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By: Alice,
on 11/13/2015
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Beginnings are tough. But if we’d only get started, our marks and words on the page can bootstrap our next moves. Marks and words out there, on the page, feed what in neuroscience is called our brain’s “perception-action” cycle. Through this built-in and biologically fundamental mechanism, we repeatedly act on the world, and then look to see what our actions have wrought in the world.
The post Seven ways to start and keep your writing going appeared first on OUPblog.
Will you be taking on the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge? The team at Stop Procrastinating has created an infographic that features the results of “A Survey of 2000 NaNoWriMo Writers.”
The image discusses the statistical survey results on timing, outlining, and editing. We’ve embedded the full piece below for you to explore further—what do you think?
When: Starting today and running daily through Friday, Dec. 5th
What: Blog Tour for
PlotWriMo: Revise Your Novel in a Month offers tips and ideas for revising your story. Visit new blogs and meet new writers (we'd love you to tweet about your experience on the tour and use the hashtag
#PlotWriMo).
Who: All writers interested in or needing help revising your stories, including writers word-drunk from NaNoWriMo.
Where: Today's 2 participating blogs, please visit and comment to enter to win an observation spot in an upcoming
Office Hours.Writing Classes for Kids and Adults Ink and Angst Writers of Nefarious Plots Why: Revising a novel, memoir, screenplay can be a daunting prospect.
PlotWriMo: Revise Your Novel in a Month offers tried and true methods that have worked for hundreds of writers (for more about PlotWriMo
AND "ah ha" moments from writers who have or are currently viewing the video series, click
HERE).
For plot help and resources throughout the year
:
1) The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories2) The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master3) The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing. ~~~~~~~~For as little as $10 a month, watch the videos as often as you wish for an entire year
(and, lots of writers are finding PlotWriMo the exact right resource to help pre-plot for a powerful first draft. Knowing what to look for in a revision helps create a tighter first draft): ~~ View your story in an entirely new light. Recharge your energy and enthusiasm for your writing. 8 videos (5.5 hours)+ 30 exercises
It’s the last few days of the National Novel Writing Month challenge. Many of you have already gotten to 50,000 words already (or blown right past it). But I haven’t. I’m still chipping away word by word. Yesterday I filled my belly with turkey and in my current state of post-food bliss I’m thinking about throwing in the towel. Who was the crazy person who decided NaNoWriMo should be in November?
But I shouldn’t give up. The fact that Thanksgiving is part of NaNoWriMo month is a lesson. I should write every day, even with a turkey coma, even when it’s a holiday.
I’m almost there. If you’re in the same boat as me and pushing these last few days to get your word count — let’s do it together! Let’s keep writing.
Here are some words of encouragement for you (and me!).
You’re almost there! Let’s do it together. I’ll see you on the other side of the finish line!
and really loving it. I’ve always written first drafts quickly, but I’ve never taken part in
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, where writers, pre-published and published, try to write a 50,000-word novel–or longer–in a month.
I’m glad I’m taking part this year.
I’d forgotten the joy that comes from writing a first draft (I’ve been editing two other books I’ve written, lately). I love writing quickly. I think writing quickly is part of what gets me past the editor in me. While editing is necessary, I think it’s best to come in during the second and further drafts.
I did plan out my book first (using The Anatomy of Story by John Truby, as I always do), so I know the direction I’m going, but I love discovering new things about my characters or a new plot twist or point as I write.
I’m writing about ten pages a day–by hand. I write (and edit) all my books by hand; it feels the most connected to my creativity and inner voice. I’ve been trying to cram writing this new book and then typing it up into each day, but I’m behind in typing it up (and trying to pace myself so I don’t burn myself out). So my updates on how much I’ve written are about four or five days behind on NaNoWriMo. I’m glad people understand that some of us write by hand! (And all this while I’m sick–but I’m having fun!)
I am writing a YA paranormal fantasy set in my HUNTED world, about Gemma, a queer black telekenetic girl who has been sucked into all the anti-Para messages that are constantly being spewed at her–through school, her home and neighborhood, her community, and the media, the church, and the government. This is about a girl who starts out hating herself–because after all she IS a Para, and her own mother abandoned her because of it–but in the end she discovers she’s stronger and better than she realizes. It’s about a girl who’s bought into the oppressive messages in society and is forced to unravel them. A girl who has the family and love she’s always craved, but just hasn’t seen it yet. A girl who, in the end, will have to save herself. It will be a stand-alone fantasy, but it will have some mentions of characters from HUNTED for those readers who loved HUNTED.
