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humor, self-help, Writing Stuff

NOT The NaNo!

Photo Oct 22, 11 18 28 AM
Get fit for winning, NaNoWriMo!

NOT THE NANO! Can you feel it? Are you excited?

It’s not here yet; but it’s on it’s way! woohoo!

Which means, we’ve got more things to think about, dear writers and friends, than just NaNoWriMo this year… The getting prepared for it, kind of things, to think about!

I’m going to put into today’s post a few references to help get you ready; but, we’re going to focus on Pre-Preptober planning this week.

This sounds like more work. Aren’t you a pantser?

(a pantser is a writer who doesn’t plan)

Okay, yes, you got me there. But, I’ve realized more now that a little planning, even if you’re a pantser goes a very long way. And really, I plan pretty much everything. Even if it I appear spontaneous… I likely planned it. *wink

*slaps forehead

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. It occurs during the month of November annually and is a writing challenge of writing 50,000 words in 30 days! If you have wanted to write a book or have wanted to challenge yourself to writing a book in 30 days or less, this may be just the jump start you are looking for! It’s free to participate and you will be connected to authors from all over the world!

So, since preptober is the “getting ready” prep time all NaNoWriMo participants take to start getting our shit together, let’s pre-plan, our prepping for planning… And, I’m definitely making up that there’s a Pre-Preptober, so don’t worry, it’s not like it’s a real thing.

I do that sometimes! ha!

Take a look at October’s Bullet Journal setup. It’s super easy, and fast to setup. And no, it’s not twelves pages of journal; it’s literally, two. An eerie, halloween vibe calendar next month that has your one menu to the right for bullet-style monthly to-dos.

It’s the healthy habits we need to integrate into our daily writing routine. Like hot dogs? No.

Coffee? No.

Well… actually, coffee is fine. I’m definitely problems, all day, if there’s no coffee.

So, I get that one.

Not only for NaNoWriMo but for our daily writing routine outside of writing 50k in 30 days! So, I came up with some easy suggestions below with the writer in mind. We sit so long, typing away, we forget that moving our bodies is a necessity!

Ever find yourself annoyed by the fact that you’re cramping up, your back hurts, your mind is wandering or you just feel blah inside? You want to keep writing but things just feel off? Well, this week, I offer you some simple tips to help get you re-energized, motivated and re-focused! In this week’s video, we cover our physical, mental and spiritual health that can become affected while writing our novels in sedentary.

This is true for all of us now who sit at our laptops and even on our phone to get everything done that we need! We’ve streamlined our tasks so well that we now can do more.

ugh! and yay!

Now, get me that Hot Dog Coffee!

three quick fixes for the underdog rita slanina blog recording your song for free
How To, music, self-help

Recording Studios: Quick-Fix for the Underdog

You put a song together, and now you need a recording studio.

Or do you?

As luck would have it, in under ten minutes,

I’ve got a quick fix for the underdog songwriter.

No budget? No equipment? No problem!

The idea is you need:

music software

cost of equipment

and the age-old question is… “NOW, what do I do with all this stuff I just bought?”

Music & Lyrics: a songwriter’s journal

200-page journal including lined sheets for both tabs and musical notation. An album and song title sheet with detailing fillables for music genre, mood, and tempo. Available on Amazon, or if you prefer signed editions head to the SHOP!

Let’s face it.

THAT’S OVERWHELMING!

And likely, make you not want to start recording your own songs at all.

FAST FORWARD

Three years later, you have spent thousands of dollars you couldn’t afford to spend in the first place, and its all collecting dust with half of the crap, half-in their boxes.

Oh, boo! It’s definitely too late to try to return them…

What a nightmare! No wonder people give up before they quit. You love music, you would love to get it out there; but, it’s been made into this well kept, secret that no artist is supposed to know about how to go about getting it done on the cheap.

Here’s where my

“How To Music Video Series” comes in.

The second installment takes you through an easy to follow 3-step process to put those lyrics and music tracks into a song. If you haven’t gotten your lyrics or music ready to go yet & need a starting point, check out last week’s video on how to do that.

