Eating the Elephant

Question: How do you eat and elephant?

Answer: One bite at a time!

It’s Week Two of National Novel Writer’s Month and my first NaNoWriMo novel. This is a daily update on my progress.

Week Two Day One NaNoWriMo:

It’s Sunday and today I made it to over 17,000 words on the novel. Also took a photo and posted my selfie on Twitter for NaNoWriMo selfie day.

A thought on word goals. I’ve been in the habit of writing a minimum of 500 words every day for about a year now. That’s a handy habit for NaNoWriMo. I’ve increased my daily requirement to 1800 words per day for NaNoWriMo to make the 50,000 word goal.

Despite working a forty-hour full time job I’m finding the bump to 1800 words has been fairly easy.

I’ve spent time with family and friends, finished a Brad Thor novel, written for NaNoWriMo and two blogs, and still reach my daily goal.

However, I don’t think if I’d have started out trying to write 1800 words a day reaching that goal would have been this easy. In fact, I can honestly say I KNOW it wouldn’t have worked. I tried the thousand word a day habit earlier in my writing career and it didn’t take. But a small bite, one day at a time did.

So if you’re struggling to make your daily word count, take smaller bites of the elephant and slowly, but surely, make the bites a bit bigger as you go along. Pretty soon that whole pachyderm will be nothing but bones on your plate. Read the rest of this entry

NaNoWriMo Day 1:

Remembered to use Toggl to keep track of my actual writing time. Chunking the time up in Eugene Schwartz thirty-three minutes and thirty-three second bites.

Day 2:

I’ve got a headache, blah. May end up changing how the book starts, but that will come later with the editing after NaNoWriMo.

Read the rest of this entry

NaNoWriMo Day One

Yesterday was day one of National Novel Writer’s Month 2015. As I write this post, I’m working on an outline for the novel I plan to write for my first NaNoWriMo.

By the time you read this, I should have completed the first 1667 words for my new novel.

I’ve decided to take this time and write a first draft to the prequel to my novel Crossroad In Time;  due for publication at the end of the year.

This new novel will give the background of the main antagonist in Crossroad In Time. It will explain how he became the person he is and why he antagonizes my protagonist. Read the rest of this entry

Did you know November is National Novel Writing Month?

This year writers from all walks of life will dedicate themselves to writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

NaNoWriMo.org

Sponsored by NaNoWriMo.org, National Novel Writing Month has been going on since 1999. This year I’m taking the plunge and participating in my first NaNoWriMo.

In preparation for NaNoWriMo, I’m taking several steps that I thought I’d share with you:

-Finish reading The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne

-Working step-by-step through NaNoWriMo.org’s preparation page (http://nanowrimo.org/nano-prep)

-Let my family know what I’m up to

-Get my social media on

-Touching base with local authors

-Jotting down some ideas

Read the rest of this entry

Time Management for Writers

As part of the October Platform Challenge at Writer’s Digest, Robert Lee Brewer, asked those taking the challenge to create a time management plan on Day 14. Here are some of my thoughts on what makes a good time management plan for writers.

A little background

I’ve been using Franklin-Covey planner’s for several years now. Yes, it’s a bit “old fashioned” since it involves actually writing on a piece of paper rather than typing into an iPhone, iPad, etc; but it works for me and is quite effective. Read the rest of this entry

Hello, and welcome to my new website. My name is Keith G. Shafer and I’m an author and voice talent. Please bear with me a bit as I update and “tweak” my new site. Over the next couple weeks I’ll be adding a blog, an about page, and a few more items of interest to my readers, friends, and fellow writers.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you again.

KgS

40 Years But Who’s Counting?

40 Years But Who’s Counting?

It was 40 years ago this month that I met my wife, my best friend, the mother of my sons.

It was forty years ago while vacationing in Hawaii that we met. She was from Chicago. I was stationed in North Carolina.

It was a twist of fate that brought us together; one I’ll write about at some point in the future. We spent three days together. In that short period of time we fell head-over-heals in love. Three short months later we were married.

In the past forty years we raised a family. We’ve been blessed with a wonderful daughter-in-law and darling granddaughter.

Together we traveled to Europe and lived in England for five years. We’ve lived and traveled throughout the United States. Always together. Always side-by-side.

The years have been good to us. And today I rededicate myself to her and another forty years.

Thank you for being my friend, my companion, and my wife.

To my Jean from Billy. I love you sooooo much. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Writing Is My Catharsis

Writing Is My Catharsis

Merriam-Webster gives the following definition of catharsis: a purification or purgation that brings about spiritual renewal or release from tension.

I happen to like that definition as it defines my reasons for writing to a “T”. Writing purifies me from the garbage that I walk through on a daily basis—most of it on network news. If you’re asking yourself, if he doesn’t like network news why does he watch/listen…keep reading.

Writing allows me to purge junk from my mind allows me a release from tension.

As to the spiritual renewal…well I’m working on that.

I’ve heard stories about Abraham Lincoln writing letters to generals and political opponents. Letters that were scathing to say the least. Letters that were brutal attacks with those he had disagreements. Read the rest of this entry

American Sniper

In a couple of months my wife and I will celebrate 40 years together. It’s pretty safe to assume after forty years we tend to think a lot alike and share many views when it comes to politics, religion, and social justice, just to name a few. Recently, however, she made a comment I had to totally disagree with.

Like many Americans we took the time last weekend to see the film, American Sniper. The film, directed by Clint Eastwood is based upon the book of the same name by Chris Kyle, a former US Navy SEAL credited as being one of, if not the, most lethal snipers in US history.

Unless you live in a vacuum, you’re probably aware it’s been quite a blockbuster, and it’s breaking several box office records. Read the rest of this entry

Pardon My Dust

So, I’ve had this domain name, keithshafer.com, for about three years now and I finally decided to activate it. Working with Hostgator I got a smoking deal to host all of my domains on one server for a great price.

The past week has seen me scrambling to transfer domains from Godaddy.com to Hostgator.com, as well as add my wife’s account to this account, and to top it off, we’re in the process of opening two new stores for the wife’s Amazon FBA business.

Needless to say I’ve been a bit busy. Oh, did I mention I also write three times a week for our Over 50 business blog and once a week for my travel blog. Can you tell I like to write?

Anyway, I wanted to get a short post up so you’re not looking at the typical “Hello World” post for a new WordPress site. It’s a three-day weekend ahead so I should get everything sorted out between now and Tuesday.

Thanks for taking a look at my site and pardon my dust.

Keith