NaNoWriMo I Have a Plan! So, I’ve made my decision: I’m not going to do NaNoWriMo this year. I don’t want to abandon my revisions of ETD when I have good momentum going, especially since I want to have it ready to submit to Delacorte Press’s Young Adult Novel contest, which
NaNoWriMo My Writing Space Reading that the NaNoWriMo blog* is hosting pictures of writing spaces all throughout August inspired me to take some pictures of mine, humble though it may be. I’ve also been meaning to get photos before I set up a brand new writing space in my new home in six
NaNoWriMo Tips for Writing Every Day When I was thirteen, I attended a writers’ conference in which an instructor said that, if you wanted to be a “real writer,” you had to write every day. I wanted to be a real writer. Since then, I’ve done pretty well at keeping up a writing routine. Hardly
NaNoWriMo April Writing Challenges It’s the last day of March, and if you find yourself a sucker for writing challenges, roll up your sleeves for April. April is the month for Script Frenzy, a challenge to write a 100-page script in 30 days, and it’s also National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) with
NaNoWriMo What would YOUR insider guide say? I’m usually not much of a procrastinator, but when I’m visiting with my family, my inner-slacker comes out. It doesn’t help matters when my mom tantalizes me with the books she’s bought since the last time I saw her (yup, I know exactly where my booklust
beginnings Let's pretend that never happened I admit, I feel a little embarrassed to show my face here again after my unplanned and unexpected Thanksgiving absence. I can most certainly give very good excuses, but that doesn’t change the fact that I wish I would have found a way to write here, anyway. When I
blogging Quantity vs. Quality, in writing and in faith Today was my day to blog over at Young Adult Catholics, where I ponder whether the principle of quantity vs. quality applied in NaNoWriMo can be applied to faith. Don’t worry, folks. I’m only about 7,000 words (and 5 days) from the end, and my mind will
NaNoWriMo I did it!! No, I didn’t finish my novel. But I DID meet Chris Baty’s wordcount challenge for the FIRST TIME ALL MONTH. (Note that I’ve half-heartedly attempted to meet it every time he’s said, “By the end of X day, you should have X words.”) This time, it
NaNoWriMo 1,2,3,4 I declare a word war I had a fantastic write-in / word war with my friend today. I’ve never spent that much time writing in one stretch in my life. I also beat my all-time word record: I wrote 7,564 words today in about 5 hours. That’s eleven pages. That’s the size
NaNoWriMo Ways to Swell Word Count So, I’m still around 10,000 words behind schedule on my NaNo, and what’s worse, I think it’s telling me that it wants to be a short story. Truth be told, I feared this might happen. I want to shake it and say, But I don’t
NaNoWriMo Write or Die This little widget is perfect for the person who needs a little extra motivation to keep the words coming on the page (er, screen). I’m trying to decide whether this would be a help or a hindrance in my NaNoWriMo endeavor. I think I’d be too scared to
NaNoWriMo Mushy Brains You’ll have to forgive whatever happens in this post, for I’ve got rather mushy brains tonight. After too many days of falling behind schedule on my NaNo, I’ve decided to pursue it with renewed vigor, and see if I can hit the desired 30,000 by Wednesday
BiWomen Let's Get Personal The essay I wrote for Bi-Women, “Kids Keep me Kloseted,” will be published in the December newsletter and possibly online. The irony that I’m publishing a piece about being closeted is not lost on me. As I was polishing the article earlier this week, I had a quick moment
Bi-Women Doesn't self employment rock? The subject line is stolen from a comment on my personal blog, in response to my bit of bragging that I called 438 people on election day to urge them to get out and vote. She was commenting on how it was nice that self-employment allowed me to take a
NaNoWriMo Taking myself less seriously The title of this post is a little ironic, since I actually switched to doing freelance work precisely so I could take myself more seriously when it came to my writing. Not only would I structure my life to be conducive to writing, but I’d also focus on submitting
journaling Writing in Times of Transition I thought I might be the only blogger not writing something related to the election, but I realize that we Americans have been anticipating a time of transition for a long time, and that transition has been finalized tonight with the election of Senator Barack Obama as the president elect.
Bi-Women What I'm up to Now I’m excited to be starting this blog and have decided my first post will be a quick snapshot of what I’m working on right now in my writing and editing life. – I’m working on an article for the Bi-Women Newsletter, due November 15th. – I’m participating for