One of the things I love most about NaNoWriMo, apart from the constant state of panic, the tight deadlines, and the company of other crazy writers, is that lovely little chart on the stats page. The simple line graph depicts your progress throughout the month, showing your accumulating word count in a way that gladdens the heart. Quite frankly, I adore that chart. Every time I look at it, I’m sorely tempted to see how big a spike in word count I can make. It’s a huge motivator.

Certainly there is a fair amount of satisfaction to be gained from knowing that I have a great streak of writing, and that I’ve made good progress, but for me, the mere knowledge of knowing how well I’ve done is not enough. I need to see it. And that’s why I love the graph so much. Being able to see what I’ve done, how many days in a row I’ve written, and being able to gaze at my amazing work, makes it more concrete, more real.

For me, being able to see my awesome progress spurs my inner competitor on. I am a highly competitive person, and I always want to beat the best result I can see. I want larger spikes, more of a certain colour, more days over a certain word count. And if I can see that in a handy little chart that gives me all the information in a glance, it’s even more motivating. There’s great power in tracking how much you’ve written.

Another important part about tracking my work is being able to set and achieve consistent goals. A goal forces me to work, and, being such a terribly competitive person, I do like the challenge of trying to beat my goal. By a lot. But at the same time, on those days I’m not quite feeling it, I have a nice easy number to aim for. Because a visual reminder of a day wasted is a terrible thing in my opinion. It stares at me. It knows.

This is how I like to motivate myself. But I’m interested to know. What motivates you? Do you like to track your work? If so, how do you track it?

It’s Friday again, which means it must be time for another Writing Music post. This week we’re taking a break from our Writing Music: Your Suggestions series, but rest assured, it’ll be back again very soon. I still have so much amazing music to share that you guys have recommended to me. This week’s piece actually came from author Maggie Stiefvater’s Twitter (no, I’m not cool enough for her to tweet to me. I’m just good at stalking her online.) While I’ve never seen Big Fish, I instantly fell in love with this piece, Sandra’s Theme, composed by Danny Elfman, when I first heard it.

To me, Sandra’s Theme feels very much like a fantasy piece. With its delicate woodwind and strings, it evokes images of the countryside, and especially of the woodlands. I don’t know why, but woods always seem particularly fantasy-esque to me. For the most part, this piece is calm, peaceful, poised and graceful, but it also holds an undercurrent of mystery, perhaps hinting at some discovery lurking just around the corner. This piece would suit the beginning of an adventure, the first steps from the normal world.

What does this piece evoke in your mind? What authors do you follow on social media? What music would you recommend I check out? Suggest me some great music and I might feature it in a future Writing Music: Your Suggestions post!

My good friend Heather@Sometimes I’m A Story tagged me for the ‘A Writer’s Life’ Blog Tag. Many thanks to you Heather. And, since I am indeed a writer and this is indeed a writing blog and occasionally I like to share things about myself, I decided it might be fun to do the tag and let you all know more about me personally as a writer. So, without further ado, let’s get right into the questions and answers.

What Kind of Writer Are You?

An introverted crazy one! I’m the sort of person who is addicted to challenges like NaNoWriMo (also making them infinitely harder for myself, because that’s how I roll). And I would much rather stay home and wrestle with fictional characters than socialise. Characters are people too! I’m also a writer who likes writing sci-fi, fantasy, and thrillers (though don’t ask to read the thrillers. I like writing them. It doesn’t mean to say I’m any good at them). All round, your average weird writer.

When Did You Start Writing? What Made You Want To Give It A Go?

It’s a bit cliché, but I can’t remember how long I’ve been writing and making up stories, it’s been that long. I also frequently maxed out my library card, and tried to turn our bookshelves at home into a family lending library with plastic covers library cards and everything. But I started writing novels when I was 13/14, when I started inventing a character whose bio turned into a full blown novel. Which was terrible, and shall never see the light of day, but taught me how much I adored writing.

