September is National Sketch Writing Month!

Moving to naskewrimo.tumblr.com

2011-08-26T09:30:00.001-07:00

In order to streamline operations, we're consolidating all NaSkeWriMo blogging operations at our Tumblr-hosted blog: http://naskewrimo.tumblr.com/

The main website remains at http://www.naskewrimo.org/

Update your bookmarks! Edit your favorites! Re-link your links! September is around the corner!

Been sitting on a great idea? For now, keep sitting.

2010-09-02T09:41:00.001-07:00

If you're at all interested in this project, you probably have at least one idea for a sketch that came to you while you were on your way to work or picking your nose. You didn't have time to write it down then (or couldn't because your finger had a booger on it) but you planned to write it later. And now that National Sketch Writing Month is here, you might be thinking that this is the perfect time to write your sketch!

Here's the problem: if you've been holding on to that idea for a long time, you are probably in love with it, or at least seriously crushing on it. You probably know a few key lines and have it already cast and acted out in your head, and everybody is laughing and cheering you on and throwing rose petals at your feet.

But NaSkeWriMo is not about love. It's about output. It's about habits. It's about teaching yourself to write when you don't have ideas, and about coming up with something, so that later you can re-read what you wrote and find what was good about it and edit it into something great.

If you start with an idea that you've been holding on to for too long, you will probably be pretty unhappy with your first draft. You might be tempted to keep working on it and get exhausted and maybe you will finish it but in the end you will conclude that this is just too much work! Who could possibly do this 30 times in one month?

Instead, spend the first week or two writing sketches starting only with the vaguest of ideas. Single word suggestions are good. Or watch the news for inspiration. But start with a new idea, that you haven't fallen in love with yet. Because if you're not attached, you will have an easier time writing and getting it done.

You won't be concerned about whether it is perfect. In fact, you will probably be pleasantly surprised at how good it is, considering you had no expectations for it to begin with. (That idea you love, however, will never come out as great as it was in your imagination.)

After a week or two, you'll have momentum, and then you can attack that sketch idea you have been sitting on for too long. But by then you will be prepared to handle the mediocrity of a first draft, and know that, if it doesn't ultimately work out, you will be able to fall in love again.

Greetings and salutations!

2010-09-01T05:57:00.001-07:00

Hey kids! Time to get writing!

This is Year 3 of NaSkeWriMo. I hope to keep you guys motivated and writing all month. Ben is a master of keeping the electronica up to date. Both of us want you all to succeed!

I will be getting the end-of-month sketch party together - keep an eye out for details!

GO TEAM!

It begins again tomorrow!

2010-08-31T09:28:00.001-07:00

Write 30 sketches in 30 days. Easy as pie. Have you ever tried eating 30 slices of pie in 30 minutes? Sounds like fun, until some point after your fourth slice.

Michelle and I are kicking off NaSkeWriMo 2010 with a, "Wait! What? It's September already?!" Ideally we'd have some kind of thing to lead into the month, but it crept up on us just like everybody else.

The website has been updated, to support the idea of NaSkeWriMo happening every year. I probably should have foreseen the need for this feature last year, or the year before. Regardless, now you can see past records from 2008 and 2009 as well as keep track of sketches you write for NaSkeWriMo 2010. And, even if I get hit by a bus in the next twelve months, the website will automatically turn over again for NaSkeWriMo 2011.

Note that the website address is new, sorta. For very boring reasons the domain nationalsketchwritingmonth.com is no longer under our control. naskewrimo.org always worked as a shortcut, now it’s the main address. So spread the word for people who still might be trying to find the site at its old address.

What else? Oh yeah, there’s a NaSkeWriMo tumblelog you can follow with links to sketches from the site and posts from this blog. And a Facebook Group and a Twitter account, too.

We had 23 writers in 2008 and 65 writers in 2009. Can we break 100 writers this year? (To count as a writer, you need to write at least one sketch.) I think we can! Then again, I’m an optimist.

Participation Survey

2009-10-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

I've set up a survey for people who participated in NaSkeWriMo '09. If you've registered at the website you should have received an email, but if not you can click here to access the form.

I hope there will be useful nuggets of wisdom buried in the responses, which I intend to mine and process into Manufactured Wisdom Goods to be published on this blog.

September Sketch Staging!

2009-09-24T14:27:00.001-07:00

Party time! Staged reading of your best and brightest sketches.

Ochi's Lounge at Comix
Tuesday September 29th
900 PM

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134471212839

See you there!

Home stretch!

2009-09-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Great work done by so many people. I'm impressed and inspired and hope you are too.

Don't be discouraged if you're behind...I know I am behind but not discouraged.

The end of the month celebration will be soon announced, in all its detailed glory. Whether you plan to read, submit or just watch please come on down! I can't wait to see you all.

