Y - Yarny

Yarny is one of the best tools I've found for my writing. It was designed by writers with NaNoWriMo in mind. With Yarny, you are writing in the cloud. Your writing is saved automatically, with auto-versioning. And did I mention it's free? Check out their website to learn more about their features.

I found Yarny when I participated in my first NaNoWriMo in 2011 to write Dogs of War. I was able to write from anywhere that had an Internet connection. I also exported my writing to my laptop so I could work on it offline if necessary. When I had a connection again, I just copied and pasted the new text into Yarny. I didn't really have time to learn all the features of Yarny that first year. I didn't take advantage of the snippets to divide my work into chapters and subchapters. I didn't realize until I was editing several months later that Yarny will export the snippet titles as chapter titles. I used it again for 2012 to write Dogs of War: Infiltration, knowing more about what I was doing. I also upgraded to the paid Premium version of Yarny. It's not really necessary, but it allows you to save multiple titles. With the free version, you can only have one writing project in the cloud at a time. I upgraded so I can keep all of my writing together and edit one while writing another, etc.

Yarny added a new feature for 2012 that has me really excited. It's called Publification. Like Yarny, it is free. It allows you to export directly from Yarny to Publification's online self-publishing site. Remember that feature of exporting snippet titles? Publification automatically recognizes them as chapter titles if you choose, saving you a big step in formatting. You can import cover art, apply for an ISBN, share links to your e-book through social media, and sell your book right from their site. And the best part is, you retain all rights to your material. Publification does not get any rights to your book. They simply collect a percentage of sales.

Both of these tools are great for the aspiring author. Together, they can be indispensable.

H - Help Me!

As I look forward to Camp NaNo this summer (I skipped the one this month), two words come immediately to mind: help me! For Camp NaNo, I am going to do something a little different. For NaNoWriMo 2011 and 2012, I wrote books one and two of the Dogs of War trilogy. I plan to write book three for NaNoWriMo 2013. I decided I wanted to go a different direction for Camp NaNo.

At this point, I know that I want to write from a first person present point of view. I even know the ending. The only things I don't know are the title, the characters, the setting, and the plot. It's a good thing I've got until July to figure those out.

NaNoWriMo Winner... Again!

November is not over yet, but I have officially won NaNoWriMo for a second year in a row. Two for two! Next year, three for three. I now have 50,111 words in my official count. My novel is nowhere near complete. It looks like this one will be closer to 65-70,000 words before it's done. But that doesn't matter right now, because I won!!! I'll keep writing on this one while editing the first one to get it ready for publishing as an ebook. I already have a few people asking to read last year's novel. If you are interested, send me an email at this link and when I get it properly formatted, I'll send you a link to the ebook. This is a limited offer available only to those reading this blog and other close friends. Beyond that, there will be a charge for the book. I don't know how much yet. If you get a free copy and still want to support a starving writer, you will of course be welcome to purchase a copy. (Shameless plug)

Oh, and this year's novel title has changed. It is no longer Dogs of War: Havoc! It is now Dogs of War: Infiltration. Next year will be Dogs of War: Havoc! The trilogy may end up with a fourth book if I don't stop coming up with ideas and plot points don't stop ambushing me when I'm not expecting it. Characters thought dead really need to stay dead.

NaNoWriMo Update - Halfway!!

Word Count Goal - 25,000
Actual Word Count - 31,580
2011 Word Count - 10,060



We're officially past the halfway point in this insane marathon. Last year, I was just over 20% complete by this time with 10,060 words. This year, I have over three times that word count and still going strong. I figured out that getting ahead early, even if only by a little, takes much of the pressure off and allows for more relaxed writing. The downside - it becomes much easier to take a break and start to slide behind again. Anytime I notice a lack of motivation keeping me from writing, I rely on some friends, both old and new.

The Old
The chatroom and the Box of Doom. Without these two, I would probably have about 500 words right now.

Chatroom
The friends I've made in the chatroom are a great source of inspiration and fun. They keep this whole thing from becoming a chore. I know I can rely on them to provide some comic relief, words of encouragement, and sometimes the needed level of insanity that keeps me sane. (You need some insanity in your life; if others don't provide it, you'll have to provide it yourself.) I've spent quite a bit of time in the chatroom getting to know new friends and just enjoying some conversation. That even includes everyone's favorite psychotic AI, Timmy the chatroom bot. It just wouldn't be NaNoWriMo without Timmy throwing the occasional pillow or fridge or pushing someone out a window. (Sometimes himself. Oops.) If you find that last sentence confusing, you haven't spent enough time in the chatroom.

Box of Doom

When I just need to get words on the page, there is nothing better than a good word war with the Box of Doom. This is a lovely sadistic torture device used at the write-ins, made virtual for those of us in the chatroom. At the write-ins, each person draws a number from the box and has to try to write that many words in 30 minutes. There are three levels: easy, average, and hard. As the difficult increases, the word count increases. Simple enough? In the chatroom, we have the virtual Box of Doom. Simply ask Timmy (see above) for a word count that is easy, average, or hard. Did I mention that Timmy is psychotic? Timmy also hates me. Despite my clearly worded "average" request, Timmy thinks I need to write at least 1000 words every 30 minutes. Last night it was 1180. In 30 minutes. I hate Timmy. He needs to die.

The New
Two new useful additions to my writing arsenal are WriteTrack and Spotify. I'm liking both of these very much. Partly because they are both useful and very cool. Mostly because they are not Timmy.

