PaperBox Books

So I’m feeling good. I’ve exceeded the NaNo minimum count and I’m within reach of my own goal. I know, what a way to jinx it.

I decided I could take a half an hour to look at a bright shiny. Scrivener for Windows is in Beta and I wanted to see what it’s about. No, I didn’t download it. I’m not completely crazy. I did look at the video here. After looking at the video, I went to my calendar for December and made a note to try to get on the beta if it’s still open.

Two reasons I think this will be a great tool.

You can edit on line. Up to now, I’ve printed out my manuscript in scenes and analyzed each scene for revision. I printed it out because Word isn’t that easy to navigate when you are looking at it piece by piece. With Scrivener, I can update the index card with a note on each scene and save a tree.

The other reason, I can plot and research all in one document. Yay.

Finally for all you Apple lovers out there, I’m still not going Mac. Why? Well, with Scrivener I can save in a number of different formats, but not a .doc. Most services that upload and prep books for e-publishing need a .doc format. So, I’ll hang onto my Windows laptop and applications.

One more big tip. If you complete NaNo and verify your win, you get a 50% discount on the purchase price of Scrivener for windows. Here’s the info.

Happy Writing

Perry

No Comments | In: Happening in the Market, Opinions, Writing Tips | tags: editing, NaNoWriMo, Process, Writing Tips. | #

Hi, it’s almost half way through National Novel Writing Month. How are you doing?

Sometimes people get stuck in week 2. The passion meets reality and you realize that it takes a lot of time to write the minimum words. Your story still calls to you but life keeps getting in the way.

Don’t be disheartened. This week ends eventually. Keep dropping words on the page. Even if you can’t manage the whole 1,667 you can make some progress. Take the words you didn’t write and add them to the weekend, or another day where you might be able to find more time.

Good luck.

Perry

No Comments | In: Writing Tips | tags: NaNoWriMo, Writing Tips. | #

So, how is it going. I know that might sound crazy – it’s only day one for us – but its a good idea to manage your NaNo time. This month, our posts will be about surviving/thriving through National Novel Writing Month.

Sue will be giving you tips from her pantsing point of view – I think she started the month with an idea of her story and maybe some characters. I’ll be giving you tips from a plotter point of view – I started the month with a clear outline of my scenes (and I have the idea noted of the next two books in the series). What’s important is to remember whether you think you are a pantser or a plotter, you can find value in all the tips.

So, my tip of the day is to look at your calendar, where will you be challenged to find writing time? Take your word count goal and divide it by the number of days you know you can write. Now you have an idea of what you face.

It doesn’t mean it will work, but I have to write about 3K a day to make my goal based on my calender (several days where I probably won’t be able to write). Now I know for every day I don’t make 3k, I have to add a catch up day – I can do 8k in a day but it’s pretty intense.

Happy NaNo

Perry

No Comments | In: Writing Tips | tags: NaNoWriMo. | #

It may seem odd that a publisher is giving advice about writing your first draft, but it’s not.

The first draft is the foundation of your story. No matter how much you change it in revision, the first draft is there for you to change. If it’s in your head, it’s impossible to revise.

Right now there are hundreds, if not thousands, of blogs about how to survive NaNo and the advice is helpful, but if you have never experienced getting a first draft on the page from the Once upon a time to they lived happily ever after you may have reservations about the process.

If you think it’s not worthwhile barfing words onto the page just to make the word count, don’t worry. I have barfed out 2 first drafts this way and it was never as bad as I thought when I started revision.

If you think the effort of writing the draft in 30 days is not worth the result – after all, it takes months or years to write a book. I found something surprising when I did my first NaNo, writing everyday was easier. I lived the story; I didn’t have to figure out what just happened before I wrote. I didn’t have to look up what my characters looked like, or what motivated them, because it was only a few hours since I last worked with them.

Mostly though, it’s the community. Writing with other writers is validating. It’s not the lonely experience of the stereotype. It’s fun, noisy and energizing.

Give it try.

Perry

No Comments | In: Writing Help | tags: NaNoWriMo, Writing Tips. | #

It’s only 15 days until you can type your first words into your NaNo novel.

Unless you are one of the adventurous few who decide what to write when you sit down on November 1st, you probably have some idea of what you are going to write.

Between now and when you type your first words, there are things you can do that will help you survive and thrive.

