Posts Tagged ‘novels’

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my social networking vacation: the first month

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

It’s been a month since my post about taking a vacation from Facebook, Twitter and the BlueBoards! At first the withdrawal was painful. I was itching to see what everyone else was doing and living my life in 140 character spurts (now it’s in longer terms for blog posts). After a month, it’s better. I miss the fun and industry news on Twitter and the community on the BlueBoards, but I’m surviving. I don’t miss Facebook, except for a couple of people I only connect with there. I have heard through the grapevine that I have friend requests, which I don’t know what to do about. I feel awful that I haven’t approved them, but I’m not logging on to Facebook for four months so there’s no way around that. My hope is that people will understand and not be offended.

How am I doing on my goals?

- Exercise: I’m exercising on a regular basis (this is week three)!!! Some days I’m so sore I can barely get out of bed (even though I’m using one pound weenie weights … yeah, I’m that out of shape). I know from the last time that eventually it gets easier (it’s starting to get better). I’ve only lost a couple of pounds but my clothes fit better, so I’m guessing I’ve gained muscle weight.

- Zombies: Almost done revising the beginning! Plus I have a shiny new synopsis that has helped me figure out the ending! I have a ton of writing left before the book is done, but I’m happy with how it’s going.

- Chickens: This is going to be a chapter book graphic novel, or at least that’s what I’m shooting for. I just sent a story overview and three act arc to my critique group. I’m crossing my fingers that they won’t find too many plot problems so I can start writing and drawing (actually, I already started, but knowing if the story works will help me keep going).

- Blogging: Still working on how often to blog and how to fit it into my schedule. Lots of planned blog posts haven’t happened either because I didn’t have time or I thought they weren’t that interesting (in otherwords, posting to my blog all the things I wanted to Tweet about seems like a bad idea).

- Visiting Blogs: I thought I’d be visiting blogs all the time now, but I’ve only visited a few. The first week I stayed away because I didn’t want a new obsession (or actually an old obsession – blogs were my time kryptonite before I found Twitter). Then I got involved in my projects. Since I’m not online much, I don’t think about going online just to read blogs.

- Having a life offline and away from work: This is starting to happen now that the crazy deadlines are done (meaning all the stuff I was neglecting because I was online all the time).

- Reading: No novels yet, but I’m almost caught up with my Writer’s Digest magazines and SCBWI Bulletins. Novels are next on my list; I can’t wait!

- Art: I finished my cats wearing hats picture. I’m also working on my chicken graphic novel and new pieces for my portfolio, as well as creating art for the ripple project (all proceeds from the sale of art goes to help animals affected by the gulf oil spill). Two of my paintings are still up for sale ($10 each) with new artwork available later this week!

That’s what I’ve been up to the last month … well that and wondering about all the fun stuff and news that I’ve missed.

How’s your summer going so far?

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Posted in art, children's books, fun stuff, reading, wip, writing | 6 Comments »

Are your characters like TV characters?

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

This is a blast from the past blog post, originally written on November 12, 2008. It’s about a character in the novel I’m currently writing (back then Sheila was the main character, but now she’s the MCs best friend, which is much better for the story).

Denny Crane and Sheila the Zombie Cheerleader

Have you ever wondered what TV, movie or book character your children’s book character is most like? Me neither, but last night while watching Boston Legal,* I realized that Sheila the Zombie Cheerleader is a lot like Denny Crane.** (Scary, huh?) We watched the Nov. 3rd show last night (we’re behind in our TV watching). There’s a great paintball fight between Alan Shore and Denny Crane, and that’s when I started to think about Sheila and Denny.

I’m a Boston Legal fan. It’s a zany, wacky, TV show that pushes boundaries and buttons. It really makes you think, while at the same time making you laugh at the absurdity of the characters on the show. Unfortunately, this is the last season for Boston Legal.

For those that know the show, you’re probably scratching your heads right now wondering why in the world I would compare my children’s book character to someone like Denny. For those of you that haven’t watched the show, Denny is a skirt-chasing lawyer with a huge ego that likes to get his own way and shoot at people when he doesn’t. Denny is also a loveable oddball that feels bad when people don’t like him or he gets left out and he’s very loyal to his friends. Oh, and Denny has “Mad Cow.” The show hasn’t made it clear exactly what “Mad Cow” is, but they’ve offered some hints and theories. It could be Alzheimer’s, actual Mad Cow Disease, or just Denny trying to get attention. Most likely it’s some combination of two or three of those things.