If you’d like to connect with me on the NaNoWriMo website, I’m here: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/cherylrainfield/novels/endangered-642915/
Writing at the word level is an act of grace for writers, especially so writers who prefer turning inward rather than outward in their writing lives (inward-writing / outward-selling) and love to withdraw to the refuge of listening only to the muse. Diving deep into ideas that excite you makes you feel vital and alive. Welcoming in just the right words and images and emotions and creating beauty through your words becomes a meditation, a devotion.
(I include the image to the right because the very talented Victoria at
Whit andWare Design just shared this banner option for my ezine and I wanted to share it!)
Plotting at the overall story level, however, is more of a challenge. To step back and consider the story in its entirety requires the integration of themes and transformation, excitement and suspense, love and connection. Rather than through discovery at the word level, pre-plotting and plotting and testing your plot often demands stepping outside your place of comfort and taking risks with your story, big risks.
For those of you following along in the
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing in our final surge to the climax, with the novel I resisted for so long, as in all things, the actual doing (writing the scenes up to and including the Crisis / Dark Night) turns out to be a breeze compared to the storm caused by all my resistance. I hope you've had the same feelings of relief to have those scenes written no matter who sketchy or trite or skimming the surface… for now. Of course, now we face the daunting challenge of lifting our stories to a satisfying climax. Ah, well, conflict is inherent in all stories and in all writers' lives and often our personal lives, too.
Today, rather than write, I'm filming a vine as I design the Plot Planner for the story. If all goes smoothly (though, as in most things I seem to undertake, I have no idea what I'm doing!) I'll share the short video on my Youtube channel later today.
Oh, and if you're planning to write 50,000 words next month with
NaNoWriMo, following are plot and writing resources to help you prepare:
1) Plot your story step-by-step with the help of
The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories2) Read
The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Masternamed BEST BOOKS FOR WRITERS by
Poets and Writers. The author provides insight on how to create works of fiction with powerful stories and focuses on how to devise a Universal Plot, plot lines and subplots, compelling scenes, and character transformation.
*****Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot reinforces daily writing practice and allows for more productivity in your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts in
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.
Today I write! Rather, today I plot!
It's early October and already writers look to the future in anticipation of writing 50,000 words of their novel during the month of November.
Lots of writers will jump into the writing frenzy last minute and by-the-seat-of-their-pants with or without a plot idea. Other writers will spend this month dreaming. Writers who love to to organize their lives for the greatest efficiency and less stress will spend October pre-plotting. Then there are writers who take things slowly and methodically, needing to consider all their options and their willingness to subject themselves to the overstimulation, disliking conflict and even a bit shy about committing to the challenge.
I, for one, love pre-plotting. No writing required. Stand back and imagine the big picture thematically, dramatically and emotionally. Plot ideas on a
Plot Planner. Add pictures of characters and settings and details that stimulate your senses and energy to write about them.
Pre-plotting feels like an artistic pursuit compared to the grueling challenge if you do decide to write 50,000 words next month. A warm-up and lovely way to ease into the creative process. Showing up without any pressure of word count or deadlines. Simply time spent with the muse and plotting out what comes to you.
Today I write, and I pre-plot.
If you'd like pre-plotting ideas and how to write a fast first draft:
1) Join me October 9th for
How to Pre-Plot and Complete a Novel or Memoir in a Month: The Benefits of Writing a Fast Draft from Beginning to End 2) Re-read the
The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master book and follow the instructions how to pre-plot your story
3) Complete all the exercises and fill in all the templates (plot planners included) in
The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories 4) Forget next month for now and enjoy this month writing or
revising what you're currently working on and take with you into next month
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing for daily prompts to guide you how to write a story with a plot from beginning to end.
