Staying productive and motivated as a writer is hard, which is why over the years I have tried a wide range of writing productivity tools, from gamified writing websites and focus apps to online writing communities and cozy background “games.” Some helped me write more, while others were interesting but ultimately did not fit my vibe, budget, or mindset. 

In this post, I review the writing tools I have tried to stay motivated, explain what did and did not work, and give some recommendations. Particularly indicated for those on a potato PC who struggle more with motivation/consistency than distraction.

Websites and communities 

4thewords (Personal score: ☆ – 4/5)

4thewords is a gamified writing platform where you defeat monsters by writing words. Different session lengths let you choose between quick sprints or long battles, with rewards like loot, outfits, and furniture for your in-game house. You can also enjoy seasonal events that always introduce new settings and monsters. On the community side, there is  an active forum, and some users stream battles live on platforms like Twitch. 
The website offers a free tier (with limitations on some functions), monthly and yearly subscriptions, and a lifetime plan. It’s very inclusive and accessible too: you can write offline in your usual software and copy-paste your words later to receive rewards. 
I used this platform regularly when they had no free tier. While I really appreciate the free option, the subscription prices have overall doubled in the last few years. Then, the weak yen has basically doubled them again. Additionally, once the free tier launched, I realized I wasn’t using the website enough to justify paying.
I like the concept of the website, the variety of sessions, and the seasonal goods.
However, the website felt like too much for me. Too many events, too little time on my part, and constant pressure to keep up. Falling behind made me eventually just… give up. That said, I do think it’s a great tool if you have a different mindset and enjoy challenges, have a regular and plentiful writing schedule, and like high-energy gamification. With the free tier, why not give it a try? 
If you ever decide to subscribe, use my referral code JDFFP69866 for some extra benefits!

Lifeat.io (Personal score: ☆☆☆ – 2/5, pricing & clarity issues)

Lifeat is an immersive digital workspace based on Attention Restoration Theory (ART), which suggests that spending time in nature-like environments helps restore cognitive resources. After a quick registration, you have access to a variety of virtual rooms, ambient sounds, and widgets designed for productivity. 
I discovered this website back when they first launched and loved it. Unfortunately many of the features I liked (such as shared spaces) have been locked behind a monthly subscription (see hate above). Additionally, the website is very unclear about the differences between free and paid tiers.  This lack of transparency is a red flag to me, and there are also some Trustpilot reports about subscription cancellation issues (to be taken with a grain of salt, like all claims). Lifeat also includes a few AI-generated characters, which might be a dealbreaker for some.
Some environment are genuinely very relaxing, and the software runs smoothly even on my potato PC, so I still use it occasionally. It might be great if you are up for committing financially to an all-in-one workspace. 

Shut up and Write community meetings (Personal score: ☆ – 4/5)

Shut Up & Write is exactly what it sounds like: people meet (online or in person) to… just write. No critiques, no reading, no chatting: just a brief intro, focused writing time, and a short check‑in at the end. In some cases people stay to socialize, but you can also just leave.  
I have to partially credit this community for helping me finish my doctoral thesis. In 2023-2024, I attended dozens of online sessions with Japan-based writers, and got an incredible amount of work done. I also occasionally used the sessions for creative work. 
Because the community is global, it is relatively easy to find sessions that fit your time zone and schedule. The absence of reading/critiquing also makes it ideal for writers working across languages, introverts, and those with limited time. Online participation is also free, you just need online conference software like Zoom or Teams.
The local Tokyo branch is still active, but now meets in person on weekday mornings, unfortunately for office-worker me. I occasionally join groups in other time zones, but I think the energy is a bit different when it’s morning for them and late evening for me. Still, I think this is a great tool for those who struggle with motivation and need gentle accountability.

Apps and games 

Forest (Personal score: ☆☆ – 3/5, subscription issues)

Forest is a focus timer extension/app. Choose a plant, set a time, and don’t touch your phone or browser or the plant dies. Completed sessions earn coins to unlock new plants or support plenting trees in the real world.
The app used to be a one-time affordable purchase, but its move to a subscription model drastically downgraded its appeal for me.  
Before that, I used this app occasionally and enjoyed its cute visuals as a timer. However, my main struggle is motivation, not distraction, so it was never the best option for me, and it took too long to get any reward.

On Together (Personal score: ☆☆☆ – 2/5, performance on potato PC)

On Together is a virtual co-working space with cute environments and avatars. Basically, an accountability crowd cuter and cozier than Shut Up and Write, but no metaverse weirdness. You can run it full screen or as transparent overlay on the corner of your screen. You can also set timers, and engage in fun activities and light socialization on the side if someone’s available. 
I really wanted to love it, so much that I downloaded the demo, but my potato PC just could not. The fans immediately started fighting for their lives and I had to quit after 10 minutes. If you have a decent computer, though, it’s a lovely concept for people who want a co-working vibe at home.

Ithya: Magic Studies (Personal score: ☆ – 4/5)

Ithya is one of the productivity tools that has stuck the longest so far. Mainly, you set focus sessions and earn coins to customize your character and room. You can also unlock new locations (all with various weathers), and collect adorable elementals. There are also a built-in tools like diary, to-do list, and tracker. Finally, you can listen to in-game unique music (to be fair, I listen to my own archive, so I can’t judge the selection). It runs smoothly on my potato PC and works on a one-time payment model, a huge plus for me. You are also supporting a small developer.
My only real complaints are 1) not being able to play my own music in-game and 2) needing Steam  (which requires internet access) to run the app. Otherwise, I love the cozy fantasy vibe, the cute lanky main character, and the overall relaxing atmosphere. If fantasy settings appeal to you, it’s well worth trying. If you don’t want to commit right away, you can check Blue Turtle’s work on YouTube to get a better idea of the vibe.

