Sigil and Nano and the Messy November

The past year for me has been fairly chaotic, and the past month has been no exception, but in fact the most messy yet.

I didn't finish Nano. Sigil currently stands somewhere in the mid 35k. I've been doing a lot of writing on the new laptop, as well as penning out on the go, so I haven't pieced it together again to get the current grand total, but I know its somewhere in this area. However, I'm not ashamed of this fact, which is I'm here writing to you today after my long time away from this blog to tell you why.

I sincerely forgot when signing up for darling writing event just how messy November can be for. Aside from family holidays and friend's birthdays, this month marked the last days my brother spent living in Massachusetts. As I am writing this now, in my cozy apartment despite the cold cloudy weather outside, my closest friend in life is probably dragging his new bed through the small three-bedroom in the truly tiny town of Hastings, Florida. Many a day this month was spent in his company rather than that of my novel, forcing me to fall behind on both Sigil and my actual writing job alike. Power outtages from the last wind storm did not help the latter at all.



However, I don't really mind it in the least. Nano taught me just how much I can write in only a few hours time, about 5k in three hours or less, which I honestly never thought I could be capable of. Through Nano I learned how to truly fitting writing into my days as much as humanly possible, despite the madness of clubbing and arcades and just relaxing afternoons spent in the company of one of the greatest people I have ever met in life. I'm grateful he forgave me for stealing his Legos, and his crib, and his cd player that one time.

Sigil is far from over though. I hope still to have a first draft done before the new year, which means I have another busy month ahead of me. But like all crazy amounts of productivity, I embrace it happily, for I do not do well with lazyness, it is simply not how I work. I am happiest buried deep in words, shop items, and aching muscles from another hard work out.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, and keeping warm and satisfied. My darling cat-childe and I will do the same.

Keep Calm And Use Zen Writer

One of the great things about my job is that I can do it from my computer. My morning commute is the span of time it takes me to caffeinate into awakeness, and then whether or not I wish to shower and get dressed before I get to work. Its a marvelous thing, being able to pay my rent right from my darling home computer. However, when I spend anywhere from eight to ten hours a day staring a Word documents, wrestling with topics like optical hypertension, or worse, custom drapery, the thought of opening yet another Word document to make headway on my latest novel, does not seem like a nice way to spend my evening.

And then Tumblr in its usual glorious and life-improving fashion guided me through the blog of a good friend towards an amazing program called Zen Writer, the writing platform designed specifically to reduce stress and eliminate distractions so you can focus on what really matters - your thoughts and the worlds you are trying to narrate in. 

Zen Writer uses a minimalist set of tools to give you just the basics, making it easy to get to work without fiddling with silly things. It comes with a variety of soothing backgrounds, which all come in Morning or Night options. I find Night to be easier on my eyes. You can import your own backgrounds if you like too. In addition to the nice things to look at, Zen Writer utilizes a small list of soft music for you to choose from, things I'm pretty sure most folks meditate you, to give you enough noise to drown out distractions, without anything too lyrical, catchy, or repetitive to be a distraction unto itself. 

The best part: it devours your screen to literally eliminate all distraction. You wanna do something else? There is no shrinking of this beautiful window, you either minimize it to a tab on your task bar, or you get off Zen Writer. Its as simple as that. 

Now, I was skeptical about this being anything more than a program that is truly an ease on my eyes, but as I began using it about a week ago now, I discovered something remarkable - I started writing better. I wasn't distracted, and nor was I simply typing up my handwritten pages to get them on the computer and over with. I was playing with words, altering sentence structure, and removing parts that were unnecessary without for one second questioning my choose. Being a calmer writer, makes for a more confident writer. And when you write confidently, its the same as anything else in your life, you will simply do it better.

Zen Writer is available for a 15 day free trial, and is only $9.95 to purchase. If you can't afford it, the creator of this darling program has a link on his website to help you out. Don't worry about copy and paste errors from other programs, there is a nice simple Import option, so you can move files from anywhere onto Zen Writer with ease. Whether you are looking for a stress-free way to write essays next term, or are an aspiring novelist who feels anxiety over the blank white screen of Word (I know, it mocks you with its empty spaces), give Zen Writer a try, and you may be surprised at the difference it makes.