National Novel Writing Month 2011

So, it begins...

National Novel Writing Month, or "NaNoWriMo" for semi-short, is an organized event where hundreds of crazy people attempt to write 50,000 words on a new project, persumably a novel, in the month of November.

Last year, I "won" the event on the very last day even while battling a severe case of strep throat that laid me up for a week and making Thanksgiving Day dinner for some friends that were transplanted in the Washington, D.C. area. I'm still editing my way through the manuscript. Trust me, the first draft is really crappy, but I'm happy that I got the words out of me.

This year, I am working on a new mainstream fiction project titled, Leading The Blind. The plot revolved around two families struggling with grief, loss and finding or losing their individual faith along the way. I'm having a lot of fun with it, even though I am not "into it" as much as last year's project. The characters are wild in a very quiet way, but quiet characters can be fun, as long as they are on the verge of exploding.

The community for NaNoWriMo is a strong one with online forums, organized write-ins and a Twitter stream dedicated to pushing one towards word sprints. If you are a pantser or a plotter, you will still love NaNoWriMo because, at the heart of it, it is about creating and urging each other to create anything and everything, especially crappy first drafts.

So, writers of the world, I urge you to check out NaNoWriMo for this year or next. Don't worry! There's plenty of time to catch up!

Which reminds me, I need to go get my words for today!

Learn to keep your trade secrets...secret

I was messing around on my Twitter feed today and saw a very interesting article. I follow the CEO of MomAgenda, Nina Restieri, because I'm always interested in new organizing tools and female business owners. Obviously, her business has been doing well; her products have been highlighted in my nearby Container Store. So, I admire her immensely. Recently, I've realized that the crux of her product line, the ability to manage multiple children and husband agendas, while managing your own, has been copied by some products that have been stocked at Target. As someone who highly values intellectual property, this made me mad.

Yet, Nina didn't seem to be fazed by the competitor stealing, or "professional borrowing," her product ideas. This morning, she retweeted a blog post from Maria T. Bailey, a writer and business owner, titled "Don't be a Virtual Victim: "Professional Borrowing" is still stealing."

I didn't realize, but once, I was a victim of "professional borrowing." I was interviewing for a Social Media Editor position for a small company that designs and produces unique handbags for the social elite and some very specific circles. I was excited about the prospect. The pay wasn't awesome, but I was sick of waiting table and wanted a position that would use my skills. During the several phone interviews, I was asked multiple times, "What would you do to increase web traffic?" or "How do you generate more Twitter followers?" In my ignorance, I professionally and politely answered these questions while the CEO and her assistant quietly took notes on the other side of the line, and asked me follow up questions. Naively, I thought that it was all part of the interview process to make sure that I was qualified for the position. After the passing of many weeks, I never received a response from the business. Recently, I visited their Facebook Fan page and Twitter page and realized that they used my techniques, things that I have taken the time to learn and used with a trial-and-error real life experience. I'm livid.

They never wanted to hire me. Turns out, they never hired anyone. Instead of paying for my consultation and the experience and training I've had, they duped me into giving them a free consultation under the guise that I was interviewing for a position. I wonder how many other people they "interviewed." Sad thing is, I would have given them this information if they were up front with me. Instead, they were sneaky and unethical.

Aren't we all supposed to watch out for each other? Aren't business owners, especially the few numbered female business owners, support each other? What happened to this world?

Have you ever been a victim of "professional borrowing"? Are you a fiction author that is worried about the safety of your intellectual property? How are you or will you protect yourselves in the future?

I would love to hear your feedback!

Ode to Dropbox

Dearest Dropbox, 

I cannot explain why you are my favorite web and mobile based application when it comes to my writing and freelance work. I will try to articulate my love for you the meager written word, but please understand the terrible limitations of the English language and my imagination. 

1. Saving things--online?!

Oh, Dropbox, you have made my life so much easier when it comes to saving my digital files in an online way. Everything I write, from my monthly budget of mundane things like "groceries" to the manuscripts in the editing process, is saved in the cloud; I imagine it is a big puffy cloud that floats peacefully between me and the rest of the internet. 

2. You are so beautiful, to me. Can't you see? 

Your user interface is easy to look at and intuitive to use. I know where all the right buttons are without having to ever read a user's manual. It's like you know me, Dropbox. You know my soul and all the things that I want. 

3. I can use you anywhere... in the car? YEAH. At work? YEAH. On the couch? YEAH!

Oh, you dirty Dropbox. I know that I can use you on any computer that has internet connection and, even better, I don't have to pay extra. You are so flexible and you know exactly how to please me. I love that I play around with you on my iPhone and everything will still sync to my trusty home desktop, but you are also there in a hurry if I'm at the library and need to send a work file. Jeez, Dropbox, when will your features ever stop? 

4. A lady might be free, but she won't be easy. 

Dropbox is basically free to use. Invite your friends over to enjoy the fun and you get even more fun stuff to play with. Yes, Mr. Big Shot, you can upgrade yourself to the select and premium packages, but aren't things so much nicer when they're free?

Oh, Dropbox, my dearest Dropbox. You have made my life so much easier to organize and store all my life's work. Plus, you make it easy to get back and change. You've saved my ass on multiple occasions and you store all my gifs for Tumblr. Technology is supposed to make things easier for people and Dropbox is definitely one heck of a piece of technology. 

Thank you for everything. 

