Discussion:Hello new writerly friends! Let's swap ten things.

I've had a lot of new friends via the #Nanobloghop subscribe to my social media and blog. Until now, most of my readers have been writerly friends I've met face to face or critique partners that I've been interacting with for years. It's been a pleasure to connect with so many creative, amazing people walking the same walk I am, word by word.

One such friend is Wendy Knight, and in her welcoming email for her e-newsletter, she offered ten fun facts about herself and encouraged us to respond with ten things too. I sent her a list and it sparked a really fun conversation that made me smile.

I want to reciprocate that on this blog post. So here are the ten fun facts about me that I want to share!

 

1. I love almost every green vegetable and know how to cook most of them from raw state.
2. I'm not a huge animal person, but I can sit and chat with the elderly all day, every day.
3. I could live on ice cream, tea, and red meat. 
4. I deal with depression, and am so thankful for my religion and family for helping me through it.
5. I have a husband, six chickens, two daughters, two dogs, a cat, and most recently we've added an adorable bunny named Oreo to the hobby farm.
6. I love fishing. This may or may not be due to my love of the water, and most certainly is due to my father being a fishing tournament champion.
7. I gave up coffee six, no - seven, times since December 31st. It's a problem.
8. My family and I are big puzzle people. There's almost always one on a surface somewhere in my house. Its a wonder we don't lose pieces, but it rarely happens.
9. I'm a health and wellness advocate, and use holistic medicine as much as possible. Need herb or vitamin suggestions? I may have an answer. Curious about essential oils? I'm an open book with lots of resources. Want some interesting stories about healing a body with food? I've got a heap... starting with healing my body from hormone imbalance and fixing my body to get pregnant.
10. I solemnly swear I won't judge anything you say or do, or I will at least see situations from all sides. I always do. It makes decisions hard sometimes.

Please comment with one or more fun facts about yourself, or ask me questions about one or more of my ten things.

Let's not just click the like, tweet, and subscribe buttons! Let's encourage each other, share our success, our experiences, and our words! We can start right here in the comments of my blog! I'd be honored!

5 Reasons to sign up for National Novel Writing Month (and giveaway announcement!)

Wow, okay so an update: This summer was insane in all the right ways. Lots of editing on my fantasy trilogy novels, and roping a few new (fantastic!) critique partners. I also helped put together a local writers conference in September, and did my first official speaking engagement related to writing. It was "A Self-Starters Guide to Freelancing: How to Get Started." All those nerves slipped away as I hit all my speaking points and people had some great questions. I might have to do that again some day.

I'm also proud to say that my Freelance Editing Services got a tremendous boost this summer. I'm so thankful to all my clients, old and new, for making this dream a reality. Not to mention, it helps with life's expenses, not dis-cluding the tuition for my girl's school this year.

I've been reading  researching for my fantasy trilogy, and sliding a few new shiny ideas in a drawer to focus on my current monstrous project. Did you know that the always debated pantser versus plotter theory has actually been debunked? I've in fact found out that I am actually a plotser or something like that, meaning I actually do some plotting just on a minor scale and usually in my head. Go figure!

Also, I've discovered Amazon Unlimited. To my husband's exasperation, poor guy.

GUESS WHAT? A short story that I submitted and was paid for over a year ago is finally going to be printed in 2017! I got the official word this week via email, so keep your eyes on my social media for when it releases. It's for the story "Wearing Teresa's Boots" that I mentioned months and months ago!

Okay onto my favorite writing topic this time of year.....

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH IS UPON US!!!

I can easily confirm that #NANO has singularly made my writing career possible. I've won for three years in a row and intend to keep up the tradition. This year will complete the draft of my fantasy trilogy. I'm throwing out about 15k words from last year to rewrite now the first two novels are in better shape.

WHY should you join the world-wide wackiness that is NaNoWriMo? Here are five good reasons!

1. International Event: You won't be alone! We're talking thousands of people committing to the same insane goal of 50 thousand words in 30 days. 
2. TONS of support: Forums to post in, blog and vlogs, virtual write-ins, local write-ins... if there is a will there is a way, so just do it.
3. Cool swag before, during, and after, plus winner discounts and freebies...... example A below: 
   
4. What you really get out of it: Writing habit, creativity flow, networking, word counting convenience, and just plain writing the words down. No pressure, right?
5. IF you need one more reason: #thequeryhelper be giving away three (3) query letter critiques at the end of the month for anyone that wins NANO! So be sure to follow my blog, network with me, and come on back on December 1st once you've crossed that finish line!

Are you participating in NANO this year? What's your favorite part of NANO or what are you most looking forward to?

How I won NANOWRIMO 2014 and A medium Announcement

Just Call Me Dragon Slayer

Or in this year's case, evil-pious-human-sacrificing-lying-clan-leader-slayer. For the second year in a row, I've managed the daunting task of writing over 50k words in 30 days. I slid into the winner's circle like a baseball player sometimes does a base bag, bleeding and limping a little.

Even though I beat the plot monster for the second time this year, it feels different for a number of reasons. Some were positive and some negative, but ultimately I accomplished the goal.

The Weird Stuff

Rather than writing an entire novel, I wrote the second half of one and the first half of another in a series. This was not my original plan but it did help me move the plot along. It also has me conflicted. Should I pause the completion of the second novel to edit and rewrite the finished first one? So many interviews and articles I read say that series are great but in order to sell it, you have to sell the first book first. How much effort should I put into this second book?

Aside from the dilemma mentioned above, I also have reservations about how well I really know my characters and if I've kept them consistent enough for the second novel. It almost hurt to writ the 20k words of the second novel because I had no idea how the third POV character would respond to the situations I dropped him in.

I've always, always, always been a pantser and a linear writer. This time, I couldn't begin to tell you how much brainstorming and mental scene rewriting I did before committing it to my word doc. I also skipped several scenes  due to my uncertainty in one of my POV characters. I gotta admit, I still didn't like it. Guess this solidifies my drafting style for me. I can't rush all that glorious imperfection.

 

The Great Mess

One thing I truly enjoyed, and told several local writerly friends, is that the creative process was fantastic. I'd spent so much time rewriting and editing and submitting all summer, I'd lost my spark for the reason I write at all. I LOVE IT! Nanowrimo gave me that back.

It also reminded me of what I was capable of and pushed the envelope for me. Last year, my full focus was on Nanowrimo (with the exception of Thanksgiving). This year, I also has some serious personal stress going on and was freelancing part-time. I kept reminding myself that I was actually writing MORE then 50k because I was selling 3-6 articles per week in addition.

It is within the good stuff that I must apologize to my personal blog readers. November was a complete negligent month where this blog was concerned. But now, I'm back!

A major high-five to all the National Novel Writing Month Winners! You've shown you have what it takes and I'm proud to be among you!

A Medium Announcement Among Some BIG Ones

When I started to write this blog and reflected on all the awesome sauce that has happened in my writerly circles this month, I realized that my announcement might actually only be a medium announcement. Before we get to that, some major kudos are in order.

Kendra Young and Nikki Roberti

CONGRATULATIONS

These two very good friends of mine have given word that they are both, in fact, agented!!!! I couldn't be more happy for them and I wanted to tell everyone!

(Plus, this totally gives me hope for one day being in their shoes.) 

Now, My Medium Announcement:

The Query Helper is striking next week! If you've participated in NANO this year (and even if you haven't) take a stab at a query letter for your shiny new chunk of writing. Then keep your eye out on my blog, twitter, and facebook pages for the notice to submit. I'm going to help out five people.