NaNoWriMo Prep: Using October to start writing again

Hey everyone, I hope you are all doing okay ❤

NaNoWriMo is less than a month away and October is the month to start writing again or just give yourself a boost of motivation to continue your on-going project. I am (still) in my editing phase so I will continue on with my own writing project in hopes to finally put a serious dent in my edits.

If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, then let me explain it to you… Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month that comes every year on November. In this nano month, you will try to write 50K in one month 😀 If you’re gasping of shock right now and thinking that it’s way too hard, then let me tell you that it is hard and it is madness, but that’s the entire fun of this. The point is to write and not think of what your novel will look like (that’s editing for).

Last year and a few years back I wrote a few NaNoWriMo Prep Posts that might spark your creativity and prepare you for what is coming, especially if you are new to Nanowrimo and not so familiar with what is Nanowrimo 😉

Here is my checklist, that helps me stay on track with my writing through Nanowrimo and preparing for it

Know what you gonna write about

Use this month to know what you’re going to write about. Try imagining your world, your characters, the theme of the entire plot. At first, it’s okay to write just a name, a place or a sentence of the plot. The more you write whatever comes to your mind the more good ideas will flow out and spark your Imagination and let it run wild.

Outline

I said this a lot but it’s true, outlining your novel truly helps, especially after the midpoint of your novel. So… Outline your nano novel as much as you can. My outline is about 40 pages and in many times more than 60 pages long (lol, wow… I need help). So do as much outlining as you can this month until you know all the characters, places, plots, and even some subplots 😉

Research

Don’t be lazy and do the work. Research about places, or people.
Listen to some conversation near you, hehe (I know it sounds weird and intrusive but it helps a lot) then, write down some key notes about what stood out in your eyes.
If your book is more on the sci/fi or Fantasy research about that subject, and try to create as many details as you can because when Nanowrimo arrive you will not have any time to do all this and you will have a much easier time writing down almost 2K a day, every day.

Connect

Go now to nano site and connect with other writers. you can find groups in your local area or just add writing buddies to help you be more motivated throughout the month, and do some sprints with them.

Take a break

In the week before nano or even just a couple of days before, take a break and enjoy your freedom, it will be your last chance for some free time for 30 days, hehe 😀

Embrace the madness

Don’t think of how it will turn out, no one has to see it. Enjoy the community and the madness of writing sprints with other writers and race towards your goal of writing 50,000 words a month. Ready to have some fun? 

This what I do every year, and it helps me get on track when I feel stuck or just have fun and write with other writers out there, so I hope it will help you too.

After all, as writers we mostly tend to do our craft alone and once in a year it’s so much fun to just embrace the madness of Nano and enjoy the wonderful community ❤ Btw, I’ve made this for NaNoWriMo last year, to put on my phone and on my Instagram and other social media, feel free to download it and use it 😀

View this post on Instagram

Made this for my lock-screen on my phone 😍 I wrote 800 on the first writing session and now I am at 967 words. So my total is 1767 🌸❤ Now onto some cooking and cleaning, lol 😃 Will continue writing later on today. . . . #nanowrimo #writetsofig #writerslife #nano #wordcount #writerscommunity #amwriting #NaNoWriMo2017 #authors #writersofinstagram #nationalnovelwritingmonth #nanowrimo2017 #writing

A post shared by Galit Balli ☕ (@galitballi) on Nov 1, 2017 at 1:39am PDT

Link to download this cute nano picture here: Nanowrimo Pic 😀 Have fun downloading it and, I hope you’ll enjoy using it.

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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Last Minute Prep

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a good day. For me, it’s morning right now as I write to you and my day is already planned to be a very busy day of last minute prep for NaNo and some house chores, hehe. I hope your day is looking better and more relaxed 🙂 Btw, if you want a writing buddy, I would be happy to be yours – Add me if you want here ❤

Let’s take this second to breathe in, lol… NaNo is only 1 day away 😀

I really wanted to write a last-minute prep and some tips to help you get started and overcome the blank page and start the first day of Nano with good energy and feeling of being prepared as possible. If you are trying NaNoWriMo for the first time or you do it for years, sometimes we get overwhelmed really fast… So we all can use a little help and I am here to try and make things a bit easier 😉

Organize your thoughts

Take a look at your outline and try to finish it, or add more details before NaNo starts. If you don’t like writing an outline, write some notes on how your novel will start and end and more importantly, what do you think might happen in the middle of the story. This way you won’t get stuck and you always have something to go back to and that will help you going through that middle burned out.