What kind of sketch?

2009-09-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

Do you have a particular kind of sketch you enjoy writing?

I'm hooked on commercial parodies. Easy but effective. Some folks like office scenes gone horribly wrong. Others like fantastical characters - two zombies walk into a bar. Relationship humor is a good go-to. Also, any sketch involving Abraham Lincoln.

While I pack and drink my fourth cup of coffee, use one of the above ideas to shake up your sketch writing. Feel free to add yours here or to the Facebook board.

Meet the Writers

2009-09-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

By popular* demand, I've added a Writers page to the National Sketch Writing Month website. Now you can find the sketches of any writer, even if they no longer appear in the Recent Updates list on the home page.

Note that you must write at least one sketch to appear on the Writers page. After all, it's not the a roster for The League of Good Intentions**.

* One person's.

** Need inspiration? Go write a sketch with that title.

Follow NaSkeWriMo on Tumblr

2009-09-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

I've set up a NaSkeWriMo tumblelog to republish news from this blog and also links to sketches as they are posted. In other words, nothing you can't find elsewhere, but follow it if you'd like to see September's sketch writing activity in your Tumblr Dashboard.

Ways to upload sketches

2009-09-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Perhaps Ben has more insight on this, but basically you can host your sketches in a number of places so you can create a link and upload to the main NaSkeWriMo page:

- your own website
- your own blog
- Google Docs.

Anything I've forgotten?

Hooray!

2009-09-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of NaSkeWriMo! And more people are signing up every day - lots of new and old sign-in names (I'd say 'faces' but this is the Internet, and my icon is a cute little south park character).

Thanks to Ben for the new sketch-linking feature. If you have your very own sketch blog, list it in the Comments here and we will add it to the sidebar of this blog.

Join the Facebook group too - lots of encouragement there.

Enjoy!

Gather your ideas

2009-08-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, the day of Getting Back to Work, but National Sketch Writing Month doesn't start until tomorrow. What do you do?

You probably have a bunch of sketch ideas lying around, in notebooks, in emails, in your brain. So, gather them into a single list. Then, when you sit down to write, all you have to do to get started is pick an item off the list and write a sketch about it.

You'll probably have more ideas as the month goes on, so it will help if you keep your list portable. If you've got a fancy computer phone, like iPhone or BlackBerry, keep your sketch idea list there. If you're a traditionalist, you can buy a small pocket-sized notebook and keep it with your wallet. Or you could even folder up a single sheet of paper and carry that around: if it's good enough for Earl Hickey, it's good enough for you.

The important thing, though, is be prepared to jot down your ideas as soon as you have them. Your head is not a safe place to keep things. Thoughts are mutated or forgotten in time. They also require effort to maintain, which is why you feel stressed out when you have a bunch of things you don't want to forget in the back of your head.

Tomorrow I'll write about how to turn that list of ideas into sketches. (Hint: it involves writing!)

Forget Final Draft, Celtx is Free

2009-08-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

Don't waste your time figuring out how to get a copy of Final Draft, the $250 screenplay editing application. If you're writing comedy sketches you (a.) probably don't have $250 laying around and (b.) don't really need features like "Scene Navigator" and "Page Count Management."

Celtx is an alternative script editor that runs on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, and it is absolutely free. If you fancy yourself a hacker you can even download the source code and modify it. Celtx is basically to Final Draft what Firefox is to Internet Explorer.

Celtx also allows you to export a script to a nicely formatted HTML file, in case you want to post it online for others to read.

Updated website is live

2009-08-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

After being down for a few hours due to the technical incompetence of yours truly, the updated website for National Sketch Writing Month is now online. You can register now to get a passcode and log in. If you remember your passcode from last year, it should still be good.

Last year, the website only allowed you to post the number of sketches you had written. However, lots of people wanted to share their writing online, and did so on their blogs, etc. So, this year, when you post an update, you can provide a title for your sketch and a link to where you've posted it, be it Blogger, Tumblr, Google Documents, etc.

If you're a private sort of person, don't worry: you can still count your sketches without giving anything away. Just leave those fields blank when you press the Add Sketch button.

Home stretch!

2008-09-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Only 9 more sketches to put us over 300! that's a hell of an effort.

One day more!

Get writing!

End of month celebration!

2008-09-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hooray! October approaches, and if you want to share your accomplishments and/or pain with your fellow writers, come to the Triple Crown (7th Avenue around 28th Street) on Thursday, October 2nd. About 7 PM. I'll be there and I hope you will be too!

Start small!

2008-09-20T20:41:00.001-07:00

I just wrote five titles. Whoo!

How's everyone doing?

Ideas?

2008-09-17T19:17:00.001-07:00

I'm stuck in a parody rut.

