Tag Archives: Picture Book Idea Month

Nano Inspiration: Still Great After All These Years

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crest-bda7b7a6e1b57bb9fb8ce9772b8faafbIt took a couple passes through November posts, but I finally found what I was looking for in November, 2011. I didn’t see how I could improve on this gem and P.S. my writer friend, Kara, who shares her writer wisdom, now has a contract for her YA manuscript. So see? Hard work, butt-in-chair writing pays off. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s some Nano inspiration that never gets old:

So, I know that hordes of writers are out there, busily pounding out their 1,569 words today so they can make their National Novel Writing Month goal of 50,000 words. Kudos to y’all!

And kudos to all y’all who may be a NaNo writer like me. Maybe you’ll make 45,000 words. Maybe you’ll forget to actually sign up. Maybe you’ll manage to pound out only 1500 words. Doesn’t make you any less of a writer. (It does, however, leave you with an awful lot of manuscript to finish.) You might be the kind of writer who could use a little extra inspiration and some serious writerly advice. Go here.

Or maybe you’re skipping Nano this year in favor of something different. Maybe, like me, you’ve signed up for Picture Book Idea Month. Because, honestly, who can’t come up with an idea a day? Kudos to y’all! But maybe, inexplicably, your ideas sort of sputter out on the third day, along with your kudos. You might be the kind of writer who could use some extra inspiration and some wonderful writerly advice. Go here.

Okay, yes, it’s the same writerly advice and inspiration. Because it doesn’t matter what you write. It only matters that you write. At least, if you were born to write. And kudos to my writer buddy, Kara Bietz, for sharing that little nugget of writer gold.

Will I Ever Learn? (November Lessons)

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2012-11-20 02.40.05Holy Tom Turkey–November already! And I’m sure lots of you are rockin’ National Novel Writing Month or Tara Lazar’s Picture Book Idea Month. Keep up the good work!

I’m doing something a little different this November: I’m taking off.

Not that I won’t be working. Quite the contrary. I just returned from a lovely writing retreat up in the North Georgia mountains where I started my next middle grade novel and I can’t wait to work on it. So I will be deep into novel-writing this month. And I have a couple other projects that I’ve been dragging my pen on–and I absolutely need to finish them.

See, the mistake I make (and honestly, not just in November) is over-committing to challenges. Sometimes, it’s a big and fancy challenge like NaNo and sometimes, it’s just me, setting one goal too many. When I impose too much, I fail to accomplish what really matters.

But here’s the great thing about mistakes: we can learn from them. Speaking of which, I wrote about New Writer Mistakes (That No Writer Can Afford To Make) over at The Muffin. The truth is, new writer or experienced writer, we can always learn from our mistakes and learn a lesson or two.

So, this November, I’ll be working alongside all of you, working on your challenges. And here’s to all of us, accomplishing what really matters!

 

Pushing Through November

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIf you’re the observant type, you’ve already noticed the badges over in the sidebar. There’s one for NaNoWriMo and one for PiBoIdMo, and the calendar for Picture Book Month is there, too. So, a couple things.

Thing 1:

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, you can zip over to my Muffin post where I explain all those letters and what they mean. And how you can join in the fun. New writers are popping up and popping in here every day so I want you to know what everyone in the writing community is blathering on about all November. Because honestly, it’s not like we’re going to suffer work in silence.

 

Thing 2:

November is going to be busy, busy, busy! I’ll be revising a novel and thinking up ideas and reading, reading, reading. I hope I’ll be learning, learning, learning, too.  And all that writing, writing, writing keeps Cathy running around like a chicken with her head cut off (or perhaps a chicken trying to keep her head). But even a speedy chicken can come up with a post or two and a couple surprises, so I hope to see you around. But if you’re also pushing through November, trying to make word counts and idea deadlines, I’ll completely understand.