NaNoWriMo 2018

NaNoWriMo - which stands for National Novel Writing Month - has begun today. This is my tenth year participating in the challenge and I am so very grateful to have found this community of writers. The basis of the challenge is to write a 50,000 word first draft of a novel during the month of November. It may sound a little daunting when put that way. So let me say that that equates to 1,667 words per day. There, that's better. :)Here is their website if you fancy giving this a tyr: www.nanowrimo.org

Camp NaNoWriMo

I'm sitting here thinking about the fact that we are halfway through 2018 and I remembered that I signed up to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo! I can't believe that I forgot but I did! At least I have an idea of what I want to write. While we have a lot going on this coming month - family visiting, friends' birthday parties and tap dance performances - I do feel confident that I can participate and meet my writing goals for July's Camp NaNoWriMo. Is anyone else going to camp in July?

Words of wisdom

Words of wisdom and timely advice for me to read. This is always a crazy busy time of year for our family and I often feel the strain of being pulled in a lot of directions. They're good pulls but still - I must protect my writing time and my process. 

Writing again

I'm so happy to be writing fiction again. I took December off to give myself a break from everything, to spend the holidays focused on my family and to evaluate my goals. I knew I wanted to keep writing. I still know I want to be published but I needed the time off in order to remind myself that I write because I LOVE it. I think it's okay - more than okay actually - to want to be published but at the core I believe one should write because they have an intrinsic love for doing so. When I realized that I was actually missing the act of writing for the pleasure of discovering and telling the story in my head it was a relief. Yes, a relief. 

I've had a certain story in my head for a few years now but never felt ready to tell it. I'm ready to tell it now and have started writing it. I started it last week and have made a bit of progress on it. I'm going to write this stor while continuing to submit my others. I won't give up but I won't lose track of my love for the writing again either. 

Benjamin Franklin quote

NaNoWriMo write-in

We had a NaNoWriMo write-in this evening in our recreation room. It was small but also very nice and relaxing. It was also productive and we all got words written. One of the attendees reached the 25.000 word mark in his story so that was a lot of fun! I wouldn't mind hosting another write-in in there!

NaNoWriMo 2017

National Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo - 2017 is underway! I'm off to a good start and so are my children. For the first time my kids are writing stories through NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program. It has been wonderful to embark on story telling together! My kids are writing creepy stories while I am writing a love story. Each day they have shared their day's writing with me and then again with their dad when he gets home. We're only three days into NaNoWriMo 2017 but I can say, without a doubt, that this is my favorite year of doing this writing adventrue! I can't wait to see how all of our stories turn out!

National Novel Writing Month

Wednesday is November 1st - which also marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month - or NaNoWriMo as it's also known! The premise of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word first draft of a new novel. It's fun and doable challenge especially if you're able to get out and meet other participants taking part in NaNoWriMo. This will be my ninth year participating. I love it!

This year I have extra reason to love NaNoWriMo as my children will be taking part for the first time. They will be participating through the Young Writers Program. They don't have to write 50,000 words, though. They set their own goals and work daily to meet them by the end of November.

There's still time to sign up if you're interested in giving NaNoWriMo a try!

Keep moving forward

Keep moving forward or as Dory says, "Keep on swimming." I submitted a manuscript on Monday night. It has been a crazy week and a bit stressful. However, I decided this afternoon that I would begin revising another manuscript I have in my catalog. I don't want to sit still. I don't want to be idle. I love writing and I want to do it forever. So I will take steps everyday to ensure that I can. 

I love books

My kids and I went to Michaels yesterday. They bought a birthday present for a friend and I bought the above mug. I had to have it once I saw it! It's perfect! It is also the truth because I love everything about books: Reading them, writing them, learning from them, smelling them, seeing my keepers on my bookshelf. Yes, I have a love affair with books! I'm happy to say that I have passed my lifelong love of books onto my kids, as well. 

Voltaire

I saw this quote today and it resonates with my soul! So of course, I HAD to share it!

One step closer

This is a printed copy of my manuscript. I was having a difficult time with the editing of it and my writing partner suggested printing it out. I don't know why exactly but reading through and marking up a paper copy of my book made a HUGE difference in the revision process for me! This afternoon I finished polishing it up and plugging in some of the holes in the story. Now I need to make all of the changes in my electronic copy. Hopefully that won't take too long, though. Then I'll be ready to send it off to the publishing house that is expecting it. I hope they acquire it! Even so, I'm one step closer to achieving my publishing goal and dream. Also, I'm proud of this story and the work I've put into it already!