Sleep

Try to go to sleep early today and don’t go for that midnight writing. You will be exhausted the next day and you already be behind on your word count. Take this night to sleep well and relax as much as you can, so when you wake up the next day, you will be ready to conquer the day and write all those words.

Make a last-minute commitment

Say to yourself and to everyone around you that the upcoming month you won’t be able to be as social as before. Make a commitment that you are doing your best to finish your novel and win Nanowrimo. Also, go the NaNoWriMo site and make your announcement there as well 🙂

Plan your writing but also plan your breaks

This one is the most simple but still so hard to be committed to, lol. But in order to really finish that Nano project, you must schedule your writing in blocks of time, every day both for your writing and for your breaks.

Last but not least… Stay calm, embrace the madness and have fun ❤

Hope this last minute prep helped in any way…. What are you doing on your last day before Nano starts?

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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7 Tip To Survive and Win NaNoWriMo

So… We are a week away from the start of NaNoWriMo and I thought this will be the best time to share with you some of the tips and tricks that really keep me motivated and win (Well… Most of the time anyway, lol, sometimes life must be first and last).

Btw, If you want you a writing buddy, you can add me here and feel free to add me on Twitter as well, and we can do some word sprints 😉 Remember that this is not how you normally go about writing a book, but NaNoWriMo is about the community, quality and fun, and this change of pace helps a lot sometimes… Just remember to have fun ❤

Okay, let’s start with some tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years of doing NaNoWriMo 🙂

Plan your time

A planner is your friend here, on those busy days plan some 5 – 15 min of writing. Now on those days that you have a bit more time on your hands, try to plan more writing time an hour or two and you will see that even though you are a bit behind one day, the next day you can be in the lead 😀

You have 50K words to write a month and even though the estimate word count per day is 1667 word, this is not the law – You can write 500 a day and the next day you can write 4K. What matters is the finish line.

Word sprints

These really help to get your brain fluids run smoothly, hehe and twitter NaNo Sprints is a really good place to find many people doing sprints of 5 – 20 minutes of fast writing. It makes you write fast and not think of what are you writing and if it’s the right thing to write or not… You just write.

Planner or Pantser

I am a strong believer in an outline, and I really think that a well-developed outline can keep the darkness of a writer’s block away. So take this week and write your idea – outline it as much as you can and write a sentence or two about your project.

Food and Drinks

Yummy food both healthy and not so healthy is always have been a great part of NaNoWrimos and a great part of my writing process, lol. Pick a few of your favorite food items, but try to put some healthy choices in there as well.

Books, Movies, and Tv

I really recommend reading a book, see a Tv show or a movie that really inspires you to write and gives you a nudge to go back to your project ❤ I recently saw the great movie Stranger Than Fiction and it was so much fun to watch it, perfect movie to see before NaNo 😉

Kill the inner editor – Kill it!

Never edit as you go. This is not a regular writing session, where you can edit – Editing will only slow you down and even make you doubt yourself. So leave all the errors, red lines and other things that your brain will try to convince you they must be addressed – Don’t listen and keep writing.

Be kind to yourself

If by any chance you are getting behind and starting to feel frustrated, don’t beat yourself up for that. Take a deep breath, go for a walk or do your chores and when you come back, and keep writing. I know the goal is to win but it’s also to have fun with your writing and getting used to writing. So don’t be harsh on yourself – You can always write more words in those other days when you have more time.

That is all for today, I hope you found a tip or more to help you win Nanowrimo. Do you have any writing tips to share with us, that might help everyone be more prepared for Nano?

Embrace the madness that is NaNoWriMo and have fun ❤

Can’t wait for November to start 😀

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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My NaNoWriMo Prep 2017

Happy Sunday to you all, I hope you are all resting and recharging your energies for the week to come 🙂

For those of you who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it’s a National Novel Writing Month (which takes place every year in November), where a bunch of people all around the world tries to write a novel of 50K words in 30 days. Nano is only 10 more days away (according to my sidebar counter hehe) and with the huge holiday we had here, and my mom’s doctor appointments, this month will fly by even faster.

This will be my 9th or 10th year of doing NaNo and even though I had to quit last year due to my mom’s health issues, I do hope that this year I will be able to finish.