How Sheila the Zombie Cheerleader is Like Denny Crane:

< Denny loves to say his name really loud, “Denny Crane!”
+ Sheila loves to say, “Eat Your Brains!” which sounds a lot like “Denny Crane.”

< Denny is a skirt-chaser. He likes to flirt and loves it when women pay him attention.
+ Sheila loves to chase people and make them scream. She loves attention and hates being ignored.

< Denny likes to get his own way, and if he doesn’t, he shoots his gun.
+ Sheila likes to get her own way, and if she doesn’t, she threatens to eat your brains.

< Denny has “Mad Cow” and sometimes uses that as an excuse to do what he wants.
+ Sheila is a zombie and sometimes uses that as an excuse to do what she wants.

< Denny justifies his actions with irrational reasoning so people won’t know why he’s really doing things.
+ Sheila is afraid of lots of things, which seems irrational, but she has her reasons, and they’re good ones (usually). Most zombies aren’t afraid of anything.

< Despite all these things, you can’t help but like Denny Crane. He’s flawed, but he’s also human.
+ You can’t help liking Sheila, either. She’s flawed, but she’s as human as you can get, even if she is a zombie.

Who is your character like?

* The Boston Legal series is over – no new episodes ever. :( However you can watch reruns on a couple of channels! :) Check local TV listings.

** After this blog post, I realized that Sheila the Zombie Cheerleader is really the older, zombie version of Kitty, a character I created as a child. I never imagined that my beloved stuffed cat (with a huge attitude and a mouth like a five-year-old sailor) would grow up to be a zombie cheerleader!

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Posted in Tv, Tween, YA, children's books, wip, writing | 7 Comments »

5 ways to manage online time & 5 reasons online time is important

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Of all the things I need to manage, internet time is on the top of my list. It’s easy to get sucked in and hard to break out of the interwebs! On the other hand, I think it’s important to be online, at least some of the time.

Here are five suggestions * for managing online time and five reasons you can use to justify** the hours you spend there.

Managing Online Time

1. Set The Timer: If this suggestion sounds familiar, it’s because it was in my last post as a suggestion to help complete chores and/or creative projects. The beauty of the timer is that you can also use it to keep the internet from being a time suck. Before you go online, figure out how much time you have to spend, then set the timer for 5-10 minutes before that. Why set the timer early? Because it always seems like I’m right in the middle of an email or reading a blog post when time is up. If you give yourself an extra 5-10 minutes, you can finish what you are doing without feeling rushed.

2. Only Go Online After Your Work Is Done: Think of the internet as a reward for all your hard work on a manuscript or a painting. It’s like an ice cream sundae after a week of dieting, but without all the calories.

3. Use Social Media Only On Certain Days: Stay offline for whole days at a time to stay on deadline or achieve goals. You could also set a specific online schedule every week. My current process is to set weekly goals for my WIP. My week starts on Thursday and ends the following Wednesday. That way, I don’t have to rush to get done by Monday, when I want to spend time with my family on the weekend. Monday thru Wednesday is when I rush to finish weekly goals. Thursday and Friday is when I plan the next set of weekly goals and start in on them. If I need to go offline to get my work done, then I do. The internet will still be there when I have more time.

4. Think In Percentages: If you take the total number of hours that you have to work on your manuscript or art, then figure out how much of that time is spent online, it can be a staggering statistic. (Note: This one made me cringe at how much time I’m online.) Here are two easy math examples to show you what I mean.

- A full time writer or illustrator, with 40 hours a week to work (no weekends, that’s family time), that spends 2 hours a day online, M-F = 10 hours a week. That’s 25% of their writing or illustrating time!

- A writer or illustrator that has 14 hours a week to work (including weekends, because of a day job), that spends 1 hour a day online = 7 hours a week. That’s 50% of their writing or illustrating time!

Those are just examples that made the math easy, but it also makes it easy to see how those hours online can add up. Try it yourself. Is your percentage what you want it to be?

5. Take An Internet Vacation: If the internet is causing you to ignore your family, your writing, your art, or other obligations, you might want to think about taking a break from it. Take weekends off, or take whole week, or a month, or stay off line until you’ve made the deadline for your project. Pick a time period that works for you, then re-evaluate your online time when that’s over.

