Tag: nanowrimo

Categories
Books The writing process

The End of an Era

I joined NaNoWriMo in 2012. I wrote eight novels inspired by NaNoWriMo. Four times, I reached the goal of writing 50,000 words in a month. Today, I deleted my NaNoWriMo account.

Why?

When I joined NaNoWriMo, it was to connect with writers around the world. It didn’t matter to me what they wrote or how they wrote it. What mattered was that we were all in this together. It was the cameraderie that drew me in and kept me updating my profile and creating a new project every year (except for one).

Recently, NaNoWriMo has shown itself not to be the organisation I joined. They’ve taken sides in an incredibly complicated conflict, showing themselves to be swayed by popular belief and unable to comprehend even the existence of another side. Rather than bringing writers together under the common theme of writing, they’ve pushed them apart by taking a stance in a conflict they clearly don’t understand.

I didn’t leave on a whim or in a bout of fury. I wrote to them and received an unsatisfactory response. Then I waited for three weeks before making the final decision. I’m sorry to leave, but I think it was the right thing for me to do. I would never encourage anyone else to do the same.

I will continue to write. I will probably continue to write novels in November, spurred on by my local writer friends; I’m not leaving our Facebook group. And I discovered a wonderful video that explains how to create NaNo-type, word-count graphs.

Bye bye, NaNoWriMo. We had great times together. I’m so sad it’s over.

Categories
Books

GREEN

GREEN. If that were the solution to a cryptic crossword clue, what might the clue be? Answer: a new genre.

As it happens, a new genre (for me) is exactly what my latest novel is written in. It’s a murder mystery, called Style and the Solitary. Set in my adopted city of Jerusalem, it begins with a murder and a suspect – a suspect who is unable to defend himself. Fortunately, there’s someone who believes in his innocence.

Style and the Solitary will be published by Darkstroke on 26th April, 2021.

GREEN is also the dominant colour in the gorgeous new cover.

Is there anything you want to say about the colour green, or anything else for that matter? You’re welcome to comment below.

No doubt, I’ll be writing more about this novel in the coming weeks. Topics will include Jerusalem, NaNoWriMo, friendship and maybe even social anxiety.

In the meantime, Cultivating a Fuji, my uplit novel set in Bournemouth (UK) and Japan has been rereleased and is available on Amazon.

For a short while, the paperback on Amazon UK is only at this link.

Categories
Books Holidays Israel short stories

2020 in Review

2020 – the year when nothing happened. Hang on… is that true? Something must have happened. Let’s see.

Best Holiday (Vacation)

We only had one proper holiday, but it was a wonderful, action-packed tour of neighbouring Egypt in January. I’m so glad we made the last-minute decision to join the tour.

Best Book Read

I read several wonderful books, this year. This was the best. A combination of secrets, lies, and great plotting and writing was what made this novel stand out.

Best Book Written

No contest there. I wrote only one book and wouldn’t have completed that without NaNoWriMo and our wonderful municipal liaisons. (I’m still editing it and hope to have it finished soon.)

Best Book Published

I’m proud to have my short story, Gruesome in Golders Green, in this fabulous collection of short stories, all inspired by the city I grew up in.

Best Photo of Me

Taken by my son for Independence Day.

Best Addition to the Family

Our granddaughter! She’s almost six months old, now.

Yes, some bad things happened, too. The main one was losing a very good friend.

Here’s to a better 2021 for all.

Categories
Books The writing process

Catching Up

Apologies. I’ve been busy with this all month:

And now it’s over.

Yes, I won. But because of that, I didn’t tell you about this:

Verdant, the poetry anthology that contains my poem, The Palm, is reduced with the code BFCM30. But the offer ends today, so you need to hurry to

https://bit.ly/VerdantPB.

That’s all for now. I’m about to put on my editing hat. I hope you’re keeping busy, too. And healthy.

Categories
Uncategorized

Apologies

Yesterday, I attended a Zoom presentation by the wonderful Miriam Lottner. Any talk she gives is fascinating and brilliantly-delivered. And while I don’t recognise in myself the habit of being influenced by social media that she mentioned, I certainly found something to grab onto.

Fabulous doodle of the presentation by Yael Harris Resnick

“You don’t need to apologise,” she said. She told us about her offer to help people to present themselves in a better way on the job scene. The women who got in touch apologised for taking up her time. The men didn’t.

Miriam is right. We don’t need to apologise for what is rightfully ours, although I’m sure I often do. However, I do need to apologise for a recent blog post that confused some people. A group I belong to is talking of creating a website and considering using WordPress. I wanted to demonstrate something that WordPress can do, so I created a test post and added a password as the post was relevant only for the members of the group. But other people saw the link to the post and wondered about the password. For that confusion, I apologise. I wonder if there’s a better way to post something intended for a limited audience.

In other news, I’m planning a crime – a fictional one, of course. That will be my novel for NaNoWriMo. Unfortunately, we won’t be meeting up in local restaurants, this year, but we’ll meet online. I’m looking forward to it.

Categories
Books The writing process

Learning from Cheating

I admit it. For the first time, I cheated  this year at NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo? You know – that month when crazy people all over the world try to write a novel in a month?

True, I typed every word, but they weren’t all new words. I was rewriting my debut novel, changing third person to first and past tense to present, adding more thoughts and new scenes. I love the way it turned out, although it still needs more work.

The Rewrite Process

In NaNoWriMo terms, I “won” easily. I reached the target of 50,000 words on 19th November. Then I continued to the end of the story, and even found time to go back and add things that were left out.

I’m clearly not the only cheat. The NaNoWriMo site even has a name for cheats: NaNo Rebel. Yay!

I'm a NaNo Rebel

Despite cheating, or maybe because of it, I learned new things.

