:59,199.42022789 --> 00:07:00,619.42022789 And I think. 62 00:07:01,384.42022789 --> 00:07:27,14.42022789 The more you can prep, and I like that there's, prep time built in with October now more than there, there used to be when Nano first started, but having that plan in general, right? For any time you're writing, not even just for a sprint in a month, but having that plan so that when you sit down, you can spend that time actually writing is, I think, one of the most important things that people can do. 63 00:07:28,14.42022789 --> 00:07:28,374.42022789 Yeah. 64 00:07:28,434.42022789 --> 00:07:31,509.32022789 I think that there are a lot of pluses to having that. 65 00:07:31,779.42022789 --> 00:07:34,89.42022789 opportunity to write out. 66 00:07:34,149.42022789 --> 00:07:36,549.42022789 I think a plan works for most people. 67 00:07:36,589.42022789 --> 00:07:38,719.42022789 Again, you know me, process is personal. 68 00:07:39,129.42022789 --> 00:07:40,279.41972789 Everybody's a little different. 69 00:07:40,279.41972789 --> 00:07:44,949.41922789 Some people just want to sit down and just write 50, 000 words and that's okay. 70 00:07:44,949.42022789 --> 00:07:47,649.42022789 But like you said, then you still have to revise it. 71 00:07:47,659.42022789 --> 00:07:50,229.42022789 You've got your lump of clay, but you still got to revise it. 72 00:07:51,229.42022789 --> 00:07:51,749.42022789 And. 73 00:07:52,219.42022789 --> 00:07:55,649.42022789 I think that, for me though, it's just, it's too stressful. 74 00:07:56,439.42022789 --> 00:08:01,289.41922789 I feel like I'm, I feel like if I don't do this, it's something terrible is going to happen. 75 00:08:01,309.42022789 --> 00:08:04,229.42022789 because I grew up with four brothers, I think I'm very competitive. 76 00:08:05,19.42122789 --> 00:08:08,349.41922789 And the whole idea of that, you need to meet that 50, 000 words. 77 00:08:08,699.41922789 --> 00:08:10,79.41922789 I think it just weighs on me. 78 00:08:10,129.42022789 --> 00:08:11,249.42022789 It just stresses me out. 79 00:08:11,269.42022789 --> 00:08:13,919.42022789 But I think it's great for a lot of people. 80 00:08:13,919.42022789 --> 00:08:23,254.42022789 And I know a lot of people who have successfully done it, but I know that the people who I talked to, do it and get something really valuable out of it. 81 00:08:23,644.42022789 --> 00:08:27,664.42022789 Like you said, they tend to do some kind of pre planning. 82 00:08:28,664.42022789 --> 00:08:37,4.42022789 and that could be so many different things, it could be just getting to know your character so that you have an idea of what you're going to do. 83 00:08:37,24.42022789 --> 00:08:47,154.41822789 It could be making a plot, a short plot points, or it could be outlining your whole thing, it could be world building, so that you kind of know where you're going when you're in there, but That's it. 84 00:08:48,154.41822789 --> 00:08:51,234.41822789 Yeah, there's Could be a spreadsheet like a spreadsheet. 85 00:08:51,994.41822789 --> 00:09:14,189.41772789 I, there is, I did, I will say even 20 years ago, I had a spreadsheet that would track how many words I'd written and how many words I had to do, which you want to talk about stressful Sharon, a spreadsheet that you would log your words every day, and it would tell you how many words at this pace you had to do for the remaining days. 86 00:09:15,189.41772789 --> 00:09:24,569.41772789 So when you fall behind, and it's like, don't worry, if you write 10, 000 words today, and every day for the next five days, you can catch up. 87 00:09:25,509.41772789 --> 00:09:26,499.41672789 You could catch up. 88 00:09:26,509.41772789 --> 00:09:26,969.41772789 Yeah. 89 00:09:27,969.41772789 --> 00:09:30,349.41772789 And at that time, I had a toddler. 90 00:09:30,349.41772789 --> 00:09:35,769.41722789 I don't know what I was thinking, but I guess I wasn't cooking for Thanksgiving because clearly that was never going to happen. 91 00:09:35,769.41722789 --> 00:09:43,299.41772789 But that weekend, I probably wrote 30 to 35, 000 of those 50, 000 words on those last two or three days. 92 00:09:44,299.41772789 --> 00:09:47,269.42022789 that's another thing, if you're going to do this, jump in and... 93 00:09:47,564.42022789 --> 00:09:55,254.42022789 and do it and, be consistent, sit down every day and work on it because otherwise it will pile up on you. 94 00:09:55,274.42022789 --> 00:09:58,384.42022789 And then for somebody like me, it just makes the pressure worse. 95 00:09:58,384.42022789 --> 00:10:01,264.42022789 It's like, Oh my God, I'm never going to finish this now. 96 00:10:01,304.41922789 --> 00:10:02,364.42022789 So yeah. 97 00:10:03,364.42022789 --> 00:10:06,934.41922789 And then you have to write 35, 000 words in a weekend. 98 00:10:06,969.41922789 --> 00:10:07,399.41922789 Yeah. 99 00:10:08,269.41922789 --> 00:10:10,49.42022789 Tiring on the fingers for sure. 100 00:10:11,49.42022789 --> 00:10:11,429.42022789 Yeah. 101 00:10:12,429.42022789 --> 00:10:15,539.42022789 So there are a lot of different ways to prep too. 102 00:10:15,689.42122789 --> 00:10:19,664.42122789 Like you said, you could use a the blueprint method. 103 00:10:19,984.42122789 --> 00:10:22,814.42122789 You can use the save the cat method. 104 00:10:23,164.42122789 --> 00:10:29,564.42122789 You can look at Rachel Aaron's 2000 to 10, 000, how she plans ahead. 105 00:10:30,84.42022789 --> 00:10:32,584.42122789 You can, like you said, just get to know your characters. 106 00:10:32,614.42122789 --> 00:10:39,464.42122789 So you kind of have an idea where they're going and or what you want them to do and then try and follow them around a little bit. 107 00:10:39,464.42122789 --> 00:10:47,784.42122789 Like I used to always do pretending I was just a journalist and I followed my characters around and wrote down everything they did, which was fine to a point. 108 00:10:48,784.42122789 --> 00:10:56,344.42122789 But I did always find that I then had to figure out, the ultimate goal, which I didn't always know when I was writing my way in. 109 00:10:56,344.42122789 --> 00:11:05,704.42122789 But there's nothing wrong with using part of this time to write your way in, to figure out who your characters are and what your story is either. 110 00:11:06,404.42022789 --> 00:11:09,324.42122789 And Honestly, you can use this time to world build. 111 00:11:09,344.42122789 --> 00:11:13,914.42122789 You can use this time to create character sketches. 112 00:11:14,234.42122789 --> 00:11:15,744.42122789 every single word counts. 113 00:11:15,754.42022789 --> 00:11:19,104.42022789 It doesn't have to be a novel when you're done. 114 00:11:19,304.42122789 --> 00:11:21,4.42122789 It could be all the prep work. 115 00:11:21,934.42122789 --> 00:11:28,624.42122789 Well, I would think no matter what you do, it's still a draft of some kind, because there's always going to be revision necessary. 116 00:11:28,734.42122789 --> 00:11:34,24.42122789 No matter how much you plan, no matter how diligent you are every day, writing is revision. 117 00:11:34,104.42122789 --> 00:11:43,524.52022789 I think, to be honest with you, there was one time that I decided I was going to edit my novel in that time period while everybody else was writing. 118 00:11:43,894.52022789 --> 00:11:44,844.51922789 And that's what I did. 119 00:11:44,904.52022789 --> 00:11:48,534.52022789 As I revised the novel, I didn't write an entire novel. 120 00:11:49,154.52022789 --> 00:12:08,684.52022789 So there are a lot of ways to approach it, but I think the important thing is to not be discouraged no matter what's going on and whether or not you do get to sit down every single day and write, or if you feel like you're getting behind, I think it's important not to get discouraged because Any progress you make is progress. 121 00:12:09,684.52022789 --> 00:12:13,704.52022789 I was talking to a client the other day and she didn't feel like she was making progress. 122 00:12:13,744.52022789 --> 00:12:16,684.52022789 She was like sitting at her computer for a set time every day. 123 00:12:16,684.52022789 --> 00:12:24,994.52022789 And so I asked her to start tracking the actual word count rather than the amount of time that she was spending. 124 00:12:25,494.52022789 --> 00:12:33,834.52022789 And it made all the difference because she was writing anywhere from 900 to 1, 500, 1, 600 words a day easily. 125 00:12:34,104.52022789 --> 00:12:35,394.52022789 And that's progress. 126 00:12:36,394.52022789 --> 00:12:43,944.52122789 I don't know what you have to write to do, what's the amount you have to write to get to the 50, 000? 1,667. 127 00:12:44,584.52122789 --> 00:12:44,814.52122789 Okay. 128 00:12:45,114.52122789 --> 00:13:06,989.52122789 how long does that take you if you know what you're going to write? One of the things that I also told her, because sometimes she said she sits down and stares at the page first thing, I don't know if it was Hemingway or somebody who said that they always leave The work, knowing where it was going next or where they were going to go next. 129 00:13:06,989.52122789 --> 00:13:12,549.52122789 They always tried to leave it on a place rather than finish a chapter or a scene completely. 130 00:13:12,549.52122789 --> 00:13:21,879.52122789 They always knew what was gonna happen next and had that first line ready to go sitting there so that when they came back they could just go, yep, now I'm gonna go write this. 131 00:13:22,119.52122789 --> 00:13:26,309.52122789 And I think that's a technique that helped me a lot in my writing. 132 00:13:26,824.52122789 --> 00:13:30,394.52122789 Because I was always like, I got to finish this part and I got to finish this part. 133 00:13:30,394.52122789 --> 00:13:34,904.52122789 And then the next day I'd be like, so now what are we doing? And it, it did waste time. 134 00:13:34,914.52022789 --> 00:13:40,614.52122789 So I do like that technique of leaving yourself knowing where you're headed next. 135 00:13:41,159.52122789 --> 00:13:57,119.52022789 I opened up an old draft of something that I did work on during a NaNo and that I did not finish, but there was a scene that stopped in the middle of a sentence and I don't know who that Christy thought was going to remember what the rest of that sentence was. 136 00:13:57,539.52022789 --> 00:14:00,379.52022789 My brain definitely does not work that way. 137 00:14:00,889.52022789 --> 00:14:07,609.52022789 I would need maybe like a kind of a list, like Okay, this is what you were going to do for the rest of the scene. 138 00:14:07,619.52022789 --> 00:14:08,949.52022789 Now actually write it. 139 00:14:09,9.52022789 --> 00:14:22,859.52022789 But like, what yeah, no, I'm not talking about, yeah, I'm not talking about stopping in the middle of a sentence, at least with a note saying, and The next thing she said or did would be this, so that you know where you're going. 