Cushions, Fluff and Beef... Oh my!

I was reading some of the forums on NaNoWriMo late last night (read: I was distracted) and I read something that really got to me...

Some of the participants were talking about ways to, I believe the phrase was, "cushion [their] word count". Meaning, ways to simply add more words to their manuscript, furthering their way towards their 50,000 word goal.

NaNoWriMo, Inner Editor Pulverisation and Character Interrogations

Some of you may remember last November, as I set off to conquer NaNoWriMo and how seriously pissed off I got (1) because I felt out of control (I may or may not have a compulsive need to edit) and (2) because I got ill and couldn't open my eyes for about a week.

Anyway, my biggest struggle this month (read: every month, ie: all the time) is to kick Inner Editor in the face so she bleeds, neglected, in the corner of the room until draft one is out of my fingers. *straps on karate belt*

The Cold

It started like any other disgusting and unwanted cold.

Anyone else have that horrible cold that's going around? You know, for colds, I usually just say 'toughen up' and 'it's no biggie', but man this one was something fierce. Like that English grannie that rocks the turntables, this one just wasn't what you'd expect, not from a cold anyway.

Because one minute it was just sniffly and sneezy, the next it felt like you got kicked in the head and someone was stabbing you in the eyes with a screwdriver. Let me tell you, I get sinus infections occasionally, but I can't remember having one that was quite so bad before. This sinus infection is (still

How NaNoWriMo Ruined My Day

Yesterday I posted about taking a swing at the NaNoWriMo challenge. Today I sat seething at the computer. Tonight I cried to my husband, a big blubbering mess. Let me tell you why.

Yesterday I wrote a nice big chunk of prose. It was all planned out beforehand and I was even quite pleased with some parts. Yesterday was a very good day and I woke up this morning, ready to write more. But then I didn't. I'm not just an author, but a trained editor who shudders at anything less than perfection. So what did I do today? I deleted. I moved things around. I rewrote stuff. And not just a little bit.

NaNoWriMo by Numbers

It wouldn't be weird if you had no idea what NaNoWriMo was. I know about it, but I'm also one of the eccentric writing types that thrives on deadlines. You may very well not be one of those types, which should further your claim to residence in Normalville. I hear it's a nice place.

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

For me, last week was JoNoOutWe, or Joanna's Novel Outlining Week. I had a few concepts floating