Jacqueline Crosbie

Recent read: My not-quite-finished NaNo novel Feeling :  Somewhat accomplished   Well, I made it through another year of NaNo.  This time I didn't complete the 50,000 words (I ended up with 42,000), but I still feel accomplished.  It's an interesting exercise to plough through a whole lot of words in such a short time.  Admittedly, the end product isn't even what I'd call a first draft, since I've got open spaces with "notes to self" where I need to expand upon something (e.g. I need to research or refer back to an earlier part of the book, the words just didn't flow, or I ventured down a long and winding road that took my focus elsewhere).  But it's a start.  I remain conflicted about the NaNo process.  On the plus side, it gives me renewed enthusiasm for writing while taking a break from my current projects, and I can see the benefit of "just getting the words down."  But, on the negative side, I detest the editin...

Currently working on: NaNoWriMo Feeling: Hopeful I am trying a new approach to my NaNo novel this year. I've actually mapped out my entire story - scene by scene - ahead of time. Anyone that knows me knows how much I love spreadsheets, so the possibility of using one in my writing filled me with much joy. Alas, I did not have the time to complete the entire ten-step Snowflake Method for writing a novel, but I did do significantly more planning than usual. I'm one of those writers that has an idea, then runs with it, letting the writing flow freely. I know the beginning and generally the end of my stories, but the in-between tends to be run by my characters. So the idea of planning all my scenes in advance made me cringe, as I imagined stifling the creative process. I pictured myself writing a manual, and I've written enough of those, thank you very much. But the shiny spreadsheet won over my creative side. So I'm giving it a try and we'll see how it goes....