Thoroughly modern millennial

Tag: Creative writing

Beating Blogger’s Block With NaNoWriMo
*image via YWP’s website

Happy NaNoWriMo!

Now I know many of you won’t be participating in National Novel Writing Month’s (NaNoWriMo) 50k novel challenge, but have you ever considered trying to break blogger’s block using the same writing methods? As bloggers I like to think we too face a lot of the same challenges that novelists do. We write a lot of content on a regular basis and sometimes we hit a wall. Which is why I propose a solution. Take on the NaNoWriMo philosophy and apply it to your blogging world.

The NaNoWriMo methodology to writing is simple. The challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel is tough. As writers we tend to self-edit or excessively plan before getting down to the nitty-gritty or end up watching a chain of Buzzfeed videos instead of writing, but NaNoWriMo requires you release those inhibitions and to ‘write with abandon’. This means writing whatever you want with no edits, no rules and with the goal of just putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) to get kick start your creative juices.

Here’s my NaNoWriMo Blog Sprint Challenge for you:
1. Open up your writing programme/tool of choice – notebook, word doc, blog editor etc.
2. Starting writing out any and all ideas that come to mind. These can be post ideas you’ve had simmering in your head for a while or just start brainstorming. You can write whole sentences or phrases or just single words, doesn’t matter at this stage.
3. Keep writing…and writing…and writing…
4. Do this for an hour and see where you get to.
5. Marvel at the fact you’ve probably drafted 5 blog posts without realising it!
Top tips
- Do not under any circumstances start self-editing whilst you’re in ‘writing mode’.
- Forget grammar/punctuation/spelling rules – you can edit what you’ve regurgitated later.
- Write even if the flow of words doesn’t make sense.
- White out paragraphs of text you’ve already written if you get tempted to start editing.
- When you run out of steam for one post idea, start writing about another one.
- Don’t self-edit.
- Turn off your wifi/unplug from social media. This is writing time not time to scroll through Instagram.
- Don’t worry if ideas seem stupid at the moment, just get that word count down and deal with the consequences later!
- If you can’t think of what to say add ellipses or leave a gap to fill in the blanks later (this is my favourite tip!).
- Don’t self-edit.
- Resist the temptation to Google or look up words/ideas/spellings on your phone – you’ll only spiral into distraction.
- If it helps time yourself to write alongside @NaNoWordSprints. The account runs all the way through the month and helpfully alerts you of how long you have left to write – make sure you set it up so you receive notifications when they Tweet!
- Ignore repetitions, focus on that stream of consciousness, you can delete those phrases later.
- Did I mention don’t self edit?
So are you ready to take on the challenge?

Let me know how you get on!

R.xoxo

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October 31, 2015
Introducing The Unabridged Writer: A Personal Writing Blog

Guys, I’d like you to welcome in the newest addition to the RCagz blog family: The Unabridged Writer!

So the other day I was thinking ‘Hey, Ria you know you don’t have enough going on in your life both IRL and in the blogsphere? Why don’t you start up another one?’ Haha…HA!
Yes, I’ve started yet another blog – this will be number four after Blogger’s Bookshelf and Feminist In Training too. I’m mental. I know, but let me explain a thing.

So writing has always been a hobby of mine since way back when where I was copying out stories and put pen to paper with my overactive imagination since I knew how pick up a pencil. I’ve always loved creative writing and wanted to be an author growing up, but, as things do I reached my teens and fell off the writing bandwagon for a few years….until I did my first NaNoWriMo in my first year at University. I was immediately hooked on writing bandwagon again.

Now that, coupled with starting all these blogs and getting in the swing of writing regularly seems to have reignited the spark to create stories again.

I’ve kept my small hobby for writing quite private as for me writing is quite a personal experience, but if there’s anything I’ve learnt over my almost 5 years of blogging it’s that sharing experiences can be a really wonderful thing. So this is where this new blog comes in handy.

The Unabridged Writer is a personal project chronicling my journey as I meander through writing. I kind figure if I make it public that I’m trying to write something, I’ll be held accountable for it.

I’m hosting on Tumblr, so this definitely won’t be as formal a thing as my other blogs and it’s easier to share and reblog writing resources that way too. There won’t be a set schedule or regular posts, but I’d like to have a place where I can dump ideas and share my progress as I work on a whopping 6 semi-active writing projects (ranging from short stories to a whole season of a TV show to a fantasy series).

You can follow me here if you have a Tumblr and you can check out my work in progress projects page here :)

R.xoxo

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May 5, 2015
Writing with abandon: Taking on the Camp Nanowrimo challenge as a blogger

It’s the 2nd of August and I’m on day 2 of Camp NaNoWriMo.

What is Camp NaNoWriMo I hear you cry?

[Image sourced via Pinterest]

Well It’s a month long writing challenge that has participants from every corner of the globe aiming to write a 50,000 word novel from scratch (or scratch-ish). It can be any genre, you can be any age and it doesn’t even have to be written on a computer (though I’d advise you do so you can count, your word count).

I’ve briefly mentioned my participation a couple of times on this blog, but I’ve never fully properly talked about it.

Writing is something that I’ve always done since I was very young. I have an over active imagination and do find myself daydreaming stories. The only problem is finishing any of them.

That’s definitely what drew me to blogging. It was quick and easy and posts have small word counts, you can publish your work within a matter of seconds and have dozens of people reading it within a few minutes.

This changed slightly after participating in NaNoWriMo 2011. Alongside University work I completed a whole novel (albeit a very bad one). The accomplishment felt amazing. I’d never finished anything to that length before.

[Image sourced via Pinterest]

So what does this have to do with blogging?

Heard of blogger’s fatigue? Blogger’s block? Or feeling a severe lack of creativity? I’m pretty sure all of these symptoms have been faces by bloggers at some point or another. And these are all things you need to fight against when participating in a challenge like NaNoWriMo.

The basic ethos of the challenge is to write with literary abandon and sometimes when you’re feeling uninspired by the world of blogging you need that. I feel like sometimes us bloggers forget that this is our domain, it can be good to loose one’s inhibitions and simply write like no one’s watching. The principle’s the same with photography, crafting and art.

There’s so much emphasis on reaching out to your audience that many of us bloggers can loose perspective on why we started in the first place…because we loved doing it!

That’s really what a challenge like Camp NaNoWriMo is about: letting go and enjoying the unpredictability of writing and creating.

So it may already be day 2 but why not take on the Nano writing challenge?

Or take on the challenge in your own way.

Write 500 words of nonsensical fashion commentary, doodle with abandon or throw paint in the air and see where it lands.

Break the rules and bury your insecurities in the sand.

Keep on wishing…

R.xoxo

*If you’re trying to find me on NaNoWriMo (both for Camp Nano and the Novement event) I’m RCagz on there :)

August 2, 2012