My (Happy) Novel Update and a ?? too

You may remember this previous post from July about my long-time wish/goal to write a novel. And the progress I had made up to that point, working on this book every week day.

I am happy to share that I now have over 120 pages completed! And what's even better, since I started typing the hand-written pages I have so far, it appears that the typed page counts are more than I had anticipated they would be. I had been guesstimating  about 2 written pages would equal 1 typed page. Well, the reality is, the pages are almost equal, given margins and double-spacing in the manuscript format I am using. I am thrilled with the amount (and not to brag, quality) of work I've accomplished so far! And oh what fun it's been...with the story is unfolding in unexpected ways (don't they always) as I continue to write. The process of working on this long-time book goal is even more gratifying, now that I have decided to continue on the computer instead of writing in long hand.

My question: I am using Word 2010 for the manuscript right now. I have chosen a book manuscript template, which has margins set appropriately etc. What I don't know how to do (and haven't been able to find out) is how to put each chapter into a separate folder?

The first chapter came up after the title page but beyond that, I don't know how to go about setting up each chapter of my book so that I can access them by clicking on a particular chapter/sub folder tab. The first chapter automatically showed up as a sub folder on the left side of the screen. I'm fairly well versed in all things Word, but I can't seem to figure this one out.

Any ideas/suggestions? I have searched online and on Microsoft help and tutorial pages, to no avail. If you can help, it would be most appreciated.

Happy Writing! :<)

I AM GOING FOR IT!

              

My novel/journal notebook (1st in a series) and Seven Year Pen

                                           

Isn't it wonderful when a post or comment that you read at one of your favorite blogs (in this case it was actually one of my blogs!) ends up inspiring/motivating you to do something you've always wanted to do? This has happily happened for me recently.

I wrote a book review post over at My Real Life Reviews about the book: Writing Fiction for Dummies, a few weeks ago. In the post, I mentioned my long-time dream/wish/aspiration to write and COMPLETE a novel.

A couple of my blog friends made the suggestion via comments to check out Julia Cameron's books, which I did. I actually read several of her books including: The Right to Write (my favorite so far) after that. A writing suggestion that Julia Cameron made again and again, jumped out at me. It was, to have a "writing time" every day and complete 3 pages. More is fine, less is not. Since the novel I am working on is a journal of sorts, this seemed to be something in terms of a plan for me that could actually work.

Well it is working, beautifully! I have been working on my novel, in small 3-5 page sessions (writing not typing) every week day (slight modification but I usually end up writing more than 3 pages each day) for about a month now. I am LOVING it! Inspired but not overwhelmed and progressing slowly but surely towards finally achieving my goal to complete a novel. I have over 60 pages written already! A rough draft of course but the "bones" of the story will be there. The polishing to follow.

This approach probably wouldn't be workable for every kind of book  but it seems to be a perfect fit for me and my current book project. When I have written short stories in the past, I have enjoyed it. When I write articles and posts, poetry etc, I enjoy those too. But when it came to facing the daunting task of a complete novel, I was always overwhelmed and it was so easy to give up. Not this time.

Perhaps this suggestion will be something that might also work for you. I hope I've passed along some novel-writing inspiration, if that happens to be one of your long-sought after goals too!


PS: Some other recent posts....

 If you have been searching for a really good natural lipstick for a long time (as I have been) you won't want to miss my new review of Just Pure Mineral lipsticks over at my review blog.

I've also been out and about taking photos of some of the gorgeous flowers now in full bloom in our area. With all the rain we've had recently, Mother Nature is once again looking so fine!

To celebrate some of that (fragrant) beauty, I wrote this Tau-Ku poem about the scent of the unmistakeable honeysuckle: Sweet Honeysuckle: A Tau-Ku Poem