Happy #InternationalPodcastDay! Play this short episode for an exciting announcement.

Learn more about International Podcast Day (Sept 30)

This episode was was recorded and produced by A Mad Vox. Hat tip to Rolfe Koble for sharing his tips on recording a podcast episode from an iPhone. 

Intro/Outro music: "How it Goes" by Madeline Wright

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

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This is the 30th day of NaNoWriMo. The last day!

For those who have crossed the finish line tonight way to go! Once you're done, remember to go to the validation page and upload your novel so that you can claim your official win.

There are some goodies including access to tools that can help you improve your story writing process, as well as ones that are available right now that expire starting tonight.

Check out the NaNoWriMo sponsors page and see what's available along with the deadlines, so that you don't miss out.

Today's episode is about reflections from the month. What was the best and most challenging part of NaNoWriMo for you? As I mentioned in my previous episode, today's the last daily episode for the NaNoWriMo edition of A Mad Vox. 

Until we speak again, let's connect and do amazing things that will make your inner kid proud.
You can find me at amadvox.com

On social media under the name "A Mad Vox" here

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest, if you're feeling crafty.

I hope you take the time to celebrate each step of this journey. That includes all of your efforts through today and beyond as you develop your story and share it with the world. Thank you so much for listening. See you!

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram  |  Facebook

This is the 29th day of NaNoWriMo. We have one more day and then... this leads to a very good question of what's next? That's what this episode is all about.

Perhaps you've given it a lot of thought, or you're still feverishly typing away to finish the story you've outlined. Either way, I've got some ideas to share with you that will help you move forward after the challenge.

1. Finish
2. Take a break - take as much time as you need and when your creativity cup is full come on back for the next step
3. Dive into the next creative project
4. NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month)

Starts March 1.
Challenge: 50 hours of editing.

I'm curious to know what you're going to do next?

It's been a pleasure sharing my tips and tools to help you crush Nano. I have been wanting to do this for a long time, at least for the last few years. It turned out that this was the perfect time for me to make it happen. But I couldn't have done it without the encouragement and support of my friends and family, the challenge organizers, as well as other podcasting pioneers who have gone before and made it simple by sharing their tips and tools with newbies like me.

This is my way of paying it forward. I hope it doesn't stop with me or you. I plan to continue podcasting; trying out new creative things to challenge myself, share my experiences with others, and inspire more people to discover, hone, and use their voices to share their stories.

After tomorrow I'll be taking a break from podcasting daily to bring you the regular and likely, weekly, edition of A Mad Vox coming next.

In the meantime, I'm gathering my best creative productivity tips and tools and making my list of other fun challenges to try in the future. Until then, please make sure to subscribe via your favorite podcatcher.

Thank you so much for listening to A Mad Vox: NaNoWriMo Edition. I'll see you in the next episode!

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram  |  Facebook

Take a screenshot of your current progress on NaNoWriMo. It's good to have a photo of the finish line as well

If you're going to one last in-person write-in this month, take a photo with your write-in group or have someone take a photo of you in your best writing pose.

Look back at your progress this month and write down or record how you're feeling about the challenge and 3 things you've learned about yourself.

Be sure to congratulate the writers you've connected with throughout the last month. This can include those in your buddy list, in your home region on the NaNoWriMo site or in a Facebook group, and other online groups where you've found support while writing your novel this month. You can stay in touch throughout the year and support each other through the next steps.

Thanks for listening!

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram  |  Facebook

NaNoWriMo Edition.
This is day 27 of NaNoWriMo.

Every day is one day closer to the end. Even if you're diligently writing 1667 words each day to get to 50K, just being aware of where you are on this timeline can make you feel like it's already the end.

You may see your levels of motivation dropping slightly. You may find some other things to do instead of writing that seem very tempting. Or, if you're anything like someone we know, you may have done this before and you're tempted to give yourself an added challenge of waiting to the very last day to get in all of the words remaining, just because you're pretty sure you can do it.

You're likely aware that you won't be completely done with your story when you hit 50K. Here are some tips for writing to the actual end of NaNoWriMo.

But first. hit 'save' and check your writing posture. You're welcome.

VALIDATE FIRST
If you've hit 50K before the last day of the month but still have some storytelling left, I recommend that you VALIDATE your word count first and then keep on writing.
You may discover there is lots more to your story to keep you going for many more thousands of words, and unless you keep writing you'll never know.

KEEP CALM AND WRITE ON

If you have not yet reached 50k and you're within striking distance you're going to hit a point where you start to struggle!write. You're so close to the end, and yet it seems like every word you write pushes the finish line further away.

You'll get there. Focus on your story, not specifically on crossing the finish line, and before you know it you'll reach the end of your scene as well as the challenge.

SLOW AND STEADY' APPLIES
You may know the story and moral of The Tortoise and the Hare.
Time is the tortoise and YOU are the hare.

The hare's problem in the story was that he got it twisted when he figured out he could finish the race later and relax first. Now, this is easier said than done but, writer, the best way to avoid this is to use the time you have left wisely.