I did make some great tips and NaNo prep a while back, and you can find them here and here. But this year I really wanted to share with you what I am doing these last days and how I prepare myself for NaNo (even with a busy schedule).

So here are the main things I do to prepare myself for NaNo

Writing an outline

If you don’t have any idea what to write, just brainstorm ideas and pick one that you liked the most 🙂

For me, I know what I am writing… So I am doing a full detailed outline, as detailed as possible. I guess that this outline will be around 30-40 pages, lol. I have already started today, so I have 10 days to finish my outline and prepare everything else I might need.

Cleaning and organizing my space

My desk tends to get messy, a lot and very fast, lol. So I am going to clean my entire space, which is our spare room where I have my desk, our washer and dryer, our closets, printer and a few more bits here and there. So, I need to reorganize it and clean it. Making sure I have an inviting space to write in.

Writing a few pages

In a few days, I will start writing just a few pages, this way I will have a good place to start from and I won’t get overwhelmed. It really helps me see my project better and what I want to write, so when NaNo starts I am not stuck and can immediately continue writing. It’s just helping me not fall into the writer’s block trap 😀

Picking up a nice notebook, pens, and even an app

Usually, before NaNo starts, I pick a good notebook and my favorite pens and I take them with me everywhere in my bag. However, due to a busy schedule with my mom, I learned to use my phone for writing – a lot.

I love to clear out some space on my phone’s screen that only has my writing app and a timer (or the widgets) and I choose that screen as my home screen. This helps me to see my writing all the time on my phone and keeps me motivated to write and not get stuck.

Embrace the madness!

I starting to accumulate lots Coffee, candy, tea, water and healthy (and unhealthy) snacks 😀

I loved sharing with you how I prepare for NaNo and I hope it helped in any way 🙂 If you enter NaNo, how do you prepare for that? Share with us what are you going to do, in order to prepare yourself for NaNoWriMo 🙂

Thank you so much for reading and don’t forget to add me as a NaNo buddy ❤

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My 4 NaNoWriMo Tips

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has started (yay) and what made this even more special, rain has finally arrived. Rain is here

Brainstorm

Take a bit of time to just brainstorm your idea. Write how you see the story starts and how it might end. Knowing how it will end, will help you when you get a bit stuck (this mostly happen, somewhere in the middle of the month). After you have the beginning and end, throw some adventure on the hero’s way 😀 This is by far my favorite thing to do besides the writing itself of course, lol.

Silence your editor

Yes, we all know this one and it’s hard not to stop and edit that word, or that annoying scene. But don’t! Leave your wonderful editor aside and remember, now you just write, nothing more. Just write.

Write in short bursts

Most nanowrimos can tell you that writing in short burst of 15-25 minutes, can truly help you write faster and just put you the right mood for writing. There’s nothing else in the world but your writing in those 15-25 minutes. Here you can use nano words sprints on Twitter, use an app like the Pomodoro or just put a timer on. This just makes things more manageable and less overbearing.

Community

Nano is not just a sprint to the finish line, it’s also lots of fun. There is so much power in the Nano community, that I urge you to look on Their site for some buddy friends, on twitter and all the social media, you are following. I love the Nano community so much ❤

Enjoy this time, get inspired and have fun with your writing. 

That’s all for now and I will keep writing and update throughout NaNoWriMo. I will not be doing nano every day, but I still hope to achieve the 50K goal. I did put in my planner some writing day, as I call them. So far today my word count is 3K of writing and 4 pages of edit 😀 I guess it’s ok for now, lol.

How was your first day of Nano?

As always thank you so much for reading ❤

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Monthly Update

Happy Thursday everyone, I hope you are all having a great week 🙂

October is almost ending (yay), and I really wanted to give you some updates on what is going on with me 😀

Home

As soon as we got home from Rome, we received a phone call. We had a family emergency, so we did a quick wash for our clothes from Rome and drove to Tel-Aviv. We stayed there for the entire holiday of Rosh Hashana. After the holiday, my mom had a few doctor appointments, so it was a busy week.