The Benefits of Spending Time Online

I. Research: The internet is a great place to start your research for the project that you’re writing or illustrating. It can also point you to books and people that are important to seek out to make your WIP or illustration seem authentic.

II. Industry News & Networking: There are a ton of children’s book people online, including agents, editors, publishers, authors, and illustrators. Many of them post helpful articles or links to news about the industry, as well as book recommendations to add to your reading list. You can also find critique groups and friends online. They understand what it’s like to create children’s books, even if your offline family and friends do not.

III. Education: If you want to learn how to do something, you can probably find a tutorial or explanation online. There are many articles specific to children’s and YA books, including articles and blog posts on: plot, creating characters, how to put together a PB dummy, fictional settings, writing queries and hooks, how to write a synopsis, agent submission guidelines and preferences, and even how to paint in Photoshop.

IV. Community: Twitter, Facebook and discussion boards might seem like a waste of time, but they’re not, if you limit your time on them. Sometimes it helps to talk with others online; you’re not the only one struggling with your WIP or illustration or getting rejections from an agent.  Time spent online is a lot like talking with colleagues in the break room at a regular job, which is a good way to maintain your sanity and possibly make a few friends.

Discussion Boards for children’s book and YA writers & illustrators:

Helpful Twitter Chats:

  • Mon. 10pm EST #pblitchat
  • Tues. 9pm EST #kidlitchat
  • Wed. 9pm EST #yalitchat
  • Thurs. 9pm EST #kidlitart

V. Fun: We all need to have fun or escape at times. When you go online, there are friends to talk with, games to play, news about what’s going on in the world (outside of publishing), stories to read and inspiring art to look at. Go play, then get back to work!

* Not that I’m an expert on managing my online time … but I keep trying. Eventually reason will win out over shiny objects and fun links, or at least I hope it will. If it doesn’t, I may have to call in the zombies to keep me in line. There’s nothing like the threat of brain munchage to alter your behavior.

** I can justify almost anything, really. It’s my super power. I’d rather have the power to heal myself when I get injured or fly like Superman, but being able to finesse the BS is a useful power too. (I knew my art degree would come in handy eventually – I learned the art of BS while getting my BFA.)

This is the second in a series of three Time Management articles.

Article #1: Time Management Tips Article #3: Multitasking and Achieving Your Dreams

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Posted in YA, art, children's books, fun stuff, writing | 12 Comments »

Time Management Tips

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

Recently I’ve been re-thinking how I manage my time, because I don’t manage it well. I was also going to write a couple of articles on time management* (which I may still do), when I remembered that I’ve blogged about this topic before. The post below is from my old blog, posted on October 20, 2008. I decided to run it again because the information is still relevant and could help me and maybe you manage your time better.

Time Management Tips from sruble of the past

When I registered for the SCBWI LA conference** this year, I listed my occupation as “procrastination exterminator,” in addition to writer and illustrator. At the time, it was wishful thinking, and as evidenced by my behavior last week, I tend to go off on tangents with projects that aren’t necessarily the ones I should be working on. I don’t think I can ever completely curb my tendency for tangential projects, and I wouldn’t want to (Sheila the zombie cheerleader is another example). However, I need to be a little more focused in getting the things I need to do done, so I can go off and play afterwards.

Everyone has their own time management system. Here’s what’s worked for me in the past and what’s new. Use the tips that might work for you, and share your tips in the comments if you want.

15 minutes of fame: Each person reportedly gets (at least) fifteen minutes of fame, the same should be true for your procrastination projects. Set the timer for 15 minutes and dig into that task you don’t want to do (even if it’s your WIP and you really do want to write or draw that scene, but just don’t know how). When the timer rings, hopefully you will be so engrossed in your project that you won’t hear it, but if you’re not, you can always try again later. Set the timer again the next time you work on it. Repeat until you’re done or you don’t need the timer anymore. Works for chores as well as creative endeavors … thanks mom.

Get a cheerleader: Your cheerleader can be anyone that helps cheer you on and supports you with your goal. I have Sheila the zombie cheerleader. If I do what she says, she won’t eat my brain. She’s new to the cheering team. My husband, parents, and writer/illustrator friends are part of the team too. Luckily they don’t want to eat my brain, they just want me to use it to be creative and get my work done.

