Best of PBW 2017

On the last day of every year my tradition is to sort through the archives to see how things went, what I accomplished (or didn't) and get some ideas on ways in which to improve things with PBW and my writing life.

I put the blog on hiatus for almost five months this year, which gave me a much-needed vacation from the internet so I could focus on my work. That was probably the best thing I've done for myself creatively in a long time. Unplugging allowed me to get back to what I really love about writing: writing. For the length of my hiatus nothing got between me and the page. I came back with a better attitude, which I needed when I dumped Photobucket as my image hosting site and finally deleted two other static blogs. I have a lot of work to do on PBW to replace the images in the archives, but I'm on that now, and hope to have them all restored in a few months.

Behind the scenes I actually quit all of my freelancing work halfway through 2017 to become a partner in a publishing venture. It was a gamble, but I've been rolling the dice since traditional publishing and I parted ways. I can't get into details, but I'm happy, busy, and have the creative freedom to do what I do best. I hope to keep this job until I retire.

I think 2017 was one of my better years for being creative with my sewing. I took chances and tried some new things, like designing the two quilts pictured in this post, and making my first serious attempt at art quilting. I learned a lot, had fun and added some new techniques to my repertoire. Documenting everything on my Tumblr blog definitely helped keep me motivated.

On the downside, I tried to do NaNoWriMo this year but computer woes, work obligations and life in general forced me to bail about halfway through it. I did get out to four real-world NaNo write-in meetings, and joined a small writers' group I met in the process. My youngest also moved away to attend university, which left me and my guy on our own for the first time since 1989. I miss her every day, but I think I've adjusted fairly well to the whole empty nester thing. Making meals is the biggest challenge -- I've never cooked for just two people, so I'm downsizing recipes and figuring out how to use leftovers creatively.

I also did not lose the last 20 pounds for my ideal weight goal. I had some issues with my arthritis that kept me less active than I would have liked, and pretty much yoyoed between 145-150 lbs. for most of the year. After two years of it I'm also really tired of dieting, so that didn't help. The good news is that I didn't gain back any of the thirty pounds I lost in 2016. As of the writing of this post I am 149 lbs., so I'll say the official loss for 2017 is 5 lbs. I'll keep trying to take off the last fifteen pounds sensibly.

Many things shadowed 2017. Too many. We've all had to live with it as part of our daily lives now, so I'm not going to rehash it. I'd rather ask you that whenever and however possible, be part of the light.

As I did last year I'm going to skip the usual best-of links list. With the way the world is now I'm not investing in a theme or resolution for 2018; I just want to be supportive of my friends and family, do some good and generally not add to the evil and dark out there.

How was 2017 for you? Any plans for 2018? Let us know in comments.

Color Psychic

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. I'm staying mostly unplugged, although I did notice Pantone's pick for their 2018 color of the year:



I would have picked violet -- it was my favorite color to work with in 2017:



I'm such a trendsetter (not. at. all.) For fun, I'm going to predict the color of the year for 2019: this blue.

Stop back in twelve months to find out if I'm color psychic.

Wishing You

Off to Celebrate

I'm taking off the rest of the week to celebrate with my family. While I'm partying, here's some joy from The North Face:

Imagination: Tom Wallisch from The North Face on Vimeo.

Hope you and yours have a lovely and peaceful holiday season.

ETA Seven Days

With Christmas arriving in a week I thought you all might need some ideas for those last names still on your shopping list. So from the PBW archives here are:

Ten Things That Make Great Last-Minute Gifts

Composition Book Journal: Here's an article that shows you how to turn an inexpensive composition book into a customized journal.

Cookie Exchange: This requires some cooperation from your recipient. Agree to exchange as gifts a batch of your favorite cookies. Once you've made them, pack them in a pretty tin or container (the Dollar Store has great holiday tins), add a bow or tie with a ribbon. Be sure to share your recipe on a note card. This idea is also great as a theme for a Christmas party with friends; everyone brings a batch (my friend Jill holds her cookie exchange every year at Starbucks) and you draw names from a hat for the exchange.