Habitica (personal score:☆☆ – 3/5, great but not for me)

Habitica is an app that gamifies task scheduling and tracking with RPG-like mechanics. Complete tasks  and you’ll gain experience and gold to personalize your character: fail tasks and you will lose stats. The app is free, with in-app purchases for certain items and features. 
I like the idea and the retro aesthetic, but in practice… it just gives me anxiety. Losing health does not motivate me, it just makes me avoid the app altogether (I sense a trend here). Still, it’s a good and free option. Some people even use it to gamify simple daily tasks for kids or students. 

There are still many other tools that I would like to try one day (next on the list is the game/productivity app Gogh), so drop your suggestions below! 

The post Writing productivity tools that actually worked for me (and some that didn’t) appeared first on Words and Pens.

The New Year has arrived, and so has the 2026 goal setting. Am I two months late to this topic? Yes, but I promise it is still relevant to (as per title) personal writing craft websites.

While I’ve always been very good at setting goals, particularly of the creative and ambitious kind (finish the big novel this year, write X words per day), I am much less good at seeing them through. And failure of reaching a goal in itself is not the end of failure. Failing to do something that you committed to do every day even just once makes you think that you might as well give up entirely. And creating rigid goals can make them become a chore that you’d rather avoid (says the BBC).

And no, I have not been able to find a goal that goes well with writing to apply the concept of “temptation bundling,” i.e. pairing a task you want to do with something immediately pleasurable. Can’t indulge in food as I gain weight just by breathing, and writing doesn’t pair well with the divided attention necessary for tasks like exercise or movie watching (I also don’t have space for any machine in my 35 sqm apartment that also shakes when you walk, as my neighbors with a toddler like to ignore). 

I do think that, unfortunately, some level of routine is important in writing. If you’re not sat at the table, the muse can’t find you.
But also, some of us have hectic lives. Some of us have hobbies besides writing to keep us sane, and those hobbies don’t follow a regular schedule. Some have too much on their plate to write every day. Sometimes we commute for two hours every day in trains packed as sardine boxes and can’t just use that time to write (hello from Tokyo). 

My 2026 goals

So, back in January, I decided to only have two small objectives for 2026. The first is, write more. No quantities or days. Just more than last year (which was probably 20000 words, if that).
I also figured that two additional decisions could help me support this habit building this year. 

Decision one: writing an easier novel.  By “easier,” I mean a project with a smaller cast, and a simpler structure. My objective is to finish a first scrappy, zero draft of one such novel. I have two candidates. Number one is “Novel N,” which has a straightforward plot with some experimenting and some plot holes to fill. Number two is “Novel O,” which is 60% done but needs major restructuring. 
This is not a retreat from ambition. My magnum opus – let’s call it “Novel I” – will not disappear. But a technically demanding yet rarely touched project has less writing than a more doable one that invites return. I hope that the outcome will be pages that can be edited and worked on. It will be enough for now – after all, you can not run a marathon without any training.  

Decision two: attempt to participate in a couple of contests, for either poetry or short novels. I don’t plan to win: I plan to have a deadline. I am already a bit behind on this, but I believe I can catch up. The power of a deadline is one of the few things that helped me finish my doctorate (more on other things in a future post). 

The second objective is, update this blog more. Once again, no specific targets, just more than before — this means that even five posts per year would qualify. 

But why care about this blog?  As someone said in a post I read somewhere, personal websites and blogs are dead.
Well, hard disagree. 

In defense of the personal writing craft website

It’s true that social media platforms, particularly long-form ones like Medium, are better for content discovery. They make it easier to find interesting authors, particularly when they learn your taste and start feeding you good stuff. But I miss personal websites. I LIKE personal websites. The layout and color scheme already tell the visitor a lot about the creator. The content is less standardized, and there’s no platform rules to follow. I love a good blog that mixes craft suggestions, reviews, and personal anecdotes, even when such a mish-mash doesn’t jive with algorithms. I don’t even mind the author trying to sell me something, as long as it’s not ALL THE TIME. 
After all, where else can I make a post about New Year’s goals IN FEBRUARY? 

This is whay I pay for. A space that is all mine, where I can host my thoughts without a care for rules and optimization. A place for me to talk about something I like, when no one else wants to listen. And while “publish in one place, syndicate everywhere” works for educational or instructional content… sometimes you just need to yap in the void. 
I started thinking about personal websites that I like and still visit regularly, and what I like about them. They all have in common the things I mentioned above – defined aesthetics, and craft content mixed with personal anectodes. So, as much as I am always writing the book I would love to read, I would also like to create the blog I would love to visit.

If you’re interested in writing craft blogs, I added a list of blogs that I love in this page. If you also own such a website, add the link in the comments and I will come visit (comments are moderated to avoid spam).  
Bonus points if you talk about New Year’s goals in February.

The post On 2026 goals and in defense of writing craft websites appeared first on Words and Pens.

On the last weekend of November, I attended the Japan Writers’ Conference 2025 (JWC for short), and I finally have time to sit down and write about it! This post is just a diary of my experience, with some highlights on the things I liked. 

A bit of Japan Writers Conference history

I’ve known about JWC since 2022. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go until this year because the conference was held outside of Tokyo and I don’t have access to any funding to participate. Japan Writers Conference 2025 took place at the International Christian University (ICU) campus. Bureaucratically speaking, ICU is just outside of Tokyo Metropolis in Mitaka City, which some might know because of the Ghibli Museum. However, the campus is easily accessible from Tokyo, even though it takes a bit to reach it. A train ride and a bus ride later, I was there. I had been to ICU before for a conference and it’s a beautiful campus, but the 紅葉 (kōyō , autumn colors in the leaves) made it even better. 

