On Writing: Craft and Commiseration Archives

Hair of the Dog Post-NaNoWriMo Writing Challenge

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Dec 6, 2018 in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), On Writing: Craft and Commiseration | 0 comments

You know what the very best cure for a NaNoWriMo hangover is? Hair of the dog! Just keep on writing! But sometimes that’s not always so easy, especially if you’re feeling a bit burned out and missing all the motivation and fun of the big NaNoWriMo event. My Wrimos were lamenting this very thing and wishing they had just a little bit more of a...

The end of NaNoWriMo and using the magic of the event before it runs out

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Nov 26, 2018 in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) | 0 comments

My fellow Wrimos, November ends very soon. There are mere days left in NaNoWriMo. Some of you are still typing away, frantically trying to reach your writing goals and I am right there with you, trying to get as many words down between now and then to get there (at this exact moment, I am 21,957 away from my target so it’s going to be a busy week!)....

In your own way, in your own time (NaNoWriMo pep talk)

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Nov 12, 2018 in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), On Writing: Craft and Commiseration | 0 comments

“They are making me feel bad,” my five-year old said, holding back tears. She glared across the playground where half a dozen kids were scrambling up the brand new climbing rope mountain like monkeys. “They’re making it look like it’s easy but it’s NOT easy because I can’t do it!” And I knew exactly how she...

NaNoWriMo 2018 Bullet Journal Style Word Count Coloring Calendar

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Nov 3, 2018 in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) | 0 comments

You ever see one of those really pretty bullet journal pages and wish you had something like that for tracking progress but have absolutely no artistic ability? I was having that very feeling when I decided to make this cool NaNoWriMo 2018 word count coloring calendar. It’s Frankenstein-ed from several pieces of clip art and a NaNoWriMo word count...

NaNoWriMo and writing when the world is on fire

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Oct 29, 2018 in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), On Writing: Craft and Commiseration | 0 comments

What a month, huh? Trying to think about writing with current events being what they are feels exactly like this GIF. And, at times like this, it’s hard not to wonder what the point even is? When the world is a screaming vortex of bad and even tomorrow doesn’t feel like a guarantee, you start to wonder why are you doing something as frivolous...

NaNoWriMo Advanced Word Count Calculator (charts, percentages, stats and more!)

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Oct 25, 2018 in Evergreen, My Writing, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) | 11 comments

I know that some of you out there are as obsessive as me when it comes to trying to figure out how far along you are in National Novel Writing Month so I decided to share my personal calculator. It’s simple but powerful. This calculator will work in Open Office, Microsoft Excel or Google Drive, depending on what you use. But it works best in Google...