NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon Of The Day - Day 18: Dressing Up All Fancy: Organize A Ball!

Today, I decided to practice my art skills with these wonderful characters. Rufus & Jiya are so absolutely wonderful and they look so happy here.

@sallyexactly has written a lot of my favourite Timeless fanfic including a special gift last year, and she loves Rufus & Jiya too - so: I hope you enjoy this sketch, Sally ❤️

Now also on AO3

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 12: Plotholes? What plotholes?

Writing during NaNo can sometimes feel like you are building a tower of cards or a jenga tower that is about to topple over & I am here to tell you: play recklessly! Explore those new adventure twists & directions your characters want to take you! Go build a story on patched-over ground and shore up your plot with plot bunnies & raptors & ninjas!

Day 12: Plotholes? What plotholes?

Get your story gleefully written. Get a draft on paper & take comfort in the solid trust you'll be able to put in those structural repairs in the editing process. For now: keep writing! Keep telling your story & know that your imperfections make you unique and marvelous & interesting & in the editing process you'll be able to polish them beautifully. Plotholes? What plotholes? indeed! 😆 Have a blast!

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 07: Maps

Have you drawn a story map yet? What does your narrative’s landscape look like? We are all on this writing expedition together with different maps to guide our way. I like creative and associative maps and it was fun to draw this filled with funky little writing places we can explore.

Day 07: Getting Lost in the Realm of Possibilities

What are the central features on your map? The sightseeing marvels no reader should miss? What monsters are lurking in those empty spaces only barely sketched in because no adventurer has ever returned to carry tales? Any hidden treasures that your main character has buried in the early days and now can’t find again? 

This year, I rediscovered the absolute joys of reading fanfiction. Exploring characters I love in so many different stories and combinations and settings. It is helping me process this year and rediscover things I find important. Fiction has always meant a lot to me, and I'm feeling the urge to be creative again myself.

So, I decided to start engaging in fandom again by sketchnoting my reactions to some of my favourite stories. (At least for as long as it is fun).

My first sketchnote is in honour of the marvelous @sallyexactly whose Timeless stories I've fallen in love with. The Only Way Out - which I first read over Easter and I now lost count on the rereads - is my favourite headcanon for how the series ended.

But the very first story I read by Sally was The Road Ode. It even inspired me to take a mini roadtrip myself this year (in Europe with very few coronacases & lots of measures).

So, without further ado:

When I read the summary for Scorched Earth (Timeless) by @sallyexactly, I expected something darker, but when I started reading, I was quickly pulled into the emotion & longing of the story.

The language feels poetic to me: filled with imagery & the particular sense of nostalgia where you are trying to avoid living the end before it happens but you know there's no avoiding it and therefore the nostalgia starts while you are still in the moment. The contrast between the scorched & parched earth is evocative and beautiful. Flynn in particular is such a emotional disaster in this story & it is wonderous to behold.

Thank you, Sally.

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 14: Adopt a Plot Bunny from the Pound!

Plot Bunnies come in all shapes and sizes! Some are utterly adorable, others absolutely vicious, and yet others both! If you ever feel yourself running out of steam during NaNo, simply plan a trip to the Plot Bunny Pound where there are many lovable twists&turns just waiting to be adopted.

Day 14: Adopt a Plot Bunny from the Pound!

A word of caution: Plot Bunnies often come in multitudes and are know to multiply rapidly whenever they find a loving home. If you ever find yourself in the position where you have too many Plot Bunnies you can comfortably sustain: the Plot Bunny Pound is also happy to work with you to find another writer's home. Come play with these adorable, plot gnawing and heartmelting little creatures!

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 20: Magical Portals & New Discoveries!

A story contains untold magnitudes and there are so many possible choices: who is telling the story to whom? Where are they located? How honest are they? What choices do your characters make when confronted with the plottwists you dreamt up?  The sheer creative act of storytelling requires bravery. Shifting through this realm of possibilities and finding which door you want to open and which approach you'll take.

Day 20: Magical Portals & New Discoveries

Storytelling transforms. It lifts you up from your everyday life and places you in the midst of this world of yours. It allows you to look at the world through another's eyes and walk in their shoes. It's a magical portal all by itself and that's not even including all those hidden portals we so often find in fiction. Are there any portals in your story? Ways your characters leave their regular lives and get thrust into adventure? Allow yourself to be amazed & keep writing away!

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - 3

No matter how well you prepare, the process of writing allows for surprises and unexpected events! Let’s embrace the unknown and sail away in this adventure.

Day 03: The Best Laid Plans: Sailing Away to Uncharted Waters!

Find your crew, craft your lifeboat and sail away heedlessly of any dangers ahead! We’ll weather the storms when they come. For now: write whimsically, adventurously, and most importantly: take a moment to enjoy it all!

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 6: Word Sprints

No matter if you are way ahead and are cruising on your way to 50000 words or if you are falling behind on your daily word count or even if you are deciding only now to get started and crush this challenge: word sprints can help you get those words for today.

Day 06: Word Sprints. On Your Places! Ready? Set? Write!

Set a timer, pick up the pen or put your hands on the keyboard and write, write, write as fast as you can. Challenge your fellow WriMos, race together and add words, and words, and words today! I love the freedom of small sprints and the way that they add up to more and more and more when I add them to the total.

Whether you are fast or slow, ahead or behind, let’s race together and compete only with ourselves. Every word counts and our stories matter. On Your Places! Ready? Set. Write!

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 30: Crossing the Finish Line

Today is the final day! The last day to write your words and still have them count for your NaNo 2022 project. I have seen many of us come up from behind the last few days, get that final wind and get within a hair of the finish line now. There is still time to get that purple winner's bar and reach your 50000 words. When you are struggling, know we are here to cheer you on! You can do it!

Day 30: Crossing the Finish Line

Tonight: take a moment and feel it down to your bones. You set yourself this task and you faced it down. You are still here at the end of the month. NaNoWriMo is about setting yourself a challenge. It is about succeeding in the extraordinary by attempting something as foolhardy as writing a novel, and something as mundane as creating a daily habit of writing. It requires bravery, persistence, determination and grit. And by still being here, by still writing away till the clock runs out - you are a winner (regardless of purple bar status).

Let's celebrate together tomorrow! For now: let's cheer on anyone who is still writing, who is still pushing on & help eachother through this final glorious day! We can do it!