JWC content and my overall impressions

The conference had three concurrent panels at most times, divided in fiction/non-fiction, poetry, and miscellaneous. The presenters ranged from published authors with years of experience to newer voices, journalists, and educators. I attended panels in all three categories over the two days. 

Among the “Miscellany” panels, I particularly enjoyed Kris Kosaka’s panel on finishing your first draft. Both the speaker and the content were very motivational. 

I also really liked the poetry panels. Learning the “Volta” technique with Chantae Bryant was fun, and I heard about the Tokyo Poetry Journal (ToPoJo) for the first time. I purchased their volume dedicated to visual poetry, and found a lot of inspiration for my own poetry. Maybe I’ll try submitting to their next call if I can find or produce any poetry related to the theme!

The fiction panels were also interesting. I mostly chose the ones related to plot/structure, but I also attended panels on other topics. I particularly enjoyed Jan Cornall’s panel dedicated to meditation techniques. It was something that I had never tried before, and it seemed potentially interesting to start off a writing session. I want to try more of it in the future, maybe I’ll write a detailed post about it! 

Attending the fiction/non-fiction panels, I was honestly surprised at how much I already know. Not saying that the panels weren’t useful! There’s always something new to learn. I was just surprised that I already knew a lot about some of the topics discussed. For example, I was familiar with several of the plot structures or editing techniques cited.
This was important for me because so many of the speakers felt so accomplished in their life or career, while I’m the total opposite. All of my life is a constant struggle to nowhere with very little reward no matter the effort, so it was good to see that I am least knowledgeable! 

Some interesting snippets for you from my notes:

• What novels do you admire? This can be different from novels you enjoy (Kris Kosaka)
• A world is not a story (Eli K.P. William)
• Convert craft books you read to a set of questions and checklists, identifying what is valuable to you. Create your own worksheets of them. (Michael Pronko)
• When editing something inside a line, also put a little mark on the margin, to make sure you don’t miss that edit when you rewrite (Ramsey Lundock)
• One example of different plot structures coming from different (non-Western) cultures is the Japanese Kishōtenketsu in four acts (Ian M. Rogers)

If you’re curious about JWC, recordings of the panels will be uploaded on the JWC YouTube Channel. Some are already up! There were times when concurrent panels all sounded very interesting, so I’m looking forward to the recordings myself!

I didn’t really talk to people because I’m overall an introvert and I like to be in my head, but if you were at JWC and happen to find this post… hi! I hope you had fun and that we can both participate next year too! Feel free to comment with your impressions (comments are moderated to avoid spam).

With the year coming to an end, I’ve been thinking about 2026 for this blog and my creative journey. Lots of thoughts going around the nogging, we’ll see where they lead!

The post Japan Writers Conference 2025: a short report appeared first on Words and Pens.

If you are interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and creative writing, by now you have heard of Sam Altman’s declarations on OpenAI being good at creative writing. 

If you haven’t, here’s a summary. A while ago, Altman stated that OpenAI created a model “good at creative writing” and that it was “the first time I have been really struck by something written by AI.”
The something in question was (in my completely personal opinion) a nicely written, decent, yet bland short story produced by OpenAI at the prompt “Please write a metafictional literary short story about AI and grief.” Some people way more knowledgeable than me reviewed it negatively here and here and here (honor mention for something tangentially related), but some people liked it!
This topic has been very intriguing to me, so I decided to yap about it. This is part 1 of… how many parts I will see fit.  

Now, I’m not a luddite when it comes to GenAI. I do think that its aptitude at pattern analysis can help with important things like medical research and disaster relief. It can help with productivity sometimes: I will use it to turn my research paper into a presentation I can edit, and I will let it write office e-mails that are a complete waste of my time. There are probably other good applications out there. However, I have concerns about environmental costs, copyright, and the impact on the job market, particularly for artists. There is also the question of craft as part of artistic production, but this is a discussion for another day.

The problem with AI and creative writing

At the end of things, current Generative AI (GenAI) is just a big statistical model. A good one, but all it does is predict based on what the majority of humans has already done. Once again, I’m not a tech expert, but more knowledgeable people talk about it (example, the book AI Snake Oil). So, can a statistical model be good at creative writing?

After all, much of the writing out there (including mine) is just a variation of something already written, isn’t it? They say there is only a finite number of plots out there. I can see how GenAI and ChatGPT in particular can produce a passable, generic, simple text. And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying simplicity sometimes, and I say this without snobbish undertones.

But where is the author’s soul? Where is the life experience and feelings and world views and principles and ideals that guide an author or poet to choose a specific word? Or to make a specific choice for a character’s personality? Where is the innovation? Not inside ChatGPT. 

This is why, when I read the article mentioned at the beginning of this post, I thought to myself “Really?”. And then decided to test Altman’s statement in my own way. 

Test 1: AI and “The Two-Headed Calf”

Maybe I was unfair, but I decided to start with the hardest task: poetry.

Now, Mr. Altman talked about a short story, not poetry. And not all short story authors are good at writing poems, and vice versa. But surely, this super powerful machine can handle a small poem, right? After all, research shows that to some, ChatGPT-generated poetry sounds better than human poetry. 

I have many favorite poems, but for this experiment I decided to use “The Two-Headed Calf” by Laura Gilpin. I partially chose it for its short length and plain language, but this is also hardly an original choice. This is a well-known, well-beloved poem, not a niche or obscure selection. The symbolism is easy to understand and has touched many. 