140 00:14:23,639.52022789 --> 00:14:27,339.52022789 But yeah, I don't, I have no idea what I would do if I found half a sentence. 141 00:14:27,339.52022789 --> 00:14:31,899.52022789 I would be I would just love to remember what it was that like, that could not have been on purpose. 142 00:14:31,939.52022789 --> 00:14:40,889.51922789 No, I'm guessing that was a toddler issue or yeah, or something didn't save maybe I actually finished it and it just didn't save and it's gone into the ether. 143 00:14:40,989.51922789 --> 00:15:01,19.51822789 but yeah, I think no matter how much you're trying to get done in amount of time and Even if you're not sprinting through the month, knowing what you're going to do next, there's so much of your brain power that you can waste by trying to figure out what you're going to do instead of actually doing it. 144 00:15:01,39.51922789 --> 00:15:09,609.51922789 That having, for whatever that means to you, having set yourself up enough so that the next time you sit down, you have a plan. 145 00:15:10,109.51922789 --> 00:15:12,109.51922789 that means something different to everybody. 146 00:15:13,109.51922789 --> 00:15:20,989.51922789 Yeah, there are probably people out there who can write that half sentence and know the next time they sit down where they were going with that and finish it, finish that thought. 147 00:15:21,69.51922789 --> 00:15:24,639.51922789 I'm not one of them, Maybe, I bet there are. 148 00:15:24,829.51922789 --> 00:15:34,289.51922789 maybe a hundred years ago when there was no social media and everything else that would distract you between when you stopped writing and when you started writing again, but certainly that's a little bit rough these days. 149 00:15:35,19.51922789 --> 00:15:44,559.51922789 I, I like to think that, but I imagine that there was, the Iceman, yelling in the street or something that would stop you in the middle of whatever you were doing too. 150 00:15:44,639.51922789 --> 00:15:47,929.51922789 There's always the things, right? We're human. 151 00:15:48,324.51922789 --> 00:15:50,834.51822789 We're easily distracted, For sure. 152 00:15:51,434.51822789 --> 00:16:01,438.78126644 So to your point if your goal is to write every single day for that sprint, and Especially if you're doing nano and it's sixteen hundred and sixty seven words. 153 00:16:01,588.78126644 --> 00:16:02,168.78126644 Like you're right. 154 00:16:02,168.78126644 --> 00:16:42,173.5219955 Do you even know how long it takes you typically to write how many of us keep track of that to where we can say that this is even a reasonable goal considering the amount of time in a day, like, are you setting yourself up for failure from before you even start by saying, Sure, I can write seventeen hundred words, when the most you've ever done is, you know, four hundred words in an hour? Do you have four hours to sit and write? that's a great question, and I must confess, as much as I hate spreadsheets, I, when I was doing the novel in 90, I did track both my word count and the amount of time it took me to write those words. 155 00:16:42,713.5219955 --> 00:16:48,203.5219955 And on a really, on a good day, I could do 750 words in just under an hour. 156 00:16:48,853.5219955 --> 00:16:55,823.5219955 And, that was nice, but on a rough day, it would take me an hour and a half or so to do that. 157 00:16:55,893.5219955 --> 00:17:06,573.5219955 So it could vary depending on, again, if I knew where I was going and, if I was in the flow of just the writing. 158 00:17:09,603.5209955 --> 00:17:17,223.5209955 I'm not saying I don't and I advocate like to my clients, definitely to keep track of that, because we're not going to remember. 159 00:17:17,413.5209955 --> 00:17:52,563.5209955 And we're also, I think we tend to remember the things that we did poorly and not necessarily the things that we did well, and I think when you track something over a long period of time, you notice patterns that you probably forgot, that maybe, yeah, maybe you had a couple of days that it took you over an hour or two hours to get to that thousand words, but you probably had just as many days that you did it faster and your average was somewhere in between, but you probably remember more the days that it sucked than the days that you did really, or the days that you did really well, but not the average out over that time. 160 00:17:52,573.5199955 --> 00:18:02,123.5204955 one of the things that I recommend to my clients, I'm sure you do too when you're drafting, like don't get stuck on things that you don't know the answer to yet. 161 00:18:02,133.5204955 --> 00:18:06,603.5204955 It is great to put something in brackets and leave it for later. 162 00:18:06,793.5204955 --> 00:18:13,123.5204955 names, I don't know about you, names for me is such a huge time suck because I like that name to be perfect. 163 00:18:13,143.5194955 --> 00:18:15,603.5194955 I'm going down that rabbit hole. 164 00:18:15,613.5194955 --> 00:18:20,23.5204955 No, not when I'm drafting, it's come up with a name for this person later. 165 00:18:20,273.5204955 --> 00:18:22,463.5204955 Research about this thing later. 166 00:18:22,903.5204955 --> 00:18:23,533.5204955 insert. 167 00:18:23,948.5194955 --> 00:18:27,728.5194955 the scene later because I don't know what to do with it and come back to it. 168 00:18:27,778.5194955 --> 00:18:34,958.5194955 And that's, I think, a good way to keep yourself moving and keep your word count per hour up. 169 00:18:35,958.5194955 --> 00:18:37,808.5204955 I'm a firm believer in placeholders. 170 00:18:38,108.5204955 --> 00:18:43,598.5204955 Now my personal placeholder is a triple question mark, because I don't know. 171 00:18:43,928.5204955 --> 00:18:51,988.5204955 and other people use other things, but I use a triple question mark and then I'll usually make a note like of what I need. 172 00:18:52,8.5204955 --> 00:18:53,88.5204955 And I write fantasy. 173 00:18:53,88.5204955 --> 00:18:59,958.5189955 So it's usually things like how far can a horse travel in a day fully loaded with a person on their back. 174 00:19:00,188.5189955 --> 00:19:12,448.5179955 How far can a person walk uphill in a day over rough terrain, feasibly, if they're full, if they're healthy? and what if they're not? and what kind of plants grow at this elevation? I have no idea. 175 00:19:12,798.5189955 --> 00:19:18,758.5199955 I don't remember what color my character's eyes were when we saw them last, and so I'm gonna just put his... 176 00:19:19,133.5199955 --> 00:19:21,203.5199955 Blank eyes sparkled in the sunlight. 177 00:19:21,203.5199955 --> 00:19:24,123.5199955 I don't use triple question mark eyes. 178 00:19:24,453.5199955 --> 00:19:32,723.5189955 So yeah, I'm a firm believer in placeholders rather than stopping the work or stopping the flow in order to figure something out like that. 179 00:19:33,613.5199955 --> 00:19:35,873.5199955 I just think that's the best way to go for it. 180 00:19:35,903.5199955 --> 00:19:37,333.5199955 Otherwise, you never get anything done. 181 00:19:37,753.5199955 --> 00:19:44,483.5189955 You'll just end up researching or looking stuff up all day long and you get no writing done. 182 00:19:44,978.5189955 --> 00:19:49,948.5189955 Regardless of whether you're trying to sprint or not, your writing time is valuable writing time. 183 00:19:49,948.5189955 --> 00:19:52,448.5189955 And that is, that's a different part of your brain. 184 00:19:52,448.5189955 --> 00:19:53,568.5189955 That's a different thought process. 185 00:19:53,568.5189955 --> 00:19:59,188.5199955 You're taking yourself out of the creative space and putting yourself into the analytical or the research. 186 00:19:59,598.5199955 --> 00:20:02,898.5199955 space, and it can mess it up. 187 00:20:03,898.5199955 --> 00:20:04,98.5199955 Yeah. 188 00:20:04,98.5199955 --> 00:20:14,378.5199955 And if you use the same symbol, whatever it is, brackets, question marks, TK to be known, whatever it is you use for that placeholder, you can do a word search on that. 189 00:20:14,408.5199955 --> 00:20:22,28.5199955 And on a day when you're not writing and start filling in those blanks and looking that stuff up when you're in that mode. 190 00:20:22,408.5199955 --> 00:20:28,428.5199955 like you said, it's a different part of the brain and it's a great way to, okay, today I'm not in the flow. 191 00:20:28,708.5199955 --> 00:20:29,488.5199955 That's another thing. 192 00:20:29,518.5199955 --> 00:20:43,433.5209955 Like if I'm writing and it's just not coming, those are the days where I might think, maybe today's a day for me to go do that rather than try to do the creative writing and get the words on the page. 193 00:20:44,433.5209955 --> 00:20:46,753.5209955 Yeah, and that's a great way to keep yourself moving. 194 00:20:46,753.5209955 --> 00:20:53,613.5209955 I tell my clients, I have two now that are working through very first draft after we just planned. 195 00:20:53,643.5199955 --> 00:20:59,383.5189955 I love when we can get writers right at the beginning of that process and plan all of the stuff for them, what they need. 196 00:20:59,663.5189955 --> 00:21:15,383.5189955 But as they're going through, we give you permission, listeners, to put brackets and to not figure out every single thing as you're writing, and then at the end of the writing session, you have a separate notepad where you write, these are the things that I need to figure out still, and let your subconscious work on it another time. 197 00:21:15,863.5189955 --> 00:21:30,378.5189955 These are the things that I need to research, and when you have 10 minutes while dinner is cooking or you're waiting for your kid to finish soccer practice, you pull out your phone and you Google that thing that you're trying to figure out and where you can fit stuff into little pockets of time. 198 00:21:30,388.5189955 --> 00:21:40,428.5189955 But for a long time, I wasted a lot of time trying to figure everything out before it went on the page and it just doesn't serve anybody. 199 00:21:41,138.5189955 --> 00:21:48,298.5189955 but to waste all that time when it might not even end up in your story, this might not even be important. 200 00:21:48,328.5189955 --> 00:21:50,38.5189955 It feels important in this moment. 201 00:21:50,398.5189955 --> 00:21:57,898.5189955 In the grand scheme, there might not even be a horse in your story and now you've wasted how much time figuring out, how much hay they need for nothing. 202 00:21:58,448.5189955 --> 00:21:58,648.5189955 Yeah. 203 00:21:58,648.5189955 --> 00:21:59,548.5189955 You may change that. 204 00:21:59,558.5189955 --> 00:22:02,948.5189955 That may change and in revision too. 205 00:22:03,18.5189955 --> 00:22:12,148.5184955 and not, if you don't know what the name of the street was or whatever it is that you need to know, you might remember it later while you're cooking dinner without even having to look it up. 206 00:22:12,558.5184955 --> 00:22:21,478.5184955 why waste brain power and energy and time on something that can Either be easily looked up or might come to you in a moment of clarity. 