Custom Cookbook: Create your own cookbook collection by scanning or typing up your favorite recipes for the holidays, dinners, desserts, or whatever theme you choose. Convert it to a .pdf and e-mail the file to your recipient, or print it out and place it in a folder or binder. Some grocery stores offer free recipe cards and magazines that make nice bonus material to add to your print collection.

Dollar Challenge: This is great to do with kids -- you agree to buy each other a gift that costs only $1.00, and go shopping together (and you'll need to shop either at a dollar or thrift store, but that's also fun.) One year my daughter found a little pocket manicure set for me that I still have in my purse.

First Aid for Kisses Kit: Glue a piece of white cardstock to the top of a small empty tin. Write "First Aid Kit for" at the top of the cardstock and draw a lips puckered for a kiss in red marker below it. Fill the tin with a stick of lip balm, disposable mini toothbrushes and breath mints.

For the Birds: If you have a friend or family member who loves birds, a small/inexpensive feeder and a five pound bag of birdseed are a great gift (you can find both at most home improvement or garden stores.)

Healthy Cooking Subscription: Cooking Light magazine, which focuses on articles and recipes for lighter, healthier eating, has a 2-for-1 holiday offer that allows you to give two subscriptions for $16.00.

Homemade Bread: One of our neighbors always gives us a loaf of her homemade bread as a holiday gift, and it's one of my favorite treats every year. Make your favorite bread, wrap in a pretty tea towel and place in an inexpensive bread basket. If they have kids, add some jars of peanut butter and jelly. Don't want to make a whole loaf of bread? Go for a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls, buttermilk biscuits, or garlic knots.

Snack Bowl: Find a pretty serving bowl at Goodwill or the Dollar Store. Add some bags of microwave popcorn, fresh fruit, hot cocoa mix envelopes, small bags of chips or pretzels, cereal snack mix, etc., wrap with cellophane and crown with a bow. You can tailor this to your recipient, too; I do an exotic tea-and-cookies snack bowl for one of my friends every year (World Market is a great place to find unusual teas and snacks, too.)

Stuffed Stocking: For that impossible-to-buy-for person on your list, make or buy a stocking and fill it with something they love. The obvious choice is snacks, but you can also stuff it with small toiletries, crumpled dollar bills (college students love that one), two or three scarves, writer stuff, hand lotion and lip balms, kitchen tools or towels, the ingredients for a recipe, etc. This is also a fun gift to make with small toys or treats for the family pet.

Sew Me

When I wasn't writing in 2017 I was sewing -- a lot. I wanted to complete at least one project every month, learn to design more patchwork, and dabble a bit in art quilting. I also documented everything I was doing over at my Tumblr blog, which helped keep me on track.

Here's some of what I got accomplished:



I started the year with a small patchwork pillow project to use up some scraps.



I bought a vintage quilt top at the annual county quilt show and made it into a new quilt for Skye's kennel.



I practiced some new embroidery stitches and techniques on this crazy quilt tote.



I tried working with modern fabrics for the first time to make this black/white/gold lap quilt.



I designed and made my first bargello quilt.



I experimented with new types of hand quilting stitches to make this little tote.



My big project of the year was designing and making this quilt from fabrics and some patchwork sent to me by a dear friend.



I made my first official art quilt out of recycled linen remnants and eco-dyed fabrics.



Another lap quilt I made, inspired by a lovely linen from my friend's fabric.



This was the month my sewing machine started to die, so this cute tote I made from orphaned patchwork blocks I purchased on Etsy was done largely by hand.



A winter table runner I made for an art swap.



A pillow I made from an old cutter quilt piece.



A table topper I quilted and embroidered for Thanksgiving. On Black Friday I did venture out to buy a new sewing machine, too.