I love this poem. I’m not a literary critic, so I don’t have the best words to explain why, but I can try. For one, I realized that I tend to like poems that are hopeless and hopeful at the same time. Poems that encompass the ugliness and violence and tenderness and marvel of our world. I like to be reminded that even when you are in the darkest, deepest pit of despair, there is warmth and beauty and light somewhere, outside. Then, I love animals way more than people, so imagining the lamb is easy game, emotion wise. I also tend to prefer poetry that uses natural, simple language and no rhymes, as I find it less artificial. Finally, I was raised in a rural countryside, so the poem’s imagery is easy for me to picture from memory. 

Since I like this poem so much, imagine if there were endless poems where this comes from! So I asked Chat, can you write me a poem that is similar to/evokes the same feeling as this one. This was the answer:

Now, prompting is an important technique too, and my prompt might have not been the best. I would actually love to see a similar analysis from people who know more about prompting. But just as I was writing the prompt, an issue already arose. Feeling. What does AI know about feeling? Without a body to feel “a pit in the stomach,” “goosebumps,” and “heartache,” and with only the median knowledge of all humanity, what does it really know?

I don’t think the poem is terrible in terms of rhythm, word choice, etc. I do like the image of “curled like a question mark/soft as breath.” But ChatGPT didn’t even ask me what I liked or what feelings I felt about the poem. So how did it decide what I would like? How did it decide that this poem would have the same feelings as “The Two-Headed Calf”? And what feelings did it actually evoke with its own poem? Reading the answer, ChatGPT says “quiet, tender, and tragic-beautiful; a brief glimpse of life’s fragile wonder before it fades.” But that’s not all that the original poem is about.

ChatGPT has completely missed hope in its poem. The poor chick never had joy. Never opened its eyes to the world. We don’t even know for sure if it sang. The wonder and light don’t even come from the chick, they come from the shell. But in “The Two-Headed Calf,” the hope is loud and shining and boisterous: the calf is with his mother, beloved; the summer evening is perfect, with its gentle wind and soft moonlight; the sky the calf sees is a triumph of stars. We already know it will die and be put on display, but not now: now it’s alive and joyous and so, so loved.

Just as us. We all know one day we’ll die, but we are now alive in a world full of sadness and wretchedness but also of sweet summer evenings and millions of stars. The poem is as much about tragedy as it is about comfort and consolation and resilience. ChatGPT could not replicate that. A human, met with the same request, would have maybe written that tomorrow the chick will not wake up, but tonight he floats in its egg, warm, surrounded by soft rosy light and the steady heartbeat of its mama, dreaming of warm days and food a plenty, and of a head tucked under heavy, snug feathers.

Test 2: AI and the human experience

To be thorough, I ran another experiment. I asked for a poem about “resilience and self-love,” but without offering any starting inspiration. This was the result.

Now, compare this to a great, well-known poem on the same topic that I discovered during this experiment, “To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall” by Kim Addonizio. Such a beautiful poem, full of life experiences that so many women have had. You might not relate to all, but you definitely will relate to some. The looking for love in the wrong places, the struggle with self-esteem and unattainable beauty standards, the embarrassing experiences and rush of good chemicals connected to our physical bodies: all so raw, real and transmitted through simple yet powerful images. ChatGPT can only be and create the average of human experiences, and it’s thus generic, bland, and unfeeling.

Conclusion: AI is okay at recommendations

So, to conclude, no, ChatGPT is not good at creative writing, at least when it comes to poetry.

However, one thing ChatGPT was good at was giving me recommendations. When asked to give me a selection of similar poems, it did give me a couple of good titles that scratched the itch. Like, that cat poem? Instant heartbreak. And Elegy was great too. Humanity’s collective know-how was somewhat successful in this case: but, if you want a human touch, this post has some suggestions I liked more.

I do plan to continue experimenting with these claims about AI and creative writing. Maybe I should ask for a short novel next!

Let me know your thoughts via comment. Do you have prompts that you think would perform better? Have you run similar experiments yourselves?

The post Is AI good at creative writing? The answer, Mr. Altman, is no (Pt. 1) appeared first on Words and Pens.

Every year since 1999, thousands of people participate in the collective novel writing effort called NaNoWriMo. An event spanning so many years and with such a large community is bound to create its own dictionary. However, many NaNoWriMo vocabulary terms might confuse newcomers, curious onlookers and others. Preptober has started, and the NaNoWriMo gears are in motion. So, let’s explore together what some of the most commonly used words in the NaNoWriMo vocabulary mean!

(the words are in alphabetical order)

50k / 1667 words

The goal of NaNoWriMo, writing 50.000 words in a month. This 50.000 is often abbreviated to 50k, especially on social media. You might also see the number 1667 often: this is the number of words one needs to write each day to make it to 50.000 words in a month.
The 50.000 words can be a whole novel, or just part of it. According to WikiWrimo, the goal of 50k was chosen because it “is a difficult but doable goal, even for people with full-time jobs and children. The length makes it a short novel.”

Buddy

On the NaNoWriMo website, writers can send and receive friendship requests. A mutual friend becomes a buddy. A buddy will show up on your NaNoWriMo profile page in the “My Buddies” section, and you will be able to message them directly through the website.

Camp Nano / Cabin

Camp NaNoWriMo (often called Camp NaNo) is an event that is linked to NaNoWriMo, but also different. While NaNoWriMo takes place in November, Camp NaNo happens in April and July every year. Camp NaNo also lasts a month, but unlike NaNoWriMo there is no fixed objective, and the participants are free to decide what they want to work on and what their goals are. While the website currently only offers word count goals, writers are encouraged to work also on time or page goals. Until 2020, Camp NaNo also implemented a “Cabin” system; the Cabin was a group of writers that came together for a common goal and could enjoy a private forum to share their thoughts. Cabins have now been replaced by Groups, which can be used beyond Camp NaNo.

