I haven't made a post since school ended for me because I have been super busy. Last week if I wasn't studying for my finals, I was getting ready for Girls Camp, which I've been at all week. So there hasn't been much time to fit in writing a blog post.
But the good news is that it's now summer.
Other than something going on mid-July and summer homework, I'm pretty much free.
I understand if you are not quite as free as I may be. Margaret is not free at all. She's doing two Summer Camps, two summer classes, and get a job, literary goals aside. She's also attempting to figure out some serious plot problems and write her first book, and she's determined to write some blog posts over the summer. This is technically her blog as well. We share it. Even though only 9% of the posts on here were written by her. But out post popular post was written by her, so I'll give her the 10%.
:D
I'm a true best friend.
But even if you are busy, summer is a great time to try to write/edit/work on your novel. I finished my novel not last summer but the summer before that. Planned it, wrote it all, finished I think two days before school started again. It's 6 hours of your day that's now free, more depending on how much homework you have every day.
The biggest problem with depending on summer to get serious work on your novel done is accountability. There's two to three months depending on your school schedule, which is more time than you get for NaNoWriMo. It's easy to slack off, especially during summer which is THE time for slacking off. The summer that I wrote my novel I decided that I was going to get up at 8:00 and work on my novel until 3:00 when I could do whatever I wanted to. The idea was that I was replacing school with novel writing time.
... yeah that last for like a week or two.
I'm not quite sure how I managed to write that whole thing.
The trick is, like most things, to figure out what works for you. The best advice I've found is to write in a different place than you do your internet searching. I probably wrote more in one day at the library than I did in a week at home just because I was in a different environment where I could focus completely on my task and not get distracted by family or "Oh, I should check that."
Another tip I've found very useful, is to write without music playing. I know I've done at least two posts about writing music and it setting the mood for what you're writing, but it's really easier to focus on what you're writing without it.
If you are going to have it playing, because there are some scene you really do need music to write to, get it on a playlist or some sort of radio channel. iTunes or a Youtube playlist or Spotify or Pandora. Do NOT listen to songs individually on Youtube. That means that every 3 minutes or so you have to go back to your browser to replay or find a new song, which means that every 3 minutes you have contact with one of the biggest distractions there is.
DON'T DO IT.
It's not worth it, I promise.
And of course there is the average tips. Keep the area around where you're typing/writing free of distractions. I've spent a good 3-4 minutes in the middle of this post shinning my nails because the little block thingy was next to me.
I find it's better to have full meals rather than just snack because then you're stopping to eat your chips or carrots, depending on how healthy you are.
The best tip of all though is that you really need to just get into a habit. Humans are naturally creatures of habit. It takes about a month to create or break a habit, so try to find what works the best for you and STICK TO IT (See my post on consistency).
I would also like to take the time to point out that this is really where we as young writers have an advantage over most adult writers. Only adults employed by school systems really have any summer breaks, and even then a lot of them live off teacher salaries and have to work during the summer to survive. But most of us are probably still being provided for by our parents and are more or less free during the summer time. We're practically given two to three months of time that we could spend writing.
Take advantage of it!
This is my last real summer of high school, so your can bet I'm going to. My goal for this summer is to try to edit my book, naturally. My goal is to be able to start sending my manuscript off during Senior year. The two biggest things I need to accomplish with my novel over the summer is figure out a sub plot and what I'm doing with my bad guy.
Have a great summer guys!
But the good news is that it's now summer.
Other than something going on mid-July and summer homework, I'm pretty much free.
I understand if you are not quite as free as I may be. Margaret is not free at all. She's doing two Summer Camps, two summer classes, and get a job, literary goals aside. She's also attempting to figure out some serious plot problems and write her first book, and she's determined to write some blog posts over the summer. This is technically her blog as well. We share it. Even though only 9% of the posts on here were written by her. But out post popular post was written by her, so I'll give her the 10%.
:D
I'm a true best friend.
But even if you are busy, summer is a great time to try to write/edit/work on your novel. I finished my novel not last summer but the summer before that. Planned it, wrote it all, finished I think two days before school started again. It's 6 hours of your day that's now free, more depending on how much homework you have every day.
The biggest problem with depending on summer to get serious work on your novel done is accountability. There's two to three months depending on your school schedule, which is more time than you get for NaNoWriMo. It's easy to slack off, especially during summer which is THE time for slacking off. The summer that I wrote my novel I decided that I was going to get up at 8:00 and work on my novel until 3:00 when I could do whatever I wanted to. The idea was that I was replacing school with novel writing time.
... yeah that last for like a week or two.
I'm not quite sure how I managed to write that whole thing.
The trick is, like most things, to figure out what works for you. The best advice I've found is to write in a different place than you do your internet searching. I probably wrote more in one day at the library than I did in a week at home just because I was in a different environment where I could focus completely on my task and not get distracted by family or "Oh, I should check that."
Another tip I've found very useful, is to write without music playing. I know I've done at least two posts about writing music and it setting the mood for what you're writing, but it's really easier to focus on what you're writing without it.
If you are going to have it playing, because there are some scene you really do need music to write to, get it on a playlist or some sort of radio channel. iTunes or a Youtube playlist or Spotify or Pandora. Do NOT listen to songs individually on Youtube. That means that every 3 minutes or so you have to go back to your browser to replay or find a new song, which means that every 3 minutes you have contact with one of the biggest distractions there is.
DON'T DO IT.
It's not worth it, I promise.
And of course there is the average tips. Keep the area around where you're typing/writing free of distractions. I've spent a good 3-4 minutes in the middle of this post shinning my nails because the little block thingy was next to me.
I find it's better to have full meals rather than just snack because then you're stopping to eat your chips or carrots, depending on how healthy you are.
The best tip of all though is that you really need to just get into a habit. Humans are naturally creatures of habit. It takes about a month to create or break a habit, so try to find what works the best for you and STICK TO IT (See my post on consistency).
I would also like to take the time to point out that this is really where we as young writers have an advantage over most adult writers. Only adults employed by school systems really have any summer breaks, and even then a lot of them live off teacher salaries and have to work during the summer to survive. But most of us are probably still being provided for by our parents and are more or less free during the summer time. We're practically given two to three months of time that we could spend writing.
Take advantage of it!
This is my last real summer of high school, so your can bet I'm going to. My goal for this summer is to try to edit my book, naturally. My goal is to be able to start sending my manuscript off during Senior year. The two biggest things I need to accomplish with my novel over the summer is figure out a sub plot and what I'm doing with my bad guy.
Have a great summer guys!
