NaNoDays

My NaNoWriMo2017 Bullet Journal

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Happy Halloween/NaNoWriMo Eve! This is kind of last minute, but I thought I would share five of my favorite NaNoWriMo bullet journal spreads.
*If you are unfamiliar with the bullet journal system, click here for a video that will explain it better than I can.

Unfortunately I can’t show you pretty pictures like most of the bullet journalers on Instagram because all of my spreads are in braille, and the vast majority of you couldn’t read them. However, I will do my best to describe the spreads well enough for you to actually understand what I’m talking about… 🙂

  1. The Monthly Spread:
    This is basically a staple of all bullet journals, not just writing ones. I don’t typically use the monthly spread when I’m planning for a normal month, but I do during November. This is so that I can easily see what weeks are going to be insanely busy and what weeks are going to be basically free. If I’m going to have a crazy week, I make sure to cover for it in the week prior.

  2. The Word Count Tracker:
    This is a table consisting of three columns: day, word count, and damage control. Along the left-hand side, I list the 30 days of November. In the word count column, I write the word count I achieved for that particular day. In the damage control column, I write the number of words that I need to write the next day in order to fix any damage I did the day before.
    The recommended word count per day to win NaNoWriMo is 1667. Although it is possible to win NaNoWriMo by not writing on the week days and doing nothing but writing on the weekends, (I have done this), it is MUCH easier if you stick to a daily goal of somewhere around 1667 words per day. Hence the word count tracker!

  3. The daily spread:
    For me, this spread is literally just a todo list. Basically, these pages consist of checklists of everything I have to do before I can write. Without these pages, I would get completely sucked into NaNoWriMo, and important things like homework and algebra tests would be forgotten.

  4. The Inspiration Spread:
    This page consists of a list of things that inspire me to write my novel. The majority of WriMos, (including myself), tend to get sick of whatever they’re working on half way through the month and move onto a shiny new idea. This is bad, because you will never finish anything if you don’t stick with something. Also, if you were excited enough about an idea to decide to do it for NaNo, it’s probably pretty good, and you should probably stick with it! My inspiration pages usually consist of things like…
    ◦I love my characters!
    ◦My plot is super exciting!
    ◦These characters have a story to tell, and it’s my job to put it on paper.
    ◦The world needs my novel!!!!

  5. The playlist Spread:
    Most of you probably know by now that I make a playlist for everything I start. I can’t rite in silence, and if I’m going to listen to music while writing, it should totally be stuff that pertains to my story! Putting the playlist on shuffle and listening to a few songs is usually enough to get me in the writing zone, but sometimes I need a little extra help to get into the mindset to write certain scenes. So… I list all of the super important scenes that may be tough to write and associate each of them with a song so that I can listen to that song in order to get in the mindset to write that scene.

October Updates & NaNoWriMo Time!

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 2 Comments

Hey writerly people!

You may or may not have noticed that I haven’t posted anything in like… three months or so. That is because school happened! It’s my senior year, and I haven’t had time for much of anything other than classes, college stuff, and the occasional stolen moment of editing Scarred Flawless. However, I am going to do NaNoWriMo again this year, and, (because I am a crazy person), I have two projects:

  1. I am editing Scarred Flawless. I have about 25 more scenes to put into place. After that, I will do the final read-through, and it should be ready for beta readers in December or January!
  2. I am planning to write 50 thousand words of the first draft of Fractured Faith, which is the sequel to Scarred Flawless.

Will I win NaNoWriMo? Probably not! But at least I can say I tried!
I will still probably be pretty inactive on here until January when my course load lightens up a little, but I will be posting NaNoWriMo updates on Twitter! At least I think I can manage to write a 140 character update every day… Maybe… Probably NOT!
If you are also participating in NaNoWriMo, feel free to add me as a writing buddy! Also, let me know what you’ll be working on in the comments! I promise I will check the comments! And respond to the comments! Over Thanksgiving break… 🙂

April Recap | Camp NaNoWriMo Update | Upcoming in May

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 2 Comments

It has been forever since I’ve posted a monthly recap, (mostly because I always forget them), but here is the recap for April!

