Nano Inspiration: Still Great After All These Years

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.

Book Covers on Cakes and Steps to Publication

We have this wonderful dessert party the night before our fall SCBWI conference in Birmingham, and this year, it was extra special! That’s because we do these big sheet cakes and anyone who’s had a book or magazine piece come out in the last year or so gets their cover on the cakes. (It’s an icing sheet that goes on top of the cake.) It’s really fun and delicious, too!

wik cake pic

So this year, I had a couple book covers on the cake! (See A Gallery of Ghosts? The pink cover with the kids on front?) Yep, lots of fun stuff! And lots of people saying, “Hey Cathy? How’d you get into the Korean educational market?”

Funny story, that. Funny as in interesting, I mean. And perhaps a bit instructional. So I wrote all about it for my Muffin post today in “Three Steps To Get You Closer To Publication.” You might find it interesting, too. (I really wish I could share that cake with you, but maybe you can grab a nice cup of tea and a cookie. Happy reading!)