How to Write Your First Novel in Eight Weeks

If you’re like me, you have dozens—maybe hundreds—of novels you started squirreled away in various locations on your computer and around your house. But between work, work, more work, sporadic sleep, and making sure your family still recognizes you by making an occasional appearance at a function (dinner is TOTALLY a function), it’s hard to get more than a few spare moments to scratch out your thoughts on paper. It’s even harder to carve out any spare time if you’re in school or have little ones running around the house, or both.

However, writing a novel can take less time that you think. A few hours a day can get a rough draft in of your novel completed in less than four weeks. Yep, that’s right, FOUR WEEKS!

Ok, but who actually has a few hours a day? Possibly people with part time jobs, I imagine. Maybe people who are currently on summer break (teachers, you couldn’t pay me enough to do your job, but I get awful jealous about your summer!). Not people who have kids, I’m pretty sure. But, do you have an hour a day? Maybe that hour where you normal sack out in front of the television, or read before you go to bed? What if I told you that you could write for an hour a day and have a full novel in six weeks?

The nitty gritty:

1.       Have a goal

Young adult fiction (which is my favorite to read) averages 50,000-70,000 words. Adult fiction runs a little higher, middle grade, or kid’s novels, run a little less. What kind of book are you writing? That’ll make a difference.

According to author Dean Wesley Smith, “Most professional writers can average about one thousand words an hour, when going on a novel. Not in the struggle of the beginnings, but once the novel is underway. So, simple math says that to write a 90,000 word novel, you have about 90 hours of work.”

While I’m not a math whiz, that tells me you can write 50,000 word in 50 hours. At an hour a day, that’s 50 days. 50 days is LESS THAN 8 WEEKS!

2.       Have someone keep you accountable

You know that annoying friend that reminds you about your diet every time you reach for a cookie? You need them to help you with this. Have them call, heckle, encourage (or whatever they call it) as often as you need to make sure you’ve written your 1,000 words that day.

3.       Write like your life depends on it

I always wrote my most inspired papers for college under that 24 hour deadline. Adrenaline accesses something in the creative part of my brain, allowing words to flow like the otherwise don’t. Is that you? Schedule your hour right before your favorite television show, and don’t turn the TV on until you’re done.

Or, hey, are you extremely committed to writing this novel? Take some vacation days from work, mix up a few margaritas, and go to town! If you wrote 5,000 words a day, you could complete a 70,000 word manuscript in 14 days!

4.       Eliminate distractions

Shut off the wifi to your computer. I always wonder how much more I would accomplish in life without Facebook! So, cut off your access. In fact, I make a game of it: if you hit 1,000 words before your hour is up, you get 5 minutes of Facebook. If not, you write another 500 words.

The Meat and Potatoes

You can know all this, but it only makes a difference if you actually sit down and write. Don’t get discouraged, even if you think what you’ve written sucks. Ernest Hemmingway said, “All first drafts of anything are shit.” It can be refined, perfected, and edited later. Just get those words down on paper!

People like me can hardly wait to read what you write!

Any other tips for writers? What works best for you? Please share!

Enduring the Wait

My face when I realize I have to wait.

Apparently, there’s a good bit of waiting that goes along with trying to publish (even self-publish) a book. I had no idea it would be like this: trying to be patient while anticipating a dream coming true. 

Right now, there’s the waiting for the illustrations to be completed.

Then, there will be the waiting for the first print(s) to come off the press and back to my hot little hands.

Then it will be waiting to meet with local bookstore owners. 

I’m sure there are other waiting things I haven’t even considered yet. 

I hate waiting. I don’t like lines, being on hold, the 15 minutes before my work day ends, the last three days before a vacation, or the yawning expanse of time while a jury deliberates (work related, I promise). 

