Write Writing Written

List of NaNoWriMo pros and cons:

Pros:
Finished @ 50363!
Finished before Thanksgiving dinner.
Typed a totally different genre than I have before.
Have another interesting story to work on.
Didn't edit.
Didn't care.

Cons:
Apparently, the NaNo muse deemed this only Book One.
Have another interesting story to work on.
Didn't edit.

More pros than cons is good!
Have a great week!

Want to win a book from Heather Moore? How about Land of Inheritance from her Out of Jerusalem series? Wander on over to My Writing Lair. Her newest book, Alma, would make a GREAT gift.







Yogurt! That's what you win over on Cindy Beck's blog. Not only yogurt, but a kids insulated lunch bag, place mat and spoon. Need a stocking stuffer? Cindy coauthored a funny book called Mormon Mishaps and Mischief.








I must confess-I've been playing Christmas music. I know. It's not even Thanksgiving yet but I Love Christmas music! Not Entirely British is giving away a Christmas CD: His Name Shall Be Called Wonderful by James Loynes.








And not to be left behind, post your favoritest book ever on my blog and win Stephanie Black's Method of Madness book. I should have given this book away at Halloween! It's scary!!




Queen of the Clan is also running a contest through December called An Angel in Your Life. Write about an angel in your life and win a gift certificate to Seagull Book Or De…

#11 file #20 picture:
Santorini, Greece, perched on top of a volcanic mountain.


Can get there by one of three ways: ride a donkey (better to ride one going UP not DOWN), walk up amongst the donkeys and their droppings or ride a cable car.


Beautiful white and blue buildings and delicious baklava!

(Click on the picture. Hopefully it will open to another window and give you a better view of Santorini)

Hi novelist!

Lindsey here, Community Liaison for NaNoWriMo.

Last week the love interest in my novel did something kind of abhorrent. He drugged the neighbor's dog and blamed it on his girlfriend. I couldn't believe he did that! It was a completely unauthorized move. But once it was done, there was no undoing it. All the things I had planned for him to do and say in upcoming scenes were all wrong—suddenly my knight was a first-class jerk. Even if I went back and deleted the scene, I'd still know what he was capable of. (It seems I have a "no take backs" approach to my characters.)

So I did what any overly emotional, sleep-deprived writer would do: I broke up with him. And in doing so, I kind of broke up with my novel, too. This started having all kinds of adverse affects on my life. I lay awake at night, puzzling over how my good guy went so bad. I couldn't get to work in the morning for all my distracted agonizing over what to do. I was getting out of the shower…

This was an email I received recently. I totally respect Jeff (Scott) Savage and his opinions. He takes his time to talk to newbie writers and give them ideas and help. (I added a link to Jeff's recent post at the end of this post). I thought I would pass along what this emailer (Tobyn) wrote:
Hey Nano team,
I went to Dragon's keep tonight and Scott Savage was there. What a cool guy. He was very personable and has a great attitude about the art of writing. He talked about where he came from and how he got rejected, and how he got his first contract, how he got rejected again even with an agent.
Hearing his story was inspirational. I asked him how to make nanowrimo work in a good way so that we are not churning out just mediocre gunk. His answer was excellent but very long, so I have shortened it for you. He said he doesn't like to outline each chapter. He likes to know where he begins and where he ends. He likes to have a good protagonist who is a hero with flaws or an…

Hi novelist!

Lindsey here, Community Liaison for NaNoWriMo.

Last week the love interest in my novel did something kind of abhorrent. He drugged the neighbor's dog and blamed it on his girlfriend. I couldn't believe he did that! It was a completely unauthorized move. But once it was done, there was no undoing it. All the things I had planned for him to do and say in upcoming scenes were all wrong—suddenly my knight was a first-class jerk. Even if I went back and deleted the scene, I'd still know what he was capable of. (It seems I have a "no take backs" approach to my characters.)

So I did what any overly emotional, sleep-deprived writer would do: I broke up with him. And in doing so, I kind of broke up with my novel, too. This started having all kinds of adverse affects on my life. I lay awake at night, puzzling over how my good guy went so bad. I couldn't get to work in the morning for all my distracted agonizing over what to do. I was getting out of the shower…

Want to win a Christmas book? Ho-ho-ho on over to Joyce DiPastena's blog for a festive quiz.

How Can I Keep From Singing? That is a question my daughter asks. But over on Anne Bradshaw's blog it's a music CD contest!

Over on Write Up My Alley is a contest for Twilight inspired perfume.

Good luck!

Becky Irvine, Come on down! You're on the next winner of a free book! Pick a book! Send me an email with you snail mail address and book you would like and I will send it out as soon as I can pull myself away from the computer. :)
Here is the list of books I am passing on; some are freebies I won, some are books I have doubles of:

Women of Virtue by Jodi Marie Robinson










Loyalty's Web by Joyce DiPastena











The Craft of Revision by Donald Murray










Pick Up Games by Marcia Mickelson











Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg











Heidi Ashworth! You are the second winner! Choose a first and second favorite from the above list, give me your address and I will send one of them to you!