Overhaul or polish

I'm happy to share that the revision on my current manuscript is finally going well! So far it has been mostly polishing but I am coming to the last quarter of my book. I know there is some overhaul work coming within a couple of those chapters. I'm excited about it though because I am one step closer to submitting this book. 

A new way of editing

I have heard time and time again that it is helpful to print out a physical copy of something when editing. I was reluctant to do this for a long time because of the cost involved. However, this past week, thanks to a friend sharing her discount, I printed out my entire manuscript, had it three-hole punched and put it in a binder. When I sat down to revise I started at the beginning again rather than about one-third of the way through it where I was. It's amazing but I immediately found things I wanted to change that made the story better and perhaps even stronger.

I've heard that the eye sees things it misses while reading a paper copy rather than reading and trying to edit on a computer screen. I have absolutely no idea why that is and the opinions about it seem to be varied. However, I can say that editing on paper is definitely working for me. Even more of a revelation to me is that I am actually enjoying the editing now. Hopefully that continues and I can get through the revisions more quickly then get this manuscript finally submitted.

A billion bad words

I love Ray Bradbury! He has/had awesome writing advice that agree with. This quote helps me to remember to persevere, to hang in there. I'll keep going, keep following my path and chasing my dream. I will succeed!

Words are magic

I'm in a bit of a writing slump. I find it frustrating but am also trying to cut myself some slack for it. Words are magic and hold a lot of power so I want to use them use them wisely rather than carelessly. I hope their magic begins to flow for me again very soon, though. 

Centerpieces

This is the lovely centerpiece from my chapter meeting of RWA today. It's adorable! Better than that is that the actual meeting itself was FANTASTIC! There was chat about goal setting (and actual goals set!), a panel that spoke about things new writers should be aware of in the publishing industry and an afternoon presentation on how to be more productive! All in all - agreat meeting!

A Title

I HAVE A TITLE! Excuse my all caps excitement, please. I am so excited to FINALLY have a Title for my current book! I was truly beginning to sweat not having a title for my book because I am ready to submit said book - as in tomorrow, the next morning at the latest! 

It's not uncommon for me to lack a title at the beginning of a writing project. It doesn't bother me at that point because I know the title will come to me during the writing process. I also know whatever title I choose may be changed when it comes to publication. Still, I need to submit the book with a title. So imagine my nerves as I began to near the end of writing the story and still had no title. Then I went through the first round of revision with no idea of what I wanted to call the book! Same thing for revision round two. Now I'm at the end of my third round of revision and until about an hour ago still had NO IDEA what I wanted to call this book! Then it FINALLY came to me and I am so happy with it! I won't get emotionally attached to the title but I am still so relieved that I have a name for my book!

I love writing advice! That doesn't mean I always take it but I LOVE to hear and read about authors opinions and advice on their personal writing journeys. Though I don't take every bit of advice I hear I do always learn something I can use! Add in a title that's meant to make people smile and I can guarantee I'm going to want to read the book - and learn the advice. I just got this book today so I can't share anything I've learned from it just yet. However, I am excited to get into it.

Camp Nanowrimo

I'm sure a lot of you know that November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). In April, the same organization runs Camp NaNoWriMo. It's the same idea in terms of creating a writing goal and doing your best to achieve it during the thirty days of April. This year, the organizers have set it up so that participants can choose to write a certain number of words or pages per day. You can even write a set number of lines or revise. In other words, whatever works for you. I've decided to go for writing 30,000 words this month. That's less than the 50,000 word requirement in November but it will still be a challenge for me as I have a LOT going on this month!

It's not too late to sign up and participate if Camp NaNoWriMo sounds like something you'd like to do this April. Just go here to do so!

Epiphany

I've had a major epiphany about my writing and where I want to go with it! I've been so stressed out about it - well, for a while now - to the point that it hasn't been something I enjoy anymore! I've been trying to stay within others' parameters and that hasn't worked for me. I'm going back to writing what I love for the pure and simple fact that I love it! My hope is that this will bring me back to my joy in writing!