a little bird tweets

Hello Readers,

I am a Camp NaNoWriMo April 2014 winner!

I achieved 50,709 words in 28 days, for the first draft of my first novel. The two extra days that I had left over, gave me the chance to format my writing into Microsoft Word, and put it through spelling and grammar checks.

I wrote scenes and chapters every day on my commute to work in Central London (which is one hour and fifteen minutes each way), using my Samsung Smart phone and a wonderful little app called Power Writer! I copied and pasted all of the writings into email, and then copied and pasted them from email into Microsoft Word. It was wonderful to see the number of pages in Microsoft Word build to 70. My novel looks like it is coming to life!

What next?

I shall be putting my wondrous first draft in a drawer for a few weeks (Stephen King’s advice in his memoir, On Writing). Then I intend to take it out and look at it with fresh eyes.

In the meantime…

I am looking to purchase the writing software ‘Scrivener’ . At this point in my novel, I feel that I need something to help me piece the scenes and chapters together into my intended outline (I was writing scenes and chapters every day in no particular plot order – which was more of an exciting process for me!). Scrivener enables a writer to arrange their thoughts, notes, ideas and research into cork-board format- and this can stir up new plot ideas and twists which you may have never had before.

Analysing and Studying…

Whilst my novel sits in a drawer, I am going to take some time to analyse and study some bestselling novels. As I read, I am going to  ask myself ‘Why has the writer chosen to write that particular sentence, scene, chapter? How does it move the plot forward?’ May be this will spark some new approaches to my own novel.

Rickmansworth Writer’s Group…

Today, I am attending the Rickmansworth Writer’s Group. I didn’t get a chance to write up the last meetings notes as I was so busy; but hopefully in the next two weeks I’ll be able to conjure up something inspirational about the world of writing.

Have a wondrous weekend!

Donna x