Quirky Writer's Habits - Writer's Reveal April

Here is this month's question from the Writer's Reveal group, supplied by Ashley Howland:

Quirky Writer’s Habits: We’ve all got them so it’s time to share. There must be something you do that you know is strange or your friends think is strange? Let’s have a laugh and see where this takes us.

This post is going to be a bit shorter than my usual because I am currently writing posts for the Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge and writing a short mermaid story every day for Mermaid's Muse this month, and those two projects are keeping me very busy right now.

I have two edible things I like to have on hand when I am about to jump into an epic writing session: Red Vine licorice (the red ones) and Diet Mug Root Beer. Neither of these are easily found in the UK though. I do know how to get them here, but the price is high, so I don't do it often. I usually have to settle for coffee, and the caffeine kick I get from coffee goes a long way in helping me continue with those major writing sessions.

The other quirk is that I set myself frequent deadlines. Without them, I procrastinate and get nothing done, so I need those deadlines, even if they are self-imposed, to keep me writing.

What quirks do you have?

To read about some other quirky habits, read the other Writer’s Reveal posts below:

• the Wolfe’s Den 
• Melissa Writes 
• A Parenting Life 
• Author Ashley Howland 
• You learn something new every day 

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#NaNoWriMo, #PiBoIdMo & the #JBAP and #CAFSC anthologies

November is a very busy month for me this year. I am putting together two anthologies, “SuperHERo Tales: A Collection of Female Superhero Stories and “Jingle Bells: Tales of Holiday Spirit From Around the World.” The plan is to have them available before December 1^st so that the authors and others can buy the books in print format in time for Christmas gift-giving.  Proceeds from SuperHERo Tales will be going to support the charity Because I Am A Girl, and proceeds from Jingle Bells will go towards the Chapter Book Challenge (ChaBooCha).

Here’s a sneak peak of the covers for both of the anthologies:

"SuperHERo Tales: A Collection of Female Superhero Stories"
cover art by Julia Lela Stilchen

"Jingle Bells: Tales of Holiday Spirit From Around the World"
cover art by Rebecca Fyfe

While putting together the Kindle and print versions of the anthologies, I am also participating in NaNoWriMo. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words of the first draft of your novel in 30 days, from November 1^st through November 30^th. I have participated in NaNoWriMo four times now, succeeding in reaching my 50,000 word goal every time. Two years ago, I wrote over 75,000 words during National Novel Writing Month and last year I wrote over 100,000 words during the challenge. This year, I will try and attempt to reach at least the minimum 50,000 words, because I have too many other things going on this month at the same time.

One of those other things that I have going on this month is that I am also participating in PiBoIdMo. Picture Book Idea Month is a challenge to write an idea down for a new picture book every day in the month of November. It’s a great way for me to take a break from my NaNoWriMo writing and working on the anthologies.

I’m also making sure to write posts for at least some of my blogs every week during the month.

I’m also doing some research this month on two of my non-fiction books, and I plan on writing the first chapter of each one by November 30^th, which will add at least another 2,000 words to the 50,000 I already need to write.  There’s a small part of me that would love to reach 100,000 words on my novel again this month like I did last year, but last year I didn’t have the anthologies ot put together so I am not going to add any more pressure to my workload right now. Maybe if I finish with the anthologies before the end of the month, as I am hoping to, then I will be able to focus even more time on my NaNoWriMo novel writing.

So in a nutshell, this is my to-do list for November:

1. Finish putting together the Jingle Bells anthology
2. Finish putting together the SuperHERo Tales anthology.
3. Write 50,000+ words of my novel
4. Research and write the first chapter of my Skinny Dreaming book and my other non-fiction book
5. Write down a new picture book idea every day
6. Post at least once a week on more than one of my blogs

It's a busy schedule, especially when taking into consideration school runs, cooking meals, daily exercise sessions, taking care of my children and walking the dog along with everything else from my day to day life. But I am capable of doing this, and I am looking forward to the challenge of it all.


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