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You guys, I remembered my WordPress password this time! (Sorry, I figured if I segued from the last post you would forgive the nearly five months that’ve passed since I wrote it.)

Last year, when I attempted to win NaNoWriMo, I learned many things, but I’ll break them into two main points:

1. I wasn’t ready to write my novel yet. (I didn’t know my main character well enough, I’m not a Pantser and didn’t have a good enough outline, handwriting my first draft just isn’t for me, etc.)
2. Staying on top of a regular writing schedule made me want to write even more, whether poetry, blog posts, or letters to friends.

Now that I’m about a month into writing The Novel Project™, I’m experiencing the same sensation: wanting to write anything and everything, even after I’ve reached my daily word count. Thus, I’m getting back in the blogging saddle, but in a less intense way than I always tried to when I was posting regularly.

So what can you expect from this little space in the coming months? I don’t have a clue.

But I can promise that it’ll involve a gratuitous amount of snark, too many adverbs to be considered “good” writing, and a few of my favorite things. Let’s start with some of those, yeah?

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Writing

I’ve made it to the other side of the “everything is write is awful” stage of the first draft. I’m not saying I’m turning all beautiful phrases, all the time, but I do think I’ve found “my voice” again, and that’s a relief. Besides the year I allowed my story idea to simmer and the sort of, kind of outline that I spent some months piecing together, I’d say Pacemaker has been the hands-down key to my success (read: the thing keeping me motivated to hit my word count every day). I would seriously recommend it to anyone doing any kind of writing. It’s awesome.

You can set up your writing based on time frame, total words, and your “strategy” (same word count each day, more words per day at the beginning, random). Here’s an example of one of the graphs that it spit for my project:

There’s a good chance I’ll write a post all about it once I’m done with this first draft, so stayed tune.

Reading

I still haven’t touched the copy of On Writing by Stephen King that’s been on my bedside table for a while (thanks again, Dad!), but I’m pretty sure he says something about good writers being people who write and read. That idea is kind of a requirement for all writing craft books. I haven’t done nearly as much reading as I hoped when I wrote this optimistic post, but I have gotten to read some really great children’s books as part of my job with the Bee.

The latest? Cinder by Marissa Meyer. And I’M OBSESSED. So I read Scarlet on Wednesday during my conference breaks, and Cress on Thursday after the conference ended, and finally Winter when I got home. How had I never read these before? Why isn’t there a bigger fan following around them? When will someone (take a lot of time and resources to) make (well done, cinematically beautiful) film adaptations? Ugh, just go read them now so we can geek out about them together.

Acoustic Mashups

I’ll just go ahead and be honest: I’ve been a big fan of some of these singers for a long, long time. The ability to not only sing, but also play an instrument and create seamless mashups using unrelated, popular songs astounds me, and I wish I had a friend to do all the dirty work and then let me sing along on their videos. (I’d be happy to submit a resume, if needed. Not to brag but I once sang in the Vatican, so…)

For your listening pleasure:

I Took a Pill in Ibiza/Youth – Landon Austin

Beautiful Now/Talking Body – Megan Davies

I Was Made for Loving You/Please Don’t Say You Love Me – Gardiner Sisters

White Walls/Can’t Hold Us/Same Love/Thrift Shop – Megan & Jaclyn Davies

Traveling

I’ve been so #travelblessed (don’t worry that’s totally a thing) in 2016. So far this year, I’ve been to Seattle, Austin, Los Angeles, Denver, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. (not once, not twice, but three times) for the Bee!

We also took a must-use-flight-benefits-before-I-lose-them trip to London and Edinburgh last month, and I’m sure I’ll update you all with a dedicated post soon. I’ll try to make it as good as Sarah’s travel posts because they are pure gold.

Lava Lamps

That’s right, I said lava lamps. September 2 was my two-year workiversary with the Bee, and as such I received a completely normal, not at all odd strange, desk-sized lava lamp. I can only imagine what the traditional gift is for three years!

(Actually, the whole thing came about because of my near daily use of the phrase “I can dig it!” Sorry for being so in touch with my 1960s ancestors.)

Have a great Monday, peeps, and I’ll see you in less than five months. 😉