What I Posted:

■Snippet Sunday–in which one of my characters figuratively drowns.
■Top Ten Tuesday–things that make me instantly want to read a book.
■Snippet Sunday–in which one of my characters makes a sarcastic statement.
■Camp NaNoWriMo Tips–staying inspired.
■Snippet Sunday–my Shaman Novel synopsis.
■Writing Up Wednesday–the craft of writing.
■Book Review–Fear the Drowning Deep
■Camp NaNoWriMo Tips[[having the best experience.

My Writerly Achievements:

I somehow managed to score another CampNaNo win! My goal was to spend thirty hours editing my Shaman Novel, and I hit that and worked five hours over! It doesn’t look like I really did much though because I ended up writing in another subplot in order to fill a plot whole, which means that I now have to write those scenes. I’m still hoping to have this thing ready for beta readers by the first of June, but I already have a crazy buisy Summer planned, so we’ll see! My Shaman Novel also has a working title now: Flawless Scars. I love it, and it fits the story and main character really well, but you guys please let me know what you think of it in the comments! Would you be drawn to pick up a young adult fantasy book with this title?

Upcoming in May:

■Book Review–Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor.
■Book Review–Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor.
■Book Review–Embers by Karen Ann Hopkins.
■The Why I Love Me Tag–late as usual.

Staying Inspired During Camp NaNoWriMo

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 3 Comments

Greetings, writers! We are entering the third week of Camp NaNoWriMo, and this is usually when I start losing my writing inspiration. So… Here are five tips for finding the inspiration to finish that first draft!

  1. Remember why you originally wanted to tell this story. Make a list of everything that originally made you want to write it, and stick it somewhere where you’ll see it often. Mine is at the very front of the notebook where I keep the info for my Shaman Novel.
  2. Listen to your writing playlist. If you don’t have a playlist for your project, consider making one! If music isn’t your style, check out some writers on youTube or read some writing related blog posts like this one. Sometimes listening to other writers talk about being excited to write their stories can inspire you to write your own! You can check out this post for some awesome writers on youTube.
  3. Do some word sprints. Word sprints are where you set a timer for a certain amount of time and try to write as many words as possible in that time frame. If you don’t want to sprint alone, you can follow @NaNoWordSprints on twitter and write with lots of other people!
  4. Ponder this question: What is your main character’s current social media status? This does two things. First, it allows you to think about your character in a context other than your story which allows you to understand them better by thinking about how they interact with their friends. Second, it makes you think about what they’re doing. Maybe they’re reacting to what happened in the last scene on Twitter. If that’s the case, then you should probably write their reaction next.
  5. When all else fails, start what-ifing! Read the last scene you wrote, and then write “what if… insert plot event here“, until you know what you need to write next. This can be super painful if you’ve outlined every single detail, but sometimes that outline just needs to fly out the window for a while. Yeah… This can cause a mess when it comes to editing the thing, but it also makes a better story in my experience!

Snippet Sunday

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 3 Comments

Snippet Sunday is a writing meme created by Samantha @ Reed’s Reads & Reviews in which you share a snippet of your current writing project. It’s been forever since I’ve done one of these, but today I bring you the “unofficial official” synopsis for my Shaman Novel. This is the blurb that I’ve posted to my Camp NaNoWriMo profile, but it’s subject to change as I continue to edit the story. I hope to have the book ready for beta readers by June, but in reality it’s probably going to be more like August or September…
Since you guys are following my book/writing blog, I’m assuming you’re all readers, writers, or both. That means you probably know a thing or two about books and their blurbs, so please let me know what you think of mine in the comments! Does this synopsis make you want to read my book? Is there anything you don’t like about it? Any and all feedback is appreciated! 😉

Nico Deverow’s entire life is built on secrets, lies, and blood. His family built their fortune in blood money and poisoned their way to a seat on the Royal Mist Council, but Nico doesn’t belong in that life. Ancient murders, restless spirits, and the uncensored truth in everyone’s auras are all revealed to him through residual layers of energy, and no one can ever know about it. The second sight is a shaman power, and a Deverow with a shaman gift would kill his bloodline’s reputation completely. His mask is flawless as his family name decrees, but underneath he’s shattering. With no one to help him contain his powers, the magical drug called Bliss and the raiser sharp blade of a dagger become his only salvation. But when natural born healer Adam Rachadon discovers his abilities, Nico is given a choice: trust a shaman with a secret his family would kill him for, or refuse his offer of help and continue to live a lie.

Writing Up Wednesday #5 | The Craft of Writing–How do you learn?