207 00:22:22,383.5184955 --> 00:22:26,13.5184955 And then also, depending on what kind of writer you are, as we've discussed before. 208 00:22:26,13.5184955 --> 00:22:27,333.5184955 I'm a short writer. 209 00:22:27,663.5184955 --> 00:22:30,428.5184955 I'm not putting a lot of details in my first draft. 210 00:22:30,438.5184955 --> 00:22:32,338.5184955 That's just not the way that I write. 211 00:22:32,358.5184955 --> 00:22:39,178.5184955 So it is a little harder for me to get to 50, 000 words in a month because my first draft probably isn't even close to that. 212 00:22:39,218.5174955 --> 00:22:50,178.5174955 But it's knowing what you're comfortable with putting on the page for whatever you define as this draft and allowing yourself to not worry about those other things. 213 00:22:50,908.5184955 --> 00:22:54,108.5184955 If dialogue is not your thing, don't worry about the dialogue. 214 00:22:54,108.5184955 --> 00:22:58,828.5174955 Just put like a placeholder that says, have a conversation about whatever and keep going. 215 00:22:58,988.5184955 --> 00:23:01,218.5174955 If like me, description is not your thing. 216 00:23:01,258.5184955 --> 00:23:03,788.5189955 you're going to come back later and figure that out. 217 00:23:03,798.5179955 --> 00:23:08,308.5179955 So Yeah, I've totally done exactly that with things like dialogue. 218 00:23:08,308.5179955 --> 00:23:08,568.5179955 Okay. 219 00:23:08,568.5179955 --> 00:23:16,928.5179955 They need to have an argument about this moving on or how do I get so and so back in the room? cause sometimes I don't know. 220 00:23:18,28.5179955 --> 00:23:27,288.5179955 So even though that first year I did my 50, 000 words, the next year did not go as well, and the year after that didn't go as well. 221 00:23:27,338.5169955 --> 00:23:35,208.5179955 And, I did get discouraged from thinking, how come I could do this the first year and I can't do this again? My world was different. 222 00:23:35,218.5179955 --> 00:23:37,358.5179955 I had moved states in between. 223 00:23:37,438.5179955 --> 00:23:38,728.5179955 I was living in a new place. 224 00:23:38,728.5179955 --> 00:23:39,808.5179955 I had a different job. 225 00:23:40,758.5179955 --> 00:23:52,128.5169955 how do you suggest your writers keep from getting discouraged when they can't maybe make a goal like this? I always encourage my writers to think about progress. 226 00:23:52,128.5169955 --> 00:23:53,518.5169955 You're making forward progress. 227 00:23:53,558.5169955 --> 00:24:00,848.5169955 No matter how much you write in a day, if it's 10 words or 10, 000, you've made forward progress. 228 00:24:01,368.5169955 --> 00:24:03,968.5169955 And I like them to celebrate that. 229 00:24:04,78.5159955 --> 00:24:16,248.5169955 did you sit down and write today? Or did you at least come up with a plan to write? Did you sketch out a character today? Did you make progress on the thing that you want to accomplish? Then count that as progress. 230 00:24:16,698.5169955 --> 00:24:18,238.5159955 Celebrate that progress. 231 00:24:19,108.5169955 --> 00:24:31,148.5159955 You are building your lump of clay and it may only be a thousand words at a time or 500 words at a time, or it may just be that you are starting to see the shape of it, but you're making progress. 232 00:24:31,148.6159955 --> 00:24:32,568.5159955 And so you should celebrate that. 233 00:24:33,568.5159955 --> 00:24:36,228.5159955 And celebrate yourself for sitting down and doing it. 234 00:24:36,418.5784955 --> 00:24:51,778.5784955 We're so bad at that, right? we set out to write a novel, to get novel published, which is such a huge, nebulous thing and can take so many years with, doing everything right and having the best luck. 235 00:24:51,838.5784955 --> 00:24:57,558.5784955 so much is out of your control that celebrating that progress that you do make is so important. 236 00:24:57,588.5784955 --> 00:25:02,308.5784955 And it can't be, I will only celebrate when I finish this draft. 237 00:25:02,668.5784955 --> 00:25:03,708.5784955 that's too long. 238 00:25:03,948.5784955 --> 00:25:04,908.5784955 That's too much. 239 00:25:05,908.5784955 --> 00:25:29,153.5789955 Yeah, I recently had a client who, started querying, she wasn't getting much traction, she came to me for help with her synopsis and her query letter, and When all was said and done, we celebrated that she had a much better synopsis and a much stronger query letter her spark was reignited to go back out and start querying this thing and to move forward again. 240 00:25:30,153.5789955 --> 00:25:39,233.5789955 It's easy to get discouraged in this kind of a creative endeavor because we see all these books being published around us and we're struggling to get there. 241 00:25:39,843.5789955 --> 00:25:47,253.5784955 And even I have nine novels out and right now I'm struggling to get the next one out and people are around me just like, Ooh, I have a new novel out. 242 00:25:47,253.5784955 --> 00:25:48,93.5784955 I have a new book out. 243 00:25:48,93.5784955 --> 00:25:49,323.4789955 I have a new novel out. 244 00:25:50,43.5789955 --> 00:25:53,843.5789955 It can be, you have to stop comparing yourself. 245 00:25:53,873.5789955 --> 00:26:03,283.5784955 And that's another one of the reasons why for me, Nano is dangerous is because I have trouble not comparing my progress and my success to others. 246 00:26:03,283.5784955 --> 00:26:08,493.5789955 I have to remind myself on a regular basis that this is about me and this is about my journey. 247 00:26:08,513.5779955 --> 00:26:09,973.5789955 It's not about anybody else. 248 00:26:10,593.5789955 --> 00:26:11,663.5789955 it's not a race. 249 00:26:12,663.5789955 --> 00:26:13,913.5789955 It's a journey. 250 00:26:14,453.6414955 --> 00:26:21,573.6414955 And a very personal one, because maybe I can spit out 50, 000 words, and they're nonsense. 251 00:26:21,743.6414955 --> 00:26:27,33.6414955 And maybe you can only spit out 10, 000 words, but they're so much more organized, and your story makes more sense. 252 00:26:27,223.6414955 --> 00:26:31,463.6404955 Who's really better off at the end of the day, I guess? That also depends. 253 00:26:31,613.6404955 --> 00:26:35,663.6404955 If I'm great at revision, maybe I can turn that into something. 254 00:26:35,743.6404955 --> 00:26:41,363.6394955 If not, now I just have 50, 000 words of nonsense that I have to figure out. 255 00:26:41,413.6404955 --> 00:26:43,43.6404955 it's just about making progress. 256 00:26:43,723.6394955 --> 00:26:50,843.6414955 And if you want to win the badge and you can do this and you can churn out the 50, 000 and that's your goal. 257 00:26:51,223.6414955 --> 00:26:53,413.6414955 And that's glorious. 258 00:26:53,613.6414955 --> 00:26:55,133.6414955 I think celebrate that. 259 00:26:56,23.6414955 --> 00:27:03,773.6414955 But if along the way you find this process is not for you to churn out 50, 000, then set yourself a realistic goal. 260 00:27:03,803.6414955 --> 00:27:17,143.6414955 And still you can be part of the community that's doing this and not have to feel like a failure or that you didn't, win some badge or something, just because you didn't hit the 50, 000 words. 261 00:27:17,433.6414955 --> 00:27:29,453.6414955 I don't think that the people who set up Nano and who continue to participate in it all the time, are trying to set anybody up to feel bad about themselves or fail or anything. 262 00:27:30,43.6404955 --> 00:27:34,153.6404955 And they just want to give you a space to write into. 263 00:27:34,643.6394955 --> 00:27:36,803.6404955 I think that's the whole idea behind it. 264 00:27:37,263.6404955 --> 00:27:40,213.6404955 And 50, 000 is a great goal for a month. 265 00:27:40,373.6404955 --> 00:27:44,788.6404955 If you're doing sprint writing, That's also, totally valid. 266 00:27:45,658.6404955 --> 00:27:53,738.6404955 But again, if you are not the person that's able to do that, then do what you're able to do what works for you. 267 00:27:54,248.6394955 --> 00:28:00,638.6404955 And still participate, be part of the community, celebrate the other people who are totally capable of doing this. 268 00:28:00,688.6404955 --> 00:28:03,358.6404955 I think it's a fabulous opportunity for a lot of people. 269 00:28:03,628.6404955 --> 00:28:26,68.6404955 I cheer on all of the people who take this on, whether you, win, lose or draw, if you want to call it a race, if you get your badge, if you don't get your badge, as long as you make progress, I really, I want to celebrate you for giving yourself some goals in your writing and sitting down and making the effort to accomplish them and making progress along the way. 270 00:28:26,848.7029955 --> 00:28:31,858.7029955 How many people say I want to write a book, but don't ever actually sit down and do any of it. 271 00:28:31,868.7019955 --> 00:28:33,388.7029955 So any progress towards that. 272 00:28:33,658.7029955 --> 00:28:45,673.7029955 and however you approach it, I know now that the mistake that I made then was that I was just trying to reach 50, 000 words without any kind of concept of what that meant once I got there. 273 00:28:45,973.7029955 --> 00:28:52,493.7009955 So maybe for some people, the 50, 000 words, your goal is to write x percent of the book. 274 00:28:52,493.7019955 --> 00:28:56,343.7009955 Like I'm just going to write and until I get to 50, 000 and that's... 275 00:28:56,893.7019955 --> 00:29:00,333.7019955 50 percent of my book 60 percent and you'll write the rest afterwards. 276 00:29:00,353.7019955 --> 00:29:06,293.7019955 Or maybe it's I'm going to tell my whole story in 50, 000 words and then I'm going to expand it later. 277 00:29:06,333.7009955 --> 00:29:13,193.7014955 there's so many different ways to approach it, but anything is better than coming out on the other end with nothing. 278 00:29:14,193.7014955 --> 00:29:16,223.7014955 Yeah, absolutely. 279 00:29:16,233.7014955 --> 00:29:19,793.7014955 It's a great opportunity to make progress on your work in progress. 280 00:29:20,183.7014955 --> 00:29:25,583.7014955 It's a great opportunity to set yourself some goals and sit down and write forward. 281 00:29:25,993.7014955 --> 00:29:31,333.7004955 And I applaud anyone and everyone who is willing and able to do that. 282 00:29:31,813.7639955 --> 00:29:32,553.7639955 Absolutely. 283 00:29:32,683.7639955 --> 00:29:46,493.7639955 And there was a study done pre pandemic, I'm sure it's much different now, but a study that was done by the American Society of Training and Development where like, how likely you are to attain a goal based on the actions that you take. 284 00:29:46,793.7639955 --> 00:29:52,223.7639955 And they say just having an idea or a goal you're 10% likely to attain that. 285 00:29:52,513.7639955 --> 00:29:56,143.7639955 Consciously deciding to do it increases you to 25%. 