A new life
Also, NaNoWriMo should be open for registration later today 
September 30, 2006
September 29, 2006
Planning NaNoWriMo (8)
Today I’m going to focus on the software I use for my November novel. Of course there is nothing wrong with using MS Word or, if you’re an open source fan like me, the OpenOffice.org Writer. But the longer the novel gets, the more difficult the document will be to handle, and the more catastrophic it will be if the file crashes and some of those precious words are lost in data heaven.
That is why I use RoughDraft for my NaNo projects. RoughDraft is a word processor designed for creative writing, and I wouldn’t know how to survive without it, even outside NaNoWriMo. All files are saved in Rich Text Format (.rtf), which means that you can open it with every other word processor. You can open multiple files in tabs, and open files are saved automatically every five minutes or so, so you’re not very likely to lose much of your work if your computer should crash (btw, RoughDraft has never crashed on me so far).
I have at least two files open at any given day during NaNoWriMo: the file for the respective day, and the file in which I copy that day’s work every night when I’ve finished writing. I need the entire work to look up stuff I’ve written before, and I like to have a file for each day because I can see how much work is still before me before I have met the daily word count. Counting your words in RD is pretty easy: right click at any position in the file and select “Word Count”. Takes two seconds max.
Oh, and RoughDraft is free, too! So if you don’t know it already, give it a go.
Since I’m mortally afraid of losing any of my work, I will also use Writely to back up my work. I don’t know if I will have files for every day there as well, but I will definitely copy each day’s work to a Writely file, which will come in handy in case I’ll ever have the opportunity to write in the office, too.
Quote for September 29,2006
The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.
Albert Camus
September 28, 2006
MB Mixed Tape 14 Online
There’s a new Mixed Tape available for download. I’m listening to it right now, and so far, I like it.
September 27, 2006
The Plot Bunny v. The Original Idea
A couple of weeks back, I wrote about the plot bunny attack I was under. Well, in the meantime the idea has become a little less attention-demanding and I’ve been able to focus on my chick lit idea – the one I actually intend to turn into a novel in November.
Yet every now and again, the plot bunny comes hopping along and doesn’t stop pestering me until I’ve played with it a while. The idea is really intriguing, I’ve come up with a couple of plot twists that are amazing, and I think when I have time to think the plot through and develop the characters properly, this one is going to be a blast to write. If I jumped right into writing it this year, though, I suspect I would butcher the story so badly I’d go completely off it.
So there you go, NaNo2006 hasn’t even started yet and I am already preparing for NaNo2007. Weird, right?
