The Write Life

It's Day 2 and I hope everyone is doing well! If you're behind on your word count don't worry! There's still time to catch up but try not to use that as an excuse to get too behind.  I know I have before and then had to spend several days during the month having 5,000 word days or more to get caught up.  Which is not impossible but can be kind of daunting.
So yesterday I got to a little over 2K.  I had wanted to write more than that and I'm not entirely happy with my beginning.  I'm fighting the urge to re-write it.  I keep telling myself that that can be done in December and that November is for moving forward in the draft not looking back at what's already written.
Something that has helped this dilemma is a piece of advice I read.  On my writing desk I have the "No Plot? No Problem! novel writing kit" and inside it there are inspiration cards for each day.  Day 2's inspiration card was perfect for me today.  It says:

"Writing a novel is like working with clay.  You first create a rough shape, then massage that shape into something beautiful, such as an ashtray or a fearsome army of worms.  Unlike potters, though, who can simply buy clay at the art supply store, novelists have to pull off the supernatural feat of creating their clay with their minds.  It's an amazing accomplishment, really, and it's also why postponing judgment of your work until the end of your first draft is so important.  What you started producing yesterday is noveling clay- valuable, essential, and invariably lumpy.  Its beauty will grow as you work it."

I haven't done my writing yet for today but I hope to write at least 2K again today though I would like to write more.  

Character Interview: 

Each day I will be doing a character interview question with my main character, Millie.

Question: 

Describe your parents.

Answer:

My parents.. Well my Daddy's name is Joseph Jacobs but everyone calls him Joe.  He can be really tough and strict at times but I know he's just doing it because he cares about me.  He can be a bit strict when it comes to boys.  I wasn't allowed to go with anyone until I turned sixteen and I have to be home by six unless I'm out with the band or something like that.  Every evening when I would come home from being with Charlie, Daddy would be sitting out on the porch in his rocking chair with his pipe in his mouth and his double barrel on his lap. That never fazed Charlie though.  Charlie has known my Daddy too long.  Maybe that would scare another boy but not Charlie.  Still Daddy has never really liked Charlie.  He says Charlie is a bad influence on me but I don't see how that is.  Sometimes Daddy just doesn't understand things well.
Hmm what else? Well he does a lot of different jobs to get money.  He builds houses, does brick work, farming, yard work for others in town..
In the evenings he likes to sit in his chair with his pipe and listen to the radio.

Now about my momma.  Her and I are really close.  She is a very beautiful woman with dark, almost black, hair and naturally tanned skin.  She has large beautiful brown eyes and rosy cheeks.  She has a very sweet disposition and is a great compliment to my Daddy.  She seems to know him so well and his slight temper never seems to faze her.
Often Momma and I will sit on my bed at night and just talk.  She's a great listener and a very funny and clever woman.  I just love my Momma to bits and pieces.
My favorite time spent with her though is when we do the dishes together.  I wash and she dries and then sometimes we'll switch and while we clean the dishes we'll sing together.  She has such a beautiful voice.

Daily Topic:

The topic: 

What are you using to write on/writing programs/writing totems?

I am using the program Scrivener which I purchased with a discount after winning the July session of Camp Nanowrimo.  I really love this program a lot and it has been invaluable during the planning stage and will now be very helpful during the writing stage.  I am able to keep all of my information in one spot.

As you can see from the screen shot above, I have folders for my characters which hold text pages about each character along with a photo of what I imagine them to look like.  I also have all of my settings described in a folder.  I have a place for all of my research, my outlines, and my ideas that I get while planning and writing.

This program is awesome because now I can keep all of these things in one easy to access place.  Before I used Pages and had a different pages document for each item.  So I would have tons of pages documents open on my computer at once and I'd have to go through all of them trying to find the one I was looking for.  

Below is another feature I like about Scrivener:

When you put Scrivener into full screen mode you have the option of putting in a background photo.  You can even lower the transparency of the page so you can see the image behind it.  While you write you could have an image that has something to do with the scene you are writing.  Also on the side you can have a box that will show photos, your document notes, and so much more.

Below are some sneak peaks into more of the program:

Writing Totem: "Creator of NaNoWriMo, Chris Baty, urges WriMos to invest in a "writing totem," which is an item (or several items) that helps inspire, get one in a writer-like state of mind, and help battlewriter's block. A writing totem can be anything; it could be an item of clothing (like Baty's viking helmet), a stuffed animal, a picture, a chotchke item, fingerless gloves, anything! Totems are most often around a WriMo's computer (or on the WriMo) and stick by the WriMo in all of his or her creative endeavors.

Totems also serve as a signal to others that the WriMo is in "the shadowy Realm of the Novel.""

-WikiWrimo

The following are my writing totems:

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the blog post! If you'd like to share what program you're using and/or what writing totems you have I'd love to hear about them!

Join me here again tomorrow where I'll be talking all about characters!

Happy writing,

<3 Andrea