286 00:29:56,503.7639955 --> 00:29:59,173.7639955 Deciding when you'll do it increases you to 40%. 287 00:29:59,523.7639955 --> 00:30:01,703.7639955 Planning how to do it, 50%. 288 00:30:01,913.7639955 --> 00:30:09,233.7639955 Committing to someone that you will do it 65% and checking in with someone that you've committed to 95% and nano. 289 00:30:09,778.7639955 --> 00:30:13,158.7639955 itself gives you all of those things. 290 00:30:13,338.7639955 --> 00:30:26,8.7629955 And if that's not something that you have on your own, maybe you won't hit 50, 000 because there might be things out of your control regardless of how well you plan and how much you check in and how much you sit down and whatever. 291 00:30:26,18.7629955 --> 00:30:33,808.7629955 But saying, Hey, everybody, strangers or not, I'm going to sit down and I'm going to do this. 292 00:30:33,808.7629955 --> 00:30:38,618.7629955 And I'm going to check in every day with myself and with you and say how much I've gotten done. 293 00:30:39,98.7629955 --> 00:30:42,38.7629955 And by the end of the month, this is what I'm planning to have. 294 00:30:42,298.7629955 --> 00:30:47,568.7629955 You're miles ahead of the person who just says, someday, I'm going to write a book. 295 00:30:48,568.7629955 --> 00:30:49,408.7629955 Yeah, absolutely. 296 00:30:49,408.7629955 --> 00:30:52,538.7629955 And I think that the accountability piece to it is huge. 297 00:30:52,988.7629955 --> 00:31:00,368.7629955 I have clients who work with me simply because they need the accountability to keep moving forward. 298 00:31:00,748.7629955 --> 00:31:07,168.7629955 And I also know that when I am doing novel in 90, I don't do that on my own. 299 00:31:07,168.7629955 --> 00:31:16,748.7629955 That's a group of individuals I do that with, and we check in with each other, and we tell each other how many words we wrote that day during that sprint. 300 00:31:17,118.7629955 --> 00:31:37,728.6629955 the accountability is a great component of this, and as you say, having that for a lot of us, is, It's really important, rather than just, oh, I'm telling myself I'm gonna do it, and then if I don't, eh, I just didn't bother, I didn't feel like it, but now you're like, oh, I gotta let people know how many words I wrote yesterday. 301 00:31:38,153.6629955 --> 00:31:40,333.6629955 And I don't really want to take a goose egg. 302 00:31:41,333.6629955 --> 00:31:52,23.6629955 But then also being kind to yourself if you do have to, and recognizing that your effort is still worth something, even if you can't get there. 303 00:31:52,233.6629955 --> 00:31:55,733.6629955 You don't know other people's situations, what they have going on in their life. 304 00:31:55,753.6629955 --> 00:31:58,323.6629955 Maybe that's the only thing that they're doing. 305 00:31:58,953.6629955 --> 00:31:59,143.6629955 Yeah. 306 00:31:59,143.6629955 --> 00:32:03,713.6629955 Life happens, just does, especially when you make plans. 307 00:32:04,713.6629955 --> 00:32:06,493.6619955 every time, every time. 308 00:32:07,323.6629955 --> 00:32:07,793.6629955 Yeah. 309 00:32:07,793.6629955 --> 00:32:20,613.6629955 So I think that, my action item for our listeners is to give yourself some grace during this time when you are setting. 310 00:32:21,48.6629955 --> 00:32:43,698.6629955 All these big goals, whenever you're setting a big sprint goal or a writing goal also give yourself some grace and some space to be kind to yourself and allow yourself to be human and understand that life happens and we don't have to be perfect and we don't all have to finish across the finish line with everybody else. 311 00:32:44,698.6629955 --> 00:32:47,108.6629955 But it is a great way to have accountability. 312 00:32:47,208.6629955 --> 00:32:47,778.6619955 I like that. 313 00:32:48,428.6619955 --> 00:32:48,768.6619955 Hmm. 314 00:32:48,848.6619955 --> 00:32:49,688.6619955 My action item. 315 00:32:49,708.6629955 --> 00:32:56,238.6639955 I would say whether you're participating or not to track what you're doing. 316 00:32:56,718.6629955 --> 00:33:06,948.6629955 I have my clients check in depending on what stage they're at and how their preference is, how much time they've spent, how many words they've written, how many words they've edited. 317 00:33:07,413.6629955 --> 00:33:11,703.6629955 their mood, how they feel about what they got done, and a note about what they got done. 318 00:33:11,713.6629955 --> 00:33:17,913.6619955 And if you're doing that right now, you're probably keeping track of how many words you write every day. 319 00:33:17,913.6629955 --> 00:33:19,433.6629955 Try to keep track of how much time. 320 00:33:19,823.6629955 --> 00:33:32,413.6619955 The more data you have, the better you can plan for the next time you want to do something like this, that you can see, yes, this is possible, or no, this is crazy, and I'm just setting myself up for failure. 321 00:33:32,423.6619955 --> 00:33:41,453.6619955 I think the more data you have about what you're able to do, and I think you'll surprise yourself when you do look at what you've accomplished. 322 00:33:42,453.6619955 --> 00:33:43,503.6619955 yeah, that's great. 323 00:33:43,603.6619955 --> 00:33:44,883.6629955 I always enjoy our talks. 324 00:33:45,33.6629955 --> 00:33:59,403.6619955 I appreciate anybody who takes the time to listen to us and who showed up and hoorah for you if, and when, whenever you're doing any kind of a writing sprint or making progress towards your writing goals. 325 00:33:59,453.6619955 --> 00:34:00,693.6619955 And thanks for listening. 326 00:34:01,73.7244955 --> 00:34:01,693.7244955 I agree. 327 00:34:02,313.7244955 --> 00:34:12,143.7244955 Kudos to all of you out there putting yourself in this race and getting however far you get, and good luck to you, and we will see you next month. 328 00:34:13,143.7244955 --> 00:34:13,583.7244955 Bye. 329 00:34:14,783.7244955 --> 00:34:21,743.7244955 We hope you enjoyed this episode of Coaching KidLit, a writing and book coaching podcast for writers who want to level up their KidLit writing game. 330 00:34:22,23.7244955 --> 00:34:26,853.7244955 For more about us and to discover what a book coach can do for you, check out coachingkidlit. 331 00:34:27,913.7244955 --> 00:34:30,353.7244955 com and follow us on social media.
Welcome to Coaching KidLit, a podcast about writing and publishing good KidLit.
We dig into various aspects of writing craft through a KidLit lens and provide inspiration and clear, actionable items to help writers like you move forward on their KidLit writing journeys. 3 00:00:19,760.001 --> 00:00:30,330 I'm Sharon Skinner, author accelerator, certified book coach, and author of speculative fiction and KidLit, including picture books, middle grade, and young adult.
(00:31):
And I'm Christy Yaros, author accelerator certified book coach and story editor, focusing on KidLit, including middle grade and young adult. 5 00:00:41,149.319727891 --> 00:00:41,799.319727891 Hey, Christy. 6 00:00:41,959.319727891 --> 00:00:42,569.319727891 Hey Sharon. 7 00:00:43,569.319727891 --> 00:00:50,849.320727891 So what are we gonna talk about today? Oh, let's talk about people who are participating in... 8 00:00:51,849.320727891 --> 00:00:53,459.320727891 writing sprints for the month. 9 00:00:54,459.320727891 --> 00:01:00,299.320727891 Something like NaNoWriMo or anything where you're trying to write a large amount in a short amount of time. 10 00:01:01,299.320727891 --> 00:01:02,479.320727891 I think that's a great idea. 11 00:01:02,479.320727891 --> 00:01:15,639.320727891 I think it's good timing because there are a lot of people who participate in, at least in NaNoWriMo, and I think that this would be a great time to talk about, first of all, that we're cheering them on. 12 00:01:16,169.320727891 --> 00:01:21,359.320727891 We are excited for anybody participating in that kind of a writing sprint. 13 00:01:22,359.320727891 --> 00:01:26,899.320727891 And there are some ways that you can make it so it's not too onerous on yourself. 14 00:01:27,299.320727891 --> 00:01:33,224.320727891 And, Get to where you want to be or at least make progress and feel good about it. 15 00:01:34,224.320727891 --> 00:01:34,884.320727891 Yeah, definitely. 16 00:01:34,894.320727891 --> 00:01:39,204.320727891 Have you ever done NaNo? I personally am not a NaNo person. 17 00:01:39,544.320727891 --> 00:01:41,384.32072789 I'm a novel in 90 kind of person. 18 00:01:41,434.32072789 --> 00:01:46,534.32072789 I need a little more time to stretch my writing out. 19 00:01:46,564.32072789 --> 00:01:50,184.31972789 I've done novel in 90 and been quite successful at it. 20 00:01:50,184.31972789 --> 00:01:54,994.32172789 But I think something where I had to write 50,000 words in a month might break me. 21 00:01:55,44.32172789 --> 00:01:56,264.32172789 I am not that writer. 22 00:01:56,569.32172789 --> 00:02:04,639.32172789 that's not who I am, but I think it's really great when people do it or at least set a goal to do it. 23 00:02:05,619.32172789 --> 00:02:11,79.32172789 I will say that if you're more like me, there's no reason why you can't participate, but just adjust your goal. 24 00:02:11,339.32072789 --> 00:02:13,959.32072789 You don't have to be competitive about it. 25 00:02:13,959.32172789 --> 00:02:17,399.32172789 You don't have to hit that 50, 000 words. 26 00:02:17,649.32172789 --> 00:02:21,799.32172789 You could maybe set a goal of 25, 000 words for yourself for that month. 27 00:02:22,239.32172789 --> 00:02:23,219.32172789 And that would be cool. 28 00:02:23,724.32172789 --> 00:02:33,369.32172789 whatever works for you, but to feel like you're part of that community is really a great way to get your butt in your chair and do the writing. 29 00:02:33,919.32172789 --> 00:02:41,24.32172789 How about you? 20 years ago, in 2003, I did do it with, some coworkers and I finished and it was crazy. 30 00:02:41,234.32172789 --> 00:02:46,574.32172789 And then even in 2004, I took over as a municipal liaison because of course I did. 31 00:02:46,874.32172789 --> 00:02:50,414.32172789 when I was in New York for Nassau and Suffolk County on Long Island. 32 00:02:50,414.32172789 --> 00:03:03,194.32172789 And so that was my first real writing community, I think outside of college or anything like that before my SBWI days, before grad school and all of that. 33 00:03:03,224.32172789 --> 00:03:06,494.32172789 there's something to be said for having a community in general. 34 00:03:06,744.32072789 --> 00:03:20,504.32222789 Obviously, we always advocate for having a writing community, but having a community that has the same goals at the same time, where everybody's striving for something similar, it can be very rewarding and can help you with your motivation. 