My Writing Schedule ???

Many ask how do you plan when you write?

Well that all depends on the day and my mood. I am a participant of WriteChainChallenege so I make myself write at least 1500 wordies a day. I have managed for the last 53 days to do so. Here's my schedule (changes made when kiddos involved)

Monday - Thursday during 9am and 3pm for at least 2 hours. At night I write while cooking and cleaning up after dinner.
Fridays I write from 1pm-2am with a few breaks for food and dishes This is for FriNightWrites on Twitter
Saturdays I write any where from 9am-3am for a minimum of 6 hours. In the mornings I do #TalesAndTea with The Sprint Shack on Twitter.
Sundays it all depends on when my kiddos get home. usually I write around noon for a few hours (like 8).

Remember I have two kids and they interfere a lot with my scheduled writing times. Friday my son came home from school early because of a migraine. No problem he went to his room and slept for a bit, so no stopping is needed. Then I have to figure out which laptop I am gonna use, my daughter's or son's. If neither then I HAVE to use my desktop. Using my desktop isn't as inspiring as writing in the kitchen for some reason.

Most of the time I do word sprints for 30 minutes with friends and fellow writers on Twitter. They keep my grove going and when my writing groups aren't running sprints I do. Example, I ran six 30 minute sprints today and had several join in. I always use the hashtag #getwordies because that's our goal, to get words written.

Yeah I am on Twitter most of the day doing sprints. Like I said before, they keep me writing and during the breaks I get dishes, laundry and other things done in the kitchen. I even cook while sprinting now. Though finding TweetDeck was the best thing in the world since Scrivener.

No matter what wordies are written everyday. I wrote only 2540 words today but I created several supporting characters for this 'Dalara' and they may end up with one of their own in the future. Already planning on one for sure.

So, my writer friends and followers, if you need motivation to keep you on track find me on Twitter @jesdeh2o or search #getwordies to see if I'm running sprints! Or you can always ask if I can. I am more than willing to help out my fellow writers.

1st Week of December!

As I sit here and wait for the 5th I am thinking back over what I accomplished in November. Though it is the hardest month of  the year for me, I wrote 3/4 of a novel hitting over 50k words. I won NaNoWriMo! I never thought I could do it, but with the support of @TheSprintShack, @WriteChain, @FriNightWrites and many others within them, it would take forever to list all that helped and are still helping me. Always pushing me to sprint and get those words out of my head and on the computer screen. You guys *ROCK*.
As I have not completed my NaNo novel, I have begun finishing up the PREQUEL to it.  It is a shorter process after doing 50k+ in 30days. I am so glad I took the challenge and if I hadn't won, it still would have been awesome.

With winning I get to purchase Scrivener from Literature and Latte at 50% off on the 5th. Along with AEON Timeline. Both helped me so much I would never had made it without their NaNo Trials. With Scrivener I had everything from places, character bios, and relationships all in one place. I didn't have to open another program. Aeon Timeline allowed me to track the timing of each event and I never forgot what day it was in my novel.

There are tons of tools for writers and these are the only ones I have tried and I don't think I will try anything else. This is it for me. Each writer has their own way of doing things and Scrivener and Aeon Timeline is what I need.

With all that said I will definitely be participating next year in NaNoWriMo! I only wish I could make a financial donation this year. If you wish to help out the non-profit organization of NaNoWriMo please do so on their website (Link is above). Thanks!

NaNoWriMo Day 7

Today is day 7 of National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short. I am impressed by how well I am doing and the fact I am sticking to it. I hit 15k and am still going. Just look at the progress at the upper right side of this page. Many of my NaNoPals are pushing their little fingers to the keyboards as much as I am. Today I did  1k1hr, 1k words in 1 hour, with one and did over that. The sprints at #NaNoWordSprint is keeping me going... Here is a list of the sprints I partake in:
@TheSprintShack, @FriNightWrites, @NaNoWordSprints

What is a word sprint you ask?

Well, you get together on Twitter with buddies and challenge yourselves to improve your word count. There are many different places I do word sprints and it keeps us all on track. @FriNightWrites we sprint for 30 minutes and take a 10 minute break. There are writers from all over the world that join in.
Times:
UK: 7pm-7am
US EAST COAST: 2pm-2am
US WEST COAST: 11am-11pm
You can always jump in to any of them, whatever your schedule allows. I am there off and on during the day here in US Central and a lot at night. There we use the hashtag #writeclub and the #StatsGuy keeps track of how many words for each sprint. It is quite amazing to see the numbers pop up.
Want to learn more about FriNightWrites check it out, Write Club @FriNightWrites

Is there anything I couldn't live without during NaNoWriMo?

Yes, Scrivener. I love the software from Literature & Latte, it has made writing and keeping track of facts, characters, ages even. It's all in one place and easy to access. I downloaded the free trial version and loved it. Then when I signed up for NaNoWriMo I found they offer a special free trial to NaNoWriMo participants. It got even better, if I complete my 50k words I can buy Scrivener for 50% off.

I have just found out how helpful their split-screen is. I now can look at a character sheet and type at the same time without leaving either. There are tons of features I have not worked with and can't wait to buy it after NaNoWriMo and find all the wonderful things I can do with it. It has definitely made NaNoWriMo experience easier and less stressful. I think once November is over and less frantic I will use Scrivener for my blogs and all my books.

I also couldn't live without my kids running up and down the stairs when I am in the middle of a sprint and need a fresh soda or some snack. They are the best in helping me out and not fighting with each other. Being 16 and almost 12 it amazes me as I wait for a fight and I hear them talking with each other rather than at each other.

Now it's time to get back to my story but before I do here is another excerpt:

Tasmina started crying once Azri left. She didn't understand what she was doing. He had caused the challenge and could die. That would probably get her sent back to Johnathan’s pack and to her father. The Warrior had told her that Azri was a strong fighter and would do well, at least that’s what she got from the conversation they had. Why was Azri risking his life to protect her? Why does he care so much when no one else had. Her mother watched the abuse and did nothing while the other did as they pleased. If only she had someone she trusted to answer her questions about Azri, but there was no one.  Someone that knew about males in a way she didn't.