Sign up at National Novel Writing Month and poke around the forums. Look for tips people have posted and find your region.

If you live in the Vancouver BC area, there’s VancoWrimo where our great Municipal Leaders post the information on the kick off, local write ins and eventually word wars.

Find buddies who are also participating in NaNoWriMo, you may be able to set up a challenge between your buddies – if you are at all competitive, a challenge will help you get the last few words on the page every time.

Work on your characters, profile them, interview them, write a little back story. If you know your characters inside out, they will carry you through the days when your plot falters.

Practice – try writing for 15 minutes with no interruption, figure out how many words you crank out. This will be useful when you need to get past the block. If you can write something for 15 minutes you might find the creativity starts to flow.

Above all, remember that NaNo is supposed to be fun too.

Happy writing

Perry

No Comments | In: Writing Tips | tags: NaNoWriMo, writing advice. | #

I know it’s not December yet, but we’re all running to the finish line. We’re hitting heights of word count that we never thought we could.  So what are we planning for the future of our books?

I know some of us are going to happily shred the work – figuratively or literally. And, some are planning to revise and publish it.

The publishing route isn’t easy. You have to put the manuscript away for long enough to get some distance. You need to look at it with fresh eyes and make some ruthless cuts or build it up until it’s the story you had in your head, not the story that fell on the page.

When you’ve crafted the story, you start on the long journey to publishing. Deciding to find an agent or not. Sending out your submission to multiple publishers. Reading ‘good’ rejections for hints on how to break through to the published side of the world.

When you get the acceptance, the game isn’t over. Now you need to market market market.

In the six months to a year it will take to get your novel ready for publishing, the e-reader world will have grown and the paper publishing industry will have changed.

Remember PaperBox Books when you send your submissions in.

Happy writing,

8 days til the madness ends.

No Comments | In: Submissions | tags: NaNoWriMo, publishing, writers. | #

Hi, Perry here. Along with over 150,000 writers worldwide, I’m taking part in the madness that is National Novel Writing Month. For those of you who haven’t heard of this, it’s a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

I’ve set myself the goal of 80,000 words because 50,000 is a bit short for a novel.

I first attempted this last year, and won, and that book is Off Track which is coming soon from PaperBox Books.

Yesterday I started the day 4,800 words behind my goal and ended the day 1,200 words over my goal. That was a marathon but I made myself do it without the great support available this month.

Why? Well, I wanted to see if I had the discipline to focus on my work without word wars and “you can do its” from the team. If I could, then maybe I could write a second book in 2010.

Here’s how I did it. I had a timer and I wrote for 15 minutes and counted up the words. I worked on another project for 15 minutes and came back to the writing. Truth be told, I also checked email and tidied my desk and did all the other things I do that eat into writing time. The only difference was, I only wrote in the 15 minutes of writing.

My success made me think of the writers I’ve talked to who struggle to get the first draft done. They try to squeeze the writing into busy schedules, or carve off a couple of hours to write at a time.

If this sounds like you, try taking a timer and writing for 15 minutes. I think you’ll be surprised at the number of words  you can get on the page. And, when you go back and read the words later, how good they really are.

So, turn off the editor and give it a try.

Good luck to all the other NaNoWriMo participants, and a shout out to our favourite MLs in Vancouver.

No Comments | In: Writing Tips | tags: NaNoWriMo, Writing Tips. | #

Short post today to let you know we’re open for submissions and not completely locked down with our own word counts.

Perry here. Taking a few minutes out of NaNo 2009 (word count 19,168 as of 2:30 pm) to update you on what’s happening at PaperBox Books.

It’s challenging right now to coordinate our time. We are both doing NaNoWriMo and have our responsibilities to our region (take that New Zealand). We had a fabulous write in at the main library in Vancouver on Thursday (30 writers all focused on their craft – it was magic).

Despite that, we’re meeting with authors and giving out  cards to people who might be interested. And reviewing the submissions that come in, we are determined to keep to our commitment of short turnaround.

Hmmm, wonder if I can count these words in my manuscript. No, darn the pretechnical society of my story.

Happy NaNo everyone.

Bonus tip for NaNo participants – to keep your word count up, there’s nothing like a word war.

No Comments | In: What's New with PBB, Writing Tips | tags: NaNoWriMo, publishing, writers. | #