Today begins Nanowrimo. Here's a repost of advice I posted on October 31st, 2010. For context: I did Nanowrimo in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2011 I acquired an agent. In 2013 I sold a two-book deal to HarperCollins Voyager. I'm speaking from experience here.

DON'T SMASH YOUR FACE.I've been doing parts of the P90X ( Read more... )

You can't turn your back on the calendar for an instant. It's sneaky. April almost pounced on me, all ninja-like, but I noted its growing signatures--warmth and wind and a riot of flowers in my backyard.

Now I'm ready for April. Kinda. Sorta. Maybe.

April means the Poem a Day Challenge. This will be extra challenging this year. I've been working ( Read more... )

A year ago today, I posted my 2011 goals. Now it's time to see what resulted.

1) Begin querying for Normal by late January. Keep five queries in circulation at all times.
Note that the goal didn't say "get an agent." To me, that was just setting myself up for failure. It was enough to do what I COULD control: send out the queries. I sure didn't ( Read more... )

It's really, really weird that I'm not doing NaNoWriMo. It's actually hard to see some of the hype and think I'm not part of it. I'm diagnosed as OCD and I am heavily routine oriented (oh, if my husband read that he would laugh so hard) and since 2002, NaNo has been as important to November as Thanksgiving. November=writing 50,000 words ( Read more... )

I have a secret project in the works. In fact, it is so secret that it doesn't even have a code word yet. It does mean that I need to finish up the massive book on diseases I've been reading and dive into some new research material ( Read more... )

I started reading my NaNoWriMo manuscript, Minstrels of Fate, a few days ago as I prepare to complete the draft. I stopped at 52,000 words in November, so I have about 1/3 of the book to go. I had two goals as I read: see what I actually wrote, and correct minor typos ( Read more... )

When I first participated in Nanowrimo lo those many years ago, I always had music playing. Christmas music, video game music, Journey, whatever ( Read more... )

The good thing about Nanowrimo: lots of new words produced

The bad thing: nothing else gets done

Therefore, I've been playing catch-up the past several days. Editing Normal, getting a new chapter uploaded for feedback, writing critiques for other people, writing a short story, sending out several submissions again... and I have yet to finish up ( Read more... )

I crossed the 50k threshold today, stopping at 50,538. I'll slowly do another few thousand over the rest of the week and finish up the chapter. I like neat stopping points ( Read more... )

41,000 words! If the stars continue to align, I can make it to 50k on Tuesday.

Most of today was spent writing the build-up and start of a big battle scene in the streets of San Francisco.

Excerpt fun (it's very rough, my eyes are tired, etc):

She heard a sound like a large flag blowing in a stiff wind. Alta lifted her eyes above Connor's ( Read more... )