I still have one more quilt to work on this month, and a table runner I want to make for New Year's Eve, but I think I did okay with my non-writing projects in 2017. One very positive side of doing so much quilting was that I kept my creative energy high, which really helped my writing. Next year I'm probably going to do more art quilting, as that's the bug that bit me most often in 2017, but I'm also constantly finding new inspirations, so we'll see.

What creative projects did you finish this year? Let us know in comments.

Holiday Hepful Ten

Ten Holiday Helps from the PBW Archives

1. Easy Appetizer: One no-cook appetizer that appeals to everyone, even kids, is sometimes tough to manage; the most popular at any gathering we have are my fruit and cheese skewers. Make them by placing chunks of cheese and fruit on bamboo or plastic skewers (cheddar, grapes and pineapple chunks are a popular combo, as are strawberries, raspberries and swiss.) You can shape the cheese by using small cookie cutters to cut them from a block. A dessert spin on this is to replace the cheese with marshmallows or brownie bites. Here's a recipe with an accompanying dip.

2. Cookies Done Light: In past years I've linked many times to Cooking Light magazine's holiday recipes; here's their Christmas Cookie recipes for 2017.

3. PBW's Famous No-Brainer Fudge:

3 cups Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 can 14 oz. sweet condensed milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
dash of salt
[optional add-ins: chopped nuts, mini marshmallows, raisins, M&Ms etc.]

Put morsels, milk, extract and salt in a sauce pan and melt over low heat. Stir frequently to blend. When it looks like fudge -- after about 5 to 10 minutes -- remove from heat, stir in your favorite chopped nuts, marshmallows, M&Ms or whatever. Pour into pan (I use an 8" pie pan), spread out, cover with foil or plastic wrap and put in refrigerator. Chill for two hours, take out, cut into squares, enjoy.

Note on fancy toppings: Before you put in the fridge, you can also top the fudge with coconut, maraschino cherries, pecan halves etc.

4. Photo Op: Another great (and easy to make) last-minute gift is to print out your favorite photo of your recipient (or someone they love) and place it in a pretty frame.

5. Practical Party: Invite friends to bring over their unwrapped gifts and wrapping supplies, and have a gift-wrapping party (Moms, great to do while the kids are in school.) Make up goodie bags with scotch tape, adhesive gift tags and rolls of ribbon. Ask everyone to bring two jumbo rolls of gift paper; one to use and one to pass around. Serve coffee, tea, and a non-sticky treat like cookies or muffins.

6. Quilted Coaster Tags: Here are directions and photos to make my easy quilted coaster, which doubles as a gift tag.

7. Strawberry Santas: One of my neighbors made us a plate of cookies and these adorable Strawberry Santas, which are so easy to make I can whip up a plate of them in minutes (and if I don't have the ingredients to make the cheese filling, I substitute bottled whipped cream.)

8. Superquick ice cream sandwiches: Let your ice cream or frozen yogurt soften until it's spreadable, then spread between two graham crackers, two big chocolate chip cookies or two toasted mini-waffles. Roll the sides through mini chocolate chips or mini M&Ms. Put back in the freezer on a tray to harden.

9. A Timely Gift: If you can't afford a gift, offer your services instead. You can clean house or mow the lawn for an elderly person, babysit for busy parents, be a beta reader for a writer pal, take your friend's pup to the dog park, etc. For a really good friend, make up a stack of 12 coupons redeemable for various services over the next year.

10. Yum: My Favorite homemade Hot Chocolate recipe

Off to Hit the Books

I'm taking off today to do some research. See you on Wednesday.

Winter Writing

While we're not getting snowed in at Casa PBW, the temperature has dropped enough for me to haul out my fall/winter wear whenever I have to venture outside. It's also changed where and when I can write away from my home office. The porch is okay most days, but not at night. Ditto for the parks; I can manage a working lunch but early mornings or late afternoons are too cold. I'm also finding most of my quiet spots in town have become incessantly noisy with shoppers, holiday music and let-loose little kids. Don't get me wrong, these are all great things -- I love seeing people enjoying the season -- but that's also why it's distracting. I spend my time people-watching instead of storytelling. As I'm working through the holidays I need to devote at least eight hours a day to writing and editing.

