Behind the Walls

Question & Answers with Adrienne.

What is your Nanowrimo name?   AllTheColors

 Title & Genre of 2016 Nano Project?      Paid in Heaven and Other Stories (fantasy and science fiction short stories)

 How many years have you participated?   I did a bit of NaNo in 2014 as a rebel, but my first real run was in 2015. I've done Camp three times (with mixed success).

 How did you get involved with Nanowrimo?        I've known about it on the internet for years, but got dragged in because I'm married to a full-time writer.

 What is your favorite thing about Nano?     Two parter here. First, trying to do my first 50K in NaNo, promising myself I would quit if it became more stressful than fun. As the days went by and I stayed on track for word count, it started to seem more possible... then, by the end of the month, I had 54,000 words of short stories that hadn't existed before, and a big sense of accomplishment. It was a new challenge for me, and it was a success, that's really exciting.

The second part came months later when I opened up the first of those stories to start a revision pass, a little bit dreading what I would find. And realized "hey, a lot of this isn't bad at all--it's actually pretty good." That was a pretty neat feeling.

Can you offer any strategies or tips for reaching daily 1,667 word count? Maybe kind of obvious, but word wars are a big help for me. Especially on the Facebook group where I have some sense of community with the other people, it's a friendly kind of accountability. Not only do I want to have a non-zero number to report to them, I also know that participation gives a boost for everyone. It was also a great motivator when I'd had a long day and was thinking of slacking off for the night. Someone would say "word war?" and I would tell myself "I should be able to handle at least ONE of these." And then often by the time it was over, I had enough momentum to keep going and get my word count for the day. 

 Tricking myself to get started generally works well for me. Through word wars, or saying "well, I could at least finish this scene..." Eventually, I got in the habit of stopping at a point where I knew what was going to happen next, because then I could pick up quickly the next time. Short version: People's lizard brains are lazy, but also easily tricked by bite-sized tasks. Outsmart the lizard.

 Blog: https://ashlanswain.wordpress.com/blog/ 


Comments

  1. Rochelle BradleyNovember 6, 2016 at 8:41 AM

    Thank you guest blogging today. Great insight. I'm curious, how may short stories have you written so far?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rochelle BradleyNovember 6, 2016 at 8:43 AM

    Thank you guest blogging today. Great insight. I'm curious, how may short stories have you written so far?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Darla M SandsNovember 6, 2016 at 8:52 AM

      I agree about the insight and also curious at how many short stories you've written. That's my preferred prose to write but I somehow end up trying to write a novel every November. ~shakes head~ Happy writing!

      Delete
  3. Three Wishes CollectiveNovember 6, 2016 at 7:23 PM

    I love this: "People's lizard brains are lazy, but also easily tricked by bite-sized tasks. Outsmart the lizard." !!!
    Great interview. I look forward to reading all of these throughout the month.

    ReplyDelete

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