Also, I would love to link from here to your blogs. Leave the link you would like me to use.

Thanks ladies for your support and comments. You are amazing!

(Lynda wrote her pep talk with a pen.)Dear Writer,Reconsider your hand. Reconsider writing by hand. There is a kind of story that comes from hand. Writing which is different from a tapping-on-a-keyboard-kind-of-story. For one thing, there is no delete button, making the experience more life like right away. You can't delete the things you feel unsure about and because of this, the things you feel unsure about have a much better chance of being able to exist long enough to reveal themselves. And the physical activity of writing by hand involves many parts of the brain which are used in story making such as time, place, action, characters, relationships, and moving forward across an entire connected gesture. And that's just what goes on when we write a single letter by hand.Although word count goals may be harder to reach, your body will not feel as tired as it does after a day spent tapping buttons and staring at a lit screen, especially if you write a bit longer than you usual…

Thank you!

Gail Carson Levine's first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a 1998 Newbery Honor book. You can learn more about her writing at http://gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com/

This is an email I got this week:
Dear NaNoWriMo-ers,

I'm not even the tortoise of writing. I'm the slug. And you are more than hares, you're cheetahs — writing at seventy miles an hour. I have to fictionalize even to talk to you.So it's October 31st. I’m back from trick or treating in a robot costume, worn to honor Isaac Asimov, who wrote or edited more than 500 books in his lifetime. After removing my tin head mask and my metallic gloves, I pig out on candy corn and think about today's accomplishments.I dug a shallow grave in the backyard and buried my print thesaurus (starting tomorrow, the first word I think of is good enough, even if I use it seven times on every page), dictionary (who cares how ophthalmologist is spelled anyway?), usage books (I can figure out the difference between lie and…

Mom, I know where God lives.
You do?
Yea. In space.
Are you sure about that?
Yes. Then he can get close to the sun and make it brighter if he needs to.
Oh.
And he lives on a star with the others and if the star goes out, they can move to the next star.
Really.
Yes. Like this star (pointing to a dot he made on paper) and this star (making more dots) and all these stars. But it's gotta be a star that is close so they can jump.
Where did you learn all this?
First grade.

Writing prompt via Sunday Scribblings

I was reminded today that NaNo rules are that the participants start from scratch. I did last year and was amazed what came out of my brain with no thought given to the writing. I put on loud music and just let my fingers type. Usually, I write out my thoughts and story but for NaNo I just type. It was a very interesting process.

This year I had an idea and a few pages hand written so that is what I used for NaNo. I don't feel the freedom to just go without thinking because I already have a preconceived notion where the story and the characters are headed.

But today, today, I let guilt get me. I sat down and just let my fingers go. The first page was utter nonsense. Kinda like my brain was spring cleaning. Then the story started to flow. I have no idea where it came from, but now I have over 5000 words in two hours! WOWSERS!

So I am starting my word count over. The story is strange; not one I would have thought up by myself! The creativity is just flowing and I take absolutely no cre…

Jasper Fforde is the best-selling author of the Thursday Next and Nursery Crime books. He has been writing for twenty years, but only published for ten. His training took a while. His eighth book, Shades of Grey, will be published in January 2010. He lives and writes in Wales, has a large family and likes to fly aeroplanes.Dear Writer,
I once wrote a novel in 22 days. 31 chapters, 62,000 words. I didn’t do much else—bit of sleeping, eating, bath or two—I just had three weeks to myself and a lot of ideas, an urge to write, a 486 DOS laptop and a quiet room. The book was terrible. 62,000 words and only twenty-seven in the right order. It was ultimately junked but here’s the important thing: It was one of the best 22 days I ever spent. A colossal waste of ink it was, a waste of time it was not.
Because here’s the thing: Writing is not something you can do or you can’t. It’s not something that ‘other people do’ or ‘for smart people only’ or even ‘for people who finished school and went to …

I love to give books as gifts!

"Altared Plans" by Rebecca Talley promises to be a witty, clean, LDS romance anyone can enjoy.
Twilight inspired perfume/cologne anyone? Try Custom Scents Online! Not only can you buy some perfume, there is a contest to win some!

On the contest front:
Tristi Pinkston is also doing a contest on her blog to win one dram of Twilight inspired scent. (dram...that's a funny word to me.)

Queen of the Clan is giving away the aforementioned book! Good luck to all.

And who doesn't want a hot bowl of soup now that Old Man Winter is here? C.L. Beck is having a contest and giving away soup bowls. Invite me over for lunch when you win them :)

And I want in on the contest! I have a couple of books sitting around that need someone to read them. That lucky person could be you! Just leave me a comment about your favorite genre to read and why.