My daughter is also coming home for her winter break from university. I'm looking forward to spending time with her, but since I'm her favorite distraction, I will probably also need to get up earlier, get out of the house a couple hours each day, and/or work while she's sleeping (probably a combination of all three.) Today I stopped by the library, which turned out to be completely empty, and spent an hour doing some research for work. I got everything done without a single interruption. Once everyone else's kids are out of school for their holiday break that may change, but until then I might start taking the laptop or the Neo over there to write.

One cool thing I noticed about the people in my new writing group is that they wear head phones or those ear bud things and listen to music while they are writing. I never thought of doing that -- I prefer silence, and I'm so deaf now most music is just white noise to me -- but some sound-cancelling ear phones could work for me in high-traffic or Christmas-saturated areas. I have to check into how much they cost, but it seems like they'd help at home, too, when my daughter is watching TV or has friends over to visit.

What do you do to write or get work done during the holidays? Share your tips in comments.

Image credit: Creative Commons Stock Photos

'Tis the Reading Season

This year I decided to be my own Secret Santa and buy some new books to read this month. I set myself a limit of three, and to get some variety I shopped for a favorite author, an author I haven't read in a while, and a new-to-me author.



Mary Balogh is of course the favorite author, and I've been waiting since February for her third Westcott novel, Someone to Wed. The fallout from a bigamous earl's death continues in this installment, which features his heir, Alexander Westcott. I've liked this character since the series began, and I have no doubt this will be a wonderful addition to the series.

I've read Dean Koontz's novels on and off for years; I've been off the author since Innocence depressed me a bit too much back in 2013. The Silent Corner is the first book in a new series featuring a female protagonist, and the cover copy got me curious. I liked the first page. No doubt it will all end up being a government conspiracy, but these days, what doesn't?

Caroline ~ Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller is the new-to me author's novel. The book was authorized by the Little House Heritage Trust, and evidently tells some of Laura Ingalls Wilder's pioneering childhood stories from her mother's POV. I had some reservations right off the bat -- the Little House books are one of the reasons I became a writer, aka sacred ground -- so I did read the first four pages before I bought it. While it's not written in the voice or style of the Little House books, and the way Caroline Ingalls is portrayed doesn't match my mental image of her, I decided to quit nit-picking and give it a shot.

What are you reading this season? Let us know in comments.

Gift No-Nos

Ten Things I Don't Want for Christmas

Collectibles: I'm not much of a collector of anything but books and quilts, and my house is already stuffed to the rafters with both. You want to know what I'd honestly love to start collecting? Happy thoughts. Send me some of those. :)

Exotic Spice Blends: An artisan oregano and all-natural spearmint blend might sound tasty to you, but please. Refrain.

Glitter Anything: Older women seem to love anything that looks like a bad fourth-grade art project; strangely, I'm not one of them. Scientists now want to ban it, and I kind of agree because glitter always, always, always sheds.

Himalyan Salt Products: I'm seeing a lot of these made into cooking plates, shooters, tea light holders, etc. All that salt is bad for you, and the pink color? Not my personal favorite.

Knife Making Kit: Just say no to this one. For anybody.

Magic Bullet: I'm all about healthy drinks but I'm lazy. Also the name -- magic bullets are what we used to call suppositories.

Moscow Mule Mug I don't use alcohol, sorry. I'm also not inclined to like anything named after a Russian jackass.

Ugg Boots: I don't need boots where I live. For some reason this brand also reminds me of Chewbacca from Star Wars, who is not my personal style icon.

Upright Bacon Grill: A bacon toaster, yeah, that's a wonderful idea. Aside from the fact that cleaning it would be a nightmare, I'd have to double our house fire insurance coverage. Pass.

