Wednesday, December 28, 2011

JaNo

January Novel Writing Month. It's my way of making up for NaNoWriMo...since I never have time to write a novel in November.


Usually things slow down in January for me, so that's when I attempt the insanely possible, yet brain draining craziness. Last year I wrote a novel in January and pretty much told myself I'd never try it again. 


Haha! After a year of revising that book, I guess I've forgotten why I didn't want to do it again. So I'm going to do it. My baby brain might not let me, but I'm going to try!


Do you want to try with me? It will be lots of fun! One novel or 50,000 words? Or what about a personal goal...but a BIG one?


Oh. And there's another thing. I'm almost ready to query! Pretty much the most nerve racking thing ever. And I haven't even started. But my book and query are almost polished.


What are you working on?

Monday, December 19, 2011

It's that time of year!!!


I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry...whatever you celebrate :) We all have different beliefs and different ways of celebrating, but I wanted to wish you all a safe and happy holiday season! 




I'll be out for the rest of the week, but I hope to post one more time next week before the new year. Does the phrase JaNo mean anything to you? Well...if you want to know what it means to me, stop by next week.


Until then...have a great week!


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Crowd.

Who is your crowd? Who are you trying to appeal to?




I've realized something important over the last year. And that's "Who's your crowd?" Honestly, I've read So. Many. books that have had great reviews that I just don't like. I have friends that will love a book that I couldn't stand. And visa versa. 


That's life. And that's the tough thing in this writing world. Who will like our book? It starts right at the beginning. We first have to find an agent that likes our book. After that, you have to find an editor and publisher. And then it's to the reader's. 




The hard part is realizing that there is probably someone out there who loves it. And then finding them. And having patience in that process.


I once had an agent read my stuff. It was horrible, not well-edited, and all together a bad decision on my part, but I learned something from it. Not only did the agent give me great feedback, but I realized she wasn't the agent I wanted. If I ever get one of course. 


Even though I liked her feedback, I didn't like her way of presenting it and a few other things bothered me. She was one of the top agents on my list and she didn't like my story much. And that's life. It hurt for a while and then I had to realize that it didn't appeal to her. And that's okay.


I took her advice and changed my story so that it's even better for the agent that WILL like it. And then hopefully reader's who will just die over it. Even if other's won't. 


There are always good and bad reviews and we need to remember that the crowd is different for everyone!




Do you ever worry about that crowd? What do you do to face the crowd fear and push on with writing what you love?

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Can I get a HALLELUJAH?

I did it! I finished another draft of my book. And it's already out to beta reader's! In fact, I sent it to beta readers early so that I had more determination to finish. 

And it's done!


Current title is Smoke and Ashes. I wanted to call it Ashes, but yanno...another book just came out with that name. 

Final word count is 64,589.

Brain status: Fried. 

That was so hard to do with the preggo brain. We'll see how my JaNo goes next month! Hopefully I can pump out a novel with a baby zapping most of my creative energy :)

I have one more accomplishment to tell you about. I know, get off my soap box and sit down, but this is really exciting to me. A year ago I realized that most writer's only use one space after a period instead of the two I learned when I started typing. I was so determined to change my habit. 

And after lots of practice, I did it! I am converted to the one space after period. Isn't it fabulous? I know, I'm weird. But remember my first announcement about finishing a book? Yeah, my brain needs a break :)


What have you been up to? Please tell me your awesome accomplishments...or even little goals you've reached. It all gets us one step closer to where we want to be!