There were a lot of things that I had planned to do in 2011, but most of them never happened. There was too much to do and it seemed that there was simply not enough time. I guess there never is enough time in our lives to do all the things that we want to do.

But, the funny thing is that when I look back at 2011, I can’t help but wonder: Did I do the best in the time that was available to me?

The answer is a resounding no. I might have been short of time, but there was definitely enough time to do more than I actually did. I hope that doesn’t happen in 2012.

One thing that most of us do on New Year’s Eve is make resolutions for the next year. Even though, many of my friends have given up making resolutions, thinking of them as an exercise in futility, I am not giving up.

So, here is my list of resolutions for 2012:

1. Read more. In 2011, I had set myself the target of reading at least 130 books in the year, but I could not do it. Since reading is something I enjoy, and is also important if one wants to write better, I am going to continue with this resolution. I am going to try and read at least 130 books this year.

2. Write more. Again, in 2011 I had set myself a target of writing for one hour every day. Of course, I failed. This year I want to continue writing more, and, therefore, I have set myself a target of writing at least 1,500 words every day.

3. Exercise. Over the years I have been working out regularly, so working out never featured in my list of resolutions. In 2011, however, I found that I was finding excuses to avoid working out. Therefore, I have decided to add it to my list of resolutions for 2012. I am going to try and take time out for exercising at least three times a week.

4. Balancing the real-virtual life. With social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook becoming an important part of our lives, the line between the real world and the virtual world begins to blur. The solution, I believe, does not lie in the complete shunning of either one, but in balancing the two. In 2012, I will try to make a deliberate effort to ensure that my online life does not affect my real life, and vice versa.

5. Killing procrastination. Procrastination is one of my biggest sins, and in 2012, I am going to kill it once and for all. This one I think is going to be a hard one to nail, but I think it is doable.

I guess this is about it. There are a few other minor resolutions that I don’t want to bore you with. What have you resolved for 2012?

Oh, and before I end this post, here is me wishing you a Very Happy 2012!

As a new writer, it is often easy to get caught up in the excitement of the business. You hold up that shiny new piece of writing and can’t wait to share it with the world. You research everything you can about writing and plan the most effective way to get your work into the hands of the public.

This is great, and writers should get excited about what they are doing. The problem comes when the writer gets so excited that they forget to become their own critic.

Here are five mistakes that new writers often make.

Telling, Not Showing

This is arguably the most important advice any novelist will receive. You never want to simply tell a story. Telling is boring. An author often makes the mistake of “telling” because they understand their characters so well. They know the scenes and how the characters react in certain situations. The reader does not know this.

Showing comes from the characters themselves. The story is told through their eyes and ears. This is what truly makes a reader fall in love with your story. Don’t just tell them that your character is scared. Show them how the character is scared.

Not Reading

Every good writer is a good reader. It sounds odd, but it is true. Reading is much more important than one might think. It helps you know what is popular or trending for the market in which you are writing. It lets you know what stories are not being published, and gives you an idea of which stories will then take more effort to get publishers to consider. Best of all, reading helps you learn how to write. Pay attention to how other authors start their stories and end their stories. Look at the words they use and how they phrase things. These can be used as learning tools to help you discover your own way of creating words that matter.

Imitation

We all have one author that we admire. They are the person we hope to someday be. We look at their words and aspire to be able to create that same magic ourselves. As much as you admire that author, remember not to imitate them. Imitation might be considered flattery in some professions, but in the writing world imitation can be considered a form of plagiarism. Every author should have their own unique voice. Maybe you don’t know what yours is yet, and that’s fine. If you keep writing and experimenting, you will find it.

Submitting Too Soon

In the excitement of finishing a new novel, some writers send out their story way too soon. Step away for a while and let your piece rest. Go back later and take another look at it. Find a critique partner or a beta reader to give you some pointers. Never jump the gun and send your work out when it isn’t ready. If you do, the chances of rejection are higher. This isn’t because the piece is necessarily bad. Maybe it just needs more details and some reworking. Take the time to make your story the best it can be before you submit.

Giving Up!

Getting published is not an easy task. For some authors it can take years to get published. Don’t be surprised when you get a stack of rejections in the mail. It’s the nature of the business. Rejections are hard to handle, but look at them as a learning experience. Keep writing. Keep believing in your ability to tell a story people want to read. Most of all, don’t give up.

(This a guest post by Mary Ellen Quigley. Mary is a paranormal romance author from Indiana, who got the writing bug as a child in the fifth grade. She started writing her first novel “Nocturne” in 2006, which is yet to be released. In 2009, Mary began writing “The Wild Side”  which was released in the summer of 2011. You can read more of her posts on her blog.)

(Image courtesy: Avolore from sxc.hu)

“At midnight on November 1, armed only with their wits, the vague outline of a story, and a ridiculous deadline, more than 250,000 people around the world will set out to become novelists.”

