how about that novel you've been working on?

Coming this November: Let the creative juice flow with some wild authorial action!

Have a great idea for a book? How about a bad one? Well, would you at least like to have one?

If you want to develop the writing habit, have I got the jump-start for you! Come join the National Novel-Writing Month this November. The goal is to write fifty-thousand (50 000 (50k)) words of fiction in thirty days. Nobody cares if you churn out a steaming pile by the end of the month. As long as it's 50k or more, you win! Quantity over quality, just write, write, write!

I've had one hell of a plot in mind for several years, but without any benchmarks, I was turning out a piddling page count each year. And thanks to my own hyper-criticism, I ended up trashing every bit of it. Since NaNoWriMo has given me a goal and pushed criticism from my mind, it's the perfect tool to focus me on my fiction-writing habit.

May the prose be with you.

out-of-control noise got you down? add some in-control noise!

Are unfriendly sounds stressing you out? Here are some links that can help for free!.

I love peace. I love quiet. My family makes noise. It's unnerving. It breaks my focus. It slows my work to a crawl. My work needs focus.

Now I have Forest Mood and Rainy Mood. They're free-to-use white-noise streams. They give me control over what I hear, so my family's noise won't stress me out.

When I get tired of listening to those, I don't switch them off. I head over to Grooveshark and add my favorite songs to the mix. Only English-free songs, to prevent distraction.

Of course, there's always Pandora if I'm feeling adventurous. I prefer to stick with a set playlist while I'm working, though.

Am I missing out on a great strategy for dealing with noisy cohabitants? Please leave a comment and let me know!