Set goals: Set realistic goals so that you can achieve them. If you’re a big goal setter like I am, write down the big goals, then break them up into smaller steps and use those steps as goals along the way to achieving something bigger. It’s a lot easier to get things done when you know it’s possible, instead of having something hanging over your head that’s hard to finish in a day or a week or a month.

Make a to do list: Write down what you can realistically accomplish each day. Some days you might not finish it all, and some days you might get done early. If you have lots of things to do, make a big, huge list, then take a few of those items and put them on a to do list, for today. Tomorrow you can take more things off the big, huge, master list. Just like setting goals, your to do list should be manageable, so you can feel a sense of accomplishment each day. Plus, it’s really fun to cross things off the list.

Play: Sometimes you need to chuck the timer, the goals and the lists, and completely ignore the cheerleader, who will be confused as to why you have gone off on a tangent. Playing and following your bliss is important. You have to do that once in a while to connect with your creative side, and maybe you’ll even come up with a brilliant new idea or character. Just make sure to get back to your timers, goals, and lists when you’re done, otherwise you may never get anything done. Besides, if you don’t get back on track, Sheila will find you and eat your brain.

(2010 Update) Having fun can lead to other things: A year and a half after I wrote this post, Sheila the zombie cheerleader is in the YA novel I’m writing. Not only that, but the mini comic about Sheila that I wrote and illustrated last summer, launched a new character for a picture book, Daria the chicken, and I’m thinking of re-writing the mini comic as another story starring Daria [Sheila won't be in it]. So far my chicken PB has been requested by an editor, an art director, and an agent. It hasn’t sold yet and might have a revision looming [I'm considering re-writing it as a graphic novel chapter book], however, if I hadn’t painted a picture of a zombie cheerleader, just for fun, I wouldn’t have either of these characters or stories! Allow yourself to play – you never know what might happen!

How do you manage to manage your time and control your tangential projects?

* This is the first in a series of three Time Management articles. Article #2: 5 ways to manage online time & 5 reasons online time is important Article #3: Multitasking and Achieving Your Dreams

** Looking for notes from the SCBWI LA conference? Here are links to my 2009 notes and 2010 notes.

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Posted in YA, art, children's books, fun stuff, writing | 9 Comments »

Teaser Tuesday – What Would You Do During A Zombie Attack?

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

What would you do during a zombie attack? Run? Fight back? How about if you were stuck in the middle of a store like The Gap? Here’s a short teaser from my WIP:

The manager put a key into a slot in the wall and turned it. A gate rolled down in front of the door, locking us in with a handful of people that stood between racks of clothing that always looked better in commercials and on people other than me.

“I’ll be over there,” said Taylor, pointing to a sales rack.

“How can she shop during the zombie apocalypse?” asked Dylan.

“Don’t you know that khaki pants are your first line of defense against the undead?” asked Lucas. “That’s what the guys wore in Zombie Apocalypse Now.”

“Right,” I said, trying not to laugh. “Don’t you remember what happened to them at the end of the movie?”

“Okay,” said Lucas, “scratch the khaki’s then.”

So, what would you do? I think I might go shopping too (after thinking up an escape plan).

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Posted in YA, fun stuff, writing | 6 Comments »

March Madness week 2 (new goals)

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

It’s the second week of the March Madness writing challenge. My goals were to write 25k and check in with the challenge blogs at least 3x a week. So, how did I do for the first week? (FYI, I’m counting the first week + 3 days, since March ends on a Wednesday.)

Week One Stats: I wrote a ton of words, well over 5000 … then cut and revised, rinsed and repeated. After that, I started over with *chapter one again. My final word counts: 3284 on the old ms + 1948 on the new beginning = 5232 My check in totals: more than 3x the first week, then forgot to check in since this weekend. I’ll be checking in again today.

Technically I’m on target to make my goals at the end of the month, but I want to change them slightly. (it’s a writer’s purgative to change her mind, right?)

My new goals are:

1. To write at least one chapter a week, more if I have time. My goal is to write and revise revise each chapter so that it moves the story forward and is semi-polished, instead of focusing on word count (which always gets me in trouble).