Where do you get your ideas from?

discuss.

Keeping it short.

2008-09-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Are you an over-writer? Yes, yes I am.

This isn't precisely sketch-related but it was sent by a friend and I found it fun:

One Sentence Stories.

A very sketchy observation.

2008-09-14T08:14:00.001-07:00

I've never been a master of the silly.

But if a sketch makes you giggle when you write it, I bet it was totally worth writing.

Go Team!

2008-09-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

I'm off in the wilds of California this week, but I look forward to catching up when I return.

Everyone's doing an amazing job of keeping up the sketchy pace. The sketch blogs are lots of fun to read and I thank everyone who's put their stuff out there.

And I encourage you who haven't signed up yet to do so. The month is still young and you can write like crazy!

Not too late. Hop aboard!

If you build it we will link.

2008-09-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

Great idea from Anne! She started her own sketch blog (linked in the sidebar) and is publishing all her sketches there.

If you post your own sketches to your own dedicated blog or web site, send us the link or post it in the comments. We will link it in the sidebar.

Nice!

Awful! Hee hee.

2008-09-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I wrote a terribly offensive sketch. It was great fun!

Try writing things that are so antithetical to your own point of view, so over the top, that it makes you giggle uncomfortably. And then turn it up to 11 and write some more.

Quantity, not Quality

2008-09-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

You are free to set whatever standard you want for yourself, but in my mind the hardest part of writing is getting from blank page to first draft. It's easy to improve something once you have something to improve. Therefore, don't worry about writing 30 great sketches this month. Don't even worry about writing 30 funny sketches. Don't even feel like you should write 30 coherent sketches. Just write 30 sketches.

This project is about getting you in the habit of writing, which means getting used to the idea that writing is an activity that you can do on a regular basis. It doesn't matter if you have ideas or not. If you perform improv you've probably realized that ideas can come to you easily, but only if you put yourself in a situation where you allow them to.

OK, stop procrastinating and write something.

If you want to post sketches

2008-09-01T21:07:00.001-07:00

Email me with your email address and I can give you access.

Hooray!

Tick tock....

2008-08-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

Almost midnight, when all good little boys and girls should be planning their next comedy gem!

Don't forget to sign up and keep up with the blog!

You are all awesome

MD

Blogging on the official blog.

2008-08-29T04:52:00.001-07:00

If you want to leave comments on a particular post, please do so.

If you would like access to post sketches and such, and have registered at NationalSketchWritingMonth.com, send me your email address and your National Sketch Writing Month user name and I will add you to the blog team.

We'll see how this works. We're going for community and support, here.

Hooray!

It's ON!

2008-08-28T00:04:00.001-07:00

Ideas!

2008-08-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hey campers,

As September approaches, I was trying to come up with ways to be inspired, day in and day out. Yes, I think even the most fertile of imaginations needs ways to spark some creative work.

One thing I like to do sometimes is write a character sketch based entirely on a random name. I'm a big fan of cool names and they always inspire me. Petunia conjures up something completely different than Mary, Angelike, or Red. Make them super quirky. Make them wear a hat. Is Petunia an alcoholic, is she elderly, is she curmudgeounly? What is her favorite color?

Flip through a baby naming book or website, pick out 2 intriguing names, and discover if they're friends. Maybe Bonnie and Elbert are meant to be together; maybe Becca and Alfonso are robbing a bank.

Do you have any neat writing exercises you like to get going? Post them in the Comments section.

Laying down the law

2008-07-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to come up with a minimum number of effective rules and guidelines to keep people on the right track and having an enjoyable time. So these are a start...we've got plenty of time. Feel free to comment.

1. Honor system. You report what you write. The goal is 30 sketches, 30 days.

2. For the most part, a sketch can be whatever a sketch means to you - but still have that sketch feeling, if you know what I mean. So, while there aren't restrictions on length, a 30-page screenplay isn't what we're shooting for. The sketch should be a piece that can stand on its own for better or worse, not a chapter or act in a larger work. But if it's one in a series of sketches featuring Uncle Slappy or whatever character you've created, that's fine. Like the finest minds of the Supreme Court have held, you'll know it when you see it.

3. Don't be a dick. For people who choose to share a sketch for whatever reason, no negative, dicky comments. It takes a lot of stones to put your work up in front of talented people, so respect that. If someone asks for feedback (positive or negative), again, see "don't be a dick" - you can be critical without being a dick.

Apparently I like the word "dick." My apologies.

testing 1-2-3

2008-07-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hi! Can you hear me?

September will be National Sketch Writing Month! 30 Sketches, 30 Days. No Apologies.

Are you in? Do you want a different interface? Post to comments and/or email me if you want access to post. Post any suggestions, etc.