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Magic, Monsters, and Mayhem
3 Things I used to Refill the Creative Well after NaNoWriMo
I had heard other authors discussing this but had nothing to base it on until after doing NaNoWriMo myself, and that is the experience of writing until you are empty. 50k words was the most I had ever written before on any subject, EVER. It was over 100 pages single...
What Every Writer Needs to Finish NaNoWriMo
I finished 50k words tonight. There were a lot of reasons why I didn't think I was going to make it. I had been traveling (3 trips in November!), I had family obligations, I had a day job that I needed in order to pay the bills. But overall, I made a big push for it...
You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One)
You Are a Writer By: Jeff Goins I've raved about Kindle Unlimited before and yet again, I find it yields a treasure trove of good non-fiction resources. Jeff Goins has a massive following for his blog and I actually had no idea who he was, except that people on other...
2K to 10K: Writing Faster (MORE WORDS, YO!)
2K to 10K: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love By Rachel Aaron This is perhaps one of the most useful writing books I’ve come across so far. It is a very practical handbook, with some of the suggestions sounding so obvious that you feel...
Big Magic – A Book for Creatives
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert I am a big fan of audio books. It's great for not only the commute, but also long walks in the evening. Though I wasn't the biggest fan of Eat, Pray, Love, I stumbled upon this gem and I recommend it highly. If you don't have an...
Start From the End
NaNoWriMo was set to start on Nov. 1 whether I had a plan or not. So I went over to my co-blogger's house and sat at her cozy kitchen nook and jotted down some character notes. A few minutes later, I had a vague plan. Meet Anna, an aspiring Valkyrie. Then, before I...
Day 2 of NaNoWriMo
I wrote over 3k words on Day 1, and it was easier than I thought with the help of dictation. It took probably about just over two hours to do that. I resisted the urge to edit, but of course cleaned up all the dictation randomness. For the month of October, I had a...
Walking and Dictating Your Novel on Your iPhone
This morning I woke up earlier as part of my NaNoWriMo kickoff. But not too much earlier. Just 30 minutes. Then I had a cup of tea to fortify myself, laced up my Kangaroo sneakers and off I went to start my great American novel. I mean, I was armed with my iPhone 6...
How Do You Write? Podcast
I've really been enjoying Rachael Herron's "How Do You Write?" podcast. It is relatively new, and up to 21 episodes. I'm a knitter and had been following Rachael's knitting blog for years. In 2006, she completed NaNoWriMo and that manuscript was traditionally...
NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM! Review
No Plot? No Problem! Author: Chris Baty This little book is a powerful tool to help frustrated writers get past their perfectionistic, procrastinating tendencies using a secret weapon that works on most of us in our adult professional lives, a deadline. If only we...
Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahl – Book Review
So you've written your great novel and you're ready to now start marketing it, right? Well, according to the book launch expert, Tim Grahl, who launched successful authors like Hugh Howie and Charles Duhigg to the NYT Bestseller lists, the best time to start is...
Using Dictation on the iMac to Write Your Book
As the old adage goes, "How do you eat an elephant?" One bite at a time. NaNoWriMo is 50,000 words in 30 days. How does one crank out roughly ~1700 words a night? I had listened to a couple of podcast interviews where the guests had discussed writing fiction through...