Blogging: The Journey, Camp NaNo, and Life

I have decided that I would make this work. Writing is a journey, and as I find myself writing, but never keeping up with my blog, I am going to try again. All it takes is a little self discipline and determination and I have those in spades!

Camp NaNo has once again rolled around, and I have been already hard at work on my newest novel idea! Reflecting back on my past blog posts, I have to say, I still use most of the same tools as I talked of before. I can’t emphasis enough how much I have come to love Yarny! It really has become my main tool for my writing. With its ease of sharing what I have written already, not to mention no matter what device I am on I have access! I have moved on from index cards to sometimes using post-it notes. They are marvelous as I can stick them on a paper, or the wall, or any other surface and move them around as I need to! I am also trying something new when it comes to my writing. I have created a playlist that puts my novel and characters in mind, to listen and meditate on before I write each day. I think this will really help put me in the right mindset.

With the new changes to Camp NaNo, I have been excited the most over the ability to set my own word count goals. While usually that lofty 50k is the way to go, it is summer, and with that comes so many things I want to do out doors! This summer I plan to go biking, who knows, maybe I will find a wonderful area out doors to take my bike and tablet to go write!

What are your favorite tools? Do you have a favorite place to write? What gets your creative side going? Do you use music to get your head in the game?

Camp NaNoWriMo Tools

So, today’s post is a little behind.  That is because right now I have been hard at work writing.  Camp NaNo is in full swing and I have managed to make it to over 10,000 words!  So far I am on par with where I need to be to finish on time!  This is all very exciting.  And since I am so focused on NaNo, today’s post is going to be about some tools that I have found useful.  Hope you find them of use as well.

With Camp NaNo this month, the tools we like to use has been on my mind. So I would like to cover a few things that I find useful when I write.

I can’t talk about NaNo tools without of course mentioning the NaNoWriMo site along with Camp NaNoWriMo.

Index cards have to be my number one tool. I use them for almost everything. I love index card plotting and they are also great for character sheets.

To go with those index cards I use recipe or 3×5 photo pages. They keep my cards together and in order as I am working through my story.

I have also found report covers handy. You can put those photo pages and printed pages in it. Keeping my current work in progress together and easy to find.

Yarny has become my new favorite writing tool of all time. This website gives me versatility and allows me to keep great notes and outlines, without it being in the story, while still easy to pull up with the story. It shows the amount of words on the bottom of the page, for each individual section and you can set goals for your writing notebook and it shows up at the top corner of the screen adding all your snippet together. It also fades everything into the background while you are typing, showing only your words as you type. Best yet, it is free!

I am sure there are lots of other tools I use, but these are my favorite mainstays.  What about you?  What tools do you use?  What has been the most helpful to you?