Preptober #2 | My NaNoWriMo Survival Kit & Necessary Tools Of The Trade

“Preptober” is a term that some writers who partake in November use to describe the month of October, where we’re all deciding what to write and laying out plot, characters, setting etc. In these blog posts, I want to help you along your own Preptober journey! But, before we continue on… what is NaNoWriMo, exactly? To put it simply, it’s a 30-day challenge with hundreds of thousands of other writers around the world, where you attempt to write 50,000 words – or the threshold of a novel – in a month. You can find out more on the website.

People who don’t write probably think a few things about writers: we live off coffee (accurate), we wear sweatpants all day (on occasion I do write in jeans, but that’s rare), and we need “certain, non-descript things” in order to write a novel, like lucky gloves or a blood sacrifice. Um… what?

Here’s the blatant truth: you need three things to write a novel. One, is something to write on. This can be a laptop, a piece of paper, a notebook, a wall if you’re really living on the edge. Two, is something to write with. This can be your fingers, your voice if you’re using a Dictaphone or voice reader, a pen, a Sharpie, a pencil, or a knife if, for some bizarre reason, you’re engraving your novel into a tree trunk. Third, is your brain. Your story ideas have to come from somewhere, right?

Advertisements

Preptober #1 | How To Get Started With Your NaNo Project

“Preptober” is a term that some writers who partake in November use to describe the month of October, where we’re all deciding what to write and laying out plot, characters, setting etc. In these blog posts, I want to help you along your own Preptober journey! But, before we continue on… what is NaNoWriMo, exactly? To put it simply, it’s a 30-day challenge with hundreds of thousands of other writers around the world, where you attempt to write 50,000 words – or the threshold of a novel – in a month. You can find out more on the website.

I would say that, at this point, I am a NaNoWriMo veteran. This year will be my 6^th year attempting NaNoWriMo, which is so exciting and scary!

As of now, I have a few ideas milling about my head. One of them, that I’m actually leaning towards, is simply this: “a contemporary romance”.

Yup, that’s it.

5 Essential Pieces of Stationary for Writers

This week is National Stationary Week! (Yes, really.) OKay, so this is in America, but I thought I would celebrate nonetheless and write what I think are 5 essential pieces of stationary for writers! 

How To Make A Mini-Zine Electronically | FREE Template!

So over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been writing about zines: inspiration for them, and why you should write them. The latter post included an extra little bit about how to make zines, but I realised that a lot of people reading this would be writers, and therefore want to make the zines electronically. In all due respect to my stupidity, only two out of the four I made for Mini-Zine March were done electronically. The other two were hand drawn/written (and was super rewarding in the latter part!). However, my electronic ones came out very well so I’m a happy rabbit.

Anyway; how to make zines electronically is what this is all about. For this, you need three things: a laptop, computer, tablet, or something equally acceptable. A printer is required (well, you could put it into just PDF format, but printing it is the point!). And you need Microsoft Word. (And, uh, your brain might be helpful. <3) 

Why You Should Write Mini-Zines

Over the course of March, I have been taking part in a little challenge called Mini-Zine March, hosted by Sea Green Zines. Over four weeks, I made four very different mini-zines, and I would love to share why I think you should write them too. Here is a link to my first post. 

Finding Inspiration for ZINES!

Next week, human beings, I have a post coming for you: Why You Should Write Mini Zines. However, this time around, I am going to be talking about how to find inspiration for them.

“But Hannah,” you cry, “wouldn’t it make sense for this to come after the post about why we should write zines in the first place?” Well, yes. But no. Because once you read on, the idea will (hopefully) be rocking around your head all week and you might even Google it before you read my next blog post! (Shame on you.) 

Just 21 Writing Prompts

I feel like this time of the year is when people start dropping behind on their New Years’ Resolutions. (I certainly have.)

A lot of people, me included, made resolutions/goals to write more this year. Luckily for some, you might be doing a great job at sticking to that. Sadly, not everybody is. Therefore, I have created a list of 21 writing prompts for you to use at your leisure. Feel free to link me to anything to write based from these in the comments, and I’ll be happy to read it. 🙂

PS If I write anything to do with these prompts, the pieces will be published on my other blog. Feel free to check it out! ❤ 

How to Find the One… Notebook for You!

Image from Google

Ha! Betcha thought I’d gone all weird and romance-y on my book blog. Don’t you worry about that: I’m still very much talking about writing.

Notebooks are my love. I have many unwritten in notebooks, notebooks with a few pages here and there, notebooks that have been filled and have had pages ripped out etc. etc. I am always travelling with a notebook, and I would just like to talk about how to find the notebook that will become your new writing companion.

Every writer needs a notebook. That is just a given. If you want to write, you have to have something to write in. Some people like to use their phones and the “notes” app, but that stresses me out nowadays, so I’m only going to be talking about the physical beauties and, yes, giving you some recommendations.

The Hardest Writing Task I’ve Ever Done

As I’m back at university now, I’m having a creative writing class every week and this week, I kid you not, I did the hardest writing task. Like, ever. I dare you to try it and let me know what you managed to do in the comments below!

We started out with a five minute free write. I love free writing (most recently, I wrote about it here) so this was a brilliant writing activity. We started off with the prompt: 

The Surprise of Poetry

Before I came to university, I didn’t write much poetry. I’d been writing more in the past year or so of A-Levels, but before then I had written maybe one or two poems. They were all terrible. As in, I don’t have them anymore, they were strings of words strung together in no real sense, terrible. Or sometimes they were flat prose in poem form (which is probably worse than just flat prose).