Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo!

As you guys may know, try I’m taking a slightly different approach to the official month. Instead of writing a full 50K novel, hospital I’ll be working to reach 20K words on my 80K novel. Throughout the month, page I’ll be focusing on reaching my personal goal, and focusing on making the best novel that I can make. I’ll be talking about writing advice, and you’ll get to know my characters and my story over the course of the month.

To read about the NaNoWriMo: What A Nerd Girl Says Version, click this link.

My dear contributor, Christina Marie, is also participating but in the full challenge. She’ll be a little absent this month, but you can check her out on her own blog, where she’ll be writing as often as she can, and will probably be posting updates of her own journey during this month.

Now today’s post, as I embark on this journey, I will be doing various posts through out the month. Today is day one. Which means its time to jump in. No wading in, I gotta jump in.

I’ve already written some, which I *will* be counting towards my goal of 20K, and now I’m ready to dive in. I have all that I need!

So today I’m talking about where I write, and what I need to write.

This is where I write: on my Macbook, on my TV tray in my room. I wish I had a desk but the living situation I’m in doesn’t provide for that. I write in Microsoft Office, though I HAVE been contemplating using Scrivener. For now though, this is where I write! My goal is to have a desk one day, where I can stare at a blank wall OR stare at my writing advice poster.

These are my notebooks. The brown and teal one is what I write in when I need to take a break from the computer. Sometimes I get on the computer and I get distracted by Facebook or Tumblr or writing for the blog, or just talking to all of you guys! I love doing all of that BUT sometimes I need to just and write and not focus on anything else, so that’s when the notebook comes in.

Its also a good place for me to take down notes, to remind myself later of an idea that has suddenly come to me. I also write snippets there too, like if the scene I’m working on isn’t going well, I’ll work on another scene. It usually helps me a lot and maybe answers questions about what is going on in previous scenes. So that’s what the scene is for.

The blue notebook is my Book Bible, which incidentally, is absolutely empty right now. The novel that I’m working on right now is a sort of urban sci-fi (or as Jessica Brody calls it “sci-fi lite” or “softcore sci-fi”-both of which cracked me up). I’ve only ever done contemporary because its so much easier to keep track of, while writing. With a sci-fi, things start to get confusing! Jessica Brody talked about creating a Story Bible, which is something they use in TV shows, to sort of keep track of characters and plot, the world, etc. I’ll have more on this when I do a post on Story Bibles on the 8th. Hopefully I will have more of it done by the end, and I can share more!

I can’t STAND to have quiet when I’m writing. Most writers, it seems, need quiet when they are writing, probably in order to concentrate on what they are doing. I swear, I can’t do that. I can’t do quiet. If you’ve ever read Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen, one of the main characters, Owen says “Silence is so loud.” For me, that’s true. Silence is distracting to me, and I don’t like it. So I always either have music playing, or a TV show/movie in the background.

When I listen to music, I tend to things that sort of put me in the mood for that scene. I’ve just really started doing the whole “novel playlists” or “character playlists” but I’m liking it. By distinguishing different songs for characters, I feel more in connect with them. The song above is for Katy, my main character. She has more emo, thrashing, hardcore, type of music and when you meet her, you’ll know why. Other characters will have different music, but I will be sharing that on the 20th, so stay tuned to that.

I also like watching TV shows or movies. I never watch anything new while I’m doing it, because that is incredibly distracting. I like to watch something I’m already familiar with. I don’t necessary have to pay attention and its a nice background noise. I need me some background noise.

I NEED water when I write. Most people are all “coffee, coffee, coffee” but not me. I kind of have a low tolerance for caffeine, especially coffee. If I have coffee, I can feel my heart speed up, and I am all shaky and I get all wired, and then I come crashing down. Maybe if I built up a tolerance/addiction to coffee, it’d be different. As it is, I need water. I always have a water bottle (or two, or three) with me while I’m writing, and often times, at least four empties too.

I also usually have a snack too. I don’t have one right now, which is probably why I’m a little cranky. I need to get a snack before I dive into actual writing. I’ve heard of some authors rewarding themselves with chocolate when they reach a certain amount of words, but I just dive in. I am like, hmm, this bag of Hershey’s kisses is a brilliant idea to get the writing juices going.

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So now that I’m all set up for writing, its time to dive in. Well, I need to track down a snack (actually, probably a full meal since I am so rumbly in my tumbly), but then I’m ready to jump in.

I wish you all luck in NaNoWriMo and with your own writing. I hope you all reach your goals. Remember, we’re all here for each other, so don’t hesitate to email me, or FB me or Tweet at me, if you’re feeling down or need some help! Its going to be a journey this month!

Where do you write? How do you write? Do you need snacks or anything like I do? Share in the comments below!