Day 5 -- Freaking Out!

NaNo Tip # 1 : Always carry around a notebook. These might safe your life. 


It's already day five of NaNoWriMo! For those of you who still do not know what it is, check out some of my older blog posts! :) 

So far my word count is alright. Not as good as it should have been (5240 words at the time of writing this) but I believe I have had worse years.

To be honest I did not enter this year with the idea of actually finishing on time and getting those 50,000 words. Realistically speaking I just need too much time for school related activities. And as much as I hate to say it: school comes first. I've also recenlty starting tutoring as a temp job.

But then again--they are all excuses in the end. Even now with loads of homework and a horror-movie-marathon sleepover that lasted nearly two whole days I still found time to write. 

And that is what I love about NaNoWriMo. It makes us realize that if you really want to write, you can. There is ALWAYS time. Five minutes before you go to bed. On the train or bus to school/work. While eating lunch. Wake up 30 minutes early (which I won't be doing tomorrow. Have to wake up at 5:45 as it is haha). 


Still I have already had my fair share of a small panic attack. I am writing this blog post as a break in a crazy homework frenzy to get everything finished before I need to leave for archery practice (What better time to write a blog post?). And honestly, just the simple act of writing right now is calming me down, making me feel productive. 

My plans for tomorrow are to spend my free periods doing homework (need to figure out which lines to include in our upcoming awesome short production of Macbeth) and in the train back writing the entire way! 

How did your first NaNo week go? :) I'm also really curious about the funniest or weirdest places/times you have written. If you have anything to share, leave it in the comments!

I'm not quite sure about mine, but I have written loads during class (oops) and in coffee shops and on the bus the past two years. This year it will probably mostly be on the train and before I go to bed.


Please follow me on twitter as well for random updates, nano stuff and the occational helpful writing site/retweet :) @lordkiwii

Happy writing everyone!

Xx Noortje 

Some Thoughts on Writing

A few days ago I realized something important about writing. Several things actually.

First of all, writing; it needs to come naturally.  No that doesn’t mean that you can only write when the stars align and the muses are singing behind you and there’s an angel of inspiration of your shoulder. But it does mean that if you try and it doesn’t work—now’s not the time.

Second, your story doesn’t need to be planned … but you need a plan. If not for the first draft then for the rewrites. Trust me if you don’t have a clear idea of your story and where it is heading at least in the editing stage—then your story isn’t going to make much sense. Write down the key moments of your story—the “big” things. Then see if it makes sense, if it flows and if it’s interesting enough (and not like this blog post which is basically just a quick jotted down version of my own thoughts – edit).

There is almost NEVER time for writing. You have got to make time. As you might know, the last couple of week’s I’ve been doing this nanowrimo imitation with some friends on twitter called insanonano. Write 50.000 words in one month. So far it looks like none of us is going to make it (I’m not 100% certain though. I might be surprised). Let’s just say I’m not going to make it. Why? Well as we say on twitter “life gets in the way”.

And that’s alright. Sometimes you need to make time for your friends or family. Sometimes you have to put aside writing to study or go visit your grandparents. Or you just feel too tired and need a nice long evening doing absolutely nothing.

But still we are writers. And writing is what some of us are born to do and most of us love and inspire to do. That means you need to make some time, even though you’d much rather go to the movies or read a book.

A friend told me that’s it all about regularity. That you need to get a schedule and get used to writing at least 5 days a week. Set some goals. Strife to write a certain amount of time or a certain amount of words. Make it become a habit of writing every day. You’ll start to crave for it.

And last but not least—writing should be fun. Don’t let publishers, agents, marketing and a possible audience get in your way. Don’t let the big chance of failure stand in your way. Focus on the writing and have fun. You can always decide to worry about all that other stuff later.

In the words of Confucius “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Keep Writing!

Xx Noortje

No Excuses!

We all want to write. At least I assume that most people reading this blog want to write a book, are writing a book. Or have always secretly wanted to write one but don’t even realize that they do. But no matter how great our ideas are or how awesome and believable the characters—if we don’t do the

hard part, the actual writing, then the novel will never come. And it will always just be some vague idea in the back of your mind, some loose pages and a dream that was locked away to sigh over from time to time.

We don’t want that do we?

One of the most important things in a writer is not imagination or talent (ok they are VERY important and help a lot but – oh just go with me!) but endurance and discipline.
Because in the end the most important thing about being a writer is writing. Just that.
The best thing would be to write every day for at least half an hour.

School, work, family, friends, boyfriend, girlfriend, gigs, clubs, sport, the gym, reading, television, internet, the computer, appointments, crappy days, no inspiration, shopping, the movies, cleaning, cooking, groceries, compulsory social visits, crushes, homework --- ok so it’s easier said than done.

In fact I’ll be a downright liar if I tell you that I write every day. There are weeks where I write every day or nearly every day. Sometimes two weeks can go by without me writing anything at all. Time—where can we find the time?
Somehow twenty-four hours a day seems so short doesn’t it?



Absolute nonsense. If you really wanted to write every day you’d be able to find at least half an hour time in your busy schedule trust me.
That’s why I love NaNoWriMo so much (for those of you wondering—what no one?—I won!! :) Just barely made the 50.000 words in time!). Because NaNoWriMo forces people to meet the horror of a deadline. And to MAKE time every day in their busy lives to write those 1667 words a day! Even if that meant watching one less show on the TV. Or staying up a little later, or getting out of bed earlier. Or writing during your lunch break while eating a sandwich.

The truth is that if you really want to write—need to write—every day, you’ll find time. Write on the train to work/college. Write on the subway. Write while you’re waiting for dinner to be ready. Write just before you go to bed. Just write!

The best way to make time and ensure that you’ll do write every day is to create a space to write. And a standard time to write. Say, at 5:30 till 6:30 PM every day.

Of course if you have something extremely important you can skip it for one day. And of course you can do it in other times that day if that’s more convenient (when you find yourself with some extra spare time for instance). Just as long as you strife to write those words every day.

If it helps make a goal for yourself. Say I’ll write 10.000 words in 15 days. Or something like that. Don’t make it too easy for yourself, you have to actually strife for it! But don’t make it impossible either.
If it helps you could also make some sort of calendar where you cross out every day you managed to write. Or you can put a sticker on that date! :) Or reward yourself in some other way!

Good luck! I’m going to try and follow my own advice on this one and write more often! :) I took three days to recover from NaNoWriMo, but now I’m planning on writing every day!

Keep writing everyone!

Xx Lordkiwii