I listen to quite a variety of different kinds of music while I’m writing, but there’s something special about movie soundtracks. Soundtracks are always written specifically to go with a story, so maybe that’s what makes them such good music to write to. Sometimes listening to a movie soundtrack can be just what I need to get through a tough scene that just isn’t coming out the way I want it to. Most of the time they’re just instrumental pieces too, so there aren’t even any distracting lyrics, which makes them perfect for times of total concentration.

There are a lot of amazing movie soundtracks out there, but one of my favourite ones to write to is the soundtrack for How to Train Your Dragon. There are so many good pieces of music from this movie. My very favourite one is Forbidden Friendship. This piece is a happy piece, good for a scene of normal life, or a happy scene between friends. It’s also a great one for listening to at the beginning of a difficult writing session to get you in a good mood for writing.

Do you listen to movie soundtracks while writing? What is your favourite soundtrack? What music are you listening to at the moment?

It’s Notebook Sisters’ third blog birthday and they’re throwing an Alice in Wonderland themed party. The characters from Alice in Wonderland have invaded my house though, and invited themselves to tea. I should be very annoyed at them, but the Mad Hatter and the Jabberwocky have just arrived, so I suppose I can forgive them, just this once. Our teatime conversation quickly turns to books. Of course they would be interested in books, coming from such a good one themselves.

Alice smiles at me. “So Imogen,” she says. “You read a lot, don’t you? I love looking at all the book covers. They all so curious, like you could step through them into a different world. Have you seen a book that makes you curious?”

I think hard. “Well, there is the cover to Daughter of the Flames,” I say. “I’ve never read it, but it’s got a warrior girl with two swords and wrapped in flames. Now if that doesn’t promise an interesting story, I don’t know what does. I shall have to read it and find out if it’s as good as the cover suggests.”

The Mad Hatter looks down at his tea cup. “Clean cup,” he declares. “Clean cup. Move down.” We all shuffle one seat along. Now I’m sitting where he was. Crumbs litter the tablecloth. I wrinkle my nose. He’s such a messy eater. The Mad Hatter grins at me, his smile more than a little crazed. “I don’t suppose you’ve met any characters crazier than me, have you?” He pulls a pocket watch out and checks the time, then snaps it closed and stuffs it back into his pocket. “Just as I thought. Still tea time.”

I have to hide a smile. There aren't many characters crazier than this bunch. “I don’t think there are many people who can rival you,” I say. “But one character who always seemed a bit mad to me was Miss Haversham from Great Expectations. She kept her wedding cake for years, even though she never managed to get married. There were even mice and bugs in it!”

“Always tea time.” The Mad Hatter nods approvingly. “Sensible woman.”

“Off with her head,” the Red Queen snorts. “That sound terrible. Some books should have their heads chopped off." She bats her eyes at me. "I could behead a book for you if you like?"

She’s offering to behead a book for me? At least she’s not trying to cut off my head. “Les Miserable would be my choice,” I say. “I simply could not enjoy it. Too much history I’m afraid. It’s a very good book I’m sure, but all that history…” I sigh. “There’s probably no need to behead it though. Other people seem to like it.”

“Off with its head,” the Red Queen roars, thumping her fists on the table top.

At that moment, the White Rabbit dashes in, late as usual. He mops his brow with a hanky. “Oh dear. Late again. I’m always late. I suppose you’re never late for anything.” He sighs.

“Actually, I am,” I say. “I’m late to read awesome book series all the time. Just think, I’ve only just started reading the Lunar Chronicles, even though they’ve been popular for ages. I’m afraid I’m terribly behind the times. Don’t worry White Rabbit. You’re not the only one.”

“How can you be on time if you don’t even know who you are?” The Caterpillar blows smoke in my face and I choke. “You must get so confused. I’m sure there are many books that have confused you.”

I nod slowly. “The Ring of Five did. I never knew who was on whose side. The second book was just as confusing. They were very entertaining though. Also, don’t blow smoke in my face. That’s a dirty habit.”

The Dormouse pokes its head out of the tea pot. What is it doing in there? It yawns. “Some books are more boring than confusing,” it says. “Do books ever bore you? They send me to sleep sometimes.” It yawns again, eyes sliding shut. “Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle…” The Dormouse disappears back into the tea pot before I have a chance to answer, but everyone else is looking at me expectantly.