~~~~~~~~If you simply want to continue writing and revising and are looking for plot help:Read my
Plot Whisperer books for writers
Watch Plot Video Workshops Series:
Chris Baty started a writing movement by accident. At the time, he figured it was just another one of his bad ideas and convinced five of his friends to join him in writing a book. Today, there are more than 226,000 participants signed up for NaNoWriMo, hoping to crank out a novel before the month’s end. Here, he discusses the catalyst for his success, what he’d like his legacy to be and why he believes anyone can be a writer:
The NaNoWriMo concept kind of suggests that anyone can write a book. Do you think this is true?
Oh my god, yeah. And I think everybody can write dozens of novels. You look back to the time when we were kids, and if you gave me a stick that I could make into a toy, I was basically good for seven hours. We were all so imaginative at a young age, just sort of running amuck in our imaginations and pretending. All of that is still in us. When we hit puberty, we start to do this thing where we ask, “Am I good at this?” We’re looking around and we’re seeing other people who are better than us at these things. That’s when we start to shut down those parts of ourselves.
For more on NaNoWriMo and Baty’s tips for novel-writing success, read: Hey, How’d You Start A Fiction-Writing Revolution, Chris Baty, Founder Of NaNoWriMo?
– Aneya Fernando
The full version of this article is exclusively available to Mediabistro AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, register now for as little as $55 a year for access to hundreds of articles like this one, discounts on Mediabistro seminars and workshops, and all sorts of other bonuses.
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It’s just a few days until November, and you know what that means: National Novel Writing Month, better known ’round these parts as NaNoWriMo, is near. Have you always wanted to write a novel? We know some of you have been waiting all year for this month! For those of …
600,000 words in 365 days. In December 2011, that was my goal. I honestly didn't know if I could do it. That was like writing words equal to NaNoWriMo (50,000) every month for an entire year. As of Dec 20th, 2012, I hit 609,548 words for the year.
I had to set some ground rules for myself. I said that only writing that I intended to try to publish in some form would count, and the prewriting that I did for any novels or short stories. Anything I did for work, emails, etc would not count.
I also thought that I needed to keep very good track so I could have exact word counts. My first step was to create an excel spreadsheet with 12 tabs, and label them for the months. I took a cell and set it up to display the total of the all numbers in the first column. Then, any time I wrote something, I put the word total in the next open cell in the first column. This kept an automatic running total with little hassle. I then set up a cell in each sheet that added up all of the total cells, so I could have a running total of everything I had done for the year.
This sheet helped keep me motivated. I could always tell how much progress I had made and how much I had yet to do.
I then evaluated my writing style. I know that I work best when I have a few projects going at a time, and so I mapped out the things I wanted to work on next and decided to work on each of these projects every day. I prioritized the projects to work on the ones I wanted to get done first early in the year.
Then, there really wasn't a big trick to it. I committed to writing every day and anytime I could. I tried to bring my laptop with me for times when I had a few minutes. If I didn't have my laptop, I wrote using my iPod. If I didn't have that, I kept a notebook handy to write, or prepare myself for writing so that I could move more quickly when I got to it.
The biggest thing is to know when your best productive times of the day are and really use them for all they are worth. During these times, minimize distractions. Turn off Facebook, check your email once before you got to the writing zone, or whatever you need to do. Pinterest will still be there when you get back. There are even programs such as Cold Turkey, which will allow you to block these sites for a certain time limit while you write. Pretty useful.
I experienced some major setbacks. I had some really busy weeks, such as the week before "The Secret Garden " opened, in which I was an actor. Two LDS General Conferences and countless other events for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Looming deadlines for work, a complete hard drive meltdown, severe sickness and many other things inhibited my ability to write. There were times when I fell way behind and had to rush forward by writing 10,000 words on the last two days of the month.
I'm here to tell you that persistence pays. Just like in running a marathon, it does not do you any good to spend all of your energy in one burst and then stop running. You must keep a steady pace, with occasional bursts of speed to catch up in order to do your best. I believe that goals help writers push themselves to accomplish more than they normally would. Here's a glimpse into what I wrote this year:
Novels
The Canticle Kingdom Book III
The Last Archangels, Books II and III
Wandaful
Elected (Partial)
The Death Seer (Partial)
Non-Fiction
The Ward Choir Survival Guide
The Ultimate Morning Study Companion (German/English)
Voices in My Blood (Partial, co-authored)
Personal History 2012
Short Stories
Many, including ones for two anthologies "Sing We Now of Christmas" and "Carol of the Tales".
