June Writing Challenge Announcement – Join Me!

Published on May 25, 2020May 25, 2020 by Jessica C Writes8 Comments

Today I am making a super fun announcement to tell you all about the writing challenge I have created for myself (and for you guys) for the month of June!

Starting on June 1st, I will be challenging myself to spend one hour every single day on my writing.

I have always loved to write. I have started multiple different novels, I have written tons of short stories, and I am constantly jotting down lines for poems on my notes app. But, I never really prioritized it. I always told myself “when I have more time, I’ll finally finish that novel” and “I’ll work on that manuscript one day.”

I have no excuses now. The majority of us are currently practicing social distancing, meaning we are staying home pretty much every day. I know I definitely am. Now is the perfect time to finally commit myself to writing. I am done with school until the fall semester, and I don’t really have many responsibilities right now.

So, I created this challenge and shared it with you guys on Instagram and Twitter! So many of you told me that you are going to be joining me, and it was so incredible to see. I am even more excited to be doing this now, and I even created a few extra weekly challenges to make this more of a group endeavor! Feel free to do these if you want (and share them on social media if you are comfortable), but do not feel pressured if you do not want to!

If you want to share your progress or challenges on social media, be sure to use the hashtag ‘#HourToWrite’ so I can see your post!

I decided not to have any word count goals or writing prompts because I want this to be as stress-free as possible. Use your hour every day to work at your own pace- maybe you are stuck at one scene and all you can write is a couple of sentences. Maybe you’re revising the first draft of your novel, so your word count doesn’t change much throughout the month. That is ok!

I also created a Discord group chat for you all to join if you want a place to chat with others about writing!

Also, I am posting updates and other things on my Instagram and Twitter, so be sure to follow me on those if you want to keep up :)

Please let me know in the comments if you will be participating in this challenge, and tell me about what you’re going to be writing :)

I’m Participating in Camp NaNo?!

Published on July 9, 2019July 8, 2019 by Jessica C Writes2 Comments

Hey, loves! We are one week into July on the day that I’m writing this and… I decided to join Camp NaNo.

This was a very last-minute decision for me (clearly, as we’re already a week into the month), but I really wanted to make some serious progress on my novel. I’m not expecting to finish it. In fact, I’m not even expecting to make it 1/2 way through.

I am working mainly on a novel I started back in November for NaNo. I am currently at 21.5k words after reworking my outline and deleting some scenes that no longer fit. My goal is to hit 30k words on this WIP.

I think this will be totally manageable, as it’s less than 9,000 words total.

In addition to this, I am also working on outlining a second novel that I just recently got the idea for. I am hoping to get it outlined by the end of the summer so that I can start writing it for this coming NaNo. Once I’m back at school, I will have less time for planning, so I want to get as much of it done now.

The story is a YA contemporary, but since a lot of the plot is currently being reconstructed, I won’t say too much just yet. Here is a little snippet, though:

I’m hoping to do some writing vlogs, too, so definitely check out my Youtube if you are interested in those!

Are you participating in Camp NaNo? Let me know what you’re working on in the comments below :)

Writer’s Block and Finding Inspiration- A Discussion // Blogmas Day 20

Published on December 20, 2018May 16, 2019 by Jessica C Writes9 Comments

Inspiration. This is something I struggle with constantly. Where does it come from and how do I keep it?

I haven’t exactly found the answer to this yet.

Personally, I deal with writer’s block constantly, and I am always looking for new sources of inspiration. As someone who loves to write, I find this to be incredibly frustrating. When looking at writers I look up to, it seems as though they are able to constantly produce content and never burn out.

I, on the other hand, go through periods where I can write for hours everyday, and then I’ll go weeks without writing at all. I hate the inconsistence, but I haven’t been able to commit to a daily schedule. Life and other commitments just get in the way sometimes.

So, how do you handle this?

Remember that it’s ok to take a break

Breaks are necessary. It’s important not to overwork yourself because you’ll end up burned out really quickly. I do not believe that a writer must write everyday. Sure, it definitely helps. But as long as you are practicing your craft often enough, at least 4-5 times a week, then you are fine. I’ve definitely even had extended periods where I didn’t write outside of school because I just couldn’t.

That doesn’t mean I’m not a writer. Exhaustion will not produce your best work. So take a nap, meditate, go for a run, etc. Writing can be done at any time.

…But don’t take too long

Yes, it is important to take a break sometimes, but don’t use it as an excuse for not writing. I am definitely guilty of this. I tell myself that I need a break or I need some time to rest, and then I never end up writing.