After that, I got really sick (and still am) and there was a huge holiday of Sukkot (which is finally over, yay). This month was so crazy and busy, that Rome really feels as if it was years ago, lol. Mom did such an awesome job on the decorations for the Sukkah, so proud of her ❤

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Mom made these decorations for the Sukkah (for the holiday) ❤️😍 I am so proud of her and it turned up so pretty 😍💕 #sukkah #sukkot #happyholiday

A post shared by Galit Balli ☕ (@galitballi) on Oct 18, 2016 at 9:01am PDT

Mom is starting school in a few days and I really need to feel strong enough, so I can take her and be with her. She (and I) is going to learn Psychology and Economics on Sundays and Arabic on Thursday. I think we are both getting excited to learn a few new things and I started organizing my new backpack with some school supplies (yay) 😉

Me

I think I am sick for almost the entire month, lol (so annoying). I’ve been coughing none stop. I took antibiotics for a week, but I am still coughing like crazy. This week things got a bit worst when I’m coughing, at the end, I have a choking feeling, that really scared me. So on Tuesday this week, I went to my doctor and she thinks (just as we started to think) that what I have is called a Whooping Cough. So I’ve started taking new antibiotics and I really hope it will help 🙂

Writing/Editing

Sadly here I have no news. I did manage to edit a few pages and wrote a bit, but as I got sicker I mostly slept the days away. I miss my writing and even the editing, lol. NaNoWriMo is almost here, but as things are today, I don’t think I will be able to do it. But I still have high hope of doing some kind of writing and editing throughout the month of November (wish me luck).

Blog

While I was sick and feeling more down (I’ve been sleeping a lot these days), I didn’t notice that my blog had its second-year anniversary 😀

Omg, thank you so much, everyone and thank you for sticking with me, even when I’m not blogging as much as I used to  ❤ I can’t believe that I am blogging for more than two years (yay). No matter if I blog a lot or not, blogging truly changed my life for the better ❤

That is all for this month’s update, how was your month so far?

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

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Quarterly Goals

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday 🙂

If you want to know what Quarterly Goals are and see how I did in my April-June Quarterly Goals Recap. The only reason I dropped June from the past goals because I talked with a few friends and we set up a new plan for June 😉

I and a few other girls are doing “Nano style” in July and August, so at June, we plan. I’m planning to “Nano Edit” on July and August while the others are doing the writing. I’ve talked with my mom and hubby about this and I am so happy that they are being so supportive of the idea, even if it means that I won’t be with them as much as usual 😉 Thank you so much for this… It means the world for me ❤

So here are my new goals for June – August 😉

1. Organize the house and De-clutter.
2. Retype notes, final outline and organize them.
3. Finish all book reviews I need to do.
4. Print the final outline and the entire book.
5. Start “Nano Edit” in July.
6. Blog when I can (but at least once a week) 😉
7. Finish July’s “Nano Edit” with half the book edited.
8. Don’t let others take my time (less of a goal and more of a reminder).
9. Start “Nano Edit” in August.
10. Finish August’s “Nano Edit”.
11. Finish editing the entire book 😀
12. In these 2.5 months Find an editor!!! (I always say I will find one, lol, but I let time pass me by).
13. Keep Journaling, even on those stressful days 😉
14. Reach 850 followers on twitter 😉
15. Buy new frames.
16. Re-organize our bookshelves (they are in a huge mess right now).

Well, these are my new goals. As you see, I have fewer goals this time and they are much more specific 😀 With a bit of luck I will be able to accomplish most of them. I am very excited about these goals and that I have the power to claim this time just for my writing ❤ I can’t wait to start.

I hope you are all doing great with your goals and with what you wish to accomplish. Remember! As long as you try, you are already far ahead in your path. I am so proud of you ❤

Thank you so much for reading ❤

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I Won NaNoWriMo (Woo-Hoo)

Hello to all my wonderful readers,

I am so happy and feeling on the top of the world right now… I Wrote 7,584 words today and my total words is 50,84 words (I am so happy, that I had to share, lol) 😀 ❤

I won NaNoWriMo (OMG).

The moment I went over the 50K I kept writing, but with so many screaming, lol, of Yay and Omgosh (for real) and tons of happy tears (I’m crazy… I know, but I don’t care).

As soon as I validated the word count and I saw that I got the certificate and the wonderful song they’ve made for us, that felt sooo amazing (and I’m still high on that feeling, lol). I kept writing just until I hit the 10K again, lol so now my total is 52,500 words (had to finish a few things).