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 1 Comment

Writing Up Wednesday is a writing link-up created by Lizzy @ The Bent Bookworm. This week’s topic is “The craft of writing,” or more specifically, “How do you learn the craft of writing?”

I honestly don’t make a conscious effort to study the writing craft unless I need to research a specific aspect of it for my story. I don’t plan to take professional writing classes, and I usually don’t go out of my way to read writerly text books. Studying the craft is just something that comes naturally to me through reading a wide range of books, writing book reviews, and connecting with other writers via blogging, youTube, and Twitter. I feel like this is more beneficial than making a conscious effort to study the craft because it allows me to take the advice I like and discard the rest without being boxed in by “professional” rules. Also, by filling my social media feeds with writerly stuff, I can actually justify opening Twitter and youTube! 😉
Here’s a quick list of some people that I’ve learned from:

My Favorite Writerly youTubers

■Shaelin Bishop
■Emma Lederman
■The Y.A. Word Nerds
■Vivien Reis
■Jenna Moreci
■Natalia Leigh
■Burgess Taylor
■Kim Chance
■Coffee Reading Writing

Awesome Writerly Bloggers

■Shaelin Bishop
■Emma Lederman
■A Writer’s Path
■National Novel Writing Month
■Fiction University
■Better Novel Project

Getting the Most Out of Camp NaNoWriMo 2017

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Camp NaNoWriMo is here!!!!! If you have no idea what that is, head on over to campnanowrimo.org to learn more! If you’re looking for some last minute advice before you start your journey, stick around!

  1. Make sure that your Camp NaNoWriMo goal is actually achievable! If you set a goal that you’ll never reach due to your schedule in April, you’ll probably give up half way through and end up regretting it later. However, if you set a goal that pushes you a bit but makes sense with your schedule, you might surprise yourself and exceed it! Also, you can now choose to set your goal in pages or hours instead of just words, so there’s really nothing stopping you from setting your goal however you want! My goal is currently 150 hours of editing for my Shaman Novel. That seems pretty small when you do the math and convert it to days, but I know that the last two months of school are going to be a whirlwind of semester projects, therefore I made sure to set my goal according to what I thought I could accomplish. I should definitely be able to hit that, and I can always raise it if I realize I’m going to blow it out of the water.
  2. Organize your outline! Trust me… It is NOT fun to sit down on April 1st and go, “I have no idea where anything is in this Scrivener project!” Even if you don’t use complicated Scrivener templates to organize your projects, make sure that you know the location of all of the information that is necessary for you to write your story!
  3. Decide how you plan to back up your project. You really do NOT want to loose any of your precious writing due to a technological failure or a lost notebook! Personally, I dump all of my Scrivener projects into a Scrivener folder in Dropbox, which backs up everything to the cloud and syncs everything to the Scrivener IOS app. Also, don’t just trust the cloud to keep everything safe for you! Put those precious writing files on a flash drive, an SD card, an external hard drive… whatever you’ve got!
  4. Schedule stuff around your chosen writing time. You need to plan your writing time just like you’d plan anything else because if you don’t, it might not happen! You should either pick a time each day and dedicate it specifically for writing, or pick a day or two out of each week and write like the wind on those days!
  5. Be active on Twitter and in your Camp NaNo cabins! Some of you are probably going, “Being active on Twitter is NOT conducive to a good writing session!” But it is if you follow the right people! Go to the @NaNoWordSprints page! Do NOT scroll through your timeline! Do NOT check your notifications! You WILL get writing done because lots of other people will be on that page writing with you!

Writing Up Wednesday #4: Word Cound Woes

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Hello, writerly people! I have not blogged in quite a while because… school/life happened. But today I bring you a Writing Up Wednesday Post!
Writing Up Wednesday is a weekly writing meme created by Lizzy @ The Bent Bookworm! This week’s topic is “Word Count Woes!”

