You know those days, the ones where you have a solid plan and you are most definitely going to accomplish something wonderful?

Today was not that day.

Today I had a four hour nap.

My shift between stores has been, well, a bit of an adjustment as mentioned in my previous post. I’m probably eating a fair amount worse than my last store, while also being a whole lot more active. Both of these things lead to less energy for simply existing and trying to somehow be an adult. I’ve been getting run down easier and find myself trying to sleep in and somehow on every day off I have, I wake up early or have trouble getting to sleep the night before. It all came to a head today when I found myself lounging on the couch with a slight breeze and a comfy blanket. Not to mention puppy cuddles.

I often look at my own family and wonder how at the age of thirty my parents had two kids. There are some days the two puppies are more than enough. Lucky for us, they enjoy napping as much as playing. I look at other families where there are two working parents and two kids and a dog and house and I think to myself, where do they find the energy? The time? Looking ahead five years, I can guess where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing. Although that being said, right now I can’t even make the decision to choose between a credit union or a bank for our home loan with registration looming on the horizon.

With all that going on, I now find myself a week or so out from November.

NaNoWriMo.

National Novel Writing Month.

The first novel I wrote actually finally found eyes outside of my house and as much as I hoped I was some sort of writing savant, I deep down knew I wasn’t. There were a few decent points; Parts I’d gone over were well done, but it was evident that it needed more editing. So much at success at first write huh? Honestly, I never expected that. I’ve had to work hard for everything I’ve ever accomplished, so why would this be any different?

The problem with the first novel was I had a few plot points and a few characters, and I let them do all the talking. I had no real plan! I let the characters guide me from plot point to point, the whole time hoping they were moving in the right direction. Another thing I failed to do was provide my characters with individual voices. They are all me. I knew this deep down, but I suppose that is something that happens when you talk to yourself as if you’re these characters.

At the moment, this year is chaotic… so I figured I’m going to give NaNoWriMo a shot again. After all, this first novel came from there, maybe I’ll actually finish the next one in a month. Not to say that rushing a novel is a good idea, but if I spend some time planning, perhaps I’ll be met with a bit more success. That being said, I have learned quite a few things from my first win in writing a novel, as well as the many failures that went with it!

Among the things I’ve learned:

• Your first novel will be rubbish. As will most likely the second.
• Character individuality is not just defined enough by their actions but by their voice.
• Writing 100,000 words and calling it a novel is just the tip of the iceberg.
• Anyone who says writing is the hardest part has left out editing. Any idiot can write a novel. It’s thousands of words one after the other including a beginning, middle, climax, and end.
• Editing is the devil.
• A loose plan is good for getting started, a firm plan is better for the end product.
• Either adopt caffeine as your new best friend or write when you’re alert.
• You know how they say, Measure twice and cut once? That doesn’t apply to editing. Edit a hundred times, make cuts each time.

I’m sure there’s more, but for now, that will do. The rest of this week will be spent trying to plan out my sequel for the upcoming NaNoWriMo. Does anyone out there have any tips on planning a novel? I’m using Scrivener as my writing program and feel a bit overwhelmed by its power and usefulness!