Stage
When Death Comes (Musical)
Christmas Spirits the Musical (Partial)
Serial Stories
Canticle of Dawn
Canticle of Twilight
Age of Archangels Seasons I and II
Christmas Spirits
Articles
Dozens of articles for GospelIdeals.org
This next year is going to be taken up in revision and getting these and works from past years polished up and better ready to submit. If anyone else is up to the challenge, I highly recommend it. I accomplished so much this year and it is great now to look back and see that it all worked out. I am committed and serious about writing and will continue to put in the long hours that it takes to realize my potential.
What are your writing goals for the coming year?
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 10/31/2012
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This year I'm joining author Tara Lazar for PiBoIdMo, Picture Book Idea Month. It's an alternative to National Novel Writing Month that also takes place in November (something I tried once and failed at miserably).
Tara started PiBoIdMo in 2008, after realizing there was nothing for kidlit authors and illustrators who don't write novels. Since then, she's had hundreds of others join her. Here's what she has to say:
***Registration is open NOW through November 4th. Click here.***
Tired of novelists having all the fun in November with NaNoWriMo, I created PiBoIdMo as a 30-day challenge for picture book writers.
The concept is to create 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. You don’t have to write a manuscript (but you can if the mood strikes). You don’t need potential best-seller ideas. You might think of a clever title. Or a name for a character. Or just a silly thing like “purple polka-dot pony.” The object is to heighten your picture-book-idea-generating senses. Ideas may build upon other ideas and your list of potential stories will grow stronger as the days pass.
Daily blog posts by picture book authors, illustrators, editors and other kidlit professionals will help inspire you. By the end of the month, you’ll have a fat file of ideas to spark new stories.
PiBoIdMo was first held in 2008 by a party of one—me! Then I hosted it on my blog for the first time in 2009. Each year the number of participants has doubled. In 2011 we had over 600 writers following PiBoIdMo. And now 2012 promises to be bigger and better!
Registration begins on October 24th and ends on November 4th. Then in early December you will be asked to take the PiBoIdMo Pledge stating you have completed the challenge with at least 30 ideas.
Writers who register and pledge will be eligible for prizes:
- Feedback from literary agents
- Original sketches by picture book illustrators
- Picture book critiques from published authors
- Signed picture books
- Jewelry
- Other Cool Stuff
I'm the sort of writer who has to fight for new ideas, and while a month seeking them out will be a challenge, it will also be a wonderful opportunity to stretch and learn with the support of other writers doing the same.
Please let me know below if you too are participating!
Thanks to
Ward Jenkins for the fun PiBoIdMo banner.
I always look forward to November each year for more reasonsthan Thanksgiving. Though I am a sucker for turkey and stuffing, I also lovewatching my word counts skyrocket as I take part in National Novel WritingMonth. (NaNoWriMo for short) For theuninitiated, during NaNoWriMo, writers seek to write 50,000 words in 30 days,which is the length of a short novel.
I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo for three years, and I’veimproved every year. My first year, I barely squeaked by on the 30th,the next year I hit the goal on the 25th, and this year I took ahuge leap forward in finishing on the 17th.
This got me to thinking—why couldn’t every month be likeNaNoWriMo? If I can do in November, what makes it impossible in January orJuly? The answer for me is: nothing. I just try harder in November to work hardand minimize distractions because I have a firm target.
With that in mind, I want to set a very high goal this year:I literally want to make every month like NaNoWriMo. I think I’ll call itNational Novel Writing Year (or NaNoWriYe) for short. I want to write 50,000per month for every month in 2012 for a grand total of 600,000 words.
To put that in perspective that’s about two installments ofRobert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series. It is much more than I have ever written, butI think that I can do it. I am serious in my commitment to writing, and I thinkthis will be a formative year in my career.
I’m sure that many full-time authors can easily pull of thisfeat. However, I’m working a full-timejob, have a wife and two kids, and a very busy schedule with the MormonTabernacle Choir. I hope that in doingthis, I can inspire others who have busy lives to see that they can still fitwriting into their schedules.
I have also decided that I want to take it a step further.Many runners run to raise money for charity. I thought I would go ahead andwrite for charity instead. To help out, you can pledge an amount, howeversmall, for every month’s worth of words I write (every 50,000 words). Thatmeans, if you pledge $1, and I reach my goal, you would donate $12 to charity.