35 00:03:21,504.32222789 --> 00:03:22,494.32122789 And if you like competition. 36 00:03:23,494.32122789 --> 00:03:34,804.31922789 But it's like the world's largest writing group almost, right? Even though people aren't really sharing and critiquing, it's a huge number of people who get into this and get into the swing of it. 37 00:03:34,834.31922789 --> 00:03:36,424.22022789 And there are all sorts of. 38 00:03:36,744.32022789 --> 00:03:38,334.32022789 support mechanisms for it. 39 00:03:38,334.32022789 --> 00:03:48,204.32022789 I know, I've been asked in the past for, for the JuNoWriMo group, I was asked to do a little post to cheer them on one year. 40 00:03:48,224.31922789 --> 00:03:58,684.31872789 And it's nice to have that encouragement along the way when you're doing this because, writing can feel like a total solo endeavor, right? Yeah. 41 00:03:58,774.31872789 --> 00:04:19,184.31872789 And especially if you don't normally have a community, this is a great place to build one, but it can also be very dangerous If, like you said, if you know you're not the kind of person who can do this, then I think you have to be a little bit careful about what kind of expectations you make of yourself. 42 00:04:19,514.31872789 --> 00:04:19,964.31872789 In the U. 43 00:04:19,964.31872789 --> 00:04:20,214.31872789 S., 44 00:04:20,264.31872789 --> 00:04:25,724.31872789 November is a hard month when you have Thanksgiving right there at the end, and you need to make that final push. 45 00:04:26,724.31872789 --> 00:04:42,874.31872789 well, I think the reason that JuNoWriMo came into being is because November is a very hard month for people here in my part of the country to participate in something like this because it's finally the weather breaks and we can go outside again. 46 00:04:43,304.31772789 --> 00:04:46,464.31872789 And in some parts of the country, it's. 47 00:04:47,404.31872789 --> 00:04:52,944.31872789 It's cold and it's starting to snow and you want to snuggle up inside and all of that, but we're here. 48 00:04:52,944.31872789 --> 00:04:59,334.31772789 We're all like, Oh my gosh, I can go outside again and not be burnt to a crisp as soon as I exit my door. 49 00:04:59,774.31872789 --> 00:05:14,264.31872789 So I believe that is why JuNoWriMo came into being so that people had an option in the other part of the year that for us is the time when we're like, okay, we're just going to stay inside and we're going to sit in front of a fan and drink iced tea. 50 00:05:15,264.31872789 --> 00:05:19,694.31872789 Yeah, and then the camps that go in April and over the summer, too. 51 00:05:20,254.31772789 --> 00:05:26,494.31772789 And a lot of people have been very successful with it, I mean, it proves that it is possible. 52 00:05:27,304.31772789 --> 00:05:55,474.31872789 I would say, when I first did it, I had zero plan and I just sat down and started writing and I have since learned that for me that is not necessarily a good idea and so I would encourage personally anybody to at least come up with something because I'll tell you maybe you can write 50, 000 words in November but when December comes and you have to revise those 50, 000 words That could be a little tough. 53 00:05:56,324.31872789 --> 00:06:09,184.41972789 The good thing about KidLit, the first one I did was an adult book, and so 50, 000 got me psh, like, not very far into my story, which should have just been an indication that it was already a nightmare. 54 00:06:09,464.41972789 --> 00:06:21,894.41972789 But for us now, especially with the trends, 50, 000 words is a, more than enough for a middle, most middle grades and a pretty solid start for a draft of a YA. 55 00:06:22,894.41972789 --> 00:06:23,664.41972789 Yeah, that's true. 56 00:06:23,724.41972789 --> 00:06:28,874.41972789 And I think that there are a lot of people who are very successful at it. 57 00:06:28,924.41972789 --> 00:06:37,864.41972789 I know people who swear by the writing sprints, either Juno or NaNoWriMo type writing sprints where you get a month. 58 00:06:38,364.41972789 --> 00:06:46,639.41972789 And I know a very successful author who writes big chunks of her books in during that time. 59 00:06:47,129.41972789 --> 00:06:57,729.42022789 So there's a lot to be said for it to have a container for the amount of work that you plan to do and the timeline for when you're going to do it. 60 00:06:58,729.42022789 --> 00:06:59,159.42022789 Yeah. 61 00:06:59,199.42022789 --> 00:07:00,619.42022789 And I think. 62 00:07:01,384.42022789 --> 00:07:27,14.42022789 The more you can prep, and I like that there's, prep time built in with October now more than there, there used to be when Nano first started, but having that plan in general, right? For any time you're writing, not even just for a sprint in a month, but having that plan so that when you sit down, you can spend that time actually writing is, I think, one of the most important things that people can do. 63 00:07:28,14.42022789 --> 00:07:28,374.42022789 Yeah. 64 00:07:28,434.42022789 --> 00:07:31,509.32022789 I think that there are a lot of pluses to having that. 65 00:07:31,779.42022789 --> 00:07:34,89.42022789 opportunity to write out. 66 00:07:34,149.42022789 --> 00:07:36,549.42022789 I think a plan works for most people. 67 00:07:36,589.42022789 --> 00:07:38,719.42022789 Again, you know me, process is personal. 68 00:07:39,129.42022789 --> 00:07:40,279.41972789 Everybody's a little different. 69 00:07:40,279.41972789 --> 00:07:44,949.41922789 Some people just want to sit down and just write 50, 000 words and that's okay. 70 00:07:44,949.42022789 --> 00:07:47,649.42022789 But like you said, then you still have to revise it. 71 00:07:47,659.42022789 --> 00:07:50,229.42022789 You've got your lump of clay, but you still got to revise it. 72 00:07:51,229.42022789 --> 00:07:51,749.42022789 And. 73 00:07:52,219.42022789 --> 00:07:55,649.42022789 I think that, for me though, it's just, it's too stressful. 74 00:07:56,439.42022789 --> 00:08:01,289.41922789 I feel like I'm, I feel like if I don't do this, it's something terrible is going to happen. 75 00:08:01,309.42022789 --> 00:08:04,229.42022789 because I grew up with four brothers, I think I'm very competitive. 76 00:08:05,19.42122789 --> 00:08:08,349.41922789 And the whole idea of that, you need to meet that 50, 000 words. 77 00:08:08,699.41922789 --> 00:08:10,79.41922789 I think it just weighs on me. 78 00:08:10,129.42022789 --> 00:08:11,249.42022789 It just stresses me out. 79 00:08:11,269.42022789 --> 00:08:13,919.42022789 But I think it's great for a lot of people. 80 00:08:13,919.42022789 --> 00:08:23,254.42022789 And I know a lot of people who have successfully done it, but I know that the people who I talked to, do it and get something really valuable out of it. 81 00:08:23,644.42022789 --> 00:08:27,664.42022789 Like you said, they tend to do some kind of pre planning. 82 00:08:28,664.42022789 --> 00:08:37,4.42022789 and that could be so many different things, it could be just getting to know your character so that you have an idea of what you're going to do. 83 00:08:37,24.42022789 --> 00:08:47,154.41822789 It could be making a plot, a short plot points, or it could be outlining your whole thing, it could be world building, so that you kind of know where you're going when you're in there, but That's it. 84 00:08:48,154.41822789 --> 00:08:51,234.41822789 Yeah, there's Could be a spreadsheet like a spreadsheet. 85 00:08:51,994.41822789 --> 00:09:14,189.41772789 I, there is, I did, I will say even 20 years ago, I had a spreadsheet that would track how many words I'd written and how many words I had to do, which you want to talk about stressful Sharon, a spreadsheet that you would log your words every day, and it would tell you how many words at this pace you had to do for the remaining days. 86 00:09:15,189.41772789 --> 00:09:24,569.41772789 So when you fall behind, and it's like, don't worry, if you write 10, 000 words today, and every day for the next five days, you can catch up. 87 00:09:25,509.41772789 --> 00:09:26,499.41672789 You could catch up. 88 00:09:26,509.41772789 --> 00:09:26,969.41772789 Yeah. 89 00:09:27,969.41772789 --> 00:09:30,349.41772789 And at that time, I had a toddler. 90 00:09:30,349.41772789 --> 00:09:35,769.41722789 I don't know what I was thinking, but I guess I wasn't cooking for Thanksgiving because clearly that was never going to happen. 91 00:09:35,769.41722789 --> 00:09:43,299.41772789 But that weekend, I probably wrote 30 to 35, 000 of those 50, 000 words on those last two or three days. 92 00:09:44,299.41772789 --> 00:09:47,269.42022789 that's another thing, if you're going to do this, jump in and... 93 00:09:47,564.42022789 --> 00:09:55,254.42022789 and do it and, be consistent, sit down every day and work on it because otherwise it will pile up on you. 94 00:09:55,274.42022789 --> 00:09:58,384.42022789 And then for somebody like me, it just makes the pressure worse. 95 00:09:58,384.42022789 --> 00:10:01,264.42022789 It's like, Oh my God, I'm never going to finish this now. 96 00:10:01,304.41922789 --> 00:10:02,364.42022789 So yeah. 97 00:10:03,364.42022789 --> 00:10:06,934.41922789 And then you have to write 35, 000 words in a weekend. 98 00:10:06,969.41922789 --> 00:10:07,399.41922789 Yeah. 99 00:10:08,269.41922789 --> 00:10:10,49.42022789 Tiring on the fingers for sure. 100 00:10:11,49.42022789 --> 00:10:11,429.42022789 Yeah. 101 00:10:12,429.42022789 --> 00:10:15,539.42022789 So there are a lot of different ways to prep too. 102 00:10:15,689.42122789 --> 00:10:19,664.42122789 Like you said, you could use a the blueprint method. 103 00:10:19,984.42122789 --> 00:10:22,814.42122789 You can use the save the cat method. 104 00:10:23,164.42122789 --> 00:10:29,564.42122789 You can look at Rachel Aaron's 2000 to 10, 000, how she plans ahead. 105 00:10:30,84.42022789 --> 00:10:32,584.42122789 You can, like you said, just get to know your characters. 106 00:10:32,614.42122789 --> 00:10:39,464.42122789 So you kind of have an idea where they're going and or what you want them to do and then try and follow them around a little bit. 107 00:10:39,464.42122789 --> 00:10:47,784.42122789 Like I used to always do pretending I was just a journalist and I followed my characters around and wrote down everything they did, which was fine to a point. 108 00:10:48,784.42122789 --> 00:10:56,344.42122789 But I did always find that I then had to figure out, the ultimate goal, which I didn't always know when I was writing my way in. 109 00:10:56,344.42122789 --> 00:11:05,704.42122789 But there's nothing wrong with using part of this time to write your way in, to figure out who your characters are and what your story is either. 110 00:11:06,404.42022789 --> 00:11:09,324.42122789 And Honestly, you can use this time to world build. 111 00:11:09,344.42122789 --> 00:11:13,914.42122789 You can use this time to create character sketches. 