2. Continue to check in with the March Madness blogs 3x a week, more if I remember/have time.

March Madness and my original goals are posted here. For more info on the writing challenge or how you can join, head over to Denise Jaden’s blog and read this post.

* I started over because I needed to introduce things in the first chapter so that later pages would make sense. This approach wouldn’t work for everyone, but it does for me, for this manuscript.

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Posted in YA, children's books, fun stuff, writing | 2 Comments »

March Madness

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

March Madness has started, and this time it’s about writing, not basketball! Denise Jaden started a writing challenge for the month of March. It’s a good way to reach your goals for the month and there will be prizes!

My goals are:

1. Write at least 25k on my zombie WIP (and finish it if possible, though that’s not an official goal).

2. Remember to check in for March Madness at least 3x a week (daily if I can manage it).

There are check-in stations at the following blogs for each week day through the month of March:

Mondays – http://denisejaden.livejournal.com
Tuesdays – http://shanasilver.livejournal.com
Wednesdays – http://jenhayley.com/blog/
Thursdays – http://www.denisejaden.com/Blog.html
Fridays - http://shanasilver.livejournal.com
Saturdays – http://ellestraussbooks.blogspot.com
Sundays – http://jenhayley.com/blog/

For more info on prizes and how to participate, hop on over to this post on Denise Jaden’s blog. It’s not too late to join in!

What are your goals?

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Posted in children's books, fun stuff, writing | 6 Comments »

there are a whole lot of mean girls in books

Monday, February 15th, 2010

I’ve read a lot of books with mean girls in them lately. Even books that aren’t about mean girls seem to have mean girls in them, and popular is often shorthand for mean girl. I have been thinking a lot about this subject as I’m writing my current YA and brainstorming my next one. Here are my (unscientific) thoughts on mean girls and writing:

We’ve all known a mean girl or two.

There are people (usually of an older generation) that claim to not have any experience with mean girls. Good for them. Maybe it’s true, maybe their memory has allowed them to forget, or maybe they were the mean girl. For the rest of us, we know what mean girls are all about. It’s human nature to want to control your world. Mean girls take that to another level.

In books, mean girls are almost always popular and all the girls want to be like them. They usually have money and/or status, are good looking (or have another attribute that makes up for it if they’re not), get all the hot guys, and rule the school. There’s a ring of truth to this, because there are a lot of popular girls that are also mean.

**However, not all popular girls are mean, just as not all mean girls are popular.**

Girls who are popular are usually labeled “mean girls.” Girls who are not popular get names like, “bully,” or “future serial killer.”

These are the mean girls that we’ve all read and heard about, the girls (popular or not) that pick on people for no apparent reason. The ones that make high school a living hell, and probably junior high / middle school as well. These are the girls you want to stay away from, keep off their radar, and hope that they don’t single you out for their brand of fun. They’re also, many times, the girls that other girls aspire to be. I don’t think this is because the other girls want to be that cruel, rather that they want immunity from the kind of torture that’s handed out.

There are other types of mean girls.

The mean girl that doesn’t usually get a label and isn’t recognized that often, is the “not in the popular group” and “not a bully for no reason” kind of mean girl. She’s not signaling out people for random torture, criticizing her friends, or dictating what they should wear. She is not a queen bee or a wanna be. What is she then? She could be one of two main types.

1. She’s a normal girl in a group that tends to have a stronger opinion than the rest of them. There’s usually a leader in any group of girls who are friends, whether popular or not, and even if there are only two or three in the group. One girl is the person that all the others look to for answers, like what to do on a Friday night or how to get the guy you like to notice you. She’s a perfectly nice person, most of the time.

2. She might be just a regular girl, not the group leader and usually nice to everyone. She also can’t handle stress. She can sway the group’s opinion with her emotions when she bombs on a test or her boyfriend breaks up with her. She’s angry and she takes it out on a friend – usually someone that didn’t do anything wrong, or did something by accident, not meaning to hurt her feelings or embarrass her.

Unfortunately, friends often have disagreements. With hormones raging, the stress of homework, finals, college applications, and boys, even the most friendly of girls could be a ticking time bomb.

Girls don’t get over their grudges that easily. Sometimes a girl is cast out and shunned from a group for weeks on end. This is a horrible experience to go through, but if that’s all it is, you will usually live through it, make up with your friends and go on to ignore someone else a few weeks later.