Sometimes you just need to force yourself to pick up that pen and paper. You don’t always need INSPIRATION necessarily, you just need MOTIVATION.

Usually the hardest part of doing anything is actually starting. If you have been dealing with “writer’s block” for a while now, then I want you to go and pick up a pen/pencil/marker/crayon/whatever and just w r i t e.

Let out whatever it is you’ve been holding in. Yes, you. Right now.

You might find that once you start, you won’t be able to stop, and you’ll forget why you were struggling so much before.

Remind yourself why you love it

Why are you writing to begin with? Writing is hard, and can be very painful at times. But if you’re doing it because it’s something you love to do, then you can push through the unbearable parts.

Just taking the time to remind yourself of this can be very beneficial. It can be the extra push you need.

Where I get inspiration:

My inspiration comes from a variety of sources, and it usually changes every time I write. But, here is a list of common places I get it from because I feel like it could be very useful

past poems/stories i’ve written
other poets
lines from books
song lyrics (this is a big one)
conversations i overhear
life experiences
pictures
dictionary- finding synonyms of random words (sounds strange but works)
movies
going outside for fresh air

I am a firm believer that consuming media allows you to create better. You learn from others, and you also develop your own style. You find what you like, as well as what you don’t, and use that to make your own art.

Where do you get inspiration? Leave me a comment letting me know down below! I love to hear the process that other writer’s go through :)

Poetry Collection #5 // Blogmas Day 13

Published on December 13, 2018May 16, 2019 by Jessica C Writes4 Comments

I’ve been extremely into poetry recently, so I thought I’d share some more of it on here (even though I just did recently).

If you didn’t check out the last installment of this series, you can click here to do so.

I revealed that I started a poetry instagram account on that post, so if you want to follow it, you can do that here :)

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments! If you write poetry, please feel free to share it with me, too!

Poetry Collection #4 // Blogmas Day 4

Published on December 4, 2018May 16, 2019 by Jessica C Writes1 Comment

Sooo.

I made a poetry account!

If you’ve been following me for a while, you would know that I love to write poetry, and it’s something that I’ve been doing for a while. I’ve shared my work here in the past, and I will continue to do so from time to time, but I wanted to take it more seriously.

One of my life goals is to publish a book, and more specifically, I would love to publish a poetry collection. I want to work on my craft and actually share the pieces I’m proud of more often.

If you would like to follow it, click here! I will be posting multiple times a week, and it is something I really hope you guys will enjoy.

I tried to be pretty unique with my theme, and so far, I’m loving it! Let me know what you think :)

Here are the first two posts, if you want to get a bit of a sense of what it looks like!

I hope you guys enjoy these poems and consider following my new account. It would mean so much to me :) Have a beautiful day!

NaNoWriMo Week 2 Update- Spoiler Alert: Things Are Getting Tough

Published on November 15, 2018May 16, 2019 by Jessica C Writes2 Comments

Another week of November has passed, which means we are 1/2 way through NaNo (and I’m posting this on my birthday)!

The first week of NaNo went really well for me, which you can read all about in my week 1 update.

Unfortunately, the second week has been very far from successful. The second week is hard for everyone, especially if you’re not used to writing so much everyday (like me). I lost my momentum, and I felt like I was spiraling down with no way to stop myself.

For the first two days of this second week, I was just extremely busy and only managed to get about 600 words in each day. That meant I was very far behind, and catching up is extremely hard to do when you’re supposed to be hitting 1.6k words a day.

The next two days were pretty good, and I wrote over 2k words for both of them! But, I was still behind by over 1k words.

The next day was my worst day up to this point. I only wrote 200 words, and I was feeling super discouraged. Plus, school was starting to catch up with me and I was feeling very anxious because of it. I was probably almost 4k words behind at this point.

Things just didn’t look good for me when it came to NaNo.

BUT

I’m here to remind you not to give up. NaNo is hard. Writing in general is HARD. Even though writing has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember, it is still work. Which means there are going to be days where I’m not going to feel like writing at all. And that’s okay.

This week was full of ups and downs for me. I had some of my worst writing days this week, but I also managed to hit my highest word count in a day (over 3k words!).

I’m still behind on the target word count, but I’m not giving up!

I have decided to change gears a bit with NaNo, and although I’m still going to shoot for 50k, my goal now is just to write everyday. Even if that means putting down 20 words and stopping there, I’m okay with that.

After all, the whole point of NaNo is just to write and be surrounded by a community of people who like to write, too.

