Mastodon
Close

October 25, 2016

Are You Ready for NaNoWriMo?

Open organizer with text: Getting Organized for Nano

It’s almost time for NaNoWriMo, when thousands of writers will try to cram 50,000 words into a 30-day deadline. If you’re participating in NaNo and anything like me, you might be freaking out a little as November nears.

For the last several years, I’ve offered my popular Lost Your Pants? The Impatient Writer’s Guide to Plotting a Story workshop in October to help writers focus on their story before NaNo comes around. I’m a big fan of NaNo, and an even bigger fan of making sure we’re not ending up with a mess of a story. *smile*

Unfortunately, my health issues this year mean that I can’t present Lost Your Pants? as a live class. As part of the months-long waiting period for my jawbone infection to heal, my doctor decided to wrangle my jaw into shape with posts and rubber bands holding it together in ten places, and they won’t be off for at least several more weeks.

As much as I know I’ve been promising all year to offer the class this month, I can’t even smile without cutting the inside of my mouth, much less talk for an hours-long workshop. *sigh*

However, a promise is a promise, so I figured out the next best thing I could do. Actually, two next best things…

#1: Limited Time Only! Lost Your Pants? Available OnDemand

I’ve never offered this workshop OnDemand because it’s a complex class to organize: two webinar sessions (which are each about two hours long) and lots of exclusive materials and downloads.

But I’m making an exception this year and offering Lost Your Pants? The Impatient Writer’s Guide to Plotting a Story as an OnDemand workshop for a limited time. The OnDemand version includes full access to last year’s webinar recordings and all class materials—all at a discount from the normal “live” version price. *smile*

Lost Your Pants?
The Impatient Writer’s Guide to Plotting a Story

Do you write by the seat of your pants? Do you want to write faster?

Lost Your Pants? OnDemand Version for a Limited Time:

Learn techniques and receive tools developed especially for pantsers.
More Info »

I jokingly refer to this workshop as my “plotting for pantsers” class, but it’s really about how to plan our stories at a high level and work our way down only as much as we need to. Whether we’re a “pantser” (writing by the seat of our pants) who just wants to learn a minimalist approach to story development, or a plotter who wants to understand how plot and character arcs work together, this class might be able to help.

I’m a die-hard-and-proud-of-it pantser, so I developed this process for myself. In other words, I promise my fellow pantsers that I’m not one of those authors who tells you that you need to plot because otherwise “you’re doing it wrong.” *smile*

Everyone who registers will receive several tools (worksheets and beat sheets) developed especially for the workshop. Also, for NaNo preparation, the tools help writers work out enough story direction to make “fast drafting” techniques work for us. I won’t be offering this workshop again until next year, so if you’ve thought about taking the class, you might want to grab this opportunity.

#2: Shortcuts to Starting and Organizing Our Story

I’ve written several posts over the years with tips on how to get started with our story. So if you’re not able to register for the class, I can at least point you in the right direction for some of those posts here. *smile*

If you’re participating in NaNo this year, I wish you luck! Based on the interest from my editors, beta reader, and commenters here, I’ve decided to work on the first book of my gargoyle spinoff series for my NaNo project. Here’s to something new—Yay! *smile*

Are you participating in NaNo this year? (Are we buddies yet?) What are you working on for NaNo? What’s your top NaNo tip? Do you have any questions about my workshop or what it means that it’s OnDemand rather than live?

Pin It

15
Comments — What do you think?

avatar
5000
Click to grab Pure Sacrifice now!
  Subscribe to emails for Comments/Replies on this post  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
Lara Gallin
Lara Gallin

I’m nowhere near as organised as I should be. I have officially signed up for this year although I still have doubts whether I’ll be successful this time. I’ve joined my regional NaNo group and met them for the first time a couple of weeks ago which was really cool 🙂 From this Sunday on we’re going to meet every week for write ins and hopefully with us all supporting each other, we’ll all make it past 50k!

Donovan Quesenberry
Donovan Quesenberry

Greetings Jami,
Quick question about the class. This is different than the Beat Sheet class, right? I realize it may have some of the same material.
Hope you are feeling much better as the year goes on. Praying for you.
Stay Well,
Donovan

Glynis Jolly

All these links! Thank you, Jami. Sorry but I’m still mostly a pantser. However, when doing the rewrite, most, if not all, of these links are going to stop me from drowning. I know how to copy edit, but the rest is pure mystery to me. Because I live on a short skinny shoe string, any editing I can do myself must be done before sending the manuscript off to someone I’ll have to pay. Again, thank you!

Laurie Evans

Took the class last year, very helpful. I don’t do NaNo, it seems too stressful to me. I just plod along, like usual…

Clare O'Beara
Clare O'Beara

I don’t do this but good wishes to all writers.

trackback

[…] my last post with my collection of tips for planning and starting our NaNoWriMo stories, a couple of comments on social media asked what […]

J'aime
J'aime

Happy healing, Jami, hope the jaw feels better soon!

Click to grab Stone-Cold Heart now!