Municipal Liaison (ML)

MLs are NaNo volunteers who are in charge of a regional NaNoWriMo group. They help with regional forums and websites, events’ promotion, regional community creation, etc. Applications are open to all those of legal age, but are usually restricted to a specific period of the year.

NaNoFinMo

NaNoFinMo was another initiative associated with NaNoWriMo. It was officially promoted during CampNano April 2021 as a Camp “special track” to help writers who had started writing in November 2020 but did not finish their novel during NaNoWriMo. The objective, as the name suggests, was to finish your NaNoWriMo novel. While the program was linked to a specific CampNano, resources for it are still online and can be used for other camps. Some writers like to use these resources in February and March to finish their November novel, after a break.

NaNoWriMo / NaNo

If you stumbled on this page by chance, maybe you don’t know what NaNoWriMo means. According to the official website, NaNoWriMo started in 1999 “as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days”. The initiative started in the U.S. from a small group of writers, but became internet-famous over the years and now counts thousands of participants all over the world. Due to this success, NaNoWriMo officially became a nonprofit in 2006 and currently promotes creativity-related programs, on top of NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo. Participants can use the website to set their goals, track their way to 50.000 words and connect with other writers. Participation is free and participants submit their word count to the website, but can use whatever means they prefer to write.

Nano Rebel

According to NaNo rules, writers are supposed to start a fresh novel on November 1st. However, many people use NaNo to finish or revise an already existing novel; others might decide to write non-fiction, scripts, academic writing pieces etc. These people who don’t follow the rules are called “NaNo Rebels”. While writers might have different opinions on rebels and the website is mostly geared towards creative writing, NaNoWriMo accepts rebels. The Forums also offer resources specifically for rebels.

Pep Talk

Pep Talks are “inspirational letters written by well-known authors during NaNoWriMo” that all writers can read on the NaNoWriMo website.

Plotter/Planner, Pantser, Planter

Writers use these three words to describe different styles of writing. On the NaNoWriMo website, you can give yourself a badge to identify which style is the closest to yours.
A planner is someone who likes to prepare their novel meticulously before they start writing. This can include creating a detailed outline, having character profiles, and anything that can be planned before the actual writing.
A pantser is someone who “flies by the seat of their pants” and writes spontaneously, without any advanced planning.
A plantser is someone in-between the two worlds above, who likes to have a loose structure and also leave room for creativity.
There is no right or wrong here: each writing style will fit different type of people, depending on how their creative brains work. However, knowing what type of writer you are can help you decide how to best tackle NaNoWriMo: for example, if you are a planner you might want to spend lots of time prepping (see below), while if you’re a pantser you might need to spend more time editing your novel after it’s finished.

Prepping / Preptober

As NaNoWriMo can be a quite big undertaking, many writers like to use the preceding month to prepare for November. Because of this, October has become knows as Preptober. Preparing for NaNoWriMo, also called “Prepping”, can include all sort of things: creating an detailed outline for your novel, getting to know your characters, figure out a schedule for yourself… anything that can help you be more relaxed and successful in November!

Reverse NaNo

As the only thing determined in NaNoWriMo is the total quantity of words you have to write, there are various ways to go about it: most people seem to try and write the same amount of words every day.
In Reverse NaNo, you start with a bigger quantity of words, and you reduce the number little by little. This can be ideal for those that start with a lot of motivation but tend to lose it with time. According to Wikiwrimo, this method was created by user txteclipse and became very successful. There is also a word calculator for it (here’s another one) !

Sprint

You might hear this word a lot, especially if you like watching livestreams with authors coming together to write. A “sprint” is a “timed burst of focused writing” (words by Erika Bennett at Millcity Press). The idea is that many people become more productive if they know they have to focus only for a short amount of time; writing in sprints can also help you understand how fast you write. These are the same ideas behind the famous Pomodoro Technique, which many writers who “sprint” like to use. Sprints’ lengths can vary, but a common length is 20-25 minutes.

Streak

According to the dictionary, the definition of streak is “a continuous period of specified success or luck.” When it comes to writing, it usually counts how many days in a row a person has written. The NaNoWriMo website includes badges for streaks, which consist in updating the website with a word count for 2, 3, 17, 14, 21 and 30 days in a row.

Totem

The Totem is a concept that comes from Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo. As he wrote in “No Plot? No Problem!“, a totem is any wearable item that can help a writer be inspired and get in the mood of flow of writing: a hat, a t-shirt, a scarf… all writers are encouraged to have one! NaNoWriMo also sells t-shirts and other wearable items every year (not sponsored, I own some of them because they look cool!)

Tracker

Keeping track of your word count and/or your sprints can be fundamental to make sure you are on the right path to win NaNoWriMo. Writers know this, and like to use all kinds of trackers to do so. Some prefer Excel files, some others the good old paper and pen. I wrote about word trackers in 2020, and while the post is a bit old, it might help you get some ideas for your own tracker!

Wrimo

This is how NaNoWriMo is often abbreviated, together with NaNo. A wrimo can also indicate someone who participates in NaNoWriMo.

Write-in

Write-ins are events organized during NaNoWriMo where writers meet to work and write together and socialize. Write-ins are often organized by NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaisons, but can be sponsored by others too. Writers can meet in all kinds of places, but coffee shops, bookstores and libraries are often used; businesses and community spaces can also sign up to be a “Come Write In” spot. Especially after COVID-19, virtual write-ins held over the internet have also increased.

Writing Group

The NaNoWriMo website offers the option of creating groups, which can include up to 20 writers. Anyone can create a group and invite other people. Groups are usually used to chat and share information in a more private setting compared to the forums.