If you’re a serious writer, you probably know that word counts are pretty important. Sometimes the word count of your manuscript can make or brake a publishing opportunity! Because of this some writers obsess over the suggested word count guidelines and stick to them religiously, and some writers tend to ignore it entirely. Personally, I am somewhat in the middle.
I like to make sure I stay kind of in the range of the suggested word count for my genre, but I do not let that number define every single move I make. I do set word count goals before I ever start writing, but I don’t force myself to stick to them. Now… The process I use to determine my prewriting word goal gets kinda nerdy, so be prepared!
I like to loosely mold my writing projects around the four act structure, so I try to pick a word count goal that is sort of close to the suggested range for my genre and is also easily divisible by four! Doing this makes it super easy to figure out how long each chunk of the four act structure needs to be, which gives me a few big milestones to hit!
To give you an example, the prewriting word goal for my “Shaman Novel” was 100000 words. That meant that every 25000 words, I needed to start transitioning to the next act. That being said, I exceeded that goal, and that’s totally fine because the story just wasn’t over at 100000 words! The current word count is 142397 words, but that is still subject to change! I am revising this novel for Camp NaNoWriMo, so I’m sure I’ll add some scenes and chop out some others! I expect the final count to round out somewhere around 150000 words, but that number isn’t set in stone either. My end goal is to tell a good story that feels complete, and I’m not going to let a number of words interfere with that as long as it isn’t completely unreasonable for the genre.

November 2016 Wrap-up

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 4 Comments

Hey y’all! This is the usual thing where I list all my posts from the month and then give you the list of upcoming stuff for December, but before I get into that, I WON NaNoWriMo!!!!!!!!!!! Actually I technically won it on the 28th and scheduled this, so I should get bonus points! But 50K wasn’t enough to tell my story so I’m gonna keep writing through December…

What I posted:
🔲The Playlist Shuffle Tag
🔲The Harry Potter Writing Cup
🔲Girl In Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow (spoiler free)
🔲The Fall Activities Book Tag
🔲Beautiful Books 2016: Novel Update
🔲Happy NaNoWriMo!!! (tips, tricks, panicking, and what to expect from me)

Upcoming for December:
🔲I’m gonna attempt to do Blogmas, which means I post each day for the first 25 days of December, but I’ll probably epically fail in my attempt…
🔲The Harry Potter Writing Cup is officially happening in January, and I’ll post the schedule of chats and such as soon as it’s finalized.
🔲I’m participating in Short Story Society, (go here if you want more info), so I’ll probably be posting some of my writing on here!
🔲I have Christmas break in the middle of the month, which means I CAN READ AND Write TO MY HEART’S DESIRE!!!!! Sorry to scream at you, but you just have no idea what school has been like for me this year… But reading means you get book reviews!!!
🔲I have some writing posts planned, but there are a lot of them, and I’m not gonna list them all out because I’m typing on my iPad and I’m kinda sick of it…

Did any of you whin NaNoWriMo? Are you going to be writing or editing this month? Do you have suggestions for stuff you want me to post this month? Let’s chat in comments!

Beautiful Books 2016: Novel Update!

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 8 Comments

Hey… I have a NaNoWriMo update for all you lovely followers of mine… And it’s not going to be a good one… 

This is the second stage of Beautiful Books 2016, and it is hosted by the amazing Cait @ Paper Fury! You guys should just click that link and go read all the other posts in the beautiful Books 2016 link-up because I’m sure the majority of the NaNoWriMo community will have better news to report than I do… But here goes nothing! I shall answer these ten questions since I already did stage 1, and then I shall go curl up in bed and try to sleep because I have to get up insanely early tomorrow so I can get school work done since I have an insanely busy week that requires me to get up insanely early every morning, and I will most likely end up dreaming about how I could be writing instead of doing psychology and algebra and history and medical terminology and chemistry. That was possibly the worst run on sentence I have EVER written, so I’m just gonna answer those questions now! 

 

  1. Overall, how is your mental state, and how is your novel going? 

Ummm… Insert screaming and crying emoji here! Basically, this post still applies… I am drowning in school work, I have tech training Tuesday, and I’ll be in the car/hospital waiting rooms for most of Wednesday and Thursday and won’t be home until reeeeeeeally late Thursday night. And for my novel? I have ONE day’s worth of writing! I told you this wasn’t gonna be good! But the good news is that all that time in the car will give me at least fourteen hours of writing time! It might not be legible, but I WILL catch up! Maybe… I don’t care if I lose Nano, but I am NOT going to lose it this badly… 

 

  1. What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)? 

Oh good! I can answer this! Here’s my first paragraph: 