What Inspires Your Stories?

Lots of things. Random conversations. Other books. Going to the movies. Random facts. My own brain being weird late at night. Long walks with the dog. Staring at a blank wall for five hours. My stories gather inspiration from some odd places.

What Themes Do You Like To Explore In Your Stories?

I like exploring themes about families and sibling relationships. Even when there aren’t actually any families in the book. Also I like exploring the idea that the hero doesn’t have to be a specially chosen little snowflake, but that anyone can be the hero if they have the courage.

Are You A Panster, A Plotter, Or a Bit Of Both?

In my heart I am a full blown pantser extreme. As my family can attest, I frequently start writing with no idea what’s going on, and end up with something that resembles a book. This could also be why my editing process takes. So. Long. I am currently attempting to be a more organised writer and plan some things before I start writing, but jury’s still out on how well that is going.

Where Are You In Your Journey? Querying, Agented, Published?

Editing. Forever…

Have You Ever Entered Any Writing Contests? Finaled? Won?

No, I’ve never tried any contests. Mostly because I’m never happy enough with my writing to even think about entering anything. Also I can’t write short stories to save myself, so between awful short stories and never finished novels, I don’t have anything to submit.

Who Are Your Writer Heroes?

For published writers, I am in awe of writers such as Marissa Meyer, Maggie Stiefvater, Derek Landy, and Rick Riordan. I am also huge fans of the amazing bloggers and writers Cait@Paper Fury and Heather@Sometimes I’mA Story, who are just all roundly awesome.

Have You Ever Been To A Writers’ Conference? Share Your Best/Worse Conference Experience

Alas, no conference experiences over here. Instead I stalk other people’s experiences, hide out in my writer’s cave, and plan to take over the bestsellers list. One day though, I’ll be a real writer and attend one…

Top 3 Tips You’d Give To Newbie Writers

Ooh, tips. I can do these.

1)Your first book is going to be bad. So are all your first drafts, forever and always. Everyone’s are. Don’t expect things to come out right the first time. Most of writing is rewriting, over and over and over, anyway. It’s the same for everyone. You’re not alone.

2) Don’t compare your writing to anyone else’s, especially to the books of published authors. Everyone’s at a different point in their journey. Everyone writes differently. Comparison does nothing but get you down. Concentrate on making your writing the best you can rather than working out all the ways other people’s is better. It’s a lot more productive.

3) Write what you love. There’s no pointing in writing if you don’t love what you’re doing. Writing a book is a long enough, hard enough process without forcing yourself to work on something you don’t enjoy. If you love what you’re doing, no amount of time you spend on it will be time wasted.

Bonus) (because I’m sneaky like that) Surround yourself with people who will cheer you on, celebrate your achievements, commiserate your misery, and who believe in what you do. These people are the most valuable addition to your writing process. Trust me.

And there you have it, a bit more than you ever wanted to know about me as a writer. Now it's your turn! Share your answer to one of these questions in the comments!

I’m pretty sure all booklovers have a secret list of bookish wishes they’d love to have granted. This week I’m once again joining up with the Top Ten Tuesday link-up, where we’re sharing that list of wishes. If only there was actually a bookish genie around to grant them for me, I think my life might be almost complete. So, without further ado, here is my list of ten wishes I’d ask the book genie to grant me.

Wish 1) A library like Belle’s. I’m pretty sure every book lover wants a library like the one from Beauty and the Beast. But that magnificence! The vast acres of books! The enormity of the room! The oceans of books! Did I mention the books? All it needs it an automated tea system and I think I could live in there forever.

Wish 2) The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater. Also, Winter by Marissa Meyer. And The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan. And basically all the books being released next year that I’d much rather be reading at this very moment. I don’t wanna wait! I want to devour them all NOW.

Wish 3) For reading to become a legitimate career choice. Imagine how many books you could read in your life if it became a job. Getting paid to read all day, have imaginary adventures and explore the amazing worlds other writers have created without even being required to review the books? Sign me up!