“The second Eragon book, Eldest, bored me," I have to admit. "I’m sure it’s a good book, but I got ever so bored during all the training Eragon did. I couldn’t be bothered finishing it.” Hopefully no one will blame me for not enjoying this famous book.

The Cheshire Cat grins widely. “That sounds terrible," he purrs. "I’d rather laugh than yawn. Boring books tend to make me evaporate. Can you tell me of any books that made you laugh? I could always do with some good recommendations.”

“The Lost Hero,” I say promptly. “Leo Valdez always makes me laugh so hard. Plus the demigods always get into such humorous situations. In fact, all the books in the series make me laugh so much.”

“Laughter is overrated,” the Knave of Hearts says with a sweet smile. He slips a tart off the Red Queen’s plate while she's not looking and eats it delicately, licking his fingertips when he’s done. “What you need is a loveable character. Some dashing rogue who can run off with your heart. I’m sure there’s one or two characters who’ve taken your fancy recently.” He smiles slyly. “Go on, you can tell us.”

“I think the character I’ve liked most recently is Conor Broekhart from Airman. He survives prison, the betrayal of his family and friends, and still manages to overcome the villain and win the heart of the fair lady. Plus he builds airplanes and can sword fight like a pro. He’s definitely a dashing hero.”

“Dashing heroes.” The Jabberwocky sneers. “There are far too many of those in books nowadays. A good villain is what a book needs to be great.  Give a man a vorpal sword and they all think they’re heroes.But true villains are rare.”

“If you gave Opal Koboi a sword, she’d probably work out a way to use it for her own gain,” I say. “She’s an excellent villain. Ruthless, with a clever brain. Even Artemis Fowl has trouble keeping up with her sometimes. I could learn a thing or two from her about plotting.”

Alice looks at the clock and sighs. “I’m afraid it’s just about time for us to go back down the rabbit hole where we belong. I’m ever so glad I found my rabbit hole. Have you found yours yet?”

I nod. “I think that the Lunar Chronicles is my rabbit hole at the moment. I am quite determined to read them all. They’re the series I’m most interested in.” I look round wistfully. “Are you sure you have to go? After all, it is still tea time. I think there might be some tarts left?”

The Red Queen glances down at her plate. “Someone’s stolen my tart." Her face turns red. “Off with your heads, all of them.” The whole assembly flees the room in a shower of crumbs and crockery, pursued by the Red Queen, now wielding a flamingo like a club. As the sound of their pursuit fades into the distance, I am left with a table full of crumbs and a big smile. Who knew I’d be having tea with people from Wonderland itself?

Today I’m linking up with The Broke and the Bookish’s Top Ten Tuesday again. This week is a free topic; pick your own subject for a top ten list. After not much thought at all, I decided to make this week’s post a top ten list of my favourite rewritten fairy tales. There are so many good rewrites out there, so I didn’t have any trouble finding books to go on this week’s list.

1. Princess Ben

Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Princess Ben is not your typical princess. She’s not slim, well mannered, and certainly not interested in learning anything about politics or being a proper princess. This is an imaginative rewrite of Sleeping Beauty with the princess taking control of her own fate. Sleeping Beauty has always seemed to me to be the hardest fairy tale to rewrite, as the princess spends most of the story sleeping, but Princess Ben gets round that in a very interesting way that really works.

2. Wildwood Dancing

Juliet Marillier

This book made it onto my list last week as well, but it definitely earns another mention. This book is based on the story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Twelve sisters can sometimes be hard to keep track of, so this book has only five. It’s got everything in it, from true love and evil relatives, to an enchanted frog. This book is beautiful.

3. Cress

Marissa Meyer

This is probably one of the most famous fairy tale rewrites around at the moment. It’s an amazing sci-fi retelling of Rapunzel, and is the third book in the Lunar Chronicles series, which have all been based on different fairy tales. Why haven’t I picked either Cinder or Scarlet, the first two books? I’m sad to say I haven’t yet got my hands on the books yet. Hopefully I’ll find them soon.

4. Ella Enchanted

Gail Carson Levine

What would happen if you were cursed from birth with unfailing obedience? That would make the Cinderella story that much more interesting. This is another really famous fairy tale rewrite, and for a good reason. It’s funny, creative, and full of the fantasy elements I love, such as centaurs and elves. Plus the prince, the fairy godmother, and Cinderella herself are so awesome that I wish there was another book so I could spend more time with them.