#instanano / #instawrimo

NaNoWriMo participants often like to share their progress on social media, and might use a variety of hashtags to do so. These are only some of the hashtags you might see on Instagram to share NaNoWriMo content, together with more simple hashtags like #nanowrimo or #50k .

Did I miss any important words in the NaNoWriMo vocabulary? Is there any word you encountered that left you perplexed and you couldn’t understand the meaning of? Let me know in the comments!

The post NaNoWriMo vocabulary: a guide appeared first on Words and Pens.

While everyone (or almost!) was preparing for NaNoWriMo 2021 in October, I decided to entirely skip prepping this year. Not sure if this was a good choice or not (time will tell!) but there were a few reasons why I decided to do so. Read on to get to know my reasons, unveil some details on the very little prep I did, and some resources I didn’t use but really liked!

(this post contains affiliate links: this means that if you purchase anything from those links, I will get a commission bonus. There’s no extra cost to you.)

Reason 1: time

With another major hobby, a full time job, two part-time jobs, and a Ph.D. still in high seas, who has time? I don’t even know how much time I will have to write!

Reason 2: NaNo Rebels and a known story

This year, I’ve decided to go the rebel route and work on a story I’ve already started several years ago. I didn’t finish my NaNoWriMo story from 2020, but this one is more inspiring to me right now. Since I already know this story, not much prepping was necessary in terms of creating characters and the world.

Reason 3: too much work vs failure

Setting too big of a goal and then not meeting it can actually be bad for your psyche. You can read more about the topic here. So, planning to do many things for Preptober 2021 while knowing I don’t have time and ending up not doing them, would’ve been worse than not doing much!

Ok, I lied, I did *some* prepping

To be honest with you, I actually did some preparing for NaNoWriMo 2021; however, it was extremely simple and short, and very functional/practical in regards to NaNoWriMo.

All the prepping I did this year was setting up my creative writing journal with some NaNoWriMo pages. I did it last year too, but I found out that I had over-prepared; I did not use or look at several of the pages I had prepared last time. So, for NaNoWriMo 2021 I decided to create only the pages I *did* use last year:

• Writing Days calendar
• Personalized Word Count Tracker
• Overall Word Count Tracker
• Days Written Calendar
• Rewards
• Simple Joys page

Preparing for NaNoWriMo 2021: creative writing journal set up

For the “Writing Days calendar” I’m too lazy (and messy!) to create it on my own (plus, I made the unfortunate choice of using a ruled notebook…) so I used some pages in Heart Breathings’ Preptober Workbook. Even if you’re not prepping, I still recommend you do this, especially if you have a busy schedule like mine. By creating a calendar, you can know in advance on what days you can write and be realistic.

For all the word counters, I’m still too lazy (and messy!), so I also used pages of the Heart Breathings workbook here. I have two word count trackers because, while there’s an ideal wordcount for NaNo, I already know I won’t be able to write much on some days and be consistent. So, one tracker shows how I’m doing compared to the regular NaNo schedule, while the other just tracks how much I wrote overall.

The “Days Written Calendar”, this is just an excuse to use some of my many stickers – also I’m a completionism-driven person, so seeing a calendar with a lot of days filled is great for me! I bought the calendar I’m using on AliExpress, but I also saw very similar ones in some Japanese shops, and I’m not sure which came first…

The Rewards page might seem silly, but I think it’s really important. It doesn’t have to be anything big, but it’s good to have a prize for yourself after the hard work! While last year I only included items as rewards, this year I also included food deliveries, something I rarely enjoy. I plan to use DemaeCan, which according to many is more ethical compared to Uber Eats in Japan.

The “Simple Joys” page was also inspired by the workbook mentioned above. It’s basically a page where you list all of the simple, everyday things that make you happy. I also included some movies or anime I love to watch to inspire me. When you’re in a creative rut, you can visit this page and find something to inspire you or cheer you up!

If you want more information on the Heart Breathings Preptober Workbook, check out the video below!

Prepping things I liked but didn’t use

If you stumbled upon this post looking for NaNoWriMo prepping tools, I have some interesting things for you!
First, you can look through my Preptober 2020 tag to see what I did last year and check any of the resources I used or looked at.

Second, here are some things I saw around and liked, even though I didn’t use them:

• I really liked the Conceptober idea by Purplest Prose: each day, you write something about the world of your novel. I think this is especially good for fantasy or science-fiction writers, and it can be done all year around.

この投稿をInstagramで見る

Selene Dreamwalker(@purplest_prose)がシェアした投稿

• I always participate in NaNoWrimo InstaWrimo challenge, even if it’s just with a few posts. It’s a good idea to get into the spirit, and going through the tag can help you find interesting writers to follow!

Are you preparing for NaNoWriMo? Did you do anything special for Preptober? Let’s get working this November!

The post Preparing for NaNoWriMo 2021: why I skipped Preptober this year appeared first on Words and Pens.

How did the first half of NaNoWriMo go? Now that we’re midway through NaNoWriMo, did you have any sudden revelation about your writing process or your work in progress? Personally, I did learn some very important points in the first 15 days.

To schedule or not to schedule

Before NaNoWriMo started, I prepared a schedule assigning specific times to writing. Well, we’re half through NaNoWriMo now and needless to say, that schedule was never looked at.
I did write in some of those assigned time slots, but not all of them. It might just be my lifestyle and my type of work, but most of my plans were disrupted one way or the other. Sometimes it was work-related stuff, some other times it was urgent matters in my house (stupid example: discovering one of my plants was being eaten by tiny centipedes!)
However, I think that having a schedule is useful to judge how much time you have to write overall. So I’d still prepare one for a future NaNoWriMo, despite knowing I would probably not use it

Rewards: it’s a yes for me

I never actually incorporated rewards into writing, but I found that I actually liked having a tiny reward after hitting a specific goal.
It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, but it’s satisfying to enjoy something after working hard – especially since it’s work that no one else recognizes!
I will definitely continue to include rewards in my writing routine.

