Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog.
Time for the monthly meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group(IWSG) blog hop!
Internet Writers Support Group Blog Hop
First Wednesday of every month.
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What is IWSG? Founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group and author Alex J Cavanaugh explains the group's purpose is "to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!" You're invited to become a member of this supportive group.
The group blogs the first Wednesday of every month. The list of bloggers is always available so you can hop around to the author blogs filled with humor, advice, and thought-provoking topics on writing and publishing. You can find the list of participants at Alex's IWSG page. I hope you'll take some time to visit the diverse list of bloggers.
IWSG Question for the Month
Question: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?
When I first heard the term, NaNo, I thought it was a word comedian Robin Williams coined in his 70's TV show, "Mork and Mindy." It wasn't. Mork always said, "Nanu, nanu."
NaNo actually is the shortened term for the National Novel Writing Month challenge held every November. Writers all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in just that one month. Some make it and some don't.
There's no shame in not achieving the goal of 50,000 words because a writer is a winner when actually sitting down and writing!
Time to Write!!
Yes, I took on the challenge 7 years ago. I wrote my story which turned out to be only 20,000 words. I wrote the story and assumed I was done. I didn't know then, I could have started another story and another story because the word count is what winning is all about, not the completed novel. If a person writes 50,000 words, she wins! Nano doesn't care if it's 50,000 words that go together and make sense. There is no oversight on quality of storytelling. We can understand, the first draft is the worst draft...
"You need to start somewhere." Anne Lamott
I received a contract from MuseItUp Publishing for my project, revised many many times after Nano. BWL Publishing is republishing this story, but as a longer project, at least doubled in size, due to be released this winter. I had so much fun re-visiting the story and expanding the characters and situations in the latest version. (Oh yes, you'll be hearing more about this project in updates.)
BWL Publishing
I haven't done NaNo recently. I found re-vising the project is time-consuming. Let's face it, writing all those words under a deadline makes one write a lot of "stuff." If I ever do it again, I'll have a lot of the story and characters and setting decided before starting the writing. Hopefully that will eliminate chasing the story down the rabbit trails.
Please leave a comment below comparing your experience with mine. I'd love to hear about it. Thanks!!
Click here for information on joining in on NaNo. Hurry cause it starts November 1!!
Thank you to the awesome co-hosts for the November 1 posting of the IWSG--Tonja Drecker, Diane Burton,MJ Fifield, and Rebecca Douglass! |