Tag Archives: National Novel Writing Month

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing

NaNoWriMo 2018

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I decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. I have done this competition three times and have won three times But I took a break since it is high pace and can be stressful especially if you are odd like me and take it seriously with winning being the only outcome. Writing 50,000 words in one month is crazy and thousands if not millions of people from across the world compete. Some meet in real life while others meet in online events.

One reason why I stopped is with winning three times meant I had three manuscripts that needed me to go over, fix and revise. I had manuscripts that had over 50k words. Those three have still not see the light outside my house for that takes a lot of time to get it in the best shape possible.

So, why try again? Well, first of all bragging rights in a good way. The prizes they give winners are not extravagant but cool. Plus I been working on an idea where the timeline was so messed up with an ending and beginning but little meat to the story line. I decided three days before Nov 1st I would make this project my project for the month. If nothing else it would be in decent shape for revising once the month was over.

To get my words in I do get up an hour to two hours earlier each day. We all know once the day starts life gets busy and the day goes by so fast. Before you know its evening and your words have not added up to the daily suggested words.

Granted my fibro is loving me so much right now, not. But at this pace I should be done, if I can maintain that is, in three weeks instead of four weeks and three days. That is worth it to me. I now just have to convince my body.

My word count as of today is after nine days is: 22,616 

Author, Newsletter, Sharon C. Williams

My newsletter

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IMG_0175Recently I blogged about newsletters. How I wanted to get on board with this way of spreading my brand. The sites I visited all wanted me to share my personal home address with the world. I wasn’t feeling that. Thanks to my lovely editor, Nancy, she directed me to Mad Mimi, a free site where all that was required was town and state.

So I went about setting up my first issue. It was a little time-consuming for I wanted it just right. I’m not sure how many emails I got from myself as I tested various versions. It took some time but after a few hours I got the pictures, links and story laid out that looked pleasing to my eye. I was nervous as heck and excited to get it ready in time to announce to the world which I did promptly on my social media outlets

Here is the link to the first issue.

https://madmimi.com/mimio/b1a564/preview

The link to subscribe, if interested, is here:http://mad.ly/signups/98152/join

I was fortunate enough to get a nice small crowd of people interested in reading more of what I had to say. Hopefully I won’t disappoint. Being an author means more than just writing. It involves editing, revising, editing again and then either self publish or find a traditional publisher. But it doesn’t end there. After comes the marketing and promotion which one has to do regardless how your book is released to the world.

It’s a marathon not a sprint. I need to invest in water.

NaNoWriMo 2012, November, Winner, Writing

NaNoWriMo 2012: Unofficial Winner

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Yes you read correctly. Yesterday morning which marked the end of the second week of NaNo 2012 I crossed over the 50k word count needed to win this writing frenzy. When it happened I just sat back and went wow ever so softly.

To get this completed in November it is suggested you write 1667 words daily. I decided to do a bit more to give me time to rest or when life got in my way. You know how that is. Planning made a huge difference as I decided I was not going to review any books on my other site that is strictly for that. I was not going to blog but instead asked for people to guest post here. Thankfully a nice circle of people raised their hands. While I finished early the guest posting will still continue for this month. They took the time to come up with something for me and I want to showcase the authors who came through while I was participating in NaNo 2012

I wrote that I am an unofficial winner since I can not put in my word count in the website’s app to confirm this and hence get that pretty little logo saying I have completed it. But rest assured it has happened.  Someone asked me would I keep writing on it for the duration of the month. I told her yes I would keep on adding to the book, absolutely. Would I keep at this pace, hell no.

When I first hit 42K words on Monday I sat back and thought what a crock of crap I have written. That is how I felt and made me wonder had I wasted my time and left hand to doing this. I plunge ahead for I had come too close to stop. I could always save it for later and see if I could salvage it. But taking a double look that is when I realized the main parts of the book had not even been written yet.  The kidnapping, murder and the mob has not even entered the scene. Then I realized the beauty of this book is I feel it is only a third done.

My goal was rather selfish to complete this. Like I blogged about prior to November I was gunning for back to back wins. I know a really crazy reason to do this. Next year will be even worse for I know the motivation will be to get the triple crown. Hey whatever gets you to write?  But I am done as far as the word count is concerned. I can take my time now and let life back in. It had been knocking on my door and it will soon make its appearance.

So to every one out there who is doing NaNo 2012 I wish you good luck and cheer. You can do it. Even if your goal is different then mind the key is to write and to keep writing until you type the end.