Cat Pollock Writes

Maybe this is more of NaNoEdMo-relevant blog, but it's on my mind tonight... I'm in the process of revamping the Receptionist Manual at work. Today, I was in the middle of retyping a list of suggestions to help a receptionist in training (or receptionist brushing up on things) better perform their job. One of them was proofreading, and in that tip was something I'd never thought about before. Edit from the end. I've only read through these tips about fifty thousand times - whenever I'm looking something up, or just wanting to refresh my memory. I want to ask myself why I missed it before, but I don't know that it's all that important to ask that particular question. The bigger question is - what do I do with this revolutionary thought, now that it has entered my brain? I have to admit - this guy gets along great with all my other ideas. It's a beautiful idea. But how do I put it into practice... especially in a month where suppressing my inner e...

When it comes to writing, I'm much more of a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of girl than an "every detail needs to be set to paper before I start writing" girl... which sounds incredibly funny, because I love details in real life. I'm getting better, but there was a time when I had to known when everything was happening, who was involved, how long it was going to take, where everyone would be, the color of the trim of the building, the shape the bushes are going to be trimmed to... Okay, so maybe I wasn't ever that horrible... but there were definitely moments when I felt close to it. I don't know why, but the knowing gives me comfort. It tells me exactly how much of a breather I can take, so I know whether to plan on relaxing or preparing for the next giant hurdle. Writing is the opposite for me. Once that document is open in front of me (or blog form, or sheet of paper), I forget all about the little things. It's like putting a giant ...

60,000 words. That's right. Your eyes are not deceiving you. 60,000 words is my goal this year. Even with a full time job and The World Race looming on the horizon, I aspire for greater heights than a 50,000 word manuscript I probably won't touch again until December of next year. I am determined to pound "60,000 words for the win" into my head, instead of 50,000. It will still be sitting and waiting for me when I get back in December 2010, but it will be longer... and there might be a little bit more to salvage at the end. Why 60,000? So I can stretch myself. It's like physical training, really. The more and further I stretch myself, the more and further I can go. I want to work myself up to 100,000 words. It doesn't seem that unrealistic, if you think about it. When others crank 100,000 and 200,000 word manuscripts in the month of November, it seems like a drop in the bucket, 60,000... and not quite so crazy. 60,000 - here I come!

5 Reasons I Love National Novel Writing Month (in no particular order) and why: 1. NaNoWriMo CD Swap . I've already written a blog about it, which you can read here . 2. The Writing Dares Where else are you going to see people dare you to add killer penguins or pantless characters to that novel brewing in your head? View the bulletin board topic here and wade through it. For those with no ambitions to write a novel, do so for the hilarity and absurdity you will encounter. Well worth your time, I promise. 3. It's a world-wide community of support. From word sprints to n00b adoption to sharing what songs could make a goth MC want to come out and play next month on the boards... everyone who participates is in this to win this, and to help other participants to do so along the way. Much thanks to The Office of Letters and Light , who work their tails off every year to not only put on NaNoWriMo, but ScriptFrenzy in April as well. They do an incredible job during NaNo w...

I have a borderline addiction to music. It’s pretty sickening how much music I have on my computer, really. But it’s also the reason why I love one of the things I do about NaNoWriMo… the CD swap each year (I really should make a list of all the things I love about NaNoWriMo, but I’ll save that for another blog). Where else can you get music from a fellow writer who wants to help and encourage you to get through your 50,000+ word goal with some great tunes you might never have taken the time or gotten the courage to listen to otherwise? Last year I came out on the other side with not only 50,183 words, but some great music to boot -- amongst other things. What I received from fellow NaNoers varied from classical to soundtracks to musicals… Not only was I able to do something I dearly love (explore music genres completely new to me), but the music brought new life and inspiration to my novel. I almost think I would dropped out otherwise. Needless to say, I am definitely on board aga...

It's the month before the biggest month of the year for us aspiring novelists. October, the month where everyone who is going to plot and plan their NaNoWriMo novels to death either starts to or is in over their heads with their scheming. It is also the month where people switch ideas, ditch ideas, and possibly decide by the end of the month to just wing it through November. I call it NaNoPrepMo. Prep is going well for this year's novel. Instead of creating character bios, I've divided the novel into "themed" chunks, and am outlining each as inspiration strikes. A plot line is emerging, and I am really getting excited for this. Never mind the full time job and preparations for The World Race (if you want to read about what's up with all that, click here ), I'm doing it again! I'll be much better about updating my word counts this go round on this blog, and you'll see why in just a matter of days if we're buddies on facebook or otherwise know ...