I hope you are all having a successful NaNo, which to me means making any progress on your novel at all.

Good luck with the next fifteen days, and remember- you automatically win NaNo just for trying :)

NaNoWriMo Tracking & Reward System | Week 1 Update

Published on November 7, 2018May 16, 2019 by Jessica C Writes11 Comments

Hello everyone! Today marks one week of NaNoWriMo! I’m happy to say that I’m actually surviving, and I’m on target with my word count. I didn’t know if I would even make it this far, so I’m extremely proud of myself and all that I’ve accomplished. I’m past 10k words at this point! That is so crazy to me.

I didn’t realize that all I needed to get myself to write was a bit of a push. I wish that I had forced myself to participate in NaNo in the past, like I did this year. Maybe I could have written multiple novels by now.

I think what’s really helping me is my tracking and reward system! If you didn’t see my last post, you can check it out here. I mentioned the Lightspeed Planner, which I have been using since the start of the month. I am absolutely loving it! I would highly recommend checking it out and possible buying one for yourself.

Here is what a blank page looks like:

How I use it for NaNo:

Each day looks slightly different, but I always write my word count goal in either the “must do” or the “should do” spot because it is a huge priority for me. I don’t plan on ever putting it in the “could do” category unless I absolutely have more important things taking up my time. If it’s in the “should do” category, it’s because I have a big homework assignment that I need to complete before I can write. Otherwise, it always goes in the “must do.”

As for the notes section, I use that to track my actual progress. I write down how many words I started the day with, then I write how many I ended with. On the right side, I put down the total words written that day. If I am on target for NaNo, I give myself a star sticker for that day. I really want to keep that streak going and have a star every single day, so this is another motivating factor. The planner also has a little pocket in the back, so I can keep all of my stickers with me!

In the planner, there is also a performance tracker. You can rate yourself on a scale from 10-100% based off of how well you performed in a given day. The way I use it is that every 10%=200 words. Therefore, 100% means I wrote 2000 words! It’s very hard for me to write 2k words in a day, so I haven’t yet reached this. However, it motivates me to push myself so that I can get as high up as possible. My highest was 90% one day, which I am extremely proud of!

Rewards System:

The back of the planner contains some pages for you to set your goals. I’m using this as a rewards system for each milestone I hit in NaNo. Here’s how it looks:

10k words- Chick-fil-a trip
25k words- clothes shopping
40k words- buy myself a book
50k words- get the new Kindle Paperwhite!!

This has been a great way to push myself to keep going. I want the Kindle Paperwhite so bad, so I’m only letting myself get it once I hit 50k words. Ideally, this would be by November 30th, meaning I won NaNo. However, if I don’t make it, I’m still going to use this to make sure I finish this draft after NaNo is over!

I really hope you guys enjoyed this post! I am loving my system and how well it’s been working for me so far. Let me know if you have a system of your own and how it works for you, cause I’m always open to new ideas.

Also, check out the lightspeed planner, which you can buy here!

My NaNoWriMo 2018 plans // pt. 2

Published on October 24, 2018May 16, 2019 by Jessica C Writes3 Comments

Hello everyone! This is the second part of my NaNoWriMo 2018 series, so if you haven’t read the first one you can click here to do that. In the first part, I talked about my goals for prepping before NaNo, and I have definitely been working on those. They are not completely done yet, but I still have a week of October left, so I know I will get them all done before November begins.

In this post, I want to talk a bit about my outlining process and explain what my novel is about!

I am calling it “Project X” for now, because it does not have an official title yet. From now on, that is what I will be referring to it as! Some of you may remember that over the summer I was working on a writing project with the same name. That project sort of turned into this one, so that’s why I am keeping the name. I combined some ideas into one, but the concept as a whole is brand new.

What is it about?

The story follows Summer as she goes to visit her father in New Jersey for the months before she begins her freshman year of college. Her father has a new girlfriend, she starts a new job, and she’s going to be moving to a new state soon. All of these changes are happening way too fast for her. Until one day she runs into Noah and starts to fall for him. He might be the only thing keeping her from reaching her breaking point. However, they’re both hiding something from each other. Can a relationship still form despite the secrets? Or will it end in disaster for both of them?

The story is still forming and a lot can change! However, this is the main gist of it. It is definitely going to be more of a character driven story, and I hope to make the reader feel very connected to at least one person. Their personalities are all so different, and they each go through a lot of growth throughout the book. Let me know what you think of it :)

Outlining Process

Outlining is so much fun for me, but it takes a long time and requires a lot of work. I have been using a notebook to outline, because I like to have a physical form of the story- it feels more personal and almost like a work of art to me.