112 00:11:14,234.42122789 --> 00:11:15,744.42122789 every single word counts. 113 00:11:15,754.42022789 --> 00:11:19,104.42022789 It doesn't have to be a novel when you're done. 114 00:11:19,304.42122789 --> 00:11:21,4.42122789 It could be all the prep work. 115 00:11:21,934.42122789 --> 00:11:28,624.42122789 Well, I would think no matter what you do, it's still a draft of some kind, because there's always going to be revision necessary. 116 00:11:28,734.42122789 --> 00:11:34,24.42122789 No matter how much you plan, no matter how diligent you are every day, writing is revision. 117 00:11:34,104.42122789 --> 00:11:43,524.52022789 I think, to be honest with you, there was one time that I decided I was going to edit my novel in that time period while everybody else was writing. 118 00:11:43,894.52022789 --> 00:11:44,844.51922789 And that's what I did. 119 00:11:44,904.52022789 --> 00:11:48,534.52022789 As I revised the novel, I didn't write an entire novel. 120 00:11:49,154.52022789 --> 00:12:08,684.52022789 So there are a lot of ways to approach it, but I think the important thing is to not be discouraged no matter what's going on and whether or not you do get to sit down every single day and write, or if you feel like you're getting behind, I think it's important not to get discouraged because Any progress you make is progress. 121 00:12:09,684.52022789 --> 00:12:13,704.52022789 I was talking to a client the other day and she didn't feel like she was making progress. 122 00:12:13,744.52022789 --> 00:12:16,684.52022789 She was like sitting at her computer for a set time every day. 123 00:12:16,684.52022789 --> 00:12:24,994.52022789 And so I asked her to start tracking the actual word count rather than the amount of time that she was spending. 124 00:12:25,494.52022789 --> 00:12:33,834.52022789 And it made all the difference because she was writing anywhere from 900 to 1, 500, 1, 600 words a day easily. 125 00:12:34,104.52022789 --> 00:12:35,394.52022789 And that's progress. 126 00:12:36,394.52022789 --> 00:12:43,944.52122789 I don't know what you have to write to do, what's the amount you have to write to get to the 50, 000? 1,667. 127 00:12:44,584.52122789 --> 00:12:44,814.52122789 Okay. 128 00:12:45,114.52122789 --> 00:13:06,989.52122789 how long does that take you if you know what you're going to write? One of the things that I also told her, because sometimes she said she sits down and stares at the page first thing, I don't know if it was Hemingway or somebody who said that they always leave The work, knowing where it was going next or where they were going to go next. 129 00:13:06,989.52122789 --> 00:13:12,549.52122789 They always tried to leave it on a place rather than finish a chapter or a scene completely. 130 00:13:12,549.52122789 --> 00:13:21,879.52122789 They always knew what was gonna happen next and had that first line ready to go sitting there so that when they came back they could just go, yep, now I'm gonna go write this. 131 00:13:22,119.52122789 --> 00:13:26,309.52122789 And I think that's a technique that helped me a lot in my writing. 132 00:13:26,824.52122789 --> 00:13:30,394.52122789 Because I was always like, I got to finish this part and I got to finish this part. 133 00:13:30,394.52122789 --> 00:13:34,904.52122789 And then the next day I'd be like, so now what are we doing? And it, it did waste time. 134 00:13:34,914.52022789 --> 00:13:40,614.52122789 So I do like that technique of leaving yourself knowing where you're headed next. 135 00:13:41,159.52122789 --> 00:13:57,119.52022789 I opened up an old draft of something that I did work on during a NaNo and that I did not finish, but there was a scene that stopped in the middle of a sentence and I don't know who that Christy thought was going to remember what the rest of that sentence was. 136 00:13:57,539.52022789 --> 00:14:00,379.52022789 My brain definitely does not work that way. 137 00:14:00,889.52022789 --> 00:14:07,609.52022789 I would need maybe like a kind of a list, like Okay, this is what you were going to do for the rest of the scene. 138 00:14:07,619.52022789 --> 00:14:08,949.52022789 Now actually write it. 139 00:14:09,9.52022789 --> 00:14:22,859.52022789 But like, what yeah, no, I'm not talking about, yeah, I'm not talking about stopping in the middle of a sentence, at least with a note saying, and The next thing she said or did would be this, so that you know where you're going. 140 00:14:23,639.52022789 --> 00:14:27,339.52022789 But yeah, I don't, I have no idea what I would do if I found half a sentence. 141 00:14:27,339.52022789 --> 00:14:31,899.52022789 I would be I would just love to remember what it was that like, that could not have been on purpose. 142 00:14:31,939.52022789 --> 00:14:40,889.51922789 No, I'm guessing that was a toddler issue or yeah, or something didn't save maybe I actually finished it and it just didn't save and it's gone into the ether. 143 00:14:40,989.51922789 --> 00:15:01,19.51822789 but yeah, I think no matter how much you're trying to get done in amount of time and Even if you're not sprinting through the month, knowing what you're going to do next, there's so much of your brain power that you can waste by trying to figure out what you're going to do instead of actually doing it. 144 00:15:01,39.51922789 --> 00:15:09,609.51922789 That having, for whatever that means to you, having set yourself up enough so that the next time you sit down, you have a plan. 145 00:15:10,109.51922789 --> 00:15:12,109.51922789 that means something different to everybody. 146 00:15:13,109.51922789 --> 00:15:20,989.51922789 Yeah, there are probably people out there who can write that half sentence and know the next time they sit down where they were going with that and finish it, finish that thought. 147 00:15:21,69.51922789 --> 00:15:24,639.51922789 I'm not one of them, Maybe, I bet there are. 148 00:15:24,829.51922789 --> 00:15:34,289.51922789 maybe a hundred years ago when there was no social media and everything else that would distract you between when you stopped writing and when you started writing again, but certainly that's a little bit rough these days. 149 00:15:35,19.51922789 --> 00:15:44,559.51922789 I, I like to think that, but I imagine that there was, the Iceman, yelling in the street or something that would stop you in the middle of whatever you were doing too. 150 00:15:44,639.51922789 --> 00:15:47,929.51922789 There's always the things, right? We're human. 151 00:15:48,324.51922789 --> 00:15:50,834.51822789 We're easily distracted, For sure. 152 00:15:51,434.51822789 --> 00:16:01,438.78126644 So to your point if your goal is to write every single day for that sprint, and Especially if you're doing nano and it's sixteen hundred and sixty seven words. 153 00:16:01,588.78126644 --> 00:16:02,168.78126644 Like you're right. 154 00:16:02,168.78126644 --> 00:16:42,173.5219955 Do you even know how long it takes you typically to write how many of us keep track of that to where we can say that this is even a reasonable goal considering the amount of time in a day, like, are you setting yourself up for failure from before you even start by saying, Sure, I can write seventeen hundred words, when the most you've ever done is, you know, four hundred words in an hour? Do you have four hours to sit and write? that's a great question, and I must confess, as much as I hate spreadsheets, I, when I was doing the novel in 90, I did track both my word count and the amount of time it took me to write those words. 155 00:16:42,713.5219955 --> 00:16:48,203.5219955 And on a really, on a good day, I could do 750 words in just under an hour. 156 00:16:48,853.5219955 --> 00:16:55,823.5219955 And, that was nice, but on a rough day, it would take me an hour and a half or so to do that. 157 00:16:55,893.5219955 --> 00:17:06,573.5219955 So it could vary depending on, again, if I knew where I was going and, if I was in the flow of just the writing. 158 00:17:09,603.5209955 --> 00:17:17,223.5209955 I'm not saying I don't and I advocate like to my clients, definitely to keep track of that, because we're not going to remember. 159 00:17:17,413.5209955 --> 00:17:52,563.5209955 And we're also, I think we tend to remember the things that we did poorly and not necessarily the things that we did well, and I think when you track something over a long period of time, you notice patterns that you probably forgot, that maybe, yeah, maybe you had a couple of days that it took you over an hour or two hours to get to that thousand words, but you probably had just as many days that you did it faster and your average was somewhere in between, but you probably remember more the days that it sucked than the days that you did really, or the days that you did really well, but not the average out over that time. 160 00:17:52,573.5199955 --> 00:18:02,123.5204955 one of the things that I recommend to my clients, I'm sure you do too when you're drafting, like don't get stuck on things that you don't know the answer to yet. 161 00:18:02,133.5204955 --> 00:18:06,603.5204955 It is great to put something in brackets and leave it for later. 162 00:18:06,793.5204955 --> 00:18:13,123.5204955 names, I don't know about you, names for me is such a huge time suck because I like that name to be perfect. 163 00:18:13,143.5194955 --> 00:18:15,603.5194955 I'm going down that rabbit hole. 164 00:18:15,613.5194955 --> 00:18:20,23.5204955 No, not when I'm drafting, it's come up with a name for this person later. 165 00:18:20,273.5204955 --> 00:18:22,463.5204955 Research about this thing later. 166 00:18:22,903.5204955 --> 00:18:23,533.5204955 insert. 167 00:18:23,948.5194955 --> 00:18:27,728.5194955 the scene later because I don't know what to do with it and come back to it. 168 00:18:27,778.5194955 --> 00:18:34,958.5194955 And that's, I think, a good way to keep yourself moving and keep your word count per hour up. 169 00:18:35,958.5194955 --> 00:18:37,808.5204955 I'm a firm believer in placeholders. 170 00:18:38,108.5204955 --> 00:18:43,598.5204955 Now my personal placeholder is a triple question mark, because I don't know. 171 00:18:43,928.5204955 --> 00:18:51,988.5204955 and other people use other things, but I use a triple question mark and then I'll usually make a note like of what I need. 172 00:18:52,8.5204955 --> 00:18:53,88.5204955 And I write fantasy. 173 00:18:53,88.5204955 --> 00:18:59,958.5189955 So it's usually things like how far can a horse travel in a day fully loaded with a person on their back. 174 00:19:00,188.5189955 --> 00:19:12,448.5179955 How far can a person walk uphill in a day over rough terrain, feasibly, if they're full, if they're healthy? and what if they're not? and what kind of plants grow at this elevation? I have no idea. 175 00:19:12,798.5189955 --> 00:19:18,758.5199955 I don't remember what color my character's eyes were when we saw them last, and so I'm gonna just put his... 176 00:19:19,133.5199955 --> 00:19:21,203.5199955 Blank eyes sparkled in the sunlight. 