These are the opening lines from the official press release for NaNoWrimo 2011. For those who don’t know what NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is, it should suffice to say that NaNowrimo is about writing a 50,000 words novella in the 30 days of November. Every year since 1999, an increasing number of people have attempted this task, and many have failed. Let’s have a look at the numbers:

From the above table, it is clear that though the number of participants and the number of winners (those who are able to successfully write 50,000 words) has  increased continuously over the years, the success rate has remained low, hovering only around 20 %.

Everyone who participates in the event does so with the hope that he, or she, will come out as a winner. Yet,  most fail.

Here are a few things that I have observed during my participation in NaNoWriMo over the years that I am sure would be useful for anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year:

1.  Have a plan. Like all things in life, it is always a good  idea to have a plan before you start NaNoWriMo. You are allowed to work up a storyline for your novella before the months tarts. Make sure you use this opportunity. If you have a rough outline of the novella in your mind, it will be mush easier to type it out later. If you decide to “just go with the flow“  you can get stuck at a point where you have no idea  where you are headed to. Once you get stuck, the likelihood of your dropping out increases dramatically.

2. Friends and  Competition. These are two things in life that you just can’t escape, and it is good that you can’t. If you set out on a journey alone, you are likely to get bored. NaNoWriMo is no different. It is, in fact, one of those things where doing the itself is the reward of doing it. Sometimes that is just not enough.

If, however, you have a few buddies that are writing along with you, the journey will not get boring and the competition among you will spur you to go on, and come out as a winner.

3.  Write Everyday. Just like a bird makes a nest by collecting one twig at a time, you should write everyday to write your novella. You may fall behind some day and you may race ahead on others, but as long as you are writing every day, there is a great chance that you will be there at  the finish line.

Writing every day has two advantages. First, you don’t lose touch with your story, and your characters. As long as you are interested in them, the words will come. Secondly, the task of writing 50,000 words boils down to writing 1,667 words if you write everyday. While writing 50,000 words may look like a daunting task, 1,667 words shouldn’t be that hard, don’t you think?

4. Track your progress. As I argued in an earlier post, you can’t improve what you can’t measure, I would recommend tracking your progress with NaNoWriMo meticulously. Knowing how much you have achieved, and how  far you have to go can be a great aid in finishing a task. There are various tools available online (including the word count meters on the NaNoWriMo site itself) that you can use to track your progress. I have also  made a simple spreadsheet that you could download and use to track your progress.

5. Don’t Worry about how good or how bad your writing is turning out to be. Most novels are not written in a month. Some are even written over a period spanning several years. So, don’t try to churn a masterpiece in 30 days( If you can actually do it, don’t stop me from letting you do it), just write those 50,000 words. You will have ample time to correct your manuscript later.

6. Have Fun. If in the midst of all this, you stop having fun then you have failed already. There is no point in typing out a 50,000 novella in 30 days and not enjoying it. The point of NaNoWriMo is to boost your creativity, enhance your writing skills, and have fun – all at the same time. If any of  the three is missing, it is better to give up.

You don’t have to do all of the above things to win the NaNoWriMo, but you definitely have to do some of them to win it.

Have you done the NaNoWriMo  before? Are you doing it this year? Do you have any tips for NaNoWriMo that you would care to share?

When I was a child, I did not watch a lot of TV. In fact, TV was not even interesting as only a few channels were available, and these were mostly boring.  So, naturally, kids in our time did the next best thing – they read!

These days, however, TV has become interesting. There is something for everyone and, therefore, it is no wonder that everyone is watching more TV than ever before.  I am no exception.

But, with the increase in my TV viewing time, I couldn’t help wondering: Does watching TV  TV kill creativity?

I did a Google search using the string “Does TV kill creativity?” and got 17,700,000 results. I am sure that among these results there must have been links to researches that prove it does, and there must be other links to researches that prove it doesn’t, and there must be links to still other researches that prove TV does not affect creativity at all.

I, therefore, decided to do a little thinking for myself, and share my thoughts on the subject with you.

When I felt that I was spending more time watching TV – and less time reading – I initially tried to justify that by telling myself that watching TV was the same as reading, only at a much faster speed. While it took me about 5-6 hours to read a book, I could watch a similar story on TV in less than an hour. This reasoning, however, did not hold for long as I begin to have a gnawing feeling that there was something wrong with it.

TV kills imagination, and Imagination is an important part of creativity.

For example, when you read, “It was a beautiful morning,” your mind immediately begins to draw a picture of a beautiful morning for you. This picture will definitely be different for different readers.

But, every reader draws a picture.

On the other hand, when you are watching a beautiful morning on TV, you get the picture drawn for you, and this picture is the same for every viewer.  So, TV does not leave any room for you to exercise the power of your imagination. You simply become a passive recipient of someone else’s imagination. This can’t be good for your creativity.

Moreover, TV is a huge time sink. It keeps you indoors, and on your couch. Thus, you miss out on the exercise and the experiences that you would have got if you had not stayed indoors. Exercise and new experiences, as we all know, are well known enhancers of creativity. Watching TV keeps you away from them.

So, I feel that TV definitely kills your creativity, and even if it does not kill creativity, TV does not let you be more creative than you already are. Wouldn’t you agree?

(Image courtesy: svilen001 from sxc.hu)