To sprint or not to sprint

Another thing I realized is that personally, sprints may not be for me.
I think when I’m writing a “slow” part – see The Slump below – then sprints are a relief, as I can tell myself “I only have to write for 15 minutes! I can do it!”. However, when I’m “in the zone”, the pause between sprints is actually frustrating and makes me lose my trail of thought.

So, sprints would be good to establish a routine, or for busy days – 15 or 20 minutes are better than nothing, and even ten words are better than nothing!
However, for longer writing sessions or for when one’s writing is going very well, I don’t think sprints would be very useful.

The word count nightmare and the Slump

Having that said, how is my NaNoWriMo actually going?

I did have a great start and was on track for the first week. Unfortunately, I had an extremely packed schedule on the second week of November, which meant that now I’ve fallen miserably behind and still haven’t even reached 2k.

Part of the reason is due to where I am in the WIP: I always have problems with the middle of my stories. I breeze through the beginning and can write the end without problems, but the middle is the swamp where Artax dies traumatizing us all.
As a remedy, I’ve actually started writing the rest of the story from the end backward. Not sure if it will work, but hey, I can try! Just writing the end gave me more than 1000 words without even trying.

One thing that this has thought me is that definitely for a more complicated story I will need to plan in advance, at least for the middle. The technique above could also help!

Health what?

Unfortunately, one thing that had to be cut to make space for NaNoWriMo was my jogging. I haven’t been able to go since the beginning of November, and I don’t think this will change.
Unfortunately, I have to come to terms with the fact that the day only has 24 hours and the NaNoWriMo requirements just make it impossible for me do everything.

I think that in the future, I could reduce the number of words per day to make space for running, at least a few times per week.

In addition, the quality of my cooking has also declined – I already don’t like cooking and if I don’t have time I just don’t want to deal with it! I found out that what works is just dedicating one whole day to cook for the whole day. Once I have all the supplies out and start cutting, it’s just faster to continue!
So, dedicating one specific day to meal prep for the next two weeks might be a good idea.

NaNoWriMo first half – the way ahead

So, what’s gonna happen from here on?
I will definitely still try to make it to the 5k goals. I’m behind, but I also have more free time from here on, so I might actually have time to write. I still have some deadlines to meet – of course everyone decided they need everything from me in November! – but the second half of the month is emptier than the first. So, I’m still optimistic.

How is everyone’s NaNoWriMo going?

The post NaNoWriMo first half (Nov. 1-15)- How is it going? appeared first on Words and Pens.

How did Preptober 2020 Week 4 go? Made some slow progress, but still struggling with some MAJOR NaNoWriMo points.

Choosing a project for NaNoWriMo

This is the main thing I’m struggling with now: choosing a NaNoWriMo project.

Project number 1 was my first choice. It’s the fantasy novel I worked on for last NaNoWriMo (failing miserably). Problem is, it has a million characters and a story that spans over years and needs to be carefully outlined. While it’s an interesting project, I think it might also be overwhelming for NaNo,

Project number 2 is less interesting, but it’s easier. It only has one main character and a few side characters, and while the story has a lot of detail, most things can be added later. The plot itself is quite linear and can be improvised in parts. So, I think this might make a better NaNoWriMo project, especially since I haven’t written regularly for a while.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Trying to create a routine: learning lessons from Preptober 2020 Week 4

Another thing I managed to do during this week is try to create some sort of routine, or at least realistically know how much time I have to write. I used the schedule I mentioned here. While the week is not over, I learnt that early morning and late night are NOT good times to write. On mornings I just cannot function. I used to write a lot at night, but I guess with age I’m not so energetic anymore. This means that the afternoon is probably the best time for me to work, but also the busiest as I work most days.

Life happens… way too much

Another thing that I need to absolutely keep in mind is that life happens way too much. For example this week, I ended up with two big work things to do and a presentation (which was supposed to happen earlier in the month) to review. This definitely messed up my schedule.

Latest obsession: best fonts for creative writing

In terms of “physical” prepping, I realized that I wanted a more pleasant font for my draft.
I’m not sure whether I will use my Dana, 4thewords or Scrivener to write. The last one is the only one to offer personalization, however that’s what I tend to use (linked to Dropbox) as a back-up tool for the other two. This means that my writing will end up there sooner or later.

For my thesis I’m currently using a mixture of Courier New and Constantia to divide different stages of drafting. However, I wondered if there was a better, more interesting font for creative writing. So I started scouring the internet for the best fonts for a first draft.
So, I went through the following pages:

• Reddit thread on what fonts people use for their first draft – so many examples!
• David Hewson on Medium – he works on a Mac so unfortunately he suggests fonts I cannot use without making an effort to convert them
• “7 writers on How Their Go-To Fonts Make Them Feel” by Eye on Design – sadly quite boring, all very basic font except two
• “The 8 brilliant fonts you NEED to use in your book layout” – This is more geared towards published books, but some of the combinations were interesting
• “27 Best Free Fonts for Book Design” – This is also geared towards published books, but it shows a lot of interesting fonts
• “What Font Do Writers Use?” by Kevin Chong – Mostly classics, but some of the reasons given in favor or against a font were funny

and compiled this list.

I wonder which one would look good for my NaNoWriMo project! Do you have a favorite font for your novels?

The post Preptober 2020 – Week 4 (October 23-29) Recap appeared first on Words and Pens.

