Don't Stop Believing *insert cheesy music here*

My new WIP is at 60 pages exactly right now!! There's something about the landmark numbers, for both page and word count, that makes me very excited! As if all I have to do is right ten more pages and get to 70 and then I'll have more validation that there is progress. I wanted to write this post because up until this point for this novel I've only known the premise, the characters, and had a very vague idea of how I wanted it to end. Even the plot was a bit shaky... but I kept writing anyway because I love the idea. I figured that if I just shut up the voices of self-doubt and kept hacking away at it, eventually the plot and ending would come to me.

And they did! *Stops for applause. Hears crickets* I was lying in bed after writing out a really fun/funny scene (if I do say myself :P) longhand that the whole thing came to me, and it was pretty magical. I grabbed my WIP notebook and wrote it all down in the messiest handwriting EVER, which is saying something because I have awful handwriting, and then it took me a long, long time to fall asleep. I couldn't stop imagining how the ending was going to play out in my head and all the things the characters could say and do and all the ways I could torture them to get to that ending *insert evil writer laugh*.

I'm rambling a bit, I guess what I wanted to say is that even though having a plan and an outline is great, sometimes going out of your comfort zone and just starting the story is enough. I had to trust myself and to trust that in time the answers would come to me. Now they did and I'm more excited than ever to write this story! Don't give up in the beginning just because there's still such a long way to go. As long as you start, eventually you'll figure out where you're going and how to get there :D

Happy writing!

- Nicole

10,000 At a Time . . .

I'm taking a quick break before beginning the next chapter of my WIP, so I thought I'd blog really quickly about my process. For me, the beginning is the hardest part of drafting because there are so many questions still unanswered and so many blank pages still in front of me, and I know a lot of writers struggle with this. I don't have strict outlines, just lots of notes on scraps of paper and in notebooks (Oh, how I wish I could outline!) Basically what I figured out works for me is planning (usually in bullet points) just the next 3-4 chapters ahead of where I am. Then I write those chapters, plan the next several, and keep going like that.

And since I never have ANY idea how long a novel is going to end up being I can't just say "it's going to be around 60,000 words so at 30 I'll be halfway! So instead I try to only focus on 10,000 words at a time. For example, right now, about to start chapter 5 (!!!) I'm 700 words from reaching 10k words. Up to this point all I've been thinking is "in the plotlines and in the character's relationships, where do I want to be at 10k?" Now I'm going to sit back and think "where do I want to be at 20k?" And then plan out the chapters that will get me there. This way I never get overwhelmed with how far I still have to go, but still have a path to guide me.

If you're a struggling writer, I hope this helps! :)

- Nicole