1 sparkly new writing project

1 outline that has been edited and re-edited at least 4 times

1,667 daily word count

1 journal filled with novel-related notes

1 pen case filled with favorite markers, pens, and other writing implements

3 different types of word-processing software

4 cups of caffeinated beverage of choice

1 bowl of sugary snacks (substitute salty or savory snacks if preferred)

17-song “I Am a Writer, Hear Me ROAR” playlist

1 (or more) to taste: cat on keyboard, dog on feet, bird on shoulder

Instructions

1.  Preheat your creativity to 450 degrees through NaNo prep sessions.
2. In a large bowl, combine the writing project and outline together. Whip vigorously until fluffy new ideas start to form.
3. Use the journal and writing implements as needed to add additional flavor. Slowly add in the daily word count, 1,667 words per day. Do this consistently for 30 days. If necessary, substitute a different type of word-processing software periodically.
4. Mix remaining ingredients—caffeinated beverages, playlist, snacks, and writing companion—in a separate bowl. Mix gently.
5. Fold the ingredients from both bowls together, being careful not to squash those beautiful, fluffy ideas.
6. Carefully pour the combined mixture into a story-shaped pan.
7. Bake for 30 days of November.
8. On December 1, remove from the creative oven and savor the delicious experience that was NaNoWriMo.

Gabriela Pereira is the founder of DIYMFA.com, the do-it-yourself alternative to a Masters degree in writing. She is also a speaker, podcast host for DIY MFA Radio, and author of the book DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build Your Community.

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European Mythological Creatures Map

Do you know where your mermaids come from? You better, because Vilnius University’s Center for Cartography now has a way of showing readers and writers where exactly the mythological beasts of Europe hail from. Pinpoint the origins of specific dragons, brownies and gnomes, among over 200 other creatures listed. Yes, your story might have mermaids, but are they the kind with disheveled hair and sagging breasts, found mainly in lakes and rivers? This map represents a magnificently whimsical aggregation of hardcore scholarly research. I highly recommend viewing this with your children, as it is an opportunity to practice locating map coordinates while also reminiscing about favorite fairytales.  

Found in a Library Book

As someone who works with books, I’m sure you’ve had the experience of finding something in a library book and wondering what other lives that book has lived. Librarian Sharon McKellar, of the Oakland, CA Public Library, collects items found in library books and posts them on the library website. Glimpse everything from amorous Post-It notes to family photos. There’s even a personalized $100 dollar bill to commemorate Mary’s 100th birthday. Not only will this collection give you some feels about your fellow humans, it’s a great resource for character inspo. It is also worth noting that their kids’ “found objects” collection is one of the larger sections and a great way to prompt conversations with your own younger family members.

Generation Trapper Keeper

When you are on the cusp of a defined generation, it can be difficult to navigate the diaspora between Gen X and say, Elderly Millenial. LitHub’s article on how a generation of authors held holy their Trapper Keepers gives a unifying feel to word nerds of a certain age. Take a minute to reminisce about one of the world’s most nostalgic school supplies and hear the stories of fellow word nerds. Perhaps you will even want to organize your next novel in concert with the sweet sound of Velcro.  

The Public Domain Review

The Public Domain Review (PDR) is a digital cabinet of curiosities. Beautifully curated, this non-profit organization collects films, images, text and audio works that have fallen into the public domain. It’s like stepping into a museum covering the human history of All Things Interesting: Japanese toy catalogs, snowball fights found in art (c. 1400–1946), x-rays of women wearing corsets. Every two weeks they publish new essays that link these past works to present-day culture.

If you have 5 minutes, I guarantee that something on their first page will have your neurons firing. The Paris Review has deemed The PDR one of their favorite journals, and all I can say is that this a rabbit hole worth falling through.  

The Romance of Being Surrounded By Books

Reading is a strange activity. Whether you are a reader or a writer, reading is an activity that requires you to conjure a world in your mind, one that won’t be like the author’s, or even like another reader’s. Yet, this highly interactive experience doesn’t look like much. Like so many things of substance or value where one is changed internally, things tend to appear pretty much the same externally. For any reader, walking into a bookstore or library is like entering a sort of time-travel-airport to all worlds. These 25 paintings capture the vivid quality of the bookish in their natural habitat.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post October 2022 Leisure Learning appeared first on DIY MFA.