177 00:19:21,203.5199955 --> 00:19:24,123.5199955 I don't use triple question mark eyes. 178 00:19:24,453.5199955 --> 00:19:32,723.5189955 So yeah, I'm a firm believer in placeholders rather than stopping the work or stopping the flow in order to figure something out like that. 179 00:19:33,613.5199955 --> 00:19:35,873.5199955 I just think that's the best way to go for it. 180 00:19:35,903.5199955 --> 00:19:37,333.5199955 Otherwise, you never get anything done. 181 00:19:37,753.5199955 --> 00:19:44,483.5189955 You'll just end up researching or looking stuff up all day long and you get no writing done. 182 00:19:44,978.5189955 --> 00:19:49,948.5189955 Regardless of whether you're trying to sprint or not, your writing time is valuable writing time. 183 00:19:49,948.5189955 --> 00:19:52,448.5189955 And that is, that's a different part of your brain. 184 00:19:52,448.5189955 --> 00:19:53,568.5189955 That's a different thought process. 185 00:19:53,568.5189955 --> 00:19:59,188.5199955 You're taking yourself out of the creative space and putting yourself into the analytical or the research. 186 00:19:59,598.5199955 --> 00:20:02,898.5199955 space, and it can mess it up. 187 00:20:03,898.5199955 --> 00:20:04,98.5199955 Yeah. 188 00:20:04,98.5199955 --> 00:20:14,378.5199955 And if you use the same symbol, whatever it is, brackets, question marks, TK to be known, whatever it is you use for that placeholder, you can do a word search on that. 189 00:20:14,408.5199955 --> 00:20:22,28.5199955 And on a day when you're not writing and start filling in those blanks and looking that stuff up when you're in that mode. 190 00:20:22,408.5199955 --> 00:20:28,428.5199955 like you said, it's a different part of the brain and it's a great way to, okay, today I'm not in the flow. 191 00:20:28,708.5199955 --> 00:20:29,488.5199955 That's another thing. 192 00:20:29,518.5199955 --> 00:20:43,433.5209955 Like if I'm writing and it's just not coming, those are the days where I might think, maybe today's a day for me to go do that rather than try to do the creative writing and get the words on the page. 193 00:20:44,433.5209955 --> 00:20:46,753.5209955 Yeah, and that's a great way to keep yourself moving. 194 00:20:46,753.5209955 --> 00:20:53,613.5209955 I tell my clients, I have two now that are working through very first draft after we just planned. 195 00:20:53,643.5199955 --> 00:20:59,383.5189955 I love when we can get writers right at the beginning of that process and plan all of the stuff for them, what they need. 196 00:20:59,663.5189955 --> 00:21:15,383.5189955 But as they're going through, we give you permission, listeners, to put brackets and to not figure out every single thing as you're writing, and then at the end of the writing session, you have a separate notepad where you write, these are the things that I need to figure out still, and let your subconscious work on it another time. 197 00:21:15,863.5189955 --> 00:21:30,378.5189955 These are the things that I need to research, and when you have 10 minutes while dinner is cooking or you're waiting for your kid to finish soccer practice, you pull out your phone and you Google that thing that you're trying to figure out and where you can fit stuff into little pockets of time. 198 00:21:30,388.5189955 --> 00:21:40,428.5189955 But for a long time, I wasted a lot of time trying to figure everything out before it went on the page and it just doesn't serve anybody. 199 00:21:41,138.5189955 --> 00:21:48,298.5189955 but to waste all that time when it might not even end up in your story, this might not even be important. 200 00:21:48,328.5189955 --> 00:21:50,38.5189955 It feels important in this moment. 201 00:21:50,398.5189955 --> 00:21:57,898.5189955 In the grand scheme, there might not even be a horse in your story and now you've wasted how much time figuring out, how much hay they need for nothing. 202 00:21:58,448.5189955 --> 00:21:58,648.5189955 Yeah. 203 00:21:58,648.5189955 --> 00:21:59,548.5189955 You may change that. 204 00:21:59,558.5189955 --> 00:22:02,948.5189955 That may change and in revision too. 205 00:22:03,18.5189955 --> 00:22:12,148.5184955 and not, if you don't know what the name of the street was or whatever it is that you need to know, you might remember it later while you're cooking dinner without even having to look it up. 206 00:22:12,558.5184955 --> 00:22:21,478.5184955 why waste brain power and energy and time on something that can Either be easily looked up or might come to you in a moment of clarity. 207 00:22:22,383.5184955 --> 00:22:26,13.5184955 And then also, depending on what kind of writer you are, as we've discussed before. 208 00:22:26,13.5184955 --> 00:22:27,333.5184955 I'm a short writer. 209 00:22:27,663.5184955 --> 00:22:30,428.5184955 I'm not putting a lot of details in my first draft. 210 00:22:30,438.5184955 --> 00:22:32,338.5184955 That's just not the way that I write. 211 00:22:32,358.5184955 --> 00:22:39,178.5184955 So it is a little harder for me to get to 50, 000 words in a month because my first draft probably isn't even close to that. 212 00:22:39,218.5174955 --> 00:22:50,178.5174955 But it's knowing what you're comfortable with putting on the page for whatever you define as this draft and allowing yourself to not worry about those other things. 213 00:22:50,908.5184955 --> 00:22:54,108.5184955 If dialogue is not your thing, don't worry about the dialogue. 214 00:22:54,108.5184955 --> 00:22:58,828.5174955 Just put like a placeholder that says, have a conversation about whatever and keep going. 215 00:22:58,988.5184955 --> 00:23:01,218.5174955 If like me, description is not your thing. 216 00:23:01,258.5184955 --> 00:23:03,788.5189955 you're going to come back later and figure that out. 217 00:23:03,798.5179955 --> 00:23:08,308.5179955 So Yeah, I've totally done exactly that with things like dialogue. 218 00:23:08,308.5179955 --> 00:23:08,568.5179955 Okay. 219 00:23:08,568.5179955 --> 00:23:16,928.5179955 They need to have an argument about this moving on or how do I get so and so back in the room? cause sometimes I don't know. 220 00:23:18,28.5179955 --> 00:23:27,288.5179955 So even though that first year I did my 50, 000 words, the next year did not go as well, and the year after that didn't go as well. 221 00:23:27,338.5169955 --> 00:23:35,208.5179955 And, I did get discouraged from thinking, how come I could do this the first year and I can't do this again? My world was different. 222 00:23:35,218.5179955 --> 00:23:37,358.5179955 I had moved states in between. 223 00:23:37,438.5179955 --> 00:23:38,728.5179955 I was living in a new place. 224 00:23:38,728.5179955 --> 00:23:39,808.5179955 I had a different job. 225 00:23:40,758.5179955 --> 00:23:52,128.5169955 how do you suggest your writers keep from getting discouraged when they can't maybe make a goal like this? I always encourage my writers to think about progress. 226 00:23:52,128.5169955 --> 00:23:53,518.5169955 You're making forward progress. 227 00:23:53,558.5169955 --> 00:24:00,848.5169955 No matter how much you write in a day, if it's 10 words or 10, 000, you've made forward progress. 228 00:24:01,368.5169955 --> 00:24:03,968.5169955 And I like them to celebrate that. 229 00:24:04,78.5159955 --> 00:24:16,248.5169955 did you sit down and write today? Or did you at least come up with a plan to write? Did you sketch out a character today? Did you make progress on the thing that you want to accomplish? Then count that as progress. 230 00:24:16,698.5169955 --> 00:24:18,238.5159955 Celebrate that progress. 231 00:24:19,108.5169955 --> 00:24:31,148.5159955 You are building your lump of clay and it may only be a thousand words at a time or 500 words at a time, or it may just be that you are starting to see the shape of it, but you're making progress. 232 00:24:31,148.6159955 --> 00:24:32,568.5159955 And so you should celebrate that. 233 00:24:33,568.5159955 --> 00:24:36,228.5159955 And celebrate yourself for sitting down and doing it. 234 00:24:36,418.5784955 --> 00:24:51,778.5784955 We're so bad at that, right? we set out to write a novel, to get novel published, which is such a huge, nebulous thing and can take so many years with, doing everything right and having the best luck. 235 00:24:51,838.5784955 --> 00:24:57,558.5784955 so much is out of your control that celebrating that progress that you do make is so important. 236 00:24:57,588.5784955 --> 00:25:02,308.5784955 And it can't be, I will only celebrate when I finish this draft. 237 00:25:02,668.5784955 --> 00:25:03,708.5784955 that's too long. 238 00:25:03,948.5784955 --> 00:25:04,908.5784955 That's too much. 239 00:25:05,908.5784955 --> 00:25:29,153.5789955 Yeah, I recently had a client who, started querying, she wasn't getting much traction, she came to me for help with her synopsis and her query letter, and When all was said and done, we celebrated that she had a much better synopsis and a much stronger query letter her spark was reignited to go back out and start querying this thing and to move forward again. 240 00:25:30,153.5789955 --> 00:25:39,233.5789955 It's easy to get discouraged in this kind of a creative endeavor because we see all these books being published around us and we're struggling to get there. 241 00:25:39,843.5789955 --> 00:25:47,253.5784955 And even I have nine novels out and right now I'm struggling to get the next one out and people are around me just like, Ooh, I have a new novel out. 242 00:25:47,253.5784955 --> 00:25:48,93.5784955 I have a new book out. 243 00:25:48,93.5784955 --> 00:25:49,323.4789955 I have a new novel out. 244 00:25:50,43.5789955 --> 00:25:53,843.5789955 It can be, you have to stop comparing yourself. 245 00:25:53,873.5789955 --> 00:26:03,283.5784955 And that's another one of the reasons why for me, Nano is dangerous is because I have trouble not comparing my progress and my success to others. 246 00:26:03,283.5784955 --> 00:26:08,493.5789955 I have to remind myself on a regular basis that this is about me and this is about my journey. 247 00:26:08,513.5779955 --> 00:26:09,973.5789955 It's not about anybody else. 248 00:26:10,593.5789955 --> 00:26:11,663.5789955 it's not a race. 249 00:26:12,663.5789955 --> 00:26:13,913.5789955 It's a journey. 250 00:26:14,453.6414955 --> 00:26:21,573.6414955 And a very personal one, because maybe I can spit out 50, 000 words, and they're nonsense. 251 00:26:21,743.6414955 --> 00:26:27,33.6414955 And maybe you can only spit out 10, 000 words, but they're so much more organized, and your story makes more sense. 252 00:26:27,223.6414955 --> 00:26:31,463.6404955 Who's really better off at the end of the day, I guess? That also depends. 253 00:26:31,613.6404955 --> 00:26:35,663.6404955 If I'm great at revision, maybe I can turn that into something. 