As one of the masses taking part in NaNoWriMo this year, I was pleased to find a few shows geared towards that end. As a note, the first and third Fridays of this month will be posting dates.


Dead Robots Society #197 “Catching up with P.G. Holyfield”
First off, it was just really cool to see how P.G. is doing. I appreciate his candor in sharing the difficulties of staying focused after the success of his podcast turned published novel, Murder at Avedon Hill. He mentions a new website, www.specficmedia.com, which will be as broad as its title suggests.
I was also excited to hear about his new murder mystery in space project and how he’ll be using video to record diaries of his characters to help tell the story. I like his idea for a con for podcasters, and he invited people who would like to read a short story to contact him to be a part of TuacaCon on Nov. 12. He also mentions some advice for being successful in NaNoWriMo.

Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writing #222 “NaNoWriMo Special”
Mur has some great bullet point advice for nanoers. One that came to mind as I wrote later that night was not to care too much about your project. This is an interesting piece of advice, and I’m curious what you think about it. On one hand, you have to care enough about a project that your passion comes through on the page. As Tosca Lee said at a recent conference, “When you shout at the page, the reader only hears a whisper, so if you merely whisper onto the page, they hear nothing.” But, Mur’s point is that if you care too much you’ll really slow down the progress by doing things like starting over and editing as you go and doubting that what you’re writing is good enough.

This takes me off on the tangent of the worth of NaNoWriMo, which is a competition built around quelling the writing blocks mentioned above. I got 2500 words written in the first day, but most of the time I was thinking, “Am I writing a mediocre novel by not thinking this stuff over?” Mur’s advice is to just get it out, because you’ll likely be surprised at what you have in the end. Of course, I’m going against the main advice/”rule” of Nano by finishing a novel this month instead of starting one. The very purpose of that rule is to keep people from caring too much, but alas, that is what I must work on. I’ve come to the conclusion that I must care enough to keep consistent characters, believable plots, and bad guys that don’t pull any punches.

* The Creative Penn has an interview with Mur in 2009 where she gives more advice on writing and NaNoWriMo.

Zach Rick’s GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #1 (iTunes)
I believe Zach will be doing a daily show for nanoers, and this one was a quick motivational podcast under four minutes. He discusses how he found himself bored with his character early on and how to turn that around by creating goals and motivation. This poignant advice was also recently given to me by my flash fiction mentor, so even though it is obvious to “veterans,” it never hurts to be reminded. And he gives some good examples to potentially build into your story.

I will probably record something on my AudioTim podcast soon. I did a NaNo show last year, and might do something similar once my cold goes away. Let me know if you find any other shows geared towards NaNoWriMo. For those writing who’d like to add me as a buddy on the NaNoWriMo site, I’m Tim Ward. Add me on twitter @timothycward and I’ll encourage you as you go.

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Timothy C. Ward writes Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror that reveals what glory can be found on the other side of pain. He also hosts a podcast on writing, AudioTim. Tim used his bachelor’s degree in English to send him to live in Australia and South Korea before he earned his Master of Divinity at FBTS in Iowa. His stories reflect his love for adventure and observations on how trials shape character.