Virtual Reality System: Real life is challenging enough, thanks.

What don't you want for Christmas? Let us know in comments.

Working Holiday

First, congratulations to everyone who participated in NaNoWriMo 2017. I hope most of you did better than me, but I'm proud of all of you for trying. Proud of me, too -- I gave it a shot, which was fun, and tried some new things, which seems to be my latest trend.

I'm writing through the holidays this month, but I've decided not to use that as an excuse to avoid all the merry and bright stuff. I'm not a big fan of the season, but my crew is, so I'm going to try to do a little something every day to get me in the spirit to celebrate with them. Yesterday I did a mini-makeover of my daughter's room with some pillows, a snowflake throw and some cute animal objects. Today I'm starting to put together a winter art quilt. Tomorrow I'll write my cards and order the flowers I send my mom every year. After that I'll visit the no-kill shelter to make my holiday donation, and think of other stuff I can do for others. Christmas is always a little more palatable when you're actively giving or doing something just for fun.

I've been invited to join a small writer's group that I met during NaNoWriMo, which is startling (but very cool.) I'm seriously considering it. It's low-key, I like everyone in the group, and it might be time for me to get out of the Batcave every now and then. I'm no longer out in the public eye with my work (quel soulagement!) so I don't have put on pantyhose and makeup and pretend like I'm Bestseller Chick. I can just be me -- and that would definitely be a novelty. But I'm still shy, socially awkward and not especially politic, so I do have to think about it.

For the blog I've decided to manually upload all the old photos for my posts to Blogger's hosting system so I can keep everything here versus replicating the PBW archive into e-books. I have to do this in my spare time, so I've got ten weeks done and about seven hundred more weeks to go. It's a nice project, though, and will allow me to reminisce a little.

So what's up with you all? Anyone have their own tactic to work through the holidays? Let us know in comments.

Extra Crispy

I hope everyone who celebrates it had a nice Thanksgiving, and I'm sorry I've been scarce. For me insomnia + day job + Thanksgiving + evil/dark + ocular migraine = only 15 hours sleep in 5 days. I can function on 4 hours, but 3 is definitely not enough. By day five I was completely fried. Last night I finally resorted to non-narcotic sleep aid pills (Alteril, which actually works for me) and got in about 7 hours of very hard, dreamless sleep. Usually that resets my brain to go back to my normal 5-6 hours of sleep per night, but we'll see.

For these reasons and a few others I had to stop working on my NaNoWriMo novel, and obviously I won't be crossing the finish line. It was fun to give it a go and get out to the real-life write-ins (I made four before I had to throw in the towel). I'm disappointed, but I'm also starting to realize that what I want to do and what I actually can do are becoming very different things.

By the way, thanks to everyone who checked on me. You guys are the best.

I always say it's good to fail. You learn more, it keeps your ego in check, and it gives you the chance to start over and do things differently. It never feels as lovely as success, but it's good for me. It's also a bit like oatmeal. I really don't like oatmeal unless it's a cookie, but as a breakfast it's good for my heart and my plumbing. It'll never be my favorite breakfast (hot buttermilk biscuits and butter and honey and a big glass of orange juice will forever hold that title), but if I add some sliced bananas or raisins it's palatable.

So how are you all doing with your November novels? Let us know in comments.

Wishing You

Happy Thanksgiving from Paperback Writer.

Off to Finale

I'm taking off today to work on finishing up a deadline for my day job -- and I likely won't be back until Wednesday, 11/22. See you then.

Just an FYI

Tomorrow Photobucket should be cancelling my pro account and converting my pics to a free account, which means most or all of the photos on PBW may disappear. I have back ups of all the years with the photos, so they're safe.

I now just have to decide what I want to do with them. One option is to make my backups into e-books and post them on my Google Docs account, or (the insane option) put back 13 years of photos manually using Blogger's photo upload, which will take me a looooong time.