What I learned

  • I have plenty of time to devote to writing. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to “win” every year.
  • I write best and fastest on my own at home.
  • I still love write-ins, where we discuss our novels and also write together.
  • I can write with background noise, but get distracted by songs I know and love.
  • I need a detailed plan. It takes me too long to create new scenes as I write, if I haven’t planned properly.
  • I love NaNoWriMo. Yeah, I knew that before.

For those who still don’t get it, don’t be put off by the words “write a novel in a month.” We all know we won’t end up with a completed novel. It’s only a first draft, and even that won’t be complete, as most novels are longer than 50,000 words. But, even if you don’t “win,” you end the month with something to work on. It’s much better than a blank page.

Categories
Books Israel The writing process

In One Month

It’s the beginning of October. That means it’s less than a month to…

NaNoWriMo Writer

…NaNoWriMo! (That month when people all over the world go a bit crazy, trying to write 50,000 words, all in November.)

The question, this year, was never whether I was going to join in. I didn’t even consider missing out on all the fun (and hard work). It was what I was going to write.

NaNo2Small.jpg
At a NaNoWriMo Meetup in Jerusalem, 2018

I decided on something. I created the book on the new NaNoWriMo website, complete with cover, description, Pinterest board and playlist.

Then I changed my mind. I’m going to rewrite my novel, Neither Here Nor There. When I’ve reached the end, at a date that hopefully will coincide with the end of November, I’ll examine the two versions and decide which parts to keep and which to discard.

Now I have to do some plotting. I’ve already made one decision: the title is going to change. The current title is One Foot. But I might have second thoughts about that. Or third thoughts. The cover will definitely change.

OneFootCover
Temporary cover for a probably temporary title

Categories
Blogging Books Holidays Rhymes SIM Talks with Miriam

Two Months – Where did they Go?

Photo by David Drori

AlmondasJourneyThe last post on this blog was two months ago. Time for a catchup.

November was NaNoWriMo, that month of the year when an ever growing number of people around the world try to write a novel in a month. Those who despise it haven’t got it, I think. The result is only a first draft. It’s not for anyone else to read and definitely not for publication. I didn’t manage to “win” this year, but I had a great time creating thirty-something thousand words that will form a basis for a new novel… when I can find time to work on it.

In Cambodia
Photo by David Drori

.

.

.

.

.

Then we went away, to Vietnam and Cambodia, two countries I never expected to visit, given what I heard about them all through my childhood and beyond. The trip was wonderful.

..

 

.

.

What’s happening now? Well, I’ve been featured on a few blogs:

Many thanks to Social Anx, Jess B. Moore, Val Penny and Lizzie Chantree for those.

I’m editing another novel. (Someone else’s novel.)

I’m still working on a novel of mine that I thought I’d finished.

And I’m making plans for 2019. One of those is for a new feature on this blog, called SIM Talks. Watch this space for more about that.

I hope you’re all enjoying life as much as I am and wish you all the best for

2019

Remember my New Year rhyme? Here it is again:

Three Years a Year

I pity the people with only one year,
Who end it all merry, never shedding a tear.
They have to say so many things in one go,
To one year goodbye, to another hello.

They try to reflect on the year that has passed,
While also looking forward to the one that is fast
Approaching… nearly… almost… it’s here!
Resolutions transferred from yesteryear.

In Israel, you see, we celebrate three
And each, in its character, is solitary.
Different, special and unique,
They make us happy, thankful and… meek?

Rosh Hashana is one of those.
With all its rules, it keeps us on our toes,
Requesting forgiveness for our sins.
That’s “our” for humanity; not just kins.

Then we join with the world and celebrate, too,
Although some disagree and think it’s taboo.
Sylvester, it’s called, I used to know why.
It matters not when I’m feeling high.

What, you may ask, is number three?
It’s the one that marks the year of the tree.
Goes under the name of Tu B’Shvat.
We plant more trees, sing songs. That’s that?

Well no, we give presents of nuts and fruit,
And we eat same with much relish to boot.
So whatever New Year is appropriate for you,
I hope it is happy and fulfilling, too!

 

Categories
Books Israel

Byebye November, Hello December

NaNo-2015-Winner-CertificateYes, I’m happy to be able to say I wrote 50,000 words during November. I also met some lovely writers and enjoyed writing not only at home but also at cafés, in a large hall and on a boat!

WritingOnBoatInJaffaNovember was also a month of many stabbing attacks and other terrorist attacks, and unfortunately this latest wave isn’t over yet. Despite the news, we continued to go out and meet each other. It’s not that we’re not afraid; just a sense that life has to go on regardless.

So now December is here and I have to do all the things I postponed in November and much more. I listed just some of my to-do list in my post in The English Informer.

Don’t forget to read my Friday series: Letters From Elsewhere, in which you can get to know the fictional characters who come to visit. There might be a problem with tomorrow’s post; we shall see.

Categories
Books

Clearing the Decks for NaNoWriMo

NaNo-2015-Participant-BannerYou must have heard of NaNoWriMo by now, but in case you haven’t, it’s all explained in the link. 2015 will be my fourth go at it. I only “won” once, but really I won every time. I particularly enjoyed all the write-ins and I always ended up with words written, even if I didn’t always reach the magic 50,000. I wrote some more about NaNoWriMo in the English Informer.

Just now, I’m attempting to clear the decks – doing everything I can in advance of 1st November. That includes blog posts like this one, articles, etc. It also includes research for the novel, because this will be the first time I’ve ever attempted to write something historical – something from a time I don’t remember.

You may not hear a lot from me during November. But hear you will, because I’ll still be doing my popular Friday feature, Letters from Elsewhere. I also hope to find time to post progress reports.

To everyone who’s doing NaNoWriMo: GOOD LUCK!