Writing Challenge Countdown

Only a few days left to go! It's time to get your materials together. Break out the plot board. Whip out that outline. Gather up your note cards and research materials.

Here's a few tips: Don't forget to explain to the family about your challenge. Get them involved in your succeess. Take some time this weekend to plan out the week's dinner menus. Make it easy. Make it fun so no one feels abandoned by your muse and you don't have to tolerate the Guilt-Fairy. She likes to perch right beside your internal editor.

Note: Send the Guilt-Fairy and the Internal Editor on a vacation until June 30!! (Longer, if you need it.) And don't be afraid to ask questions or ask for plot help.

If you get stuck, just write "and something wonderful/awful/scary/etc. happens here" and move on to the next part you know. Sometimes there will be a gap. It's okay. Just come back later and fill it in. It usually only takes a good night's sleep for your subconscious to figure out what's missing. The goal is to get to the end. Fix it all later in revisions. (Example: Love scenes are complicated for me to write. I usually do an outline with the emotional stake/outcome, then come back in revisions and flesh it out to a fully developed scene with all the bells and whistles.)

Obviously, some of us only need 60k or 70k. Some of you are targeting 100k. (Me, too.) Whatever. If you need a longer challenge, do it! Or amp up your word count to fit the timeline. Whatever it takes, right?

Here's the best part--at the end of the challenge, you'll have another manuscript to pitch at National or to your agent or editor. :)

Every minute of pre-planning you do now will make the actual writing go smoother. So, get busy. See you on Tuesday.

Sherry