I’m a do-er, not a bystander. I always get into the thick of things, not because the thick of things is necessary the best place to be, but at least I’m not waiting for things to be done on their own. I’m influencing them. Its why I do what I do for work, its why I always have half a dozen projects going on at once (so if one stalls up for some reason, I can jump to another during the waiting period without any break in the action), its why I love volunteering with kids (they don’t like waiting either), and its why I’m fairly certain I have ADD. 

Some people are good at this. They're so patient and cheerful about things taking FOR.EV.ER. I want to be more like that and less like a squirrel on crack when I'm expecting something. 

How do you stand it? No, really, I need some advice here. Please help me!

Why I Write: What are your reasons?

The media throws hundreds of messages at young girls every day. Most are less than encouraging: you’re not pretty enough, you’re not perfect enough, you must have this thing to be liked by your peers, just buy this, and it will make you lovable.

And all of it is complete hooey.

While products were different, the message was the same when I was a kid (though I think, with social media, the messages are getting louder). None of it was helpful to an awkward little girl’s self-esteem who preferred pants to dresses and catching bugs to gossiping about boys. What was helpful, though were these five things that my parents taught me.

1.       “You are beautiful.” No, you may not look like a model, or a Disney Channel star, or the girls on Sam and Cat, but you are beautiful just because you look like you. The sparkle in your eyes, the way your face lights up when you smile, and those dimples that remind me of your Dad are simply irreplaceable.

2.       “Who you are matters.” Don’t let anyone change that. You are kind, you are smart, you are funny, and you are sweet. People will try you in a lot of different ways that those things are not important. They are.

3.       “Don’t give up on an activity you love, just because it isn’t popular.” A lot of girls aren’t interested in archaeology, or volcanoes, or math, or learning ballroom dance, but you are. That is a wonderful and fantastic thing. Don’t let anyone take that away from you.

4.       “Whatever career you choose to do, I will be happy as long as you work hard to be the best you can be at it.” Be it a stay-at-home mom, a secretary, a firefighter, or the president of the United States, as long as you work to be the best as it, I will be proud of you.

5.       “You’re not me.” Your job is not to live out my dreams. You do not have to choose a career path because I chose it, or a school because that’s where I went, or a sport because that’s what I wish I did. You are unique, and special, and wonderful. Please be you. The world only gets one of you, please don’t deprive the world of that!

These are the messages I want to spread in the books I write. 

Kickstarter: Hope for poor writers or a scam?

Sites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe have cropped up in the last few years, supposedly allowing the community to back projects they find worthy of funding. It sounds great, right? Create a profile, a video, an explanation of your project, and then submit it to Kickstarter. Kickstarter will approve or deny your application. Once approved, your project has a certain length of time to amass “Backers” and the funding you need.

This idea appeals to me. I love the idea of putting my book out there and having it funded by people who fully support the idea. Kickstarter even has a “Publishing” section! That’s perfect for all us unpublished souls who know what it’s like to eat mac and cheese or Ramen every night just to pay the rent.

Only, I get concerned when I read their Terms of Use. They can suspend your account at any time for any reason, and they don’t have to tell you about it (whether a Bakcer or a “Creator”). They can stop or suspend a campaign at any time, for any reason. If your project is not 100% funded, you get nothing (unsure, based on my reading, if Kickstarter keeps it or the Backers get it back). If you are 100% funded, also know that Kickstarter keeps 5% off the top, plus Amazon (who you must use to get paid) charges a 3-5% fee for credit card processing. You will be taxed on what you received in funding.

Also, the accountability is limited. If I get $10,000 funded for my project, there is NOTHING in place to guarantee that I will complete my project. Absolutely nothing. Kickstarter states that the Backers and the Community are responsible for keeping the Creator on track, but how much can you do with a few emails? Kickstarter makes no guarantees to Backers, but does state that “launching a Kickstarter is a very public act”, so fail to follow through on commitments could be damaging to the Creator’s overall reputation.