I started with a short summary, and then created pages for my main characters. This took a lot of time, because each character is so unique and requires my full attention. I’m glad I took the time for this though, because I know my characters so well now and how they will react in different situations. It will be a lot easier to write them because of this.

I then decided about how many chapters I wanted the story to be, and I wrote out different plot points and events that I want to occur on post-it notes. This is very helpful because I can stick them on different pages, but move them around if necessary. Starting with the first chapter, I wrote out some bullet points of what would happen in each chapter. I am almost midway through at this point (I plan to have 28 chapters), so I just have a little bit more work to do.

It’s a little hard to describe how I outline through words, it would be much easier to talk about in video form, so I suggest checking out some authors on Youtube who talk about how they outline!

The story is really starting to come together, and I am excited to see where it goes, once I actually begin writing!

Are any of you participating in NaNo this year? Let me know what kind of story you’re writing down in the comments (if you feel comfortable). Good luck!

My NaNoWriMo 2018 Plans // pt. 1

Published on October 15, 2018May 16, 2019 by Jessica C Writes15 Comments

November is right around the corner, and if you’re a writer you know what that means- it’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) time! Basically, the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month. It is incredibly difficult and requires a lot of work, but can be done.

I have tried participating in the past, but always occurred at times in my life where I was too busy or lacked inspiration. However, I have been really focusing on writing and making it a bigger priority over the past few months because it is something I want to spend my life doing.

I have already begun prepping for NaNo this month with a new storyline. The majority of my outline is still blank because I had just started figuring everything out but I have a ton of ideas. I just need to organize them and put them in the correct sequence.

My goals for October are…

Finish the outline: Obviously this is incredibly important for me because I am NOT a pantser. I need to have my stories outlined and planned, or else my life will fall apart and I will go crazy.
Create a writing playlist: This is something I have high on my list because it would be so helpful. I think music while writing really sets the vibe and helps you get into the mood of your story. I know not everyone likes this, but for me it is extremely important.
Begin some writing: School is a lot of work. I didn’t believe people when they said college is hard. I knew it would be, but I didn’t think it would be as bad as it’s been. So, I want to start some of the writing (which I know is kind of cheating) so that I don’t get unmotivated or beat myself up on the days that I don’t have as much time to write.

I have a lot of work to do to prepare for the upcoming month, but I am excited to get started with a serious writing project again!

I will update you guys at the end of the month and give you my outlining process and a glimpse into what my novel is going to be about! For now, this is all I’ve got for you :)

Let me know in the comments if you are participating in NaNo this year!

A Reflection on My First Week of College

Published on October 3, 2018May 16, 2019 by Jessica C WritesLeave a comment

Before you read this, I just have one thing to say!

I originally had no intent to ever post this. I wrote what I was feeling because I felt like I had no one to talk to and I really needed to let this all out.

I am now in my fifth week of school, and I feel a whole lot better. I’m getting used to it, making great friends, and doing well in all of my classes. I might even be starting to love it! There really is an adjustment period, so if you are feeling the same way as I was, just give it time.

And for everyone who is not in college yet and is reading this, don’t worry. It’s not as bad as I made it seem. I tend to exaggerate things (a lot), and I feel completely different about school now.

Ok, on with this little open letter!

—————————————————————-

I hate it.

I was anticipating this for months. Living on campus, being surrounded by friends, going out all the time, having freedom and more time to do whatever I like.

Instead, I feel stressed. Anxious. Lonely. Different.

I always relied on my ability to handle change and adapt to any and all circumstances. This is a change that I was excited for- I literally counted down the days. But I feel so lost. Like I’m missing a part of myself and don’t know how to get it back. Everyone around me seems to be doing so well. People have already made the friendships that they’re going to keep for life.

I feel like I’m so behind and having a hard time adjusting while everyone else has it so smooth sailing.

For the first time in my life, I miss home. I miss my room. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I even miss high school. That is a sentence I never thought would come out of my mouth.

I have always seen people older than me post about their experiences online and they all look like they are having the time of their life. That is the experience I wanted. I want to love this school so much that I’ll miss it when I’m home for breaks. But I can’t see that happening.

I know it takes time. Everyone tells me that. But it just doesn’t feel like it will change.

I’m trying to stay positive, but it can be really hard sometimes. Here’s to hoping next week gets better.

Xo, Jess