Coffee and Blogs No. 14

Hello there.  We're headed into the second weekend of November, and I'm beginning to see that this month is going to slay me.  I'm trying to go the gym regularly, get ready for parent teacher conferences at work, plan for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and complete National Novel Writing Month, all while keeping my house a tiny bit clean and paying some attention to Ben and the boys.  I'm not actually succeeding at any of these things, but it's strengthening my balance practice.  

I'm sorry that posting will be lighter during the month of November, and that you're going to have to hear me blather about writing and plots and characters more than usual.  Doing NaNoWriMo is one of the things on my birthday list, and writing is definitely one of the ways that I'm able to be my own lady.  I'll be back to normal soon.  My long term goal with this story is actually to clean it up and share it one chapter at a time, so hopefully you get to see the end product, because if there's anything more annoying than listening to someone talk about their 'writing process,' it's probably someone making you read it ;)

In the meantime, here are some links.  A lot of them are about writing.  I'm obsessed focused.  Here we go!

NaNoWriMo was featured on an hour of On Point earlier this week.  It was so awesome to hear different authors talk about their experiences with the month, and hear from people who have published because of it.

Amy Poehler's new book came out last week, so I feel like she's popping up everywhere.  These are some of the best answers from her Reddit Ask Me Anything.  My favorite is the birthday advice to the girl who was turning 18: "Oh!  Happy 18th Birthday!  Exercise your right to vote.  Whenever you feel drunk, stop, because 18-year-olds have a hard time figuring out how much they can drink.  Be with a good friend who can get you home safe, and try one new thing on your birthday every year.

I've seen these storytelling rules from Pixar a lot over the past few years.  My favorites are no. 4 & no. 19.  Neil Gaiman's writing advice is simpler, but his no. 5 is one I'm going to need in December.

I'm using the beta version of Novlr to write my novel this month.  It's a very basic website that lets you add chapters as you go and helps you keep track of your word count.  My only worry is that I don't have a back up, because it's still on the website, but I think they're working on an export feature. They also have a great twitter account that has a lot of NaNoWriMo chatter this time of year.

I love all of Kelly's adulting advice (and her great book), and this little gem is one of my favorites.  It might a mantra for hard times, especially if you're a people pleaser. 

My friend Holly wrote a letter to the girl in the back of Zumba class, which is kind of like writing a letter to me.

A huge thank you to my cousin for pointing me in the direction of this Parks and Rec themed wedding.  If I had seen this before I was married, things may have been different.  I still want to have some sort of party just so I can use the phrase "apps and zerts."

That's all I've got for now.  I need to head back to my story, resist the urge to delete most of what I wrote last night, and keep pushing forward.  12,061 down, 37,939 left to go.  Wish me luck!