To pledge an amount, fill out the form below. All you needis a full name and email address. I willthen send you an invoice through PayPal at the end of the challenge for theproper amount. I will be taking charity suggestions from my readers to figureout where the money should go. I won’tkeep a dime.
Anyone else up to the challenge? I’m excited and already alittle tired just thinking about it. Luckily, I have several full noveloutlines ready to hash out, and I’ll be giving constant updates here on my blogthroughout the year.
In this season of giving, I encourage you all to think ofways to spread the abundance we all have been given. Have a happy and blessed Holiday Season.
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Darcy Pattison,
on 10/31/2011
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I'd like to announce that the winner of this month's blog hop is Diana! She has won a signed copy of The Last Archangel. Thanks to everyone who entered and I hope that you will stop by often.
As you might have noticed in last post, I'm very excited for National Novel Writing Month, which starts on November 1st. I've managed to write 50,000 words both of the last two years I've done it and got done before the 30th. This year, I'd like to raise the stakes a little bit and encourage some of you, who I am sure are also writers, to participate.
On the entry form below, you can show that you have registered for NaNoWriMo. There is another button for when you "win" NaNoWriMo (which means reaching the word count goal). Each entry is timestamped, so I can tell in which order they come in. If any of you can "win" NaNoWriMo before I do, I will agree to do a full manuscript evaluation of your NaNoWriMo manuscript. If I get there first, I will still give a 50 page evaluation to the first person who wins after me. From all those who enter, I will pick three random people to receive a first chapter evaluation of their NaNoWriMo manuscript and other prizes at my discretion.
You can also get additional entries for prizes by spreading the word about this contest. If you have any questions or need writing advice, know that I'm always available at
[email protected].
Let the writing commence!
Writing Update: Had a great writing week. Simon Says is up to 36,370 and the Last Archangel II is up to 23,143. I'm also working with a company provide a serial story that chronicles some of the backstory behind The Canticle Kingdom, specifically the lives of the creators of the music box and how one of them became corrupted. I'll have more news about that as it progresses. They let you retain the rights, so hopefully, I can let the series run and then publish the entire series in an inexpensive ebook somewhere down the road.
<a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js">You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.
It’s that time again! It’s a month that I look forward to every year, where I can jointhousands of others across the globe in rapidly racking up the word count onour newest novels. For the uninitiated, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMofor short) is a challenge to write 50,000 words (or the length of a shortnovel) between November 1st and midnight on November 30th.That translates to about 1,666 words every day, which is no small feat.
I have participated for the last two years, and both years I‘won’, which means that I was able to reach 50,000 words before thedeadline. The first year, I wrote thefirst draft of a sequel to “The Canticle Kingdom” called “The Frozen Globe”,which should still be on the horizon. For my second year, I wrote most of the anovel called “Starspire” which I finished in another 20 days to round it out atabout 80,000. It’s my personal record at50 days from zero to novel.
This year, I’m going to do the reverse of last year. By the end of October, I should have about30,000 words towards the as yet unnamed sequel to “The Last Archangel”. DuringNaNoWriMo, I will write the rest of the 50,000 words to finish the first draftof the novel by the end of November. I’mvery excited about it.
You may ask if with such speed you see a drop inquality. The great thing about NaNoWriMois that you are allowed and even encouraged to do extensive planningbeforehand. Some authors are pure “discoverywriters” and just want to see where the story takes them. Though I do this to a point, I find that withNaNoWriMo, it is “plan or perish”. If you are going to write that many words ina single month, you need to have an ideawhere you are headed or you might find yourself 50,000 words richer, but in thewrong direction.
So, hop on board! Visit
http://www.nanowrimo.org tosign up and take part. In the comments,let me know what you are planning to write.
Knowing I'd be one of the last TeachingAuthors to blog about first draft fears brought its own fears: would I have anything left to share that my brilliant co-bloggers hadn't already discussed? Jeanne Marie kicked off the series by sharing four specific ways she deals with her own tendency to be "a serial starter." Esther gave us a whole slew of ways to get to THE END, along with some inspiring quotes to tack up in our workspace. Joanne talked about her love of first drafts and her sneaky way of getting past her inner critic. And Mary Ann reminded us that first drafts are supposed to "stink." Having low expectations can be a great tool. :-)
I hope my co-bloogers' posts have already given you, our readers, encouragement and inspiration. However, I'm relieved to see that none of them shared one of my tricks for overcoming first draft fears: A DEADLINE.