5. The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

Christopher Healy

So many of the old fairy tales just call the hero ‘Prince Charming’. But in fact, they’re all different people. So what happens when you get the Prince Charming from Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty together on a quest to save the kingdom? Certainly not what you expect. This book is a bundle of laughs, and the princes are not what the original fairy tales make them out to be. I don’t see many rewrites that focus on the princes, so this one is also pretty unique.

6. The Goose Girl

Shannon Hale

I don’t know much about the original tale behind this story, Goose Girl, but this book captured my imagination the first time I read it. The writing is beautiful, the story is a true fairy tale and the characters are loveable. It is special to me in another way, in that the magic in this book helped inspire elements of my own magic system. The other books in the series are just as good as this one, and should definitely be read as well.

7. Princess of the Silver Woods

Jessica Day George

This is a Little Red Riding Hood retelling with a difference. What if the wolf wasn’t the one you had to be afraid of? What if the grandmother wasn’t what you expected? This book has a large cast of sisters, a devoted family that would drop everything to help a relation in trouble, and a group of bandits who are not quite what they seem. This is another third book in a series, and I’m just itching to get my hands on the other two.

8. Book of a Thousand Days

Shannon Hale

This book is based off a fairy tale called Maid Maleen, and to tell the truth, I’d never heard of this fairy tale before I read this book. When a princess and her maid get bricked up inside a tower for one thousand days, there is bound to be a handsome prince trying to rescue them. But the princess isn’t the main character, and the maid might just turn out to be the true hero of this story.

9. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Jessica Day George

East of the Sun, West of the Moon – This is a retelling of a fairy tale called East of the Sun, West of the Moon, and again, I’ve never actually read the original tale. But I have seen a couple of retellings of this tale, and I’ve loved them all. This book is set in the north, with plenty of ice and snow. It has an enchanted polar bear (why aren’t there more polar bears in fairy tales?) and a quest to save one’s true love. A true fairy tale.

10. The Frog Princess

E.D. Baker

In this humorous retelling of The Frog Prince, the prince is enchanted into frog form, and somehow convinces a princess to kiss him. But, instead of turning back into a human, everything goes wrong and both the prince and the princess are stuck as frogs Thus begins a long and dangerous quest to work out what went wrong and how to turn back into a human. This book and the other two in the trilogy are so much fun.

So that’s my top ten list of fairy tale rewrites. Have you read any of these books? What are your favourites? Any recommendations of other rewrites I should read?

In editing, there seems to be two main ways to do it. The first is Holly Lisle’s One Pass Revision method. Editing this way, everything gets fixed in one pass. I’ve had a look at this method before, but I haven’t really tried it yet. The other way to edit is to do it in multiple passes, fixing different problems in each pass. This is the way that I currently edit. I’m still learning a lot about what to edit in the different passes, but what I always focus on fixing first is the problems with the plot. Anything from the villain’s weak plan, to impossibly ridiculous situations gets marked up and fixed in this round.

The reason I like to edit plot first is because it simply doesn’t make sense to edit dialogue and description when the overall story is wrong. It’s like sewing lace and buttons on a dress that’s been made up crooked. The details are pretty, but you just can’t get away from the mismatched sleeves. The first pass of editing for me, is all about making sense of the bunch of rabbit trails that is my plot. I have dead ends, plot holes, and a maze of writing you could lose a Minotaur in. So, in the first read-through, I like to check through the plot, making sure that everything makes sense. Usually there are plenty of things that don’t, and that’s when my battered, messy notebook comes out.

My notebooks are always messy. They’re filled with illegible scrawls as I thrash out the whys and hows of my plot. I don’t have to be neat and that helps me to think more freely. In this stage, I find it very useful to think about character first. I like to spend time getting to know my main character better, now that I have an idea of what she's like, and working out why she's the one to take up the quest against the evil. I also find it helpful to consider the villain and why they’re doing what they’re doing. I find the plot holes and brainstorm ideas to fill them and smooth over the plot. This is the point when I often need to brainstorm with another person to fix the big problems too. Sometimes you just need that second brain working on the problems and sparking new ideas.

The rewriting in this stage can be enormous, depending on how clean the first draft is. For me, the beginning is always massively rewritten. Generally I rewrite my beginnings several times, trying to get it right, as they’re not my strong point. Then there are scenes to be cut out, moved around, or completely rewritten. Big revelations might need to be revealed at other times. Depending on how well I’ve managed to plan the book, and how messy the first draft was to begin with, this first pass sometimes takes two rounds instead of one. But I’ve found it’s better to take it slower and think things through better. The result is a solid plot that will be worth all the beautiful dialogue and evocative description I can give it.

