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Fortitude - A Daily Magazine for Being Human: They accept any pieces of original writing. I wonder if it's worth submitting a few of my short pieces there. If they make the front page, I'll get $10 for them.
Xomba - another site where you can use your Adsense. Check it out or ask me about it.
My Xomba posts
I also write for Freelance Tips.
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Writing Words - writing it is the only way of getting it written
Have you ever read an article in a magazine or a short story in an anthology that made you exclaim: "But that was my idea!" Happened to me today when I got the October issue (#107) of Writers' Forum. There's an article on page 14 called Write a novel in one month which is - you guessed it - about NaNoWriMo.
A few months ago, I thought I should write an article on NaNoWriMo and pitch it to them. I have actually started writing the article but I thought I'd better finish it before I send my pitch to Writers' Forum. So I shouldn't really be surprised that another writer beat me to it. NaNo is only two months and one week away, any writing magazine running an article on it would do it now. I didn't get my act together in time, so I can't complain. Guess I'll have to find another place for my article. Fast.
The Writers' Forum's author interview this month features Keris Stainton who writes the first drafts for her books during NaNoWriMo. Which just goes to show that NaNo isn't just for hobby writers (oh, how I hate that term, what's wrong with writing for a hobby?) - one of the favourite claims of NaNo opponents. No, what you do with your NaNo manuscript is entirely up to you. You'll only find out if it may lead to publication if you sign up for the November madness in the first place.
My Writing Nook is a neat little application for writers who write on more than one computer. It's web-based - all you need to access your work in progress is a computer with an internet connection and a Google account. To back-up your work, you can email documents to your email address or download a copy to your computer (when you access it on your documents from home).
There are My Writing Nook mobile applications for iPhone/iTouch, iPad and Andoid, too. So if you have one of these devices, you can even access your documents when you're out and about. I just got the iPhone app and will test it over the next days and report back with the verdict. If it's good, I know what I'll be using for NaNoWriMo to write during my lunch break.
When I won my first NaNoWriMo seven years ago, I was ecstatic for at least a week.
Nowadays, I'm usually glad I got through the first draft without going bonkers. Then I start worrying about the rewrites. Because I know I can write a 50,000 to 80,000 word first draft in a month even if I only get to start on the 15th. Editing and revision, on the other hand - not so easy. Writing the first draft is not where the work starts, it's when you have to edit the beast that things get ugly.
I did it once. So I've created a precedent - I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.
I finished my NaNo novel. In the last scene, I've planted the seed for a new one. Maybe it will have to wait until next November, maybe I'll get round to writing it before that.
Tonight, I relax. Tomorrow, I begin the rewrites of last year's novel. For real this time.
It's going to be a busy week. I've managed to post something every day so far this month - good thing since I'm taking part in NaBloPoMo again - and I hope I will keep the routine up.
But, busy week ahead, a deadline on Thursday and a novel that needs my attention for at least an hour a day. If I get squeezed for time, I might have to make a sacrifice or two. As I usually blog about writing, I won't have any material for a blog post if I don't write. But after a packed day, will I have any words left for a blog post? I suppose I'll find out in the course of the week.
As I wrote the other day, Twitter is a major distraction. It's not a complete waste of time, though. If used sparingly (something I clearly still need to master), Twitter is a fantastic source of information and inspiration for writers. You can follow publishing houses, editors, literary agents and writers. You'll learn more about the industry, you might make some useful connections and you can interact with your favourite authors. Twitter is lots of fun, and it's my treat for making my daily wordcount this month.
If you're looking for some inspiration as to who to follow, here's the Mashable list of the best authors to follow on Twitter. One of them is @maureenjohnson, who wrote today's fantastic NaNoWriMo pep talk.
... will come crashing down eventually. I wasn't quite prepared for it to happen so quickly, though.
