Give Your Writing A Boost

When one door closes another one opens, or a window opens...or a cat flap. The point is that something opens and if you’re still feeling a little tender from New Voices November’s going to be your cat flap.

Next month Harlequin will launch its second So You Think You Can Write workshop. Last year there was a variety of workshops and challenges to participate in.  I suspect that this year it'll be bigger and better.  One of the challenges from last year involved submitting a synopsis and first chapter to the editors who can then request to see more.  So, all is not lost to NV, another fantastic opportunity to catch an editor’s eye awaits you!

If you’d like to see what last year’s SYTYCW was all about click here.

Also, the official twitter account has just been launched @HarlequinSYTYCW and you can follow along with the tag: #SYTYCW2.

But that’s not all that’s happening next month. November is also NaNoWriMo month or National Novel Writing Month. If you haven’t come across NaNoWriMo before the goal is to write 50K in 30 days and the majority of the writing community signs up to cheer each other on. It’s a great way to finish the year and you'll have a completed draft to work on in the New Year. You can find out more information from the official site here.

Harlequin runs its own version of NaNoWriMo with a difference, allowing you to select your own word count for the month. Keep an eye out at the forums to sign up.

Stay tuned later in the week for tips on how to win NaNoWriMo 2011.

Until then, happy writing!

NaNo 2009 and CPU Crash

Here I was thinking I might get through an entire year without killing a computer.. who did I think I was kidding?

My desktop computer - the love of my life - has passed and I'm in mourning. Windows 7 has not been my friend and I can't load my Cannon printer or scanner even with the driver downloads (although I'm not sure I have the right ones as they don't give you any detail - thanks for that Cannon). The shiny new monitor that came with the new computer had to be taken back to the shop today because of its tendency to throw tantrums. I don't find the back of my comptuer desk or the plugging and unplugging of equipment partiuclalry thrilling to tell you the truth and I'd like it to stop sometime soon.

All this means that change is bad for your health and I vote for a global ban.

NaNo is coming to an end and there's no way I'm going to reach that 50,000 mark this year. It was always a bit iffy and a sane person would know her limitations. The computer issues certainly didn't help. I'm hovering around the 10,000 mark, which a lot slower than my average pace, darn computer gremlins. That's right, I take no responsibility :P.

Here's to all of you NaNoers who have finished, you disgustingly talented and dedicated people :D.

I know you are eagerly awaiting the results of the IHeartPresents competition and I'm biting my nails with you. I'm hoping for an early December announcement because I have the patience of a two year old.

How are you all going? Are you hanging in there?

And We're Off...

NaNo has started.

The apocalypse has begun.

I say this because my writing plan hasn’t been adjusted yet so poor NaNo isn’t receiving the proper attention. Bad Lacey.

How’s everyone else doing in NaNoland?

The lovely Donna Alward posted a link to Nora Robert’s latest interview in The Star. You can read all about it here.

Some facts about Nora Roberts you may not know:

• In 2001, an average of 34 Nora Roberts books were sold per minute.
• In the time you take to read this, another 8 Nora Roberts books were sold.
• Since her first bestseller in 1991, her books have spent a total of 351 weeks on the New York Times list...that's equivalent to nearly 7 consecutive years of weekly bestsellers.
• Twice in her career she had four books on the New York Times list at the same time.
• Since 1999, every book published under the Nora Roberts name was a New York Times bestseller.
  

Click here for more Nora Roberts stats.

Well, if Nora ever gets sick of her sixty million dollar (U.S.) annual income I’m happy to step in…

I've Been Bugged

I have tonsillitis.

I remember it being a lot more fun as a kid.

My favourite thing about getting sick is its timing. I’ve yet to manage to contract any kind of disease when it would be convenient to sprawl my prone body across the couch and moan at passers by. I tend to get sick just before an exam, interview, wedding... and spectators will see me stumble around the house or find me asleep on my keyboard.

Has anyone else been bugged? Come whine with me :D

Have you signed up for NaNoWriMo yet? I’ll be away for two weeks out of the month but I’ve got my name down anyway – it appeals the insane part of my personality and I predict lots of chocolate will be eaten and I may as well buy shares in Cadbury now.

For those of you not yet convinced, it’s a great fun. You’re looking at a daily average word count of 1667 to meet the 50K goal. You have permission not to wash the dishes, feed your family or sweep the floor and at the end of it you have a fabulous rough draft completed and waiting to be polished to perfection! It’ll give your writing productivity for the year a boost and generally make you feel great, especially when it’s ready to leave home for your publisher of choice!

To those of you entering the Harlequin Presents Writing Competition 2009 congrats! I confess that although my competition entry was completed long ago, I won’t be entering now (full ms request :D) but that’s not going to stop me harping on about it!

For any entrants shoveling M&Ms into their mouths as they teeter on the edge of hitting that send button, do it! Just press that mouse button, hit that enter key! Fear is a great excuse to eat chocolate but it won’t get you out of submitting if you live anywhere on planet Earth. No excuses! You’ll be amazed at how supportive the other entrants are. It really is a lot of fun!

I can’t wait to see who wins and I’m sure I’ll be checking the page as obsessively as anyone else. Let’s hope we don’t all crash the server.

I’m cheering you all on from the sidelines!

Hit that send button!

NOW!

NBI & NaNoWriMo

I think we’ve all had a point during out writing when the NBI (next big idea) pops into our head and we want to abandon ship for a newer, sexier model. While I’m proud to say that the discipline beaten into me as a child won’t allow me to do that (I make up for this remarkable trait with many, MANY bad habits) Janet Evanovich has a solution that just tickled me:

"Q: I’m all over the place. I start a book, but then I get ideas for another and yet another; and then I begin those with the intent of coming back and finishing the first ones, which of course never happens. Do you have words of wisdom for a dreamer like me?

JANET EVANOVICH: How about this – you start a book and every time you veer off in another direction, you imagine me standing behind you giving you a good hard smack on the head. "

Yes, Janet slapping me upside the head would just about do it I think.

“Don’t fall into the trap of rewriting chapter one until it’s perfect. And don’t discard everything you write halfway through because you’re sure it sucks. Writing stuff that sucks is part of the learning process!”

-- Janet Evanovich

From what I can gather from our best selling authors if your rough draft doesn’t suck, you’re not doing it right!

 
Celebrate the horror of poorly constructed sentences, unnecessary scenes and character names that all sound the same with a glass of champagne (or maybe a few if you think you’re really going to need your senses dulled for the first read through) because you’re on your way to being the next Nora Roberts!
 
To do or not to do NanoWriMo? I signed up for a course in November and now I’m wondering whether I should have signed myself into a mental hospital instead because I’m considering doing NaNo as well.
 
Does anyone want to volunteer to scrape me off the floor when I collapse?
 
Show of hands, who else is considering NaNoWriMo?