NaNoWriMo 2018 Has Begun

It's the start of the craziest month of the year for writers. I'm glad that I'm finally able to release the title and the cover of my project! You can find it on my project page, and I'll be updating my Books tab in the coming days... you know, when I want a distraction from writing.

I started my novel... two months ago... (still counts!)

I'm also keeping a daily log reflecting on the writing process throughout the month of November. I'll be releasing those exclusively on Patreon, so if you are ready to join in on the fun, sign up and get a glimpse into every plot twist, procrastination, and hangnail. Lots of fun to be had!

Are you entering the depths of a NaNo project this year?

NaNoWriMo 2015 Has Begun

Let's just start off with good news: last year I won NaNoWriMo. The bad news? I tried and failed to capture the process with a Vine video a day. It didn't go how I planned. Maybe if I would have had a full-time camera person and production team, I would have got what I wanted out of it. Oh well. Moving on...

This year, I'm going to chronicle the process by doing what I do best: writing. I'll be keeping and posting a NaNo journal to go along with this year's project. Yes, that's more writing--I'll be typing away morning, afternoon and night. So be it.

Without further delay, here are the first two entries for NaNoWriMo '15: Embarking on a Journey to Greatness (I'll work on the title...)



November 1:
I didn't start writing a word on this novel (Small Town American Life) until almost four in the afternoon. I thought the time change would provide me an extra hour of writing, but it just provided me with an extra hour of procrastination. And then there was the whole DVD fiasco. I post this on Twitter:

Why does #NaNoWriMo always fall on the same day as my annual DVD shelf rearrangement? 😄 #seriousstuff #notstalling

— Terri Deno (@TerriDeno) November 1, 2015

And I was serious. I like things the way I like things. I haven't bought a new DVD in eight months, but there was a bunch of rearranging and trading of furniture in the house this weekend, so with a new shelf comes a new way to organize the DVDs. And yes, I may have made this too much of a priority over the writing, but the writing still emerged.

I had to give up the luxury of using my computer for those first 683 words. I used the netbook and wrote directly into an email because I just had to stream a movie from TCM on my laptop. Had to. Tomorrow, things will be better. I'll be able to catch up.

It's frightening to be behind on Day 1.



November 2:
I have a tag line! Since I have some writing buddies for NaNo this year, I thought I would actually fill out all of the info on my novel's NaNo page.  Here's what I have:

 One summer. Six people. What really goes on behind closed doors in small town America?

I thought about posting an excerpt too, but since I drop an f-bomb in the first 500 words, I'm not sure about that. What I am sure of is that I hit 3396. Yeah, that's right. All caught up and then some on Day 2!

The Rules of Freelancing #8: Stop Procrastinating

With almost anything in life, procrastination in a topic that can rear its ugly head. “Oh, I'll get to it tomorrow.” No, chances are unless that's the deadline, you probably won't get to it tomorrow. Procrastination for some can breed real creativity, but for some it just creates unnecessary anxiety in our lives.


When freelancing, there's really no one to keep you on task but yourself. That's why freelancing isn't a career path for everyone. If you cannot get yourself motivated to work, chances are you will not be able to succeed in the long run. Even when you are successful in freelancing, procrastination will only hurt you, not help you.


I'm not immune to the procrastination bug. In fact, I'm probably a bigger procrastinator than most people I know. While it's true that I always get the job done, I could do so much better if I would just stick to schedule. Everyone would. When your teachers told you in high school that you shouldn't cram for tests, but rather you should study a little along the way, they (unfortunately) were right. Bite off what you can chew each day, and your projects will be better for it. Of course, that works a lot better when you enjoy what you are doing, so if you haven't found your passion yet, stop procrastinating!

I've found that the more creative I get, the more I use it for evil. How, you ask? Although I find that creativity sparks many projects, I also tend to use my creativity to procrastinate like no other. Which is exactly what I did this weekend. I recently stocked up on DVDs (I tend to go through them quicker than paper towels) so that I could have some entertainment during the cold, harsh winter months. I inadvertently tried to watch all of them this weekend with a mish-mash of Get Smart and Mad Men. Well, I failed at finishing off the DVDs (still on the 1st seasons of both) and I was able to get little done on my novel. But today is a new day and I'm throwing the procrastination monster out the window into the snowdrift that covers my patio. There. Be gone, Procrastination Monster.

Can I just start off by saying how great this weather is? It's so beautiful outside, which makes me not want to work on my homework. But that's alright since it's still Friday.

The Late Nite Carnival is tonight. I'm excited. Every year, there's something that makes me mad, either the lack of prizes won (I'm not that good at games), the semi-freezing rain, or the fact that one year I think I had to work during it. But this year, my SENIOR year, it's going to be awesome. Nothing is going to ruin my night. I won't let it. And the fact that "Within You, Without You" just came up on iTunes makes my day. I promise you: Best Night Ever!! (Too bad I'm not graduating in two weeks. That would make it even better).