I believe this is everybody in the Novel Push Initiative so far:

Janette Dalgliesh (Janette Dalgliesh)

Eliza (ExploringEliza)

Merrilee Faber (Not Enough Words)

Cassie (J.C. Hart)

Francesca (Making It Up)

L (The Book Bark!)

Ryan G. Sanders (Ryan G. Sanders)

Little Scribbler (Little Scribbler)

Anna Harte (quillsandzebras)

Julie K (Ramblings of an aspiring writer)

Megs (ODDS AND ENDS AND SCATTERED BITS)

Nick Enlowe

ONE MORE DAY LEFT TO JOIN!!!

Some of you were ‘maybe’s. So if you’re on the list and want out, let me know or forever hold your peace. ;)

Welcome back to the Novel Push Initiative!

This time around, there’s a very good incentive to writing more than 250 words per day, and there’s still that accountability we all know and love.

If this is your first time participating, welcome! I hope you’ll find support and encouragement (and your writing) will flow like water this March.

THE BASICS: Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of people didn’t finish the last NPI, but I’d like as many people to finish this one as possible.

So I’m affording you the opportunity to negotiate the terms with me before I post the ruleset for the March event.

Last time, it was 250 words per day, with three ‘Days of Reprieve’, which essentially meant you could write 0-249 words for three days out of the month and still pass NPI. The fourth time was considered a ‘Knock-Out’.

And I held the participants to that—After all if there’s no accountability, what’s the point of running an event that’s supposed to teach consistency?

What’s up for negotiation?:

1: 250+ words per day.

This can be negotiated. Would 200 be easier to maintain? Would you rather raise the bar and bring it to 350? Be honest.

2: 3 ‘Days of Reprieve’.

I like Days of Reprieve. At first there were none. Then there was one. Now there’s three (as of December’s NPI). Three seems like a pretty good number, but this can also be negotiated.

3: ???

Anything else you can think of.

Here’s some food for thought: We all know self-imposed deadlines can be great motivators. Maybe the only thing that’s better is a deadline imposed by someone else?

If you have any suggestions or negotiations, please share.

By the way, this post is exactly 214 words.

One year ago, I finished reading Chris Baty’s No Plot? No Problem!. His words were motivational and I was inspired, ready to tackle the remains of the rough draft of my first novel.

Then I got to thinking about how wonderful NaNoWriMo is, how many lives it touches and what it does for the world. It encourages people to unlock their imaginations and author 50,000 words in a month.

There are tons of critics out there that say NaNoWriMo produces nothing but garbage. I disagree with such a generalized opinion, but it only seemed natural that there should be a variant that emphasises consistency over quantity. So I came up with the Novel-Push Initiative (NPI).

Consistency really is tough. Writing every day can sometimes be a tall order, even for professional authors.

NPI is about writing 250 words (or more) each day, every day, for a month. As simple as it sounds, it never is.

The very first Novel-Push Initiative happened right here last March and was what I would call a success, teaching us innumerable lessons about our craft.

So I pose the question– Are you ready for the next NPI?

If so, sign up here. More information to follow!

I have become like ocean waves to a pebble; I write and rewrite and rewrite to try and make my story as smooth as possible.

This requires the patience of a wave.

Maybe three or four novels later I’ll be able to do this quick.

Maybe a first novel should have a clean, simple story structure. Perhaps writing a self-contained novel or a few more short stories would’ve saved me from writing so many worthless scenes and entire chapters that weren’t needed.

Sometimes I regret the difficulty of this project. There are too many layered events and abstract ideas for anyone as ill-experienced as me to tackle without stumbling. A lot.

I’m bleeding for this book. They say all writers do. Which makes me wonder how there are so many books.

Just like my son, day by day, my book’s growing and developing. I guess that’s all that matters.