This NaNoWriMo was harder than I remembered ever being before. I wrote almost 30K in 3 days, lol, which was insane or me, but that was the only time I had for myself to just write. I’ve learned so much about myself, my writing but most importantly, about what I can do in just a few hours of being alone with my Rainy Mood and my laptop (LOL) ❤

With all that is happening in my life right now, I really couldn’t believe that I will win this year, but I did it (I am so happy) 😀

If you are still writing on the race to win Nano, go and write!

Here are a few tips from what I’ve learned this year

• Don’t think, just write! This is not the novel you will send out, lol. This Novel can be rubbish with tons of great potential, so don’t think of how it is right now and just keep on writing.

• Write anywhere. I mean it, anywhere. In the car, the tube, the bus. While you wait for something or someone. On the laptop, with pen and paper, on the phone. Anywhere and with anything, as long as you write 😀

• Push yourself as much as you can to write faster and faster. You can rest and sleep after it’s all done 😉

About the resting part, well… Sadly for me, I don’t have much time to rest, lol. In just a few hours, tomorrow will become a new month and with it comes so many things: Hubby’s Birthday ❤ Start Wars ❤ Book Reviews ❤ Lots of appointments to go with my mom (Busy Bee) and… I need to keep on writing and start my content editing as well (Yay me) 😀

How is your Nano? Are you far behind or close to the finish line? Did you win this year’s NaNoWriMo? What are your plans after NaNoWriMo? Can’t wait to read your thoughts and plans ❤

Remember that even if you are behind, you can still win… Just write those words… fast! Even if you know you can’t win, keep writing, something amazing can come out of it. If you won… Congrats, that is so awesome 😀

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

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Random Ramblings

Happy Sunday to you all,

I hope you all had (or still having) a wonderful Sunday ❤ My plan for today was to write. That is all, lol, just write as much as I can and as fast as I can 😀

Sorry for the long absence here, I wasn’t feeling very good and I barely had any moment to just sit and write to you. I think I was not feeling well due to massive exhaustion, which led me to add half a pill more to my daily dosage, lol.

All is better now. I have rested well, wrote a lot and tried (very poorly) to overcome the hurricane of a mess in my house.

Nano is almost over and I had only two days to finish Nano with the minimum of 50,000 words. Yesterday I was at 32,000 and today I wrote like the wind, lol, bringing my total words to 42,500 ❤

(I wrote 10.5K words today, omg)

I do hope that tomorrow I will be able to sit down and write the rest of the words I need to WIN NaNoWriMo (Oh yeah) 😀

This month was so busy, but I was able to make a small writing plan for the next year, only this time it will go nicely (I hope) with all that I need to do. I’ve also changed my business plan, tweaked it a bit, so it will fit better with my hectic everyday life, lol.

I bought a few books, read a few online articles, blog posts and saw a few YouTube videos (you know, research), all so that they will help me plan better and think better of what I want and how I want to achieve it.

After Nano I am going go back to the first manuscript and start my content editing, I hope not to find many plot holes, lol 😀

I hope you are all enjoying your day and if you are doing Nano, I hope you are motivated to finish (so go back to your writing now, lol) and to all that Won Nano, congrats to you all, that is such a wonderful achievement 🙂

I can’t wait…

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

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Weekly Round Up {Coffee n’ Notes}

Wonderful Sunday my beautiful readers…

This week was so hectic and it’s going to be like for a long time. The weather is starting to get colder and for me, it’s the start of heaven ❤ I do miss the rain as we only had one good rainy day and I can’t wait for more to come. Maybe I will use less the Rainy Mood site and just listen to the actual rain (one can hope and dream…) 😉

How was your Sunday? Did you have a nice and relaxed day? or were you like me running all around the town for errands. I did have fun with mom shopping and just hang together 😀 So… Here’s a short recap of this week’s posts featured at Coffee n’ Notes, have fun reading ❤

Nano Update

The first week of November and NaNoWriMo is all over and even though I had a crazy week, I’ve still managed to put those words down on paper (paper and laptop) 😉 Go visit the post and see how I did 😀

Friday Musing

What a week… I was so happy that the weekend came ❤ So much happened this week, but I was still able to be inspired and more importantly… Motivated to write and write some more 😀

The Instagram Tag

This was such a fun tag to do 😀 I have a huge obsession for Instagram and now I was able to say what I love about Instagram (or as I call it for short, Insta) 😉 Don’t forget to follow and say hello ❤

As always… Thank you so much for reading ❤

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