Also, my old Disenchanted & Company blog will be deleted tomorrow, as will my old photoblog, PBWindow. I've also backed them up and I'm making them into e-books, too, but as they're static I've decided to delete them. If you want to copy anything from either blog, you should do that today.

NaNoWriMonday: Roadblocks

The good news: my unexpected house guest is leaving tomorrow morning, and I've finally resolved all the issues caused by the malevolent Windows update. Also, my thanks to Microsoft for again illustrating so blindingly why so many of my friends choose Mac.

The bad news: I'm terribly behind on my quota for my November novel. I'm about to throw out the last chapters I've written because they're just wrong. Also, since the day job has to come first, and I'm taking off on Thanksgiving Day, I'm not sure I'll be able to cross the finish line.

Unexpected roadblocks are a huge part of the writing life. Work, family, friends and life get hungry and devour our writing hours, which drops us in the rickety seat on the emotional rollercoaster. This morning I'm tired, frustrated and not in the mood for any more nonsense. Balancing that is the fact that I had a lovely visit with my unexpected house guest; my work novel is coming together beautifully (yes, I'm writing two books this month) and I'll make my deadline next week. Also, I got the exact size turkey I wanted for Thanksgiving -- on sale, no less -- because I was paying attention instead of locking myself in the office to sulk over my roadblocks.

I don't mind failing. Success usually teaches you little to nothing except how to be a bigger ass than you already are. Besides, I can collide with as many roadblocks as life wants to throw at me and keep going. I've already done it countless times. It's when the tired part of me whines about giving up that I get really angry with myself. I may not be a winner, but a quitter? Nope. I keep going.

I'll post the latest update on Haunted House Style later today. In the meantime, how are you all doing with your NaNonovel? Let us know in comments.

Added: Haunted House Style, 11/14/17

Still Off

The technical difficulties collided with an unexpected family visitor and my carefully organized day went all to Hades. Just now I recalled that I promised to post something today, too. Please consider this something, even if it is 1:42 am. My sincere apologies, but I will be off dealing with all this until Monday.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Off to Tinker

I'm bailing on you all today to try and fix what the malevolent Windows update wrecked. And try not to slam my head on my desk too many times. And try not to insult the unhelpful help people.

You know, I don't mind the fixit blues when I screw up things, but when others mess with my hardware? Without permission? And then tell me it's my fault when I didn't do anything?

I'm trying to work here, Microsoft.

Anyway. I'll figure it out. I always do.

See you on Friday.

NaNoWriMonday: Week One

The first week of National Novel Writing Month went pretty well for me. I hit my counts almost every day, and doubled up on last Saturday's in order to participate in the official double-up day. I like what I'm getting on the page; Emma is as strong a protagonist as ever. I plan to go to another real-life write-in or two this week.

What I'm struggling with is being so far outside my comfort zone. Writing-wise, I prefer to be alone in my bat cave getting the work done. I'm fighting that desire every day, tooth and nail, as I try to join in with the local writing community, at least for the next month. It's not that I dislike socializing as much as a sense of being on display. People are suddenly paying attention to me when I'm usually invisible. Actually if I were invisible I'd be a lot more social. Anyway, I'm not going to cave into it, but it is a real challenge.

Also, the reason I'm so late posting today: evidently thanks to a malevolent Windows automatic update, I now can't get anything uploaded to my Google Docs account. Once I have time to spend the obligatory eight hours chatting with the help people while they have me do things that don't resolve the problem, I'll try a restore. But in the meantime, updates on Haunted House Style will have to remain in the holding queue until we figure this out.

How is NaNoWriMo going for you? Let us know in comments.

NaNoWriMo Kick-Off

I attended my very first National Novel Writing Month meeting on Wednesday, and met with about a dozen writers who are participating this year. Everyone welcomed me and made me feel right at home while I was there. The ML passed out an interesting packet, some stickers and held three word sprints that were fun. I acquired a new NaNo buddy and a writing dare, and knocked out about a thousand words, so it was a productive exercise, too. I'll be attending more meetings this month when time/life permits.