Wish 4) An endless book budget. As a penniless student, buying books is a rare occasion for me. I generally have to rely on unpredictable library catalogues, birthdays, and Christmas presents in order to find new books to read, let alone buying any to keep forever as my preciouses.

Wish 5) The ability to do without sleep. Just imagine how many more books we could all get read if we didn’t have to do the whole sleeping thing. Eight hours or more just wasted due to the need to rest. What if we could utilise that time for gobbling up more books? Those TBR piles would be going down quick. (Or up faster as we’d get more ambitious).

Wish 6) A signed collection of all of Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant books. Or any of Rick Riordan’s series. Or Maggie Stiefvater’s books. Basically all the signed books from all my favourite authors ever. Because the only thing better than owning all the books is having them all signed as well?

Wish 7) The ability to get into a story world. Because the only thing better than reading a book would be to experience it. But it needs to come with the ability to get out of said story world again. It would be rather awkward to be stuck in the middle of a hundred year war with no way out except certain death after all. There are some adventures best not experienced. The rest however…

Wish 8) To meet Shannon Hale. Because her books are absolutely gorgeous to read, and she seems like the nicest person ever based on her Twitter and basically I just want to hang out with her and ask her all the questions and find out the secret to how she writes such beautiful novels.

Wish 9) The ability to not look out of place in the Young Adults section. I can get away with it for now, because I’m not yet twenty one and I honestly don’t look or act grown up most of the time. But in the future, I can see a lot of weird looks being thrown my way as I continue to clear out the YA section in my fifties.

Wish 10) A comfortable armchair and an endless supply of tea. Does this even need explaining? All books are better when accompanied by a nice chair and a hot beverage.

What wishes do you wish the book genie would grant for you? If you could meet any author, who would it be? Are you participating in Top Ten Tuesday this week? Link me to your posts!

There are less than two weeks until November, which means, of course, that NaNoWriMo is coming. Can’t you just hear the muffled roar of thousands of anguished writers deep in their preparations for this mighty challenge? Some of those agonised screams may be mine as I attempt to finish editing one book while plotting a second and failing at both. But, regardless of my inadequacies in preparation, I for one am highly excited that the start of NaNoWriMo is so close. A whole month dedicated to writing and books and hot beverages? Yes please!

I’ve done NaNoWriMo quite a few times in the past. 4 to be exact, plus 8 Camp NaNos, so I have my system for the month pretty much worked out. But I want to know all about your NaNoWriMo experiences and preparation. So, tell me, are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? If so, what are you writing? If not, why not? How are your preparations going? Are you sitting back all smug and finished, or struggling on like me? And how many times have you done NaNoWriMo before? What’s your biggest tip for anyone going into NaNoWriMo?

Or, ask me some questions! I absolutely love NaNoWriMo, and I’d love to discuss plotters versus pantsers, mid-month slump reversal techniques, automated tea preparation systems, or the overwhelming problems of trying to prepare for this massive challenge. Let’s have ourselves a discussion!

If you're still preparing for NaNoWriMo, or you'd like some extra tips on tackling this mammoth event, you might like to check out my NaNoPrep series to help you get ahead of the game!

It’s Friday again, which means it’s time for another Writing Music post. As I did in the last two posts in this series, I want to share some of the music that you guys have suggested I try. I love discovering new songs, and I’ve had some amazing recommendations from people. So I feel it’s only fair to return the favour and share some my favourite pieces that people have suggested to me. There are so many great ones it’s impossible to share them all, but I’m giving it my best shot. As usual, I’m sharing three pieces I’ve particularly enjoyed this week, suggested by you of course!

Guardians at the Gate-Audiomachine

(Thanks to Gemma Fitz)

Audiomachine compose epic soundtrack style pieces that are just perfect for writing to. Guardians at the Gate is a dramatic instrumental piece with a great sense of gravity and finality about it. To me, it feels like it would suit an intense soundtrack, or a showdown between characters. I also get the feeling of an intense scene set in a rainstorm for some reason.

