Writing

I Failed NaNoWriMo & I’m Not Sad About It

December 4, 2014 by Abbigail Kriebs 6 Comments

I failed to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

If you are not familiar with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), it’s where people all over the world commit to writing a novel in 30 days – or at least 50,000 words of a novel. I made it to 35,668 words, shy by just over 14,000.

And I am not sad about.

It’s 35,668 words that I probably would not have written if I hadn’t participated.

Why I Didn’t Finish

There are close to a dozen reasons: some good, some bad.

One is that on day 30, I finally picked up “Gone Girl” and read it straight through in a 6-hour car ride when I could have been typing.

One is that I had a co-worker in town from NYC and we had double the meetings for two days (no lunch-hour writing) and a work dinner one evening.

And one (big one) is that I accepted a new job offer. In fact, you can see the moment my numbers started to fall off:

Failing is a Great Feeling

Honestly? 35,668 words is a great place to be: the plot is really coming together (I should have made an outline, but that is another blog entirely). The characters are slowly taking shape as “real” individuals in my head – and on the screen. And I am feeling the itch to write again – not the “I should probably write today” feeling, but the “I cannot stop forming this paragraph in my head and I need to get it written out STAT” feeling. It’s a great feeling.

I might have failed at NaNoWriMo, but I didn’t fail in rediscovering once again that I love to write.

I might have failed at NaNoWriMo, but I realized that I can fit 1,000 words into my day most days, if I learn to shift my priorities.

I might have failed at NaNoWriMo, but I now know that I can write a novel, if I just sit down and put in the work.

I’m slowly learning that most of life is all about progress, not perfection. It’s about being a [even slightly] better version of yourself the next day, and then the next, so that each little success adds up into a bigger one.

What is something you’ve failed at recently, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise?

Writing, Writing, Writing

November 25, 2014 by Abbigail Kriebs 2 Comments

November has been a month of writing.

After saying for years that I wanted to write a novel. After starting that novel two years ago and never finishing it. And after kicking myself for not prioritizing writing like I should, I am finally writing.

The words come easier now. The more I write the more I feel like writing. The easier it is to slide into the story after a day away. The quicker the characters’ voices come back, more strongly themselves each time.

While some life changes temporarily derailed my progress, I’m not getting upset. I am choosing to keep writing. To keep making progress.

Because after all, we should measure ourselves by the progress we make.

My Writing Process: A Blog Hop

September 30, 2014 by Abbigail Kriebs Leave a Comment

I’ve been running behind this year.

I’ve tried to give myself some grace as I’ve moved and chaperoned and changed jobs. But, when you are a Type-A, it’s hard to let yourself off the hook.

So I’m trying not to beat myself up that Valerie Biel nominated me for a blog hop post back in May to talk about my writing process… and that I still haven’t written it. Oops.

I’ve been holding her email invite in my inbox these many months, knowing that I would get to it eventually. Well, eventually is now. Without further ado, here is how I go about writing things. All the things.

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I have no actual process.

That’s probably not what anybody wanted to hear. It’s not really what I wanted to type. I wanted to say that I get up early every morning and sit on my front porch, sipping a cup of coffee and taking a moment to enjoy the sunrise before I set to typing, never failing to write 1,000 words before I head to work at 7 AM.

That is not the case.

Right now, writing for me has been a haphazard endeavor. It’s something I squeeze in between work hours, freelance projects, and the need for sleep and nourishment.

As you can tell, I’m making tons of progress on that novel (Actual 2014 word count: maybe 14).

But, this year I have been blogging, albeit somewhat infrequently. I’m getting better. That’s progress right? that still counts as writing, right?

Right?!?

When I do write, it’s mostly because I have all of a sudden stumbled upon some half-formed idea while walking from my car to my desk, and so I hurry into work and open Evernote and jot the scrambled thoughts as quickly as I can into a note in my “Writing” folder. I’ve got dozens of little snippets of novels, poems, short stories, and anything else you can think of – just not a completed novel.

This frenzied write-when-inspired tactic is also probably why I have most of the climatic “moments” of my novel written and am now trying to fill in the details to get people from point A to point B in a semi-realistic fashion (Hint: air travel is a blessing).

So, I’m never out of ideas, just the time or motivation to execute on them.

As far as blogs go, I approach them a few different ways. Often, the blog is just about what is going on in life. I write to help me work through what is going on around me, to process life as it happens. Right now, I’m exploring “rest” a lot on the blog, as I reevaluate what is working and what isn’t in my day-to-day routine. Very often I am inspired by other bloggers – a line I read on their site will get the wheels churning and a few weeks later I have my own opinion on something. Other times, its a photo that I take that spurs a blog story – like the weekend we spent in northern Wisconsin recently.

I then usually write the words first, indicating where I will insert what images. Then I watermark photos I’ve taken or create a graphic in Canva for the post and put it altogether. I schedule social media posts about the blog, and call it done! I try to blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but it doesn’t always happen.

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So that is my writing “process” – a term I use here very loosely.

Thanks, Valerie, for prompting me to write this blog, even it the prompting came many months ago. You should all go check out Valerie’s latest novel: Circle of Nine: Beltany. I just ordered my copy and can’t wait to dive in! I met Valerie at the UW Writer’s Conference this spring when she was settling into another round of edits for the manuscript. I’m so happy that she has been able to focus more than I this summer and get this book launched. It’s got be a great feeling, and one that I am looking forward to experiencing myself, many months down the road.

Thanks for the inspiration, Valerie!

If you are a writer, what does your process look like?