What do you like to cover in your first pass of editing? Have you ever tried the one pass method? Do you write clean first drafts, or are yours messy like mine? What is the best piece of editing advice you’ve heard?

One of my favourite musicians to listen to while I’m writing is violinist Lindsey Stirling. She plays dubstep music on her violin, which is very different, but very effective. Most of her music is instrumental, which makes it perfect for listening to while writing, or when thinking about writing. Lindsey Stirling has lots of amazing music, but one of my favourite songs is her recent piece, Stars Align. It's mostly instrumental, with a few lyrics toward the end, nothing too distracting.

I like to listen to this piece when I’m planning, or when I’m writing lively, action filled scenes. The beat of the music is very motivating and make my fingers fly. Once I get into the feel of the piece the words just keep on coming and the ideas keep flowing. The video is also very inspiring for fantasy or science fiction ideas. If you’re looking for a piece of music that makes you want to type faster, or that inspires fantasy and sci-fi ideas, this might be a good song to listen to.

Have you listened to any of Lindsey Stirling’s music before? Does this piece motivate you? Do you listen to different songs based on the mood of a scene?

This week I’m linking up with The Broke and the Bookish’s Top Ten Tuesday meme (thanks Cait for introducing me to this.) The topic for this week’s top ten list is ‘Ten Books about Friendship’. Now of course the moment I get a topic like this, my brain goes blank and I can’t remember even one book I’ve read that is specifically about friendship. So instead, I’ve decided to put my own spin on this topic and list ten books that have awesome friendships in them.

***

This book, and the whole series, is centred on the friendship between Norah Linton, the ‘little bush maid’, her brother Jim, their comical friend Wally, and the adventures they have in the Australian bush. Their friendship has the fun, the jokes, the pranks and the unquestioning loyalty that every good group of friends should have. Plus they’re Australian. What’s not to like?

***

2. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

Mark Walden

When you have a genius, a martial arts expert, a computer whiz and a thief together, they’re bound to make an awesome group of friends. The fact that they’re also training in an academy for villains just makes this group better. Otto Malpense and his friends are some of my favourite villainous heroes, especially when they’re working together to carry out some completely crazy but surprisingly effective plan. I have a soft spot for villains.

***

3. Percy Jackson series

Rick Riordan

I’m technically cheating by listing a whole book series here, but the friendship between Percy, Annabeth and Grover just gets better and better throughout the books. They’re my favourite Greek influenced friendship. The fact that they’re two demigods and a satyr certainly makes them a unique group. Plus they also fight monsters, save the world, and sword fight.

***

4. Brotherband: Outcasts

John Flanagan

The boys in Brotherband are a bunch of misfits at the start, but when misfits work together and become friends they become something so much better. I love the way that this group eventually turns into a team and won’t leave anyone behind, no matter whether one member’s going to slow them down or not, and in the end it’s this strong friendship that really makes them succeed. Plus they’re the Heron team, which is definitely not a typical name for a group of warriors.

***

5. Heist Society

Ally Carter

What is a thief without her friends and family? Kat Bishop is a thief with plenty of both. She and her friends, many of whom are also family, travel the world in a private jet, stealing from some of the most secure museums, art galleries and homes. This group of friends is amazingly imaginative, ever resourceful, good at planning, and hilarious, all at the same time.

***

6. The Whisperer

Fiona McIntosh

What I like most about the friends from this book is probably the diversity in the group. There’s Griff, a boy who can hear people’s thoughts, Tess, and her friends who all happen to be magical creatures, including a griffin and a centaur. Despite being chased by a crazy ringmaster, being mistaken for royalty, and falling into the hands of bandits, these friends fight hard to stay together and help each other, refusing to leave any creature behind when the going gets tough.

***

7. The Taggerung

Brian Jacques

All the Redwall books are filled with great friendships between varied species of animals. One of my favourites though, is between the Taggerung and his mouse friend. Considering one was trained as a killer and the other had a difficult past, they have a surprisingly light hearted approach to life, sharing plenty of jokes (and food). Brian Jacques always has plenty of food in his books. Do not read when hungry.