Love always, 

Danielle 

Using Grief as Motivation to Write

My childhood cat's name was Diamond. I got her from an animal shelter in Santa Ana, California. While I wanted a tabby cat that was meowing and playing with me at the front of its cage, my mother saw a fluffy black cat with yellow-green eyes that stared from where it was curled up in the back of its cage.

To me, it looked kind of like Lucifer, the cat from the Disney cartoon, Cinderella. She looked a lttle grumpy and not as friendly as I wanted my first cat to be. But, of course, I was 5 years old and didn't realize that my mother wanted an "easy" cat. So, we got Diamond, who I named after the "Diamond in the Rough" from Disney's Aladdin. Please forgive me, it was the early nineties and I had no other points of reference. And, I thought her eyes looked like diamonds.

She was my best animal friend ever since. She moved with us all over southern California, flew with me to Pennsylvania when we moved there and then, moved back to California with us. She was there when my parent's got a divorce and I hugged her most nights when I couldn't sleep. She saw pets come and go, those who ran away or died of old age. She was there when I brought boys over and I found she was an amazing judge of character. She would drag out old family pictures from the basement and meow in the hallway at 3 o'clock in the morning until someone, usually me, let her into their bed.

Last year, she had a stroke, which caused her to walk with her head completely tilted. Also, she went deaf, so our other family cat and our biggest dog would follow her around the house to make sure that she got everywhere okay. We were worried that we would have to put her to sleep to stop her suffering, but the vet assured us that she was a tough cookie and could make it a while longer.

Last week, my mother called to tell me that Diamond passed away. She spent the last 18 years as a large part of our family.

While I haven't seen her in some time because I now live across the U.S. with my husband. I'm still dealing with her death. To me, her death means losing a constant, unconditional best friend, it means the death of my childhood and it means the closing of that chapter. While she was a constant in my life, I had taken advantage of her always being around. I'm just trying my best to remember all the good times. Because of my grief, I haven't been able to properly write or, at least, I've been using that as an excuse not to write.

This morning, while I was writing my Morning Pages and reading a new chapter of The Artist's Way when I realized that my grief shouldn't be holding me back from writing. It should be pushing me to write more.

So, I've vowed to use this moment in time, this point of emotional transition, to write with more passion and more frequently to deal through it all.

I know that Diamond is no longer suffering. I know that this was bound to happen, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. Goodbye, good kitty. You will be missed.

Butt-in-Chair

 

Putting your butt in the chair and your pen to the paper is a very important way to start writing. You can read all the writing blogs, all the craft books, take all the classes and attend all the writing workshops in the world. But, if you don’t get that butt in the chair, you are never going to get enough material to get ahead.

And, material, the actual production of art, the driving force behind the need to write is the reason why most people want to become writers in the first place. Right? I always like to recommend Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird to writers who think that they want to start to write, but can’t seem to get started. Yes, the idea of writing, of being an artist is a beautiful thing, but will that dream, without appropriate action, actually get you anywhere? I doubt it.  Really, you’ll just end up daydreaming somewhere. So, here’s how I get my butt in the chair.

• Lay out Plans: No, really, you have to prioritize your writing over your other hobbies or jobs. You would sacrifice to go to work, right? So, if you want to make writing your profession or you choose to make it one the top 3 most important things in your life, you need to make time for it. Some people schedule it in their calendar at the beginning of the week. An hour here and there, if actually spent in the chair, can actually prove to be a chuck of productive time spent. Personally, I set weekly goals. James Scott Bell in The Art of War for Writers preaches the idea of weekly word count goals. I like to set my goals in measurable ways as well: I need two blog posts, 4 poems/1 short story, edit 4 chapters, etc. If I schedule in the time in my calendar, things typically get in the way. Like a surprise medical emergency, staying late at work or terrible traffic.
• Keep a record: After making my weekly goals, I write them down on my weekly goal sheet and keep the record of whether or not I’ve done them. That way, I can see what days/weeks I’m most productive and why. Writing down how you spend your days can help too. How much time to spend on the Internet? Watching TV? Commuting? How can you better spend your time after you see the record of it? I try to be accountable to Hubz and to my readers. If I promise that I will have a piece ready to submit to my workshop group, I better have one ready and actually attend the meeting. If I promise to myself that I will always post a blog on Mondays and Thursdays, I better stick with that. If you don’t have any self-accountability, try to buddy up with a friend or fellow writer that will check in with you, or tell your kids. Kids have an amazing way of keeping you accountable, plus you want to make them proud, don’t you?
• Give yourself a gold star: I am a big believer in rewarding yourself for good tasks completed. That usually means that I get to spend an extra hour watching Dr. Phil or I get to take a nap instead of typing away. It can be monetary, like buying yourself a new pair of shoes, or it can be intrinsic, like calling your accountability partner to brag about your success.
• Get moving: I know that this post is called “Butt in Chair” but you have to get moving too. Go for a walk and bring a voice recorder or a small notebook. A change of scenery may get your creative juices going. Plus, sitting on your computer, anxiously waiting as your Twitter feed refreshes, isn’t actually getting any work done.
• Turn off the Internet: Do you really need to know what year Disney’s Hocus Pocus was released in theaters? No. No, you don’t. So, get back to work. Turn off you WiFi, unplug your router, cut your Ethernet cord, I don’t care. Just stop playing around on the Internet. Getting your butt into the chair, means getting some writing down. The Interwebz can wait, trust me. There will be plenty of time to play, but you have to decide what is better for you and your career.

So, what are your secrets for keeping your butt-in-the-chair? How can we best help each other?