Remember that romance novel you’ve always dreamt of writing? The one tucked within the recesses of your brain with a killer plot, dynamic characters, and a love story unlike any other? Well, jump up and slap yer pappy, by gumbo. It’s time to get that romance novel on paper. 

November is just one creepy footstep past Halloween and that means the final countdown to yessiree:  ***NaNoWriMo***

NaNoWriMo is the acronym for National Novel Writing Month. During November, participants write an entire novel. No need to adjust your bifocals. In one 30-day period, you bleed a novel of 50,000 words onto the page to ‘WIN’ NaNoWriMo.

 For those with a curious nature, 50,000 words break down to a whopping 1,667 words a day. This is NaNo-madness with a capital ARE YOU INSANE? But it is just the fire under your butt needed to make your romance novel a reality.

The official website to register for this hair-pulling craziness is www.nanowrimo.org. You will find every detail from pre-planning to post-meltdown. There are even award badges given to entice fingertips to tap, tap, tap away at the keyboard. Plus, a few I thought would be perfect additions.

PERFECT NEW AWARD BADGES (In My Opinion):

1. A Little Brown Outhouse with Yellow Trim

For utilizing a bedside commode as a desk chair. Who else feels like they need a V-8 forehead thump for not thinking of this?

2. A Silver Sow Necklace

For installing a trough along the edge of your writing desk. Hel—looooo???

3. A QWERTY Embroidered Badge

For forging ahead after a 4 a.m. face-plant onto the keyboard. Available in your choice of black & blue.

Here’s the plan:

1. Get a solid grip on your plot, main characters, conflict, setting, beginning, middle, and ending before the first of November. 

2. Absolutely no editing! Do not fix typos, correct grammar, nor filter your words. There are no ‘Grammar Nazis’ so write, write faster, write so fast you require safety glasses to squelch the key sparks (now that’s fast). Include all the nonsensical chitty-chatter that darts like an uncensored movie reel through your mind. (something completely asinine could become a jewel. Well, it could.)

3. It doesn’t matter if you slam George Carlin’s famous 7 words throughout your story, or if your story consists only of those 7 words, just write them over and over sporting a snarky little grin until you hit 50,000 words. Then, pick up the ‘Used the Most Profanity’ badge as you proclaim, “I won, I won!”

One rule exists that you MUST follow to hit 50,000 words in 30 days. Do NOT touch the backspace key. Remember the no-editing rule? If you’re lucky, a gorilla will jump atop your keyboard and whack your knuckles with a frozen banana. If you lean toward the unlucky side? Hit the backspace key and see where the gorilla shoves said banana. If you guessed, “In my ear?” Wrong. Dead wrong.

One more NaNoWriMo thought to consider. What do you think is going to happen around the last week of November? Excluding panic? You guessed it. BURN OUT. For this reason, attempt to push yourself in the beginning since you know the insanity increases as the days dwindle toward midnight on November 30th. I know coffee drinkers who chew the beans rather than take the time to brew. Yes, it gets that bad. Really. It gets THAT bad.

A final FYI: When December rolls around and you need to hide NaNoWriMo tirade-induced bald spots? Amazon sells hair extensions. Just sayin’.

How will you prepare for NaNoWriMo? Tell us in the comments.

Writers Write!!!

Tammy Lough loves creating women’s fiction bursting with humor, romance, and moxie aplenty. Read Lacey’s Lessons of Love, the first book in the For the Love of Lacey series. Available Spring 2023: Lacey’s Circle of Love and Fall 2023: Lacey’s Legacy of Love. She is an active member of the Missouri Romance Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Southwest Writers, Saturday Writers, and Women Writing the West. You can connect with Tammy on her website, or on Twitter and Facebook.

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The weeks leading up to November 1st were filled with frantic activity. I tried to plot. I tried to plan. I tried to follow every piece of advice they dished out. I read every motivational email they sent my way. I joined the forums and found other newbies just as scared and eager as I was. 

