These last three months have been incredibly formative for me as a writer. I’ve learned to write better content in the first draft, though I’m still pleased with how the writing I’ve previously done has worked out. Editing has made it so planning and outlining my future projects makes more sense.
I came across a few unexpected strokes of brilliance. One was the content on Bryce Beattie’s site http://www.storyhack.com/ which is in general amazing, but I highly recommend the Writing Resources category.
Another cool thing I found was the Author To Do book as detailed in the Nail Your Novel blog post: http://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/from-to-do-to-done-confessions-of-an-organised-author/ .
And finally, I discovered something equally amazing yet rather unproductive and very time burning: Simon’s Cat. If you have young kids in the house, you will probably never pry them away from the computer. You’ve been warned.
In addition to typing up handwritten things, editing, and wasting my time watching cat videos, I have been working on outlines. It struck me that one very promising story which ended abruptly at Chapter 3 would take right off if I mentally mated Pride and Prejudice with Pirates of the Caribbean. And I was right, so Dreamer has taken a ‘hmmm’ time-out while I ride out this epiphany with Amelia Baker.
On a less-than-happy note, my pens are dry again, and thus I now must figure out how to wisely spend my last £7 between toothpaste, multivitamins, and ink pens. If I’m really, really crafty, I can figure out how to also have enough left over to buy a cup of tea so I can pretend I’m not a hermit.
Till next time,
Nicolette
PS-I have decided that Anna Karenina is the original Days of Our Lives.
Nicolette Jinks 