I'm doing all right on Emma's second book, too; I passed 5K this morning. I'll have to fill in some backstory for new readers, but right now I'm focusing on forging ahead and nailing my daily counts. I love writing in Emma's voice so it hardly feels like work. For those who want to follow my progress, I'll be posting links at the bottom of my NaNo posts, like this:

Haunted House Style 11/3/17

NaNoWriMo Begins

Welcome to the first day of National Novel Writing Month. For the next thirty days, writers all over the world will be racing to pen a 50,000 word novel, and I'll be one of them. I'll upload what I write and edit each day on my Google Docs account and post links here so you can follow my progress with Haunted House Style, my sequel to Ghost Writer.

Throughout November I'll be reporting on how I juggle this with my day job, thoughts on how to improve productivity, whine about problems (just a little) and otherwise detail how the experience goes for me. I also plan to paticipate in at least one of the official NaNoWriMo real-world events -- my very first time doing that -- and I'll let you know how that/those go.

If you have an account set up on the official NaNoWriMo site, and would like to be my writing buddy, my user name is Lynn Viehl, and my novel information page is here. I promise to nag you at least once or twice during November, and I'd love to hear how your novel is coming along, too.

I'm really excited about this opportunity to continue Emma's story. If you're also diving in, welcome -- tell us what you'll be writing in comments.

Added: Haunted House Style 11/1/17

Wishing You

NaNoWriMonday: Ask PBW

It's been forever since I used this graphic in a post. Makes me feel nostalgic for the blogging days of yore.

I had family visiting last week, so I didn't have a lot of time to do anything but work and cook (which is also why I like to prep early.) Today I'm going to finish gathering what I need for my NaNoNovel notebook, and tinker on my chapter summaries a bit, but otherwise I'm good to go for Wednesday.

Since we're 48 hours away from the start of National Novel Writing Month, I thought I'd make myself available for any questions you might have today about NaNo-related stuff. If you do, post them in comments before midnight EST, and I'll do my best to offer advice or find you an answer elsewhere.

Graphic credit: © Yellowj | Dreamstime.com

Circa 1853

To feed my love of all things Victorian American I purchased a couple of partial Godey's Lady's Books from Threads and Memories on Etsy; both date back to the mid-nineteenth century. The illustrations (three in color) are marvelous, as are the fashion plates, embroidery patterns and stories. Ladies who read these issues got the latest style trends, from even as far away as Paris, gardening ideas, every day advice and even sheet music and floor plans for a cottage.

All of the content is very polite and proper, of course, which I think makes it even more charming. Have a look:

Timing

This morning I'm going to see how long it takes me to write this blog post plus the scenes I've planned for my morning writing session, by using the Pomodoro timer on Marinanratimer.com. The timer gives me writing sessions of 25 minutes with 5 minute breaks, and (if I remember correctly) a 15-minute break after I finish four sessions. I can also pause it if I need to do something that won't wait until my break, like answer the phone or the call of Nature.

Why time myself? It's been a while since I have, and I need to know (on average) how much writing I can do in a day, a week and a month to better plan my work schedule. For example: I wrote a total of 6,159 words of fiction and a 563-word blog post on Monday, and that's a pretty typical writing day for me. But I didn't keep track of my time writing, so I can't tell you exactly how long it took me to write it. Maybe ten hours, maybe twelve -- I'm really not sure. I had some productive sprints, during which I can write up to 1,500 words an hour, but also had more than one draggy sessions where I likely only knocked out 500 words. There was also an hour where I edited everything I'd written.

