When I'm around you, how I come alive
A NaNoWriMo check-in and this week's creative writing prompt
Hello, everyone! I did it! I put together another prompt newsletter. Woo! Let’s just hope I don’t accidentally delete this one. Honestly, not my best work and it meant I had to choose what we’ll do at the Coop myself. Sigh.
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This week’s title is borrowed from Stargazing by Myles Smith.
How’s NaNoWriMo going?
It’s still November and NaNoWriMo (in case you missed it, that’s National Novel Writing Month) is now in full swing. As we’re at a halfway-ish point, I wanted to do a little check-in and revisit the Lovember prompts featured in our first creative prompt newsletter on November 4.
Big as it may be, NaNoWriMo is a useful way to get into the habit of writing daily, weekly, or even monthly if that’s what works best for you or what your time allows.
I find when I have a pattern or routine to follow, I write more. It’s the biggest positive of writing challenges like What the Feb (one of my faves, sadly finished now), Escapril, and Lovember. Each challenge serves as a guide when I want to rebuild my writing habit and no matter how many words I get on the page, I am satisfied.
Sometimes I’ll write an outline for a piece I want to write, other times I’ll free-write something that will need to be workshopped. Often I’ll write something cathartic or finally solve a problem about how I’d present work on stage, behind a mic, or as a visual piece instead. The thing is, as long as there are words on paper that make me feel good or push a project forward, that’s more than enough. And even better, it’s all writing.
I understand writing challenges aren’t for everyone, and I do feel that people have to try different things to see what works best for them, but sometimes having something to follow is useful when you’re coming back from a break, find yourself stuck, or need a breather from your main WIP (work-in-progress).
With that in mind, here’s a little freebie prompt for people who are following Lovember (not necessarily to write romance, but to challenge or inspire themselves).
A freebie prompt and writing task
Today’s Lovember prompt is Open, use this as a starting point:
Step one: Write words and phrases you’d associate with the word ‘open’ or free-write a story or narrative based on the word.
Step two: Take the words from the first 17 days (from bowling to cookie) of Lovember and work them into your piece.
Step three: Read your piece aloud to check out what makes sense and where to make edits.
Step four: Share your piece with me! Please, I love reading everyone’s writing. Message me on Instagram and we can exchange email addresses!
This task will help you to map out your story, poem, essay, narrative, or dialogue. Working in the extra words will help you not only build your writing out but it will also make you consider and pay attention to your word choice. Something that is very useful for editing and will prepare you for feedback.
Remember to be kind to yourself when editing, we all have to do it and it’s better to treat yourself like a friend instead of an enemy!
H Noss who created the Lovember challenge has also been sharing character and narrative prompts on Instagram as well. Check out their extra prompts to enhance your Lovember experience!
Are you doing NaNoWriMo? How are you getting on? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram!
Or I’ll see you for The Chicken Coop Writing Group on Tuesday, November 26.
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