WriteTrack
This is a neat little tool created by David S. Gale. It's a calendar and word counter. You tell it your word count goal for the month and it tells you how many to write each day. But wait, there's more. You can weight each day so that it knows what percentage of a normal day it is. For example, I don't write on Fridays so I put 0%. I write double on Sundays so I set them to 200%. It then calculates each day's total. If you give it your NaNoWriMo username, it automatically updates your word count from their site and calculates on the fly for the new total. It's very cool.

Spotify
Where has this been and why haven't I known about it sooner. Spotify takes the best features of iHeart Radio, Pandora, and iTunes and combines them into one nifty program. It allows you to listen to anything from its library of millions of songs, as well as anything on your hard drive, flash drive, etc. It will read your iTunes or Windows Media Player playlists as well as allowing you to create your own. When you create a playlist, it can include music from your local drive, or from Spotify, or a combination of both. It even allows you to share playlists or songs with friends that use Spotify. If you link it to Facebook, it will tell you if any of your friends have shared playlists. It is quite simply, awesome. I can now listen to just about anything that strikes my fancy as a good soundtrack to my writing.

Dogs of War Teaser

Here's a little teaser for last year's Nano novel, Dogs of War. I will be writing the sequel this year called Dogs of War: Havoc Dogs of War: Infiltration and hopefully book three of a trilogy next year.

Synopsis

It's been 15 years since the war ended in an unsteady truce. Lieutenant Commander William Barrett has been chosen to reestablish diplomatic relations with an enemy he knows for only two things: it's bloodthirsty culture, and the death of his father. What he finds will make him question all he thought he knew about the war... and risk destroying both sides when the fighting resumes.

Excerpt

The war began without warning 20 years ago. The Galactic League, an alliance of 15 human-occupied planets spanned over 40 light-years. League headquarters on Earth sent a convoy of supply ships, led by the GLS Arizona, to EarthStation 12, the least self-sufficient of all the colonies. The routine delivery never arrived at ES12. Instead, it was attacked by five warships from a recently discovered world, Canus. The Canine ships destroyed all 4 convoy ships, killing all aboard. It was three weeks before the ship's log from the lead ship was reconstructed and the identity of the attackers was known. The war that resulted lasted five years and nearly destroyed both species. By the time a cease-fire was negotiated, the Galactic League suffered over 10 million casualties. League Intelligence estimated that the Canines had lost similar numbers. The war was reaching a stalemate, guaranteeing years of prolonged bloodshed, until the Battle of EarthStation 4.
..........
The war had reached a stalemate, virtually guaranteeing years of continued bloodshed on both sides. At EarthStation 4, Admiral Robert Barrett led an armada of 36 capital ships and dozens of smaller destroyers, frigates, and support ships. The Canines had brought nearly their entire fleet to ES4 in an attempt to break the stalemate. Their battle plan was to destroy the entire colony in an effort to force the Galactic League to surrender. Admiral Barrett, despite being outnumbered more than 2 to 1 kept the Canine fleet in space and away from the colony world. The battle lasted for 3 months and was the bloodiest battle of the entire war. Admiral Barrett destroyed 25 capital ships and more than 100 smaller Canine ships against a loss of only 5 capital ships and 7 support ships. The fighting skill of Barrett and his crew became an instant legend. Unfortunately, one of the 5 capital ships lost was Admiral Barrett's flagship, the GLS Nebula Fire.

B'resheet - In the Beginning

This week's parasha is B'resheet - In the Beginning. This seems like a good time to get a new beginning on the blog. I am going to attempt to post updates more often than I have in the past. Even if it's just a short note about why I haven't posted anything relevant or reasonable.

We just got back this week from Sukkot. This year, we went to Walnut Creek State Park on the north end of Keystone Lake. It was a small gathering with friends and family. I must say, "best Sukkot ever!" We spent the week in fellowship and relaxation. It was nice to not have to stress over teaching schedules, meal planning, registration problems, etc. like we've had in the past. Sometimes, you just need to get out of into the wilderness and leave civilization behind.Nothing says wilderness like sleeping in a pop-up camper and eating meals prepared in my sister's travel trailer kitchen, on the grill, or in a crock pot. Yep, just like the Israelites back in the day!

On another blogging note, I helped Dad setup his new blog last night. He will now be blogging teachings at http://rabbiearl.blogspot.com. As soon as he posts, there will be a link on the right side of this page to his blog. I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll be writing. For any who don't know who Dad is, it's Rabbi Earl Walters.

As you may have noticed, there is a picture and link on the right for NaNoWriMo 2013. That's right, I'm doing it again! I will once again subject myself to the mental anguish, torture, and sheer delight of trying to write a 50,000 word novel in only 30 days. If you've never heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), you should check it out. If you've ever thought you might want to write a book, but were afraid it was too hard or you just can't get yourself to start, you should try Nano. I won last year and plan on winning again this year. BTW, I even talked Dad into entering this year. It's going to be a blast watching him freak out when it's half way through November and he's only got 5000-10,000 words. That's what happened to me last year. If you think 50,000 words in 30 days is hard, try 40,000 in 15 days! It was still a great experience and I'm glad I did it. As I said, I will be doing it again this year. I wrote a sci-fi novel last year and this year, I will be writing the sequel. I have the first one edited and almost complete. If you ask really nicely, I might even let some of you read it. We'll see. I might even publish it and sell it for the bargain price of $25.00. Just kidding, I'd never go above $24.50.

Back to the original topic, this is a new beginning for the blog. I will once again be posting Torah teachings each week that I'm teaching at the synagogue and maybe even some weeks when I don't. I will also include updates on my Nano progress and any other projects that strike my fancy in the future. Until the next post, Shalom and YHVH bless you all!