Right now I'm at the halfway point of my 25 minute session, and I've written 238 words. That's close to twenty words a minute, which puts me at 1,200 words per hour -- a little faster than I usually write, but blog posts are easy -- I just write off the top of my head and add coding for applicable links. Could I write faster? Sure. But it's not really about speed, it's about consistency. I like to get into a productive rhythm with the writing where I feel comfortable + I'm getting work done at an acceptable pace. Once I know how long that takes me, I can forecast the work I'll probably get done and alter my schedule accordingly.

In November I'll be working on two novels, one for NaNoWriMo and one for work. I already know I need to write a minimum of 5K per day. I'll probably do more so I can take off on Thanksgiving. But having timed myself, I'll also know how long I have to block off every day for writing. It's not perfect -- I'll write slower when I feel like crap, and faster when I get into the zone, but those highs and lows tend to balance out for me.

One neat thing about this timer site is that the tab for it shows you the time if you're working in multiple windows. Right now I have three minutes left before my break. I also just deleted a long sentence that made no sense, so I'm not padding my results -- just the opposite. This exercise is not about how much you can do in 25 minutes, but what you'd actually write on any day -- and on any day I do delete about 5% of what I write while I'm writing it.

Thirty seconds: I'm feeling a little more awake now, and a little more focused. Timers do that for me, too. And now I've reached my five minute break (announced by a handy little chime.)

Total: 562 words in twenty-five minutes.

I think I'll use my break to make a cup of tea and get the laundry started. Also, just to note, there are two other timers on the site you can use; one is customizable, and the other is just like a kitchen timer -- set it and forget it.

Taking the Day

I'm taking the day off to spend some quality time refilling the creative well. See you on Wednesday.

NaNoWriMobility

[I moved Monday's National Novel Writing Month post to today because tomorrow I'm going to unplug and do something else.]

I broke a keyboard last week, something I do once or twice a year. I'm heavy-handed and clumsy due to my arthritis, which is why I buy cheap keyboards; the expensive ones break just as easily. Unfortunately this time I killed my Neo2 smart keyboard, which is no longer being manufactured. Since I can store two hundred manuscript pages on the Neo2, run it for weeks on 3 AA batteries, take it anywhere and even drop it occasionally without a problem I decided to get one off eBay.

The replacement I bought was the last new one listed; which means when I burn up this one I need to find another cheap brand of smart keyboard (there are none), go the tablet-with-paper-thin-attachable-keyboard route (which I will probably break in a month), or start using my much more expensive laptop when I want to take my writing on the go (with which I must use a wireless keyboard because otherwise I'd break the keypad portion of the very expensive laptop.)

Being immobilized irks me because I like to take breaks from the desktop and go out on the porch with my Neo2 for an hour or two. I also use the smart keyboard when I'm getting too distracted by the internet, or my eyes hurt from the monitor glare, or I need to go to the library. During the extensive power failure period after Hurricane Irma I used the smart keyboard exclusively to write and save my laptop charge. Anyway, the new Neo2 is on its way, but in the meantime I'm stuck at my desk.

I want to be mobile next month while I'm working on my NaNo novel for a bunch of other reasons. My story is set in a nearby town, which I plan to visit and write on-scene to get a personal look at some of the setting. I plan to attend at least one official NaNoWriMo write-in, meet some of the local participants and write with them. I may also take a weekend trip, and I always like to do a little writing at the hotel at night or early in the morning. Being mobile also allows me to deal with lack of enthusiasm, so if I start to drag during November I can pack up my keyboard and go someplace that inspires me.

You don't have to be on the move during NaNoWriMo, but having the option to take your writing with you may help you get more done. Also, you don't have to take actual gadgets. I always carry a small notepad with me everywhere in case I see or hear something I want to jot down and remember. Writing in longhand in a notebook or on a legal pad will require you to transcribe it later, but it's a great way to shift gears with writing. You can even take a voice recorder with you on the go and dictate your writing to it. If you've never tried writing elsewhere, this is a great time to give it a test-drive -- you may find it changes your process for the better.

Are you a mobile writer? Any ideas on how to get other writers on the go with their work? Let us know in comments.