I've found that deadlines work best for me when there's some sort of associated accountability and/or consequences for not meeting them. One of the reasons I was so productive during my two years at Vermont College had to do with the monthly deadlines. I might never have finished Rosa, Sola without them. But out here in the real world, it's sometimes difficult to create deadlines with real sting. Fortunately for us novelists, there's a deadline-oriented opportunity just around the corner: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Every November, writers around the world take on the challenge of completing a 50,000-word first draft in 30 days. NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone; last year I heard some negative buzz about it, everything from "no one can write anything good that way" to "real writers don't need gimmicks." Despite the negative hype, there have been a number of NaNoWriMo success stories, including bestselling novels that started as NaNoWriMo projects. One of the most recent is the adult novel The Night Circus (Doubleday) by Erin Morgenstern. The book was released less than a month ago (on September 13), and according to the NaNoWriMo blog of September 28, it had already made it to the New York Times bestseller list. The Night Circus has also garnered an impressive list of starred reviews, (you can read excerpts of those reviews on the book's Indiebound page) and has sold foreign rights to over 30 countries.
Morgenstern talks a little about her NaNoWriMo experience in an interview at Writers Unboxed, saying:
"I started doing National Novel Writing Month in 2003. I failed miserably that first attempt but reached 50k in 30 days the next year, and it became a really good exercise for me — writing without stopping to be overly self-critical and having the magical pressure of a deadline."
I'm not surprised Morgenstern was helped by NaNoWriMo--it offers lots of structure, feedback, support, and accountability via a
website, forums, and
By: Maryann Yin,
on 3/7/2011
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Last week Amazon exclusively released a long Water for Elephants film trailer. We’ve embedded the trailer above.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon has only aired full-length trailers for one other movie: The Dark Knight. The film will hit theaters on April 22nd.
Sara Gruen wrote Flying Changes and Water for Elephants as National Novel Writing Month projects. Here’s an excerpt from an inspirational letter she wrote to NaNoWriMo writers: “I can do this. WE can do this. However far behind you are, take comfort in knowing that there is somebody else out there in the same boat, and look for that next fun scene. And then the next. And if that doesn’t work, set someone on fire. In your book, of course. See you in the winner’s circle.” (via Shelf Awareness)
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By: executivepublisher,
on 1/16/2011
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For the book publishers and authors perspective, Borders was once a worthy rival to Barnes & Noble. Perhaps even bigger than B&N. The two brick-and-mortar chain bookstores were able to offer better prices than independent bookstores and drove many out of business. But that was before the success of Amazon and other online retailers brought the phrase “brick and mortar” into regular use — and once that happened, everything changed; indeed many UK book publishers watched in horror last year the UK divison of Borders hit the wall.
Barnes & Noble, if buffeted by Amazon’s success, has remained afloat; Borders has been taking on water.
On Dec. 30 Borders announced it would not make payments owed to some publishers, without specifying whom. Hachette confirmed that it was among those who would not be paid by Borders.
Borders has nearly 200 Waldenbooks and Borders Express outlets slated for closure before the month of January is out. Additional Borders stores are also set to close, including Westwood’s.
Borders is also cutting back on staff. On Wednesday, Borders announced that it would close a distribution center in Tennessee, eliminating more than 300 jobs; 15 management positions were eliminated Friday. And the resignation of two top executives — the chief information officer and general counsel — was announced at the beginning of 2011.
Meanwhile, Borders is seeking to restructure its debt like the frantic chess of a brutal endgame. On Thursday, Borders met with publishers and proposed that the payments owed by the bookseller be reclassified as a loan, as part of that refinancing. “But on Friday, publishers remained skeptical of the proposal put forth by Borders,” the New York Times reports. “One publisher said that the proposal was not enough to convince the group that Borders had found a way to revive its business, and that they were less optimistic than ever that publishers could return to doing business with Borders.”