Morning Mood-Edvard Grieg

(Thanks to Topaz Winters)

This piece of classical piano music simply dances with elegance and a sense of peace and tranquillity to it. To me, it reminds me of a beautiful morning, as suggested by the title, or a carefree country life, with birds and sun and gentle grassy slopes. It also reminds me of the beginning of a fairy tale, when life is beautiful and simple, before things take their usual dark turn.

Renegades-X Ambassadors

(Thanks to Jos R.)

This song would be perfect for book inspiration, though not so good for writing to if music with lyrics bothers you. But to me, this song would be perfect for character inspiration. It has a very urban feel to it. I could see this song inspiring some tough, streetwise characters who don’t live by society’s standards, but make up their own rules for life.

Missed the other posts in this series? Check them out here:

Part 1

Part 2

Have you heard any of these songs before? Which is your favourite? Got any song recommendations for me? I might feature it in a future Writing Music: Your Suggestions post!

A while back, I wrote a post in which I asked an important question: do you believe in your dreams? A lot of dreams seem impossible because we can’t quite bring ourselves to believe in them. I’ve actually been thinking a lot about my dreams recently. In just over six weeks, I will be completing my final semester at university. Very soon, I’ll be holding a degree, staring at the rest of my life, and trying to work out how to make this whole adulting thing work. And I’ve been thinking, what do I want to do with my life? What dreams do I have? And what can I do to achieve them?

I think everyone has at least one dream. For us writers, many of us dream of publishing a book, meeting a famous author, working in the industry they love, or making a living from their writing. Or maybe they love writing, but they have other dreams as well. But a lot of the time, even when we have dreams that are near and dear to us, we never get on to doing anything about them. They stay as dreams, something we ache to do, but can’t bring ourselves to try.

The problem is, a lot of dreams aren’t really ‘sensible’ dreams. And when I say ‘sensible’, I mean ‘sensible’ by society’s standards. It’s not ‘sensible’ to dream of being published. It’s not ‘sensible’ to hope to make a living from writing. And a lot of the time, because these dreams aren’t ‘sensible’, we don’t dare consider following them. Is it really ‘sensible’ to dream about being a fulltime writer? To hope to work as a freelance editor? To dream of being successful in a career that doesn’t offer a steady paycheck?

No, it’s not.

Follow your dreams anyway.

Because there’s always something you can be doing towards your dream, no matter how not sensible it might be. You might dream of making a living from your writing. But that doesn’t mean that you have to jump in with both feet right now. You can have a stable job and write on the side, pursue that dream and make a living at the same time, while you’re building up a body of work that will eventually support you. You might want to have a conventional job, but do something creative on the side that isn’t quite ‘sensible’. You can start that now. It’s ok to follow those dreams.

A little while back, I was watching this video, listening to a speech indie music artist Peter Hollens gave at a graduation ceremony at the University of Oregon, and in it, among many other inspiring, motivating thoughts, he offered this gem of wisdom. “Don’t overthink it”. Many dreams never get their start because we think about it too much. We convince ourselves that we don’t have a chance, that it’s never going to be feasible for us to follow this dream because it’s not sensible. It’s risky. You might not make it. What if you fail?

Stop.

You have a dream in you. It might not be ‘sensible’. It might be risky. People might think you’re crazy for even considering following it. Follow it. It might not be feasible now, but if you work hard, it might be in the future. You may have to give up all your spare time to it. You may have to work a boring job to support yourself until you manage it. You may have to push on in the face of discouragement from family and friends. But there’s always a way to follow your dreams. And no one should ever stop you from trying to do what you love the most. It might not be a ‘sensible’ dream. But it’s your dream. And in the end only you can stop yourself from following it.

So, what do you dream of doing? How are you following your dreams? Do you have a dream that is crazy, risky, and totally wonderful? What do you think about following your dreams?