So, without further ado… This week’s lesson: How To Record A Song (yourself) FOR FREE!

OMGosh, so easy, right!

Now, that you’ve gotten studio quick fixes,

do you think you can do this on your own?

I sure believe in you!

Happy recording, underdogs!

an ode serenades & marinades blog rita slanina
How To, humor, music, Writing Stuff

Ode To Serenades & Marinades

an ode serenades & marinades blog rita slanina how to write a song songwriters beginner

An ode to serenades & marinades!

Is it just me or does anyone else feel it’s long overdue that we need some Fall-themed Holiday Songs? The ode to serenades & marinades of Fall, we’ll call it!

No. No? No.

Darn it. No one jumping onto that bandwagon, eh?

NO.

FINE. *rolls eyes

But, with so much to do!

music & lyrics a songwriters journal rita slanina shop now perfect for the songwriter album and song title brainstorming pages
Music & Lyrics: a songwriter’s journal

skipping happily into my office, with lyrics to write, and my loving book projects to wrap up, and my favorite time of here with NaNoWriMo’s impending arrival, it’s only fitting to – Nope. Don’t do it. Oh, the ode to the serenades of Editing, reading and staying the course of all my line item marinades. *insert piano playing plus a warble here

*she did it. Focus, girl.

My joy of fall

truly just wouldn’t begin without the exciting news of writing my next album. So, no pressure, but I have the goal of getting it done before Preptober. Don’t you got books to write, bish!

Now, who knows if that’ll be possible, but I believe in tackling a little each day and eventually it’ll get there. Once a groove is playing along, it’ll happen. I’m rapid fire-like that. *wink The first couple of tracks always seem to be the hardest. Although, channeling all that emotion is pretty rough too.

Wish there was a way to do it sans THAT roller coaster! Sadly, there isn’t.

Did you just pun. Ah, yes. Yes, I did.

I digress.

In all essences of productivity, and in all honesty though, must confess that I was a bit distracted this last week. I was not sleeping well. There were incessant, racing thoughts. Lest not forget, the half-heartedly act of convincing yourself – okay, geesh, MYself – that it’ll all be fine

is a fairly tall order.

(Reminds me of a song I wrote a few years back.)

A ghostly shell of yourself walking around, daydreaming of… you know, things past, present and future. *sigh* And anyway… You know how it goes.

Just to notate how writing songs can sometimes keep these pains lingering. I mean, I guess it can be therapuetic; although reliving trauma over and over probably isn’t healing. *is that numbness?

Which, in one part fairness, and bits of reflection confetti… are GREAT WRITING CONDITIONS.

Maybe when I get to the end of this bucket of chicken staring back at me, it’ll change. *hand over the marinade! This needs more flavor!

*slaps forehead Put down the wings. You better get writing, girl!

So get to it, lady… get out of the weeds!

You had to know I was taking this somewhere!

The next three weeks, I am publishing a songwriting music series on how to get a song from idea to sold! We’re going to call it:

drumroll, please….

THE HOW TO MUSIC VIDEO SERIES

We’re going to chunk this series down into three installments.

  1. How to write a song
  2. How to record a song
  3. How to publish a song

Since it is all things serenades & marinades of my favorite time of year, fall, and I just happen to have some A and B Roll in the vault from literally two years ago and it’s staring at me, asking me “why, oh Lovely Rita, haven’t you shown me to the world?” (I hope you added a southern drawl -channeling your inner Gone With The Wind character – when you read that! Because, I sure as heck did!

an ode serenades & marinades blog rita slanina how to write a song songwriters beginner

*You raised your hand to your head too… didn’t you.

Why, yes, kind stranger, I surely did!

*stop it

Okay, fine.

So, here we go! For the next three weeks, I am going to cover just that. *Terrible accents?

Ha. Ha. Noooooo…

I am going to show you an easy, and simple way to getting your song idea out of your head and into the marketplace. If you’ve ever wanted write a song – regardless, if you play an instrument or not – I got you! This week we start with the 3 simple way to writing that song and boy, oh boy, it will be easy!

Now, get ready!

Grab your notebooks!

Snatch up those pencils!

Go write a song!

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