Following are four very smart NaNoWriMo related tweets.
Two from Lauren Dane:
Two from Jason Pinter:
Lynn Viehl has a great no nonsense NaNo post up today, saying:
I’ve made this novel journey almost a hundred times now, taken the same roads, moved at the same speed, and followed the same lines. Even when I make stops in the same places, not once has it ever been the same trip. It’s always different. No matter how carefully I plan, I will never really know what’s around the next page corner. That won’t stop me from writing, because a big part of this is discovering what’s waiting for me to find it.
The post below (since edited) was originally published January 31, 2008
Time management and I need to have a come to Jesus meeting; I figure I can dispense with the politeness and get straight to the threats. Or, I can do something more positive by sharing with you something that works for me. One of the most helpful books I have in my inspirational library is Way of the Cheetah, by Lynn Viehl (available for free until December 1, 2010). In the introduction, Lynn says:
I wrote Way of the Cheetah to help writers make the most of their writing time. By removing doubt and hesitation, taking care of whats important to the writing process and discarding what isn’t, I believe that a writer can create the ideal physical and mental environment to produce more marketable work and write better, faster, and cleaner.(…) Following the Way of the Cheetah does not guarantee youll write five books a year. All writers are different, and what works for me may not be the best method for you. However, by following the way you may identify some of the problems that impair your productivity, and that self-awareness can help you create your own unique solutions.
Although Im writing this book primarily with writers in mind, you can apply the philosophies from Way of the Cheetah to other areas in your life where youd like to be more productive. I’ve used these techniques for everything from more efficient housecleaning to motivating myself to exercise, and they still work. Maybe thats why the cheetah has been around for four million years; it knows exactly what its doing.
The book is a practical guide as well as offering inspiration. And it’s not about writing like the wind, or speeding through manuscripts, cranking out one after another. Not at all. It’s about being the efficient writing animals we need to be. It covers:
* Proper Motivation
* Sharpening Focus
* Establishing Self-Discipline
* Creating the Ideal Work Space
* Writing Through the First Draft
* Efficient and Effective Editing
When reading through again yesterday, I actually set the picture on the right as my desktop wallpaper as a reminder of the need for motivation, focus, and self-discipline. Clicking will give you a larger 1024 x 768 version if you’d like to download it for your own use.