So, as writers, what can we do about mean girls?
We can write stories that shed light on the subject and provide a context for what’s happening (not preaching, not giving lessons, but telling real stories about characters that are the target of mean girls or are mean girls themselves).

We can write books about girls that aren’t in the popular group, but are still mean girls.

We can write books about girls aren’t mean girls or popular girls, but who are mean to each other. These girls exist just as much as the kind that are written about more often.

We can write books from the mean girl’s POV; what makes her tick?

We can write stories where there are no mean girls at all. Everyone needs an escape from real life.

We can recommend books about mean girls; there are a lot of them out there.

Mean Girl Books

Here are four books I recommend. If you read them all back to back, it’s a great way to see how mean girls can be handled in many different ways in children’s and YA books. Plus, they are all excellent books!

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers – I love this book because it’s from a mean girl’s POV. It’s amazing and cringe-worthy. Here’s how the main character, Regina, describes who she and her friends are, “We’re the kind of popular that parents like to pretend doesn’t exist so they can sleep at night, and we’re the kind of popular that makes our peers unable to sleep at night.”

How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot – this is a great book to read after Courney’s. It’s a look at how one girl was able to take care of the mean girl that was harassing her and find a way to be true to herself at the same time. It’s fun to read such a light-hearted and positive mean girl book.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray – this book is not at all about mean girls and the main character is a boy. However, the mean girls still manage to get into the story. It’s a good way to see how mean girls are a facet of every day life for a lot of high school girls, and for boys too. It’s also a really great trip, has a garden gnome in it, and won the Printz award this year.

Two of a Kind written by Jacqui Robbins / illustrated by Matt Phelan – a picture book about mean girls and friendship. You don’t usually think about mean girls this young. Most books with mean girls are for YA or middle grade readers. It’s great that there’s a picture book that tackles the subject in such a thoughtful way, and the illustrations are spot on for the emotions involved.

What do you think about mean girls?

I’d love to hear what you think about this subject. What mean girl books would you recommend? What do you think we can do about mean girls, if anything? Any other thoughts you’d like to share?

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Posted in YA, children's books, reading, writing | 7 Comments »

week four (4 week novel) interruptions

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Week Four of the 4 Week Novel*: Sometimes you’ve got to concentrate on things other than writing, like Thanksgiving and family, or laundry that needs to be done. But don’t forget about your novel; you’re in the home stretch now! Try to set realistic goals for how much you can write by the end of the month.

If there’s no crisis and you’ve got clean socks, then go eat dinner and get back to writing. Ask someone you love if they will do the dishes for you :)

Don’t forget to resolve the conflicts and storylines you started. They don’t need to be wrapped up with a bow, but they should have some sort of resolution so the reader will be satisfied with the ending. If you can’t figure out exactly how to end your book, don’t worry. That’s what revisions are for.

*The 4 week novel tips are designed for NaNoWriMo, but could be used any time of the year if you are trying to fast draft a story. This is the sixth post. The others so far were: NaNoWriMo Thoughts and Tips, prepping for the 4 week novel, week one – ready, set, go, week two – getting unstuck, and week three – halfway there!

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week three (4 week novel) half way there, maybe

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

Week Three of the 4 Week Novel*: You’re half way there! If you’re not (like me) keep going! You can still catch up, and so can I! You can make it to the end of your first draft if you Just Keep Writing!! Trust your vision and your creative talent, and whatever you do, Do Not Listen To Your Evil Inner Editor!

If you’re getting stuck on what happens next, try the tips from week 2, or blow something up and see how your characters react.

I know someone is going to say, “but I’m writing a romance, I can’t blow anything up!” Yes you can. You can blow up their relationship. Jealous ex-boyfriend (or girlfriend), someone flirting with someone they shouldn’t be flirting with, or everyone gets drunk and isn’t sure what happened.

Blow something up for real, or metaphorically. It’s fun to make your characters miserable, because later you can make things better … or not, it’s all up to you :)

*The 4 week novel tips are designed for NaNoWriMo, but could be used any time of the year if you are trying to fast draft a story. This is the fifth post. The others so far were:NaNoWriMo Thoughts and Tips, prepping for the 4 week novel, week one – ready, set, go, and week two – getting unstuck.

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Posted in writing | 6 Comments »

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