Nevertheless, Borders — which lost money in the first three quarters of 2010 — remains the second-largest bookstore chain by revenue. Its loss would have a significant effect on book publishers across the United States.
Investors, however, seem cheered by the recent news swirling around Borders. Shares rose 12% on Thursday after reports that the bookseller was close to securing financing.
Sorry it's been a while since I've checked in here. November was a busy month. I signed up for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and finished the rough draft of a middle grade historical fiction story. So I was quite busy.
I've been asked, "Now what do you do?" Well, a rough draft is just that--rough. It still needs lots of work. I've already started to analyze the plot for weak spots, as well as the characters. Since this is historical fiction, I also need to do much more research to insure the accuracy of the time period.
But the initial readings of the story by some of my writer colleagues has been favorable. In the next few months, I hope to get feedback from a few industry professionals at Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators events I'll be attending.
Darcy Pattison has a great website offering writerly advice. She sent out updates throughout the month of November with plot tips. They were wonderful. You can sign up to receive her weekly updates. Plus, she has a great book on revising a story, Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise. I'll be referring to that for help with improving my new story.
Now back to my writing...
Escape with NaNoWriMo
by Michelle SussmanI won NaNoWriMo in 2009, but it wasn’t a big surprise. I’d written a novel in a month the previous January with a group formed by author Carmela Martino called NYNN, New Novel New Year. It compromised a group of SCBWI writers who couldn’t find the time in November to participate in NaNo. We affectionately referred to each other as NYNNies.
Since I’d successfully completed a novel through NYNN, NaNo 2009 wasn’t a challenge for me. Once I get in the groove of writing, I find it hard to stop. I wrote another novel in May of 2010, so it was a natural for me to attempt NaNo again this year. I thought it would be easy.
I was wrong. It’s been a week and I’m already struggling to keep up. This time I find myself consumed with new responsibilities, particularly PTA. I’m one of those women who’s not happy unless she’s volunteering. I enjoy it. Volunteering fulfills me.
This month alone I have to write and compile the newsletter for PTA, write a column for SCBWI-Illinois’ Prairie Wind newsletter and prep a couple of parenting articles. All this plus days off school for my two kids, a trip out of town to see my husband’s family, Thanksgiving, prepping holiday cards, baking and spending time with my family. Do you see a pattern here? Do you see why it is so difficult to write an entire novel in the month of November? Is it possible there couldn’t be a worse time of year?
In fact, November is the best time of year. When I think of everything I have to do, I feel overwhelmed. When I’m stressed, there’s only one thing I want – to escape with a good book. Luckily NaNoWriMo gives me the ability to escape to my own worlds, my own imagination, during the lead up to the most stressful, albeit happy, time of the year.
Working on my NaNoWriMo novel is a gift I give myself. I might be a bit behind on word count, yes, but when I write I slip into a world all my own. No one bugs me about newsletter articles. No one tells me their perfect holiday cards are going to arrive in my mailbox before December 1st. When I’m in my NaNo novel, I can flee everything.
Is my NaNo novel perfect? Far from it. But it’s my world, my escape. Don’t treat it as another to-do list item because you won’t get in trouble if you don’t hit 50,000 words. Instead look at it as your escape and enjoy the trip!
* * *
Michelle Sussman is a mom, wife and writer in the Chicago suburbs. A successful freelance parenting journalist and columnist for SCBWI-IL’s Prairie Wind, Michelle also aspires to become a published novelist. Visit her on her blog, Reading and Writing by Candlelight or chat with her on Twitter, @michellesussman.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NaNoWriMo What?
by Shellie Bailey
It all started last year, the news of National Novel Writing Month filled all my writing friends’ social networking sites and blogs. As a writer I had to check this out, see what it was all about. Quickly I found the site and learned people from all across the globe joined together this one month of the year on a mission. A mission to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days! I started thinking to myself could I do it? In the midst of the busiest holiday season, would I be able to crank out 50,000 words, and coherent words at that. Well the answer for 2009 was a big NO!
Well here I am again in the midst of NaNoWriMo once again. Determined to finish and conquer the goal of 50,000 words in 30 days. My plan of attack, you ask? Well it’s simple. Write and write some more. Become so engrossed in my story I must tell it. Keep my MC on the forefront of my mind, constantly calling to me. It will not be easy, but nothing worth doing is easy right?
