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On NaNoWriMo, DigiWriMo, & Write-A-Thons

Nov. 1st, 2014

I’ve been browsing online all day, jumping from blog to blog, learning about all of the different kinds of “write-a-thons” that are going on right now.

In October, as many of you may have seen, we had “Inktober” and “Blogtober,” a lovely pair of challenges where people tried to complete a drawing or a blog post every day.  It was neat to see people sharing their creativity all over Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.

And, of course, starting today, thousands of people all over the world will be participating in “National Novel Writing Month” (also referred to as "NaNoWriMo"), a challenge to churn out a 50,000 word rough draft of a novel that takes place every November.  NaNoWriMo has also started having “Writing Camps” in other months, where people can set their own goals.

Then there’s another write-every-day push that takes place every April, which is called the “A to Z Challenge.”  Writers write on different topics that are inspired by each letter of the alphabet (the participants skip every Sunday, so that they have built-in rest days and exactly 26 days to blog).  This challenge can of course be done in any month, if you need a little extra inspiration or whimsy, although I do think that knowing that you have a whole community working at the same time as you can be encouraging when your mental energy is lagging.

The marathon that I am currently considering is called “Digital Writing Month” ("DigiWriMo").  It’s a more recent version of NaNoWriMo which also takes place in November, but which seems to be a little more flexible.  Participants can choose whether social media content, like Twitter tweets and Blog posts, should also count towards their 50,000 word writing goal.  For example, one person counted the 10,000+ words in tweets and the 32,000+ words that he churned out in emails every month towards his baseline 50,000 word goal—and his overarching goal was to be more conscious about WHAT he wrote (link here).  Another person might only count scripts, or poetry (some DigiWriMo-ers try to tweet haikus!).

I also discovered “A Round of Words in 80 Days” (#ROW80).  This global challenge seems very attractive in that it encourages more of a lifestyle of writing or creating, as opposed to a short-burst marathon per se.  Participants set their own personal goals for the 80-day period (the current block is October 6^th to December 25^th).  These often pertain to writing (e.g. “I will write 250 words every morning, or for half an hour, whichever ends sooner,” or “I will publish 3 blog posts a week”), but can also include personal goals, such as researching how to put out a newsletter, or walking 4 times a week.  Then they link their blog to all of the other participants’ blogs (through a Linkytool or by using the hashtag #ROW80 in Twitter).  The participants all post updates on their goals twice-weekly on their blogs, including whether they have modified any, and they can also use the links to check on each other and offer feedback, advice, and encouragement.  This challenge also seems to be very forgiving, in that people can join a round at any time, and everyone is free to modify their goals as they test them out.

I can see the appeal of NaNoWriMo and DigiWriMo, in that they encourage you to take the plunge, to make a controlled burst of uncensored effort when you know that others around the world are also trying.  You try to jump past the fear, since you won’t actually ever have to show anyone what you’ve made, and you also know that there is a tangible endpoint in sight.  On the other hand, ROW80 gives you much more flexibility, both in terms of what kind of goals you prefer to concentrate on, as well as how you want to fit creativity and writing into your regular life on a more long-term level.

I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time last year.  My friends have been doing it for over a decade, and I always thought it was a neat idea, but the timing just seemed so terrible.  I had extra shifts at work, or I only remembered that NaNoWriMo was going on halfway through the month, or I had social obligations, etc.  Last year, I started a few days late, but I did actually try—and I “failed."  I did not reach 50,000 words, but on the other hand, I had finally stepped off of the sidelines.

It was hard.  I was not able to make myself write every day, and I watched my totals slip farther and farther behind the necessary daily minimums and the global and regional averages.   I might have made it if I’d knuckled down during the last week, but by then I had burned out. 

So I never got my “victory badge.”  But I had participated in a global effort to be creative, right?  And I’d worked on an idea I’d never actually devoted time to before, right?

I did find the experience useful, though. I learned that I didn’t have the personal tools to focus on a single idea, however fluid, for an entire month, much less for every day in that month.  And I learned that I burned out when “having to write," especially to reach an ever-rising marker.

I also really enjoyed having the tangible progress graph.  I am a person who likes and needs to see progress to stay motivated and energized.  I like to be able to tick off boxes when I have accomplished a task, and to see a growing collection of check-marks.  I actually used NaNoWriMo as my inspiration this spring, when I went on a major de-cluttering spree.  I made a graph that showed me the growing totals of bags of “stuff” that I had removed from my house—Over the course of a month, I know that I donated, recycled, or threw out over 30 bags-worth!  The graph really helped me keep things in a positive perspective—yes, I still had too many belongings squirreled away, but on the other hand, I knew that I had succeeded in making a significant dent—that I had been able to keep forging ahead and making difficult choices, that I had cleared out some much-needed physical and mental space...

So I’m sitting here in a living room with a couple of friends, all of us with our laptops on our laps and surrounded by mugs of warm tea (it's been a cold, rainy day).  They're writing and thinking about NaNoWriMo projects (both are revising/continuing previous NaNoWriMo novels), while I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I will be focusing on this month.  I have the advantage this year in that I am actually starting on November 1^st, along with everyone else!  I think that I will start out by trying to accomplish #DigiWriMo (50,000 words in various digital formats), with an eye to making some #ROW80 goals along the way.  But I may track it as a #NaNoWriMo project, so I can have my snazzy graph! (Are you following all of that?)

My Current Goals:

I have a couple story ideas knocking about my head, but none of them seem particularly well-fleshed-out.  And my blog has been languishing a bit—I had some camera difficulties, and it was hard to keep up the enthusiasm for my tutorials, photo galleries, and Etsy posts, without being able to add new pictures.  So I think that I will concentrate on updating certain areas of my photo galleries, and as my main writing/creative goals, I will attempt to:

 

1. Stock up on blog entries for November and December. 

2. I really enjoy having sketches as the headers of each post, so I plan to make some more of these. 

3. I have been playing around with a couple vlog script ideas that I would like to flesh out more and actually try shooting. 

 

But to quote Lily from the movie “Eagle vs. Shark,” “that could change.”

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo or DigiWriMo?  How detailed are your goals?  Are they more concerned with writing, or with publishing, or with trying something new?  Let me know!

"Girls! Pentagram of Death!" --"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"

Happy Last Day of October!

And Suddenly, We're in the Middle of Fall!

I can't believe it's the end of October already! 

I hope you are all enjoying a lovely Fall, as we make our way toward the holiday season...

BATS, Part 2 & MICROBATS

BATS, Continued:
Last time, I showed you how I made my first bat.  With my later bats, the main difference is that I now add simple little feet:

Before I stitch the body to the base panel, I tack a simple split-triangle piece into the bottom corner of the belly panel to create a little pair of feet.  This foot panel can be edged with stitching or not (the fleece will not fray).  This panel then gets sandwiched into the bottom front of the body when I stitch the last, base panel to the body:

My first two completed bats:

 

The eyes make up a lot of the personality of each bat:

THE MICROBAT:

For the "Microbat," I wanted to go even simpler and even smaller.  This plushie is made with 3 identical body panels, a face panel, and a pair of wings:

Here, I have all of the fleece panels I need, plus a small brow crest:

 My narrow care label panel also functions as a tail or mounting loop:

First, I stitch the skeletal ridges to the wings.  As stated in previous tutorials, I always use two layers of fleece to create a stiffer wing:

To create the body, I start by stitching two of the body panels together on one side with a zig-zag stitch.

 I then invert the double-wide panel , so that the stitches are facing up (towards the outside of the finished body), and sandwich the crest, wings, and folded label between it and the third panel.  I always stitch this seam two or three times, to make sure everything is secure.

I then stitch the final two long edges of the body panels together, with the stitches facing out.  All three body panels form a domed triangle shape, and I usually stitch the panels together so that the third, bottom panel which forms the belly has both its seam stitches on the outside, for extra flair and a flatter base.

Now that the body is all sewn together, I tack the head panel to the belly panel, right where my fingers can be seen pinching them together.  As with the belly seams, I tack the head to the body on the "right" side of the plushie, with the seam facing out.

All panels have now been attached. The microbat looks like this:

View from the side.  All that remains to finish the body is to add stuffing and tack the head to the neck:

Before I stuff and close the bat, I sew the eye(s) to the face, and secure the thread on the inner side of the panel.

I always try to stitch at an inward angle, to get more of the black felt securely quilted to the fleece panel.

Then I check all seams, and then stuff the body cavity, like so:

Finally, I spiral-stitch the face to the body, creating a secure seam and a decorative edge that matches the base seams:

Secure and hide the last knot (see the hidden knot tutorial), and voila!  A Microbat!

View of the underside of the wings and belly panel:

View of the wings from above:

Front view.  The points on the head panel become ears:

And that's how you make a Microbat!



BATS! The Basics...

Fun Fact: I based my bat pattern off of my red dragon pattern!  The general shape of the dragon head comprises the body for the bat.

 

COMPONENTS

The basic components for a bat, not counting miscellaneous spines, eyes, feet, etc.:

 

ASSEMBLY

The ear panels are assembled into cones and stitched to the forehead panel in the same way as in the red dragon's assembly (please see the red dragon tutorial for detailed instructions for both ear and wing construction).  Next, the two side panels, forehead, and belly panels are all stitched together, starting from the tip of the nose, to create a pouch.

 

Here, you can see the prototype pattern beside the prototype bat body (decorative spines have been sandwiched into the rear seam):

 

I then add a base panel and two wings.  These are exactly the same as the wings I use in my dragon pattern--two quilted layers of wing with a skeletal accent stitched into the inner side.

When all components are roughly assembled, the bat prototype looks like this:

For this prototype, I've sewn the wings together into one continuous piece (I've since decided that this is an unnecessary and complicating step, and no longer bother to do it, so feel free to skip doing this).

With the wings assembled, I now have three pieces: The body, the base, and the wings:

I lay the inside-out bat against the base panel, sandwiching the wings between the back seam (the one with the spines) and the top of the base panel, and stitch them together 3/4ths of the way around.  Then I sew the eyes onto the bat face.  With this prototype, I have also sewn two stuffed cones to the face, to create a beak.

 

Finally, I simply stuff the bat and stitch the final edge closed (You may review how to close your plushie using whip stitch and blind stitch here).

 

And there you have it!

That's how I made my first bat!

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Next time, I'll show you how to make the "Microbat," which is much simpler, and I'll show you some more pictures of my completed bats.

See you then!