It’s the 6th December so this is a bit late but happy to say that I managed to complete NaNo 2018. Really happy that I managed to keep it going this year. I had steady progress throughout the month. I also think that this year the writing group and the Darlo NaNo group were a great help, constantly pushing each other and using the Discord chat program to write together when we were not at meetups. I wrote another Novella sized story in the Shattered Worlds sci-fi universe. Don’t get me wrong, in true nano style it’s a load of rubbish and will need lots and lots of redrafting and building up. But it’s a framework for me to work with and it had me writing almost every day, something I would like to carry on in a limited manner. It really does highlight that I want to write more and I can do this when I am working towards something.
So, what now?
There are several things I would like to do moving forward. I am not comfortable with weaving narrative and dialogue and when I write it looks wooden and stunted, two people stood still talking, so I need to look through the many how-to books I have and choose one that is going to help me with this, then I need to work through it consistently.
https://youtu.be/N4ZDBOc2tX8 I also want to complete watching the Brandon Sanderson writing series of youtube videos as they were helping and I found them to be very interesting.
The last thing I want to start doing is actually reading my writing magazines before they are months out of date and anything interesting I find has already passed me by. I can then look at completing at least one writing competition from each one monthly. Doing these should help me hone my writing.
Anyway, that’s my update, for now. I need to go to work and earn some money.
See you in the funny papers….