I have found it helpful to post my word counts on my social sites. It is a way of holding me accountable to my friends, other writers and any fans I may have. I am thankful to have full support of other writers who are participating this year. Writing is a lonely profession with the exception of heated debates with your MC on some occasions. So the support and interaction of the NaNoWriMo community is wonderful.
As a full-time working wife and soon to be mother, who can only write in her free time, which is rare I want to encourage other women whose hands are full, but love to write. You can do it! It is not easy, but the satisfaction of accomplishment doing something you love is a great feeling you shouldn’t miss out on because laundry needs to be done.
* * *
Shellie Bailey currently lives in Kentucky with her husband Adam. She is an aspiring fiction author currently working on her second novel. You can find out more on her blog at
http://shelliebailey.blogspot.com/
I know first-hand: writing a novel can easily overwhelm – the writer and the writer’s life.
I liken the experience to Alice’s, when she fell down that hole and left behind the world she knew.
By necessity, the writer becomes schizophrenic, a citizen of two countries – one fictive, one real.
Advil helps.
A lot.
The best cure for me, though, to keep me present to both worlds?
Hands down, it’s music.
It soothes the savage beast.
Your writer’s circumstances matter little.
You could be lost, like Mary Ann, in the fog with faulty headlights.
You could be over-tasked like Jeanne Marie or time-strapped like Carmela.
If you surround yourself with music that sings of your story - its heart, its soul, the characters who grabbed yours - you’ll be living your story 24-7.
Drivng the carpool.
Shopping for groceries.
Washing dishes or scrubbing the bathtub.
I discovered this cure when writing my first novel,When They Only Had ‘til Monday, a never-sold middle grade – one part historical fiction, one part mystery - set in 1897 in St. Charles, Missouri. My peripatetic orphaned characters had but three days to uncover their beloved patriotic benefactor’s will or else... all six would be sent down river!
Reading about composer
Scott Joplin’s Missouri hometown had indirectly led me to the story line. It seemed natural to surround myself with Joplin’s
rags and operas.Before long, I was assigning each Chapter a particular melody. An action-packed scene? "Cascades." A moment of poignancy? "Bethena." For the glorious resolution I taught myself how to play "Gladiolus Rag" on my grand piano.
The syncopation. The thrumping base line. The flute’s heart-piercing high notes.
Each time I listened I was scoring my novel.
Ironically, Joplin composed his rags in 4 prescribed movements, utilizing variations on a theme. Soon the scenes of my chapters mimicked Joplin’s style.
If you allow me to slip into "teacher mode" for a moment, let's have a show of hands. How many here are participating in National Novel Writing Month? Good luck, and happy writing to all!
I did consider signing up this year -- for all of two minutes. Who am I kidding? My writing ADD is at least as bad as my reading ADD. Just as I tend to read a dozen books simultaneously, I am working on at least half a dozen writing projects at once. In fact, I am finally discovering my natural pattern, and I can't say it pleases me. My habit is to complete a draft through chapter three, and then... I send it off to my agent; he reads it, offers notes, and I revise; then he says he is sending out the proposal and the chapters to a variety of publishers, and then I never hear from anyone again. Does this sound familiar to a single one of you?
I suspect that the "real writer" in me should be so compelled by my characters that I absolutely must, must finish a draft. On the other hand, I have other characters and stories clamoring loudly to be told, and extremely limited "spare" time in which to do so. Do I finish a draft that apparently has little prospect of being sold? (Especially if my agent is not actually sending it out!) Or do I move on to the next one? What would you do?
To illustrate my dilemma more clearly, these were my obligations of the past week:
1) Write outlines for two 60-minute TV shows (20 pages each) with two days spent in meetings discussing said shows.
2) Entertain my five-year-old, who had no school on two days this week. (I have discovered that each week seems to bring at least one day on which one child has no school.)
3) Grade definition essays for my community college class -- for which, by the way, I spend more time driving to and fro than I do actually teaching.
4) Grade annotated bibliographies for my online class and moderate the week's discussion.
5) Write an article for a local publication.
 |
| Like sands through the hourglass... |
I'm sure many of you can relate to the feeling of being generally overwhelmed. (We Teaching Authