How To Maintain Healthy Posture (While Writing Your Novel)

So I mentioned in my last post that I thought it would be nice to have a particular addition to my work station. The problem is I don’t really have a work station. I move my laptop around to wherever is quietest at the moment.

If I did have an office though, I would really want the ergonomic, posture chair, recommended by chiropractors to position the body as though it is standing instead of sitting … back pain and slouching be gone.

Helpful National Novel Writing Month Tools

National Novel Writing Month (November) is just around the corner and I’m getting my mind in order early this year. Last year, I dove in on November 1 and started writing without much of a plan. I was actually pleased with what flowed out of my fingers, but I thought I would actually try to put together an outline this year to see whether there is any difference in results. I’ll let you know at the end of the month.

I noted in an interview with Ridley Pearson in the November 2010 issue of The Writer magazine that he said he uses the software StoryMill to write his novels. However, StoryMill is for Mac computers and I own a PC. I’ve used Microsoft’s Word to write my stories up until now and decided that I needed some of my own novel writing software to help me keep track of everything more easily this November.

What did I find?  yWriter. 

What is yWriter? The designer, Simon Haynes, explains, “First, and most important, yWriter is FREE to download and use! No registration, no time limits, no expiry. Second, and still rather important, it's a word processor which breaks your novel into chapters and scenes. It will not write your novel for you, suggest plot ideas or perform creative tasks of any kind. It does help you keep track of your work, leaving your mind free to create.”

I have to say, I am quite excited about this software. It makes story organization simple. I already feel more structured from a 10-minute quickie to check it out. I’m almost ready to take on November’s National Novel Writing Month. If you’d like to buddy up with me on NaNoWriMo, you can add me here.

On the other hand, if you’d rather spend November writing poetry instead of a novel, give Robert Brewer’s November PAD Chapbook Challenge a try. Spend November writing a daily poem from the prompts Robert throws out. His prompts are enjoyable and challenging. Last year, I participated whenever I needed a break from my novel writing.

There is something else I wouldn’t mind having to help my creative juices flow. It has something to do with my work station. Aw, but I will have to save that for later. I hear my characters calling me … 

Hearing Voices

Hearing Voices in the Silence

I read an interesting tidbit of information this morning. Well, it’s especially interesting to me now after what just happened.

I read my horoscope every day, mainly for entertainment purposes. This morning, my Facebook horoscope said, “If you've been waiting for important news or a message, Sagittarius, it's likely to arrive today, because the emphasis today is on communication. Outside of receiving things you're looking for through standard communications channels, keep your eyes and ears open and be sensitive to what others are saying and to what they're meaning. Messages of note can come through nonstandard or even extraordinary channels as well today. You do need to listen and not chat; small talk will not provide anything of importance today.”

Okay, so stepping back a bit … after uniting with some Austrian family members over the Internet, I decided it was time to do something I’ve been thinking about for a while – brush up on my German language skills. So this morning I did a search on the Internet for websites where I could start to recall what German language skills I had learned so many years ago. I found a site with spoken phrases and was practicing for a bit, but then decided it was time to retire to my room to work on some writing.

Several hours later, after sending out my book query to prospective agents, I was reading a piece of mail from a friend of mine talking about her blog. Just last night I had been reading up on how to better use Google Ad Sense with my Internet endeavors, and as I was reading her mail, I heard a voice coming from the other room. Getting up to investigate, I looked around to see if there were any strange men standing outside my house.

No, no men anywhere that I could see.

It had to be the other computer, I decided.

So I ambled over to my desktop PC where it had seemingly gone to sleep. I moved the mouse around to wake it up and clicked on the button so I could hear the voice again.

“Das Geschaft,” it said; or as it means in English, “Business.”

Now I don’t always profess to tell you what I make of these strange happenings around me. I know what it means to me, but it might be fun for you to try to figure it out. I might even enjoy hearing about it, so feel free to tell me. Yeah, even if you think I’m nuts. That’s okay. Anything for a chuckle.  :-)