***

8. Itch: The Explosive Adventures of a Element Hunter
Simon Mayo

Itchingham Loft’s friends make it onto this list because, when you have a group of friends willing to drag around a chunk of highly radioactive metal, run away from mysterious figures who want said chunk of radioactive metal, and risk death to help you get rid of it, you know those friends are keepers. Especially when everyone ends up with radiation poisoning from the adventure.

***

9. Wildwood Dancing

Juliet Marillier

This book has a great friendship between five sisters who go night after night to a fairy ball. They’re all so different, but they all stick together so closely. Together they fight off evil fairies, malicious cousins, meddling relatives, and curses while also fighting for true love. Plus the main character carries around an enchanted frog who shares in all these adventures.

***

10. The Legend of Holly Claus

Brittney Ryan

My final group of friends make it on the list for sheer lovability. After all, when your heart’s been frozen into ice, you need a strong group of friends around you, and that’s what Holly Claus has. From a penguin, an owl, a wolf, a fox, to a brooding toymaker, her friends are willing to do anything to make sure that she’s safe. Plus the animals shrink down to travel size, which is definitely a plus. Who doesn’t want to be able to carry their friends around wherever they go?

***

So there you have it, my top ten books containing awesome friendships. Have you read any of these books? What books would make it onto your top ten list? 

As I mentioned in my post last week, I’m currently preparing for my next round of edits. As I’m in full editing mode at the moment, I thought I would talk about what I do before actually starting to make changes. For me, there are a few things I like to do before I start editing and improving my novel. Before I learnt much about editing, I thought it would be as easy as changing words and phrases in one pass. But, as it turns out, there’s so much more to editing than that, so much to be done before I can get into the main task of making my writing better.

The first thing I do is make a copy of the book, labelling it with a title and draft number. If anything goes wrong during editing, whether I make a massive change I don’t like later on, or if I lose a chapter, I’ll still have a copy of the book as it was. I also try to back up the draft too, so that there’s less chance that I’ll lose any writing should something go wrong.

My next step is to read the book. Some people recommend not making notes while reading it for the first time while others recommend you do. I find that I like to make notes about planned changes while I’m reading it for the first time. Normally I see the errors best in this read-through, so it only makes sense that I mark them as I notice them. What I mark is different for every round of editing. If I’m editing a book for the first time, I only look at the big picture things such as scenes that don’t work or plot holes. There’s no point in tweaking words and phrases that might be deleted later.

Lots of people suggest that you should print your book out and read it through on hard copy before starting to edit. But, if you’re like me and can’t afford the paper and ink to print out a novel a couple of hundred pages long, then this isn’t very helpful. The theory behind it is good. Changing the look of your writing is useful for helping to spot errors because your eyes don’t skim over familiar looking text. I read my book on my tablet, but you could also change the font, or put it on an ereader.

Once I have my notes and know what problems there are, it’s time to get out the trusty notebook and brainstorm solutions for problems such as awkward backstories, missing motivations, and truck sized plot holes. Getting my thoughts out onto paper, rather than on a computer screen helps me work out what I want to do easier. Again, it’s the change in form from the computer to hard copy that makes it easier to plan rather than just write.

Finally, after all these steps, which can take me 3-4 weeks, it’s time to pull up that document and make those changes. After following these steps, I know what I want to change, and also how I’m going to fix it, which makes editing a lot faster and more accurate. My editing system is always changing and improving, but following these basic steps works for me.

What do you do before you start making changes? What does your editing process look like? Any suggestions to make my editing process better?

On the subject of editing, I read an excellent post a couple of days ago which clearly explained the difference between active and passive voice. I keep getting confused about this, but this post helped refresh my memory about the rules for this. You can check the post out here: PassiveVersus Active Voice

I love listening to music while I write. Something about having a tune pouring into my ears while I’m typing away makes it easier to concentrate. But as well as listening to music while writing, I also like to listen to music while planning a book, or before writing to get myself into a certain mood. For me, Disney songs are really good at inspiring characters and situations, or creating the right mood for a scene. While they’re not really good for writing to (I have a terrible habit of singing along instead of typing), they’re perfect for getting the creative juices flowing.

Some of my favourite characters to write are the villains. From the moustache twirlers to the heartless brutes, there’s something wickedly satisfying about writing the hero’s main opponent. And for me, there’s no song that truly captures my villainous imagination like Be Prepared, from The Lion King. This song has it all; a catchy tune, a suave villain, a brilliant evil plan, and the not-so-bright minions that no good villain should be without. Listening to that song always gets me in the mood to come up with some evil plots. If you’re looking for a song to get you in the right mood for making that end of the world button, why not give Be Prepared a listen?

