NaNoWriMo

Or as my friend Caroline Starr Rose calls it, Fake-o-NaNo.

Click HERE to see what she has to say about National Novel Writing Month. Good stuff. 

Three years ago, when I was between projects and needed to jumpstart something new, I did NaNoWriMo. 
Mine, too, was Fake-o.




Here I am, back fiddling with that "Azalea" project. 
For the zillionth time.
But if you're a writer who needs inspiration. Or wants to try something new, give it a whirl.
Promise a friend cookies, team up with an online writing partner, or heck- just bake your own cookies and don't admit to a single soul what you're up to. Don't sweat it if what turns up is unreadable.

Or as Caroline says:
The "draft" I finished with is quite possibly the messiest, worst thing I've ever written.


But it's a beginning. And sometimes that's all it takes to create something worth revising. And revising. Over and over again.

Check these links. And next year, maybe you'll give it a try?

Oh, and a big congrats to those of you who finished NaNoWriMo! 
Any great wisdom learned from your month?
 

The official National Novel Writing Month site. 
For those brave enough to admit you're in.
http://nanowrimo.org/


Good stuff via MEDIA BISTRO, with links to previous posts on The Month.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/nanowrimo-is-over-now-what_b80486

Here's a little of my own fake NaNo.
http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2010/10/nanowrimo-anyone.html

Happy Anniversary to my Blog!

Three years old!
My, my.
And I almost missed it. But while searching for a book title in the recesses of my blog, there it was-- my very first post.

I started this blog after a discussion following a Media Bistro class taught by editor Joy Peskin on Writing for Children. All present agreed that writers needed an internet presence. Prospective agents and editors do google!

(image courtesy of Eileen Harrell, Artline Graphics)


My original intent was to write book reviews and the occasional post about writing, writing activities, and the journey to publication. And I'm still here.

Maybe I have overwritten about a few things- Food, specifically pimento cheese...
And yes, I love quoting writers. I'm a big Eudora Welty fan. Sometimes I combine the two, like in this quote from Miss Eudora:

"When asked what kind of art would be for 'everybody' there can only be one answer: the best." 

I've blogged about libraries. I've blogged about my hometowns. I've done those book reviews and I've talked about writing conferences I attended. I got a ton of hits when I blogged about The Help. I got quite a few comments when I wrote about my dad. I've mostly tried to keep on topic so every post usually has a story attached.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll stick around.

My Media Bistro Day

My friend Lee has been taking MediaBistro classes since we became writing buddies and hey, she's been published in none other than the New York Times. So what did I have to lose? I signed up for an afternoon workshop, Children's Book and Young Adult Novel Writing, with Joy Peskin. A terrific way to spend a post snow day downtown in the city. Joy is an editor with Penguin and a really good workshop leader. There were 13 of us gathered around the table in that 4th floor walk-up, small room. I sat next to the heater and was warm and toasty. Others shivered near the windows, wrapped in sweaters.

Each of us brought something to read and Joy offered great comments. She was both honest and encouraging, and those two don't always go hand in hand! One comment sounded especially true and I will go right to my manuscript and check this out. She suggested to one writer that her male voice would ring truer if she wrote in short sentences. Makes sense to me. Some of the boys I know, young and old, frequently speak in sentences so short I wonder why they bother to answer me at all...