I crossed the half-way mark yesterday and finished at 26,402. Writing was a breeze, and it looked like things were falling into place nicely. Maybe I should have kept going because today has been almost the exact opposite. I've written 2,200 words so far, but getting them onto the page was hard work. And as if that wasn't enough, I'm not happy with a lot of what I wrote
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Great quote from Patricia Highsmith about how the unconscious often provides the crucial parts of a story.
For your unconscious to present you with plot twists and solutions, you have to feed it first, though. Provide it with the relevant info, then go and do something else. Don't think about the problem anymore, and your unconscious will work its magic. Have pen and paper ready!
Seven already - seriously?
Today was a good day. I made 20k, wrote over 4,000 words - the biggest daily chunk so far. Needless to say, it was easy today. Fun, even.
The worst things you write will take you closer to 50k just as well as brilliant things would. I wrote a lot of bad stuff today. Well over 2,000 words of badbadbad. 2,000 words are 2,000 words, though.
Considering how much I suck at editing, this isn't good news. I guess it's time I did something about my poor editing and revision skills, then.
I wrote just over 3,000 words and crossed the 10k mark today. Yay!
The first 2,000 words were easy. Then I started up Seesmic and checked my Twitter stream. Bad move. I don't spend much time on the NaNoWriMo forum because I could easily write several thousand words in forum posts a day (now here's an idea: I could become a NaNo rebel next year and write 50,000 words in the forums ... ) and don't make much progress with the novel in return. I know the forum is a major distraction, that's why I avoid it. I think I have to apply the same treatment to Twitter. It appears to be harmless because a tweet is so short. But then I don't just follow one person, but 50, and some of them tweet quite a lot. Then I check a few searches, and before I know it I've wasted an hour. Yeah, no more tweeting for me before I've hit my goal for the day.
Great advice for writers: Read bad stuff.
Not only is it encouraging to read bad fiction, it also is a great way to learn what you shouldn't do and improve your editing skills (handy skill post-NaNoWriMo). It's so much easier to see other writers' mistakes than your own. Read a bad piece of fiction and edit to make it better. Then go and check your own work for the same mistakes, and if you spot one, apply the treatment you applied to the bad stuff.
A little over two years ago, my old laptop died. Luckily, I had a back-up plan.
With NaNoWriMo kicking off just about now (in the UK), I'd like to draw your attention to backing up your work regularly. Do you have a back-up strategy? Do you stick to it? If you don't back up your work, imagine for a second that you couldn't access your hard drive anymore. How does that make you feel
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Can't make it in November? JulNoWriMo is your answer.
I'm tempted. But I'm not happy yet with last November's work, and I'll not embark on a new writing journey before I've arrived with this one.
According to the plan I made months ago, today would mark the official start of the NaNoWriMo season. According to the same plan, I would have finished editing my 2007 novel by now, send it to a few trusted first readers and wait for their reactions.
The plan also says that I have to think about my next novel from today on because I have to be ready to pour it out in three months. I managed to pull one out of my hat last year, but it's a wild, unruly beast and making it presentable takes more strength than I currently have. I have no intention of creating another monster like it
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I can't believe how quickly time flies. It's March 1 on Saturday, which means NaNoEdMo has as good as begun.
NaNoEdMo is a good thing for people who need a challenge to get on with the editing. While I love that kind of pressure during NaNoWriMo, I have never had much luck with NaNoEdMo. I don't enjoy editing, but when I get down to business, I want to do a good job. I don't want to go through endless round of editing what I edited. I guess that's why I dropped out of the challenge within the first week whenever I decided to do it
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November is NaNoWriMo, so what is December? Well, NaNoFiMo, of course - for all those November novelists who want to finish their novel before they lose touch with it. Certainly a good idea, but December is too busy for me every time, I have never finished my novels in December.
Then there's NaNoEdMo in March - an excellent opportunity to fix all these continuity errors and fill in the holes in the story you frantically produced in the previous November (though you can any other manuscript you think need a good edit
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I have another BBC link for you, this time on novel writing.
This brief how-to is perfect for NaNoWriMo - especially if you're writing your first novel. All the important bits are in there, you don't need to know more
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