My word for the week is: “sasuga”, a common Japanese word that you can translate as “as one would expect”. Read on for a recap of Week 3 of Preptober 2020.

Too busy to prep!

As mentioned in my latest post , I already knew that Preptober 2020 Week 3 would be busy with work-related stuff and events. The work- thesis- related stuff actually increased somehow…

I am also somehow battling the cold of the century – at least I’m sneezing so much I know it’s not COVID.

In addition, I haven’t listened to any audiobooks either. If I get my exercise from concerts I don’t jog, and I usually listen to audiobooks when running. However, I watched some videos about writing and planning that made me excited for NaNoWriMo! Here’s a list.

1. Sarra Cannon has participated in NaNoWriMo multiple times. I loved her Preptober video about how she prepares for NaNo! I have a Dana too and she made me want to take it out, paint it and use it…
She also introduced a service called Pacemaker that I might use for NaNoWriMo!

bytheBrooke is another channel I started following recently. I really liked the idea of trying out your NaNoWriMo routine during Preptober. Maybe next week?
I also liked the idea of skincare while writing hehe

Kate Cavanaugh is another writer I always watch on YouTube, so I couldn’t miss her Preptober video!

This is only marginally related, but I’ve been following Girl and Quill for a while and I love how she was able to use up her collection of pens and notebooks! It would probably take me 1938488 years, so there’s something super satisfying in seeing someone else emptying their shelves.

Scheduling NaNoWriMo

One thing that I managed to do is finding a way to schedule NaNoWriMo. I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and jumping from profile to profile when I came upon this post by author Natalia Leigh:

I instantly loved this! It’s so colorful yet so neat and clean, and easy to understand at glance!

I considered buying the Workbook, but I realized right away the page would not work for me, for the following reasons:

• I would need more than 5 categories. Yes, there’s an “Other”, but a lot of different things would end up there and I like compartmentalizing
• My schedule is different week by week, so I wanted something that could accommodate that
• I preferred something that started in the morning instead of midnight
• I work better with a Monday start, but also I wanted to include the two days that are “out of the week” this November
• AM/PM confuses me (in Japan, 12.00 PM is midnight!), so I wanted a 24-hour time schedule.

So, I made my own tracker inspired by Natalia Leigh’s, including all the things above! It might make an appearance on my Instagram in November, so be sure to check back if you want to see it.

I don’t plan to share the file as the schedule is VERY similar to the one above, and it would be disrespectful to the original creator. However, what I did was create four different pages for the four different November weeks, with only the first one starting on Sunday. Then I chose 6 categories that fit my lifestyle, and started the day from 7.00 AM.

Will I be able to follow this plan? We shall see!

The post Preptober 2020 – Week 3 (October 15-22) Recap appeared first on Words and Pens.

I’ll start with one word: ouch. Read on for a recap of Week 2 of Preptober 2020.

So many words, so little time

Unfortunately, I did almost ZERO this week in terms of prepping for November. We had several things to address at work, plus a deadline for a class, plus I went to a music-related event that took away all Sunday. Which meant that I didn’t have much time to write, and when I did my brain was fried.

I work with writing, and while I love my job, this means that my brain is quite dead after a long day of work. Plus, now that we are working online, I get terrible headaches from Zoom and the likes. Is this only me?

Things I got done: #InstaWrimo, running and shopping (LOL)

However, there are some things I managed to do and that I’m proud of.

• I’m still regularly uploading content for the NaNoWriMo InstaWrimo prompts on Instagram, skipping only those that I don’t like.
• I’ve been diligent with my jogging. I’ve started jogging a couple of months ago because I don’t get much exercise while working from home, and I still go at least a few times per week.
• I did buy some cute stationery item, including a stationery-inspired bag at a great sale price! I will post it on Instagram soon.
• This blog! I’m still writing it, and I also wrote a post as an entry for Astrohaus Freewrite giveaway.
• I finished one of the audio books I talked about in this post. Maybe I’ll write a short review!

What jogging tells me about writing

I did reflect on something while I went for a jog.

When I decided to start jogging at the end of August, I knew I wasn’t particularly fit. I also knew that if I tried to jog for even 10 minutes on the first day, I would probably feel terrible and never do it again. So, I checked some blogs for advice to beginners. Most of them suggested workouts which alternate running and walking, like this one. So, that’s what I’ve been doing, and while I’m still absolutely unfit I can already feel the benefits.
Also, I’ve started using an app to keep track of the jogging time and intervals. I use Exercise Timer, but there’s plenty out there.
Finally, I’ve gone running at different times of the day. When I started, I mostly went in the evening just because the morning was too hot. However, now that it’s getting cooler, I tried going in the morning. While there’s too many people around, it’s a good way to start the day and really wake up.

So, this made me think about three things in relation to writing.

One: I cannot expect to jump into NaNoWriMo and write 1700 words per day. While I get that result (or more) on a good day, we are aiming at a stable output here. So I should really start with some warm-up exercises on the last week of October.

Two: technology and tracking apps are great. I should really start using Forest again.

Three: I wonder what a good time for writing is. I hate mornings, but I also tend to be very tired in the evening. Maybe I should also experiment with this in the last week of October.

Next week… hahaha

I already felt from the beginning of October that next week would be too busy to get anything done. On top of the engagements I already had, a few new study/work things also appeared and now I know things won’t get done. So I have to put all my hopes in the last week of October!

For next week, my only planned activity is not writing-related, but planner/journal related. I want to try and join the #stationerystockpilechallenge  created by Daksina and Ellie. You can find the details here below! I really want to try and use my things more.

How has your Preptober 2020 Week 2 gone? Are you on track with your schedule? Let me know!

The post Preptober 2020 – Week 2 (October 8-14) Recap appeared first on Words and Pens.