Critical NaNoWriMo writing supplies (note they are all still unopened)

So it’s down to the last week or so in the annual writing extravaganza known as NaNoWiMo and things are not looking good here in the Fortress of Writing.

I had high hopes for this year; due in part to last year’s success, but sadly, that hope was misplaced.  While there were some external circumstances that I couldn’t really have foreseen, my biggest stumbling block was inadequate preparation.

Last year I started November 1^st with conflict boxes, clearly defined characters, and an outline for my story.  I had a fairly good idea what needed to happen in the beginning, middle, and end, so I didn’t have to spend a lot of time wondering what should happen next.  Even better, since I knew where I was heading, it was fairly easy to jump around and work on whatever scene had my attention at the time, rather than having to write sequentially in order to uncover the story.  I wrote late at night, in the dark, and spent very little time looking back over what I had written.

Naturally, since that worked so well last year I did something completely different this year.  (In hindsight, not my best decision.) Continue reading →