This might be something that works for you. As for me, I won't use it; I’m just not convinced…

Have any of you used Kickstarter (or tried) to fund any projects? What was your experience? Can you convince me otherwise?

Disney Finally Got One Right!

Not just because of this, but it sure didn't hurt!

If you don’t know how popular Disney’s newest animated feature, Frozen, currently is you a) know no girls between the ages of 2 and 12, and b) possibly live under a rock. Not only is it being hailed as the best Disney movie since Lion King, the song “Let it Go” from the film has been topping the charts for weeks. I might be late to the game, but I just watched it for the first time. And, I’m not going to lie, I loved it!

A princess who doesn’t need some random rich guy to be her savior? A princess who is not only brave enough and tough enough to forgive her sister who she believes has horribly mistreated her, but who is also willing to save her sister a great personal cost to herself? That, ladies and gentlemen, is a great role model for young girls.

Are the characters flawed? Absolutely! Beautifully so. Are they damaged? You bet they are. Who isn’t? That’s what makes them so relatable. Those are the kinds of characters I want to present in the books I write. Characters that have depth and resonate with kids, because even at a young age, bright, wonderful, amazing girls already know they aren’t perfect.

Did you see this movie? What did you think? Honesty is welcome here...

Also, this.

Finding Inspiration: What Has Inspired Your Writing?

My children’s book that I am working on publishing, The Clumsy Princess, is really a story about my friend’s little girl, who we’ll call “L.” L is a sweet, stubborn, adorably fierce and fearless 2 year old. After L spent another afternoon in the Emergency Room, this time for taking a header off of an older sibling’s top bunk (nothing had to be casted that day, thankfully!), I referred to her as an “accident-prone princess.”

                                           The face of fearlessness!

I thought about how Disney princesses appear so perfect: graceful, beautiful, well-dressed, and well-spoken. Their whole goal in life is to find their true love and live happily (and richly) ever after.

What if, instead of presenting our girls with an impossible standard to achieve, we created princesses who were more like real people?  What if we stopped subtly telling them that their goal should be to find a man to "rescue" them, but instead encouraged them to celebrate their differences and embrace life?

What if there were stories about clumsy princesses, and shy princesses, and bossy princesses, and tomboy princesses? 

Those are the kind of princesses I want my daughters (should I have any) to enjoy; princesses who are flawed, and wonderful because of it. The idea for a book series was born!

Please share! I want to know, where do you get your inspiration? 

 

Finding an Illustrator: the Non-Typical Route

I wasn’t sure how to go about locating an illustrator. There's not way I could illustrate it myself; I'm pretty thrilled if someone recognizes that the deer I've drawn is an animal. There’s probably a book or checklist that would be helpful; out there somewhere… A google search left me overwhelmed. Places with illustrators for hire I found particularly helpful:

Elance.com 

Peopleperhour.com

Illustrationweb.com

Ultimately, though, I decided to go with an old standby: Craigslist. 

I know what you’re thinking. Craigslist?! You’re going to experiment on publishing a book and you’re using Craigslist?! Except, I live in a wonderful college town with incredibly talented and artistic people, and illustration jobs are hard to come by (technically, I first offered to hire my sister who, unlike myself, is a fantastic artist, but she shot me down), and all I was asking for were simple line drawings. Besides, I only had $100 total set aside for illustrating. Within 24 hours I had over a dozen responses, many accompanied by beautiful portfolios. And one guy who told me that he charges $100 per page, so if that’s what I meant, he was my guy (it wasn’t what I meant). 

I finally decided on one illustrator for two reasons: because she had attached her elance.com profile, which had glowing testimonials from previous clients, and because her portfolio was bright, fresh, clever and fun. We emailed back and forth a few times, before I decided she was my gal. She gave me a two week timeframe to have the illustrations I’d described completed, and one week for making any adjustments I’d like. Now, I guess I wait. 

How do you go about finding an illustrator? Has anyone else used Craigslist before (or are my methods horrifying and barbaric)?