Let's not get down to the wire where you HAVE TO write your absolute fastest in order to finish.
You can do this by calculating how many actual writing hours you have left before the end of the month.

Divide that by your normal writing cadence which you've determined in Episode 4 "Let's Catch up on your Word Count."

The number you have is how many words you'll need to write per hour.

If that number is lower than your normal writing cadence then you're golden! You still have a reasonable amount of time to finish. So keep on going. Just like the tortoise. I believe you can do this.

Are you currently dealing with the battle of struggle-writing to the end of either NaNoWriMo or your story, or both? If neither, teach us your ways!!

That's all for today. Thanks for listening! 

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

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This is the 26th day of NaNo. And today is the day that you realize that you are going to crush your goal.
Here are three ways you know you're going to crush NaNoWriMo.

Know that you've seen it happen.

• All around the world writers are placing their 50 thousandth word and zipping over the finish line. You know what to do. You want to do it. You've mentally worked it all out. At this point, writer, you're just following the proven playbook. And nothing's going to stop you now.

Know that it's a done deal in your mind.

• Visualization of your novel, your characters, and their quests. You know the result of the biggest challenges they've had to meet and overcome. It's all downhill from here.

Know that you are the hero of your own story.

• And that story is the journey through the challenge that is National Novel Writing Month. You have fought valiantly against the odds and persisted in keeping your focus and drive aligned to write, despite many distractions, some cute and furry and eager to lay across your keyboard. and others like hand cramps and neck aches to remind you that your writer posture could be better.
  There's the saying, attributed to John Lennon.
  "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay. it's not the end."

if you have not achieved your goal by the end of this week, then your story is not yet over! Get ready for the epilogue and the sequel, where the hero vows to rise again to triumph victoriously in the next challenge that will change what the hero knows about the world, their focus in life and most importantly the hero (you).

I'm curious to know if you're feeling that rush to crush NaNoWriMo this week? Let me know in a comment on social media, referencing episode 26 and using #amadvox.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening! 

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram  |  Facebook

This is the 25th day of NaNo. 25 days! Only 6 more to go including today. And you would think that you'd be used to the pattern of writing and ready to zoom through the finish line, right?

Yeah, about that. This episode is all about how to get through the home stretch with your sanity intact!

With only a few days left and the finish line almost within sight, it's really easy to start doing things that can sabotage your progress and otherwise demoralize you in terms of your writing productivity.

Now if you find yourself doing these things it's not the end of the world, but you'll get through your novel a little bit faster if you focus on the writing.

Remember to take care of your health. This includes staying hydrated, eating regular meals, and taking frequent writing breaks to reset your posture, rest your hands, and give your eyes a break.

Avoid compulsively checking your word count. Now, if you're anything like someone we know you're going to do this anyway. The trick is to tie your word count check to a sprint.

Once you hit 50K, Be sure that you validate your novel on the site. Hitting that is an accomplishment and you deserve all of the accolades. The NaNoWriMo website wants to give you a special award!

Be sure to congratulate others as they cross the finish line.

I'm curious to know what other tips you have for getting through this homestretch. Let me know on social media. Reference episode 25 and use the hashtag #amadvox.

Thanks for listening! 

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram  |  Facebook

This is the 24th day of NaNoWriMo! It's not just any weekend, It's the weekend before NaNoWriMo ends.

Write your novel like it's a Black Friday sale where you can get this exclusive insight. You can plan to discount at least 25% of whatever you write! So hurry and write all weekend long!

Offer valid only after validation or Dec. 1, or whenever the editing process has started. See final first draft for details.

It still feels like a holiday but this is the best time to make up your word count if you're behind. If you want to give yourself a boost for the last few days and finish strong I have a few suggestions.

Word Sprints ALL day, e'er'day.

-
Word sprints are set periods of time where you write as many words as possible during that time.

As I mentioned before you can find word sprints on the NaNoWriMo website,
on Twitter Nano words sprints account and on

Throughout this entire weekend, there are Turkzilla sprints through Sunday night every hour on the top of the hour and the 00:30, for 15 minutes.

Advantage: It ties you to a time vs doing ad-hoc sprints.

Allows time (15 minutes) prepare to write again with a prompt, either your outline or something else, instead of simply starting with "ready, set, write!"

Also, there are lots of dinosaurs involved, if you're into that sort of thing.

Attend any NaNoWriMo virtual write-ins? Rewatch them!

-
NaNoWriMo virtual write-ins via YouTube
-
It's nice to have a chance to try out the prompts you may have ignored the first time through. Again, this is a first draft. Get the words in. You can always edit the prompts out if they don't fit your story later.

Climb that buddy list ladder.

-
By now you probably have a few buddies in your list in various stages of having won, having written more than 50K but aren't yet validated and those who are true blue in their word count and climbing. If you fall into the latter category, this is your time to climb.

Find someone slightly ahead of you and do a word sprint or two to catch up to that buddy.

I find 15-minute sprints to be most effective for me but your preference may vary. Do whichever sprint length works best for you. The key here is to repeat the sprints until you catch the person in front of you.