Do you ever listen to music to get into the right mood for a character? Feel like plotting evil things now? What’s your favourite villainous song? And who is your favourite villain of all time?

I’m about to dive back into editing again after finishing Camp NaNoWriMo in April. My novel The Crystal Tree is begging for me to edit it for the third time. So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking back at the last two rounds of edits. When I started editing, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it might be as easy as editing an essay where I can spot all the errors at a glance, the structure is simple and it’d take me one pass, maybe two, and a proofread, and it would be ready to share with people. It turned out that there was a lot more to editing a book than I expected. There are a lot of things that I wish I had known before I started editing. Today I want to share five of them with you.

So there you have it, five things I wish I knew before I started editing.  What do you wish you’d known before you first started editing? Do you enjoy editing or are you like me and love drafting more? If you haven’t edited before, does editing seem exciting, or scary?

Writers seem to be divided into two groups. There are those who love to write with music, and those who can’t stand to have any sort of music playing while they write. I am one of those who love to have music playing all the time, and, like many other writers, I have a long list of pieces that I like to listen to while writing. Sometimes I feel like listening to songs with words and some days I prefer instrumental music. Some days I’m quite happy to write to the soundtrack of a movie, and sometimes I need something completely different. But, whatever the occasion, I do love to have a tune playing through my headphones while my fingers fly.

As well as listening to the music, I like to share my music with other writers, and I always love to hear what they listen to as well. Because I like to share my music so much, I decided to start a blog series where I will share a piece of my writing music in every post. There’s so much good, inspirational music out there, perfect for inspiring words, scenes and even whole novels. Music is also very motivational. Sometimes, all I need to make me feel like writing is the right song.

This week, I wanted to share a piece of instrumental music from one of my favourite groups, the Piano Guys. This piece is called Berlin. What I love most about this piece is the plucked sound of the cello and the subtle drum beat underneath. I find it’s especially good for listening to when writing an emotional scene or one with a bit more action in it. When you’re not writing, I definitely recommend you watch the video to go with it too. Few people look happier when making music than this man.

What do you think of this piece? Do you like to write with music or do you prefer to write in silence? What is your favourite piece to write to?

As I mentioned in my last post, I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo this April. But, in true NaNoWriMo style, there was far more going on in the month than merely a writing challenge. My wrist had an attack of RSI, Easter arrived, and a certain adorable puppy joined the family. I could have just said ‘Enough is enough. I don’t have time for writing this month.’ I could have. But I didn’t. Why? Because I was on a deadline, and deadlines mean it’s time to knuckle down and get to work.

I have to confess, sometimes I don’t write. It’s not that I don’t love writing. It’s my passion. But sometimes I end up  making excuses as why I can’t do it. I’m too busy. I’m too tired. I don’t have any inspiration. The motivation to sit down and write got up and left. Sometimes it’s easy to write and the words just pour out onto the page in perfect prose. And other times watching the grass grow in a drought seems like a better occupation. But then I discovered the writer’s secret weapon. The deadline.

When I have a deadline for a university assignment, I know that whatever else is happening, I have to get this piece of work finished by a certain date. I focus all my energy on getting that done in time. In the same way, setting a deadline for my writing gives me a date to have my goal finished by, whether it’s finishing a chapter, or getting through a round of edits.

NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo are my favourite ways to set myself a deadline, with their definite beginning and end and the added motivation of knowing that there are thousands of other writers working toward the same deadline as you. But that crazy, breakneck pace is not something I personally can keep up for an entire year. Honestly, I wouldn’t want the pressure either. But, by setting smaller goals throughout the other months, it’s easier for me to find the motivation to kick myself into writing gear.

If there’s one tool in my writing kit that helps more than anything, it’s the deadline. Something about it just screams ‘You must write. Sit down and write right now!’ And that’s just the kick I need to keep on doing what I love most, creating with the magic of words. Do you use deadlines to motivate yourself into writing? Did you do Camp NaNoWriMo this month? How did you do? What tricks do you use to keep yourself writing?

While I was writing this post, I came across an excellent blog post by Mooderino at Moody Writing on the very same subject which you should definitely check out if you’re interested in using deadlines for your writing.