Looking up from the pages of his sketchbook, Nico Deverow let his icy blue gaze slide over Adam and Pennryn Rachadon with a practiced indifference. He was pretty sure he’d just been asked to serve as Adam’s “guide and mentor as he got to know the wonderful school,” but he couldn’t really be sure because of the fuzziness in his head. Adam’s colors were strange, shimmering around him like a silvery mist and then fading into the air like a chameleon would fade into it’s environment. It wasn’t normal, and Nico didn’t like it. He saw enough abnormal things that nobody should ever have to see on an hourly basis; he didn’t need abnormal people on top of it. And his Aunt and Uncle would have a fit if they found out he was “guiding and mentoring” a Rachadon. It might taint their precious reputation, and the idea of that made Nico sick and ecstatic at the same time. 

 

  1. Who’s your current favorite character in your novel? 

I LOVE Nico’s character! His POV is really dark, but it’s SO fun to write! 

 

  1. What do you love about your novel so far? 

You mean what do i love about the 1670 words of my novel? Everything! Ok, so, the words themselves aren’t that great, but I love the world, and the people, and the tone, and the theme, and just every aspect of the story! what’s not to love about a messed up society of royal mist born and a couple of kids rebelling against that society to become shamans?! 

 

  1. Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes? 

Not that I know of, but I haven’t actually read it that closely… I do know that my screenreader can’t say any of my character names correctly, and it’s about to drive me up the wall. Also it keeps insisting that all the names are misspelled, and that is slightly concerning because autocorrect tends to step in without my knowledge and turn things into other things that just really do not belong in my story! 

 

  1. What is your favorite to write-beginning, middle, or end-and why? 

I think that’s a tie between beginning and end! I can write an awesome start and an epic ending, but the middle sometimes makes me want to crawl in a hole and read somebody else’s already published book.

 

  1. What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day to you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space! 

I don’t typically eat anything whilst i’m writing. I can’t stand crumbs on my notebooks, and refreshable braille displays plus food equals BAD day! Basically, a braille display consists of a bunch of tiny pinholes for the dots to pop up and show me what’s on my computer screen, and when stuff gets in those holes, I get some weird words! And then I end up sending the thing back to the company to be cleaned and explaining how chocolate got in there… And that’s not fun! Snacks are distracting anyway, so I save those for writing breaks, or procrastination time! I do listen to music while i write though! I make a playlist of songs that go along with the theme of my story, and also an instrumental playlist that fits the tone of the writing for when I really need to focus. Nature sounds are awesome too! I write best either late at night or WAY early in the morning when my family is reasonably quiet. I’m the only one crazy enough to get up at 5 AM, so that works out grate! And I don’t have a pic of my writing space, but I write at my big corner desk so I can spread all my index cards and notebooks out without worrying about my dog laying on them like he does when they’re on the floor. 

 

  1. How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad, or do you work alone, (like, ahem, batman)? 

I do NOT show anybody the first draft of my work. I don’t mind sharing the synopsis, or little snippets of my writing, but nobody is going to see the whole thing before i edit it! 

 

  1. What keeps you writing even when it’s hard? 

J. K. Rolling did it; I can do it too! Maggie stiefvater did it; I can do it too! Kami Garcia did it; I can do it too! People are expecting me to finish this thing, and I AM GOING to finish it!!! I may lose NaNo this year, but I AM NOT going to lose without a fight!!! 

 

  1. What are your top three pieces of writing advice? 

Just write; don’t think. Your first draft is going to consist mostly of characters slogging through mud and getting nowhere, but sooner or later one of them might find a diamond. 

If you don’t know what to write next, think about the last scene you wrote. Can your character react to it in some way? Does it require further action from one of your characters? What was the purpose of it? Where is it leading you in the future? Don’t think about whether it’s necessary or not, just figure out where it is leading you to go next, then go there. 

If you don’t wanna write, suck it up buttercup and write anyway!!! It’s never going to get written if you don’t write it, so you might as well write it now rather than later. If you need an incentive, tell an obnoxious friend or family member that you are going to write insert word goal here in a designated amount of time, and ask them to bug you incessantly until you reach that goal. Trust me… You WILL hit that goal if you pick an obnoxious enough person because you’ll desperately be trying to avoid a text/tweet/phone call from THEM! 

 

 

That’s it for now! Be sure to go check out all the other Beautiful Books posts, and let me know how your writing is going in the comments! Hopefully it’s going much better than mine!Â