Once you've done that take a well-deserved break, and then repeat as needed.

Use social media check-ins.

If you use social media try posting your current word count as a virtual check-in.

Posting an update every 2K words until you get to 45K can be a great motivator. After 45K, update every 1K to get through that final stretch. Let your friends cheer you on and keep you on task as you boost your word count and blast through to the other side of 50K.

I'm curious to know if you have any weekend word boosting strategies. Let me know in a comment on social media (mention episode 24) and use the hashtag #amadvox.

Thanks for listening! 

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram  |  Facebook

This is the 23rd day of NaNoWriMo. I don't know about you, but I've noticed there are all sorts of new things on the horizon, ready to draw my attention and take up all my free time. In this next week, the number of those things will likely increase.

Which is why today I'm going to talk about really understanding what is shiny about your story.

Sometimes I feel like creative writers can gravitate toward ideas that are presented in a certain way:
There's a sense of newness. Yet a relatability that seems attainable. It's attractive, it's inspiring, and it's just within our grasp if we can just put in enough effort to reach it.

Inspiration comes from just about any giving source. The problem is when we let our inspiration overtake our sense of focus on one project and start gearing up to do another.
It makes it tough to focus on the task at hand. And the luster seems to fade a bit from the project at hand.

This is a classic example of 'grass is greener' syndrome.

Or the snowflakes are prettier?

Hmm... It doesn't really snow where I am, but I do know it's that time of year where everything is sparkly and novel, and if you're anything like someone we know you're can get distracted quite easily. And often.

But, what if we learn to find the shiny thing in our own work?
This will help us to stay focused long enough to finish and It will be a way to guarantee that you'll attract a readership. At least if you follow through on the activity part of this learning.

Can you identify the shiny part of your story? The part of the story that makes others go "Ooh, I want to read that!"

That's the thing that you can use to keep going and push through the distractions of everything else to complete your challenge.

This is an experiment to try.

Talk to at least 3 people about your novel ideally, in your target readership. Give them a synopsis and let them ask you a couple of questions about your story.

Note their reactions as you describe your character and the various things the character encounters in your story. Did you notice their eyes light up about any aspect of the character or any aspects of your story?

Ask the person if the story sounds like something they'd be interested in reading? And ask them why.

Note: Before you talk to these people make sure to answer these questions for yourself first. This will give you a hypothesis and let you compare your answers with actual data.

Did you try the experiment? What did you learn about your story that others find shiny and how can you add in more of those shiny things? Let me know on social media (and mention Episode 23)

By rediscovering the sense of newness about your story through someone else's eyes, the idea is that you'll be drawn into a feedback loop that will inspire you to want to tell your story to the person who's excited to read it.

I hope all of that sparkle and shine will give you what you need to stay focused and committed to polishing that first draft that you'll have finished by the end of the month.

Thanks for listening! If you find this of value please consider rating and reviewing it in Apple podcasts (A.k.a. iTunes) and sharing it with a friend.

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram  |  Facebook

Hello and welcome back to A Mad Vox NaNoWriMo Edition.

This is the 22nd day of NaNoWriMo. I want to wish everyone in the US a Happy Thanksgiving

Where you are in your journey, what you have and how you can cultivate gratitude in a way that will help you stay grounded.

Today's one of those days that can vary widely for a lot of writers. Either you can sit down and write all of the words or it's a day where you're just not able to get a lot of writing done.

I want to talk about if you are in the latter category and you're feeling some kind of way about feeling behind and anxious about not being able to finish your draft by the 30th.

I want to encourage you to not let that get in the way of living your real life.

This is an endurance challenge and it's meant to cause a certain level of stress but that's a certain level of stress that you can push through and surmount and be able to function in other areas of your life while doing this challenge.

It's not meant for this to be something that's so overwhelming that it stresses you out to the point where you're not able to live your life normally. If you've taken the time to, as I discussed in the previous (Episode 21), to figure out your realistic amount of time that you need to finish your novel then you should be able to recognize that you will have some time in the rest of your month to do certain things that you didn't necessarily think that you would have time to do.

Mainly, because you've named those hours that you actually need to write. And therefore you've probably freed up some time that you thought would need that you don't actually need for writing.

If you're writing per your cadence and you're able to hit your word count in an hour or two, then you're done! There's no point in worrying about the next day and the next daily word count. Plan some time in your day to do something else (non-writing related).

Here's something new to try. See if you can take the worry in your mind and replace it with gratitude. Instead of thinking about what you're most worried about what is one thing that you are grateful for?

Each day is a new opportunity to start fresh.

With the finish line in sight and an attitude of gratitude taking you through the rest of your day, you will be empowered to take on your word count goal as well as your daily life.

I believe you can do this!

Are you ready to move forward through the NaNoWriMo challenge now with gratitude instead of worry? Share your answer using the hashtag #AMadVox on social media

I'm so grateful that you're listening to the show. 

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
 

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you! 

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram  |  Facebook