Then November 1st rolled around, and I happily sat down at the computer to start writing. 

Nothing happened.

Day 2, I fumbled a few words on the screen, then deleted them. 

Day 3, 4 and 5 passed by in a blur. 

Day 6 I started to panic. I managed to write a few pages of dribble. It was horrible. I’m not even sure there were complete sentences. I shared my angst with people on the forums, and that’s when I learned the first truth of a Writing Challenge: 

1) It’s not meant to be beautiful

It’s meant to get your butt in the chair, and your fingers moving. I heard “give yourself permission to suck” a lot in those first few days.

I mastered that part perfectly.

The next seven days sped by. I piled on more words, but I was so far behind the goal that it seemed like I’d never get to the end. I’d already resigned myself to not finishing, which made it very difficult to put any words down at all. “Why bother?” crossed my mind several times. If I couldn’t reach the goal, why even try?

That’s when another motivational email flittered across my screen, carrying with it another truth of a Writing Challenge: 

2) You Can’t Edit a Blank page

A writer is not someone who sits and stares at a blank page. A writer is someone who writes. No matter what mood she’s in or how horrible that first draft is. No matter that there’s a holiday coming up, or that she worked 16 hours that day and have seventeen kids, six dogs and a raccoon to care for. Writers write. A writing challenge helps you focus on the one task that ensures your writing career: putting words on the page.

It became my personal mission to make 50k and join those on the other side of the finish line, even if I had to toss all the words on December 1st. I rearranged my expectations. I would not have a finished novel at the end of 30 days. But what I would have is something to edit, the experience of having written, and the companionship of others trying to accomplish the same thing. 

As my fingers sped over the keyboard, the third truth arrived: 

3) The More You Write, the Better You’ll Become

Somewhere in the middle of the night around November 27th, after several rounds of caffeine, too much turkey and far too little sleep, I met my main character Tarian. I’d been pushing her like a puppet through events and plot points for 27 days. She’d fought me most of the way, which I didn’t understand until I was in the middle of midnight marathon. She told me: “This is not who I am. I would never do things this way. I’d do them that way.”  I closed my eyes and thought; “Let her speak. What’s the worst that could happen?” I followed her along a far different path from the one I’d planned. 

She showed me who she was that night, and finding her story and my voice. 15k words later, I crossed the finish line. November 29th. 11:00 pm. I’d won the challenge. More than that, I’d won the companionship of a main character who would carry my entire series. I learned how to let her voice shine. And I learned how to make a deadline. 

So what is a Writing Challenge?

It’s a chance to find your voice, your story, your character, your muse, and yourself. At the very least, it’s a chance to meet other writers all trying to do the same thing. You’re not alone. It’s comforting to know, at 2:00 am when you’re in a caffeine induced haze, that someone else is out there feeling your pain. 

My first novel, Stronger Than Magic, was born during my first writing challenge. The final story is nothing like that first vomit draft written in the dead of night. But I wouldn’t have a published a novel at all, much less a series, if I hadn’t tried the challenge. I’d probably still be staring at a blank screen. I figure Tarian’s pretty happy I didn’t give up.

If you’re looking for a writing challenge for the summer, stay tuned. DIY MFA has something in the works that you’re going to LOVE.

Conquer the Craft in 29 Days!

Speaking of  challenges, check out Conquer the Craft in 29 Days (#CTC29).

It’s a prompt-a-day challenge designed to help you write more, write better, write smarter.
There’s still time to join, but it’s happening now so hurry and sign up. Click the link for more info.

Melinda VanLone serves as DIY MFA’s official shutterbug. Melinda earned an MA in publishing from Syracuse University, which she applied toward years as a graphic artist/designer, a skill she uses today at www.bookcovercorner.com.

In addition to book cover design and photography, Melinda writes urban fantasy and blogs on her website melindavan.com. As an air force brat, she’s lived briefly in places all across the country, but currently resides in Rockville, MD with her wonderfully supportive husband and furbaby. When she’s not playing with imaginary friends in her fantasy worlds you can find her playing World of Warcraft, wandering through the streets with her camera, or hovered over coffee in Starbucks.

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