254 00:26:35,743.6404955 --> 00:26:41,363.6394955 If not, now I just have 50, 000 words of nonsense that I have to figure out. 255 00:26:41,413.6404955 --> 00:26:43,43.6404955 it's just about making progress. 256 00:26:43,723.6394955 --> 00:26:50,843.6414955 And if you want to win the badge and you can do this and you can churn out the 50, 000 and that's your goal. 257 00:26:51,223.6414955 --> 00:26:53,413.6414955 And that's glorious. 258 00:26:53,613.6414955 --> 00:26:55,133.6414955 I think celebrate that. 259 00:26:56,23.6414955 --> 00:27:03,773.6414955 But if along the way you find this process is not for you to churn out 50, 000, then set yourself a realistic goal. 260 00:27:03,803.6414955 --> 00:27:17,143.6414955 And still you can be part of the community that's doing this and not have to feel like a failure or that you didn't, win some badge or something, just because you didn't hit the 50, 000 words. 261 00:27:17,433.6414955 --> 00:27:29,453.6414955 I don't think that the people who set up Nano and who continue to participate in it all the time, are trying to set anybody up to feel bad about themselves or fail or anything. 262 00:27:30,43.6404955 --> 00:27:34,153.6404955 And they just want to give you a space to write into. 263 00:27:34,643.6394955 --> 00:27:36,803.6404955 I think that's the whole idea behind it. 264 00:27:37,263.6404955 --> 00:27:40,213.6404955 And 50, 000 is a great goal for a month. 265 00:27:40,373.6404955 --> 00:27:44,788.6404955 If you're doing sprint writing, That's also, totally valid. 266 00:27:45,658.6404955 --> 00:27:53,738.6404955 But again, if you are not the person that's able to do that, then do what you're able to do what works for you. 267 00:27:54,248.6394955 --> 00:28:00,638.6404955 And still participate, be part of the community, celebrate the other people who are totally capable of doing this. 268 00:28:00,688.6404955 --> 00:28:03,358.6404955 I think it's a fabulous opportunity for a lot of people. 269 00:28:03,628.6404955 --> 00:28:26,68.6404955 I cheer on all of the people who take this on, whether you, win, lose or draw, if you want to call it a race, if you get your badge, if you don't get your badge, as long as you make progress, I really, I want to celebrate you for giving yourself some goals in your writing and sitting down and making the effort to accomplish them and making progress along the way. 270 00:28:26,848.7029955 --> 00:28:31,858.7029955 How many people say I want to write a book, but don't ever actually sit down and do any of it. 271 00:28:31,868.7019955 --> 00:28:33,388.7029955 So any progress towards that. 272 00:28:33,658.7029955 --> 00:28:45,673.7029955 and however you approach it, I know now that the mistake that I made then was that I was just trying to reach 50, 000 words without any kind of concept of what that meant once I got there. 273 00:28:45,973.7029955 --> 00:28:52,493.7009955 So maybe for some people, the 50, 000 words, your goal is to write x percent of the book. 274 00:28:52,493.7019955 --> 00:28:56,343.7009955 Like I'm just going to write and until I get to 50, 000 and that's... 275 00:28:56,893.7019955 --> 00:29:00,333.7019955 50 percent of my book 60 percent and you'll write the rest afterwards. 276 00:29:00,353.7019955 --> 00:29:06,293.7019955 Or maybe it's I'm going to tell my whole story in 50, 000 words and then I'm going to expand it later. 277 00:29:06,333.7009955 --> 00:29:13,193.7014955 there's so many different ways to approach it, but anything is better than coming out on the other end with nothing. 278 00:29:14,193.7014955 --> 00:29:16,223.7014955 Yeah, absolutely. 279 00:29:16,233.7014955 --> 00:29:19,793.7014955 It's a great opportunity to make progress on your work in progress. 280 00:29:20,183.7014955 --> 00:29:25,583.7014955 It's a great opportunity to set yourself some goals and sit down and write forward. 281 00:29:25,993.7014955 --> 00:29:31,333.7004955 And I applaud anyone and everyone who is willing and able to do that. 282 00:29:31,813.7639955 --> 00:29:32,553.7639955 Absolutely. 283 00:29:32,683.7639955 --> 00:29:46,493.7639955 And there was a study done pre pandemic, I'm sure it's much different now, but a study that was done by the American Society of Training and Development where like, how likely you are to attain a goal based on the actions that you take. 284 00:29:46,793.7639955 --> 00:29:52,223.7639955 And they say just having an idea or a goal you're 10% likely to attain that. 285 00:29:52,513.7639955 --> 00:29:56,143.7639955 Consciously deciding to do it increases you to 25%. 286 00:29:56,503.7639955 --> 00:29:59,173.7639955 Deciding when you'll do it increases you to 40%. 287 00:29:59,523.7639955 --> 00:30:01,703.7639955 Planning how to do it, 50%. 288 00:30:01,913.7639955 --> 00:30:09,233.7639955 Committing to someone that you will do it 65% and checking in with someone that you've committed to 95% and nano. 289 00:30:09,778.7639955 --> 00:30:13,158.7639955 itself gives you all of those things. 290 00:30:13,338.7639955 --> 00:30:26,8.7629955 And if that's not something that you have on your own, maybe you won't hit 50, 000 because there might be things out of your control regardless of how well you plan and how much you check in and how much you sit down and whatever. 291 00:30:26,18.7629955 --> 00:30:33,808.7629955 But saying, Hey, everybody, strangers or not, I'm going to sit down and I'm going to do this. 292 00:30:33,808.7629955 --> 00:30:38,618.7629955 And I'm going to check in every day with myself and with you and say how much I've gotten done. 293 00:30:39,98.7629955 --> 00:30:42,38.7629955 And by the end of the month, this is what I'm planning to have. 294 00:30:42,298.7629955 --> 00:30:47,568.7629955 You're miles ahead of the person who just says, someday, I'm going to write a book. 295 00:30:48,568.7629955 --> 00:30:49,408.7629955 Yeah, absolutely. 296 00:30:49,408.7629955 --> 00:30:52,538.7629955 And I think that the accountability piece to it is huge. 297 00:30:52,988.7629955 --> 00:31:00,368.7629955 I have clients who work with me simply because they need the accountability to keep moving forward. 298 00:31:00,748.7629955 --> 00:31:07,168.7629955 And I also know that when I am doing novel in 90, I don't do that on my own. 299 00:31:07,168.7629955 --> 00:31:16,748.7629955 That's a group of individuals I do that with, and we check in with each other, and we tell each other how many words we wrote that day during that sprint. 300 00:31:17,118.7629955 --> 00:31:37,728.6629955 the accountability is a great component of this, and as you say, having that for a lot of us, is, It's really important, rather than just, oh, I'm telling myself I'm gonna do it, and then if I don't, eh, I just didn't bother, I didn't feel like it, but now you're like, oh, I gotta let people know how many words I wrote yesterday. 301 00:31:38,153.6629955 --> 00:31:40,333.6629955 And I don't really want to take a goose egg. 302 00:31:41,333.6629955 --> 00:31:52,23.6629955 But then also being kind to yourself if you do have to, and recognizing that your effort is still worth something, even if you can't get there. 303 00:31:52,233.6629955 --> 00:31:55,733.6629955 You don't know other people's situations, what they have going on in their life. 304 00:31:55,753.6629955 --> 00:31:58,323.6629955 Maybe that's the only thing that they're doing. 305 00:31:58,953.6629955 --> 00:31:59,143.6629955 Yeah. 306 00:31:59,143.6629955 --> 00:32:03,713.6629955 Life happens, just does, especially when you make plans. 307 00:32:04,713.6629955 --> 00:32:06,493.6619955 every time, every time. 308 00:32:07,323.6629955 --> 00:32:07,793.6629955 Yeah. 309 00:32:07,793.6629955 --> 00:32:20,613.6629955 So I think that, my action item for our listeners is to give yourself some grace during this time when you are setting. 310 00:32:21,48.6629955 --> 00:32:43,698.6629955 All these big goals, whenever you're setting a big sprint goal or a writing goal also give yourself some grace and some space to be kind to yourself and allow yourself to be human and understand that life happens and we don't have to be perfect and we don't all have to finish across the finish line with everybody else. 311 00:32:44,698.6629955 --> 00:32:47,108.6629955 But it is a great way to have accountability. 312 00:32:47,208.6629955 --> 00:32:47,778.6619955 I like that. 313 00:32:48,428.6619955 --> 00:32:48,768.6619955 Hmm. 314 00:32:48,848.6619955 --> 00:32:49,688.6619955 My action item. 315 00:32:49,708.6629955 --> 00:32:56,238.6639955 I would say whether you're participating or not to track what you're doing. 316 00:32:56,718.6629955 --> 00:33:06,948.6629955 I have my clients check in depending on what stage they're at and how their preference is, how much time they've spent, how many words they've written, how many words they've edited. 317 00:33:07,413.6629955 --> 00:33:11,703.6629955 their mood, how they feel about what they got done, and a note about what they got done. 318 00:33:11,713.6629955 --> 00:33:17,913.6619955 And if you're doing that right now, you're probably keeping track of how many words you write every day. 319 00:33:17,913.6629955 --> 00:33:19,433.6629955 Try to keep track of how much time. 320 00:33:19,823.6629955 --> 00:33:32,413.6619955 The more data you have, the better you can plan for the next time you want to do something like this, that you can see, yes, this is possible, or no, this is crazy, and I'm just setting myself up for failure. 321 00:33:32,423.6619955 --> 00:33:41,453.6619955 I think the more data you have about what you're able to do, and I think you'll surprise yourself when you do look at what you've accomplished. 322 00:33:42,453.6619955 --> 00:33:43,503.6619955 yeah, that's great. 323 00:33:43,603.6619955 --> 00:33:44,883.6629955 I always enjoy our talks. 324 00:33:45,33.6629955 --> 00:33:59,403.6619955 I appreciate anybody who takes the time to listen to us and who showed up and hoorah for you if, and when, whenever you're doing any kind of a writing sprint or making progress towards your writing goals. 325 00:33:59,453.6619955 --> 00:34:00,693.6619955 And thanks for listening. 326 00:34:01,73.7244955 --> 00:34:01,693.7244955 I agree. 327 00:34:02,313.7244955 --> 00:34:12,143.7244955 Kudos to all of you out there putting yourself in this race and getting however far you get, and good luck to you, and we will see you next month. 328 00:34:13,143.7244955 --> 00:34:13,583.7244955 Bye. 329 00:34:14,783.7244955 --> 00:34:21,743.7244955 We hope you enjoyed this episode of Coaching KidLit, a writing and book coaching podcast for writers who want to level up their KidLit writing game. 330 00:34:22,23.7244955 --> 00:34:26,853.7244955 For more about us and to discover what a book coach can do for you, check out coachingkidlit. 331 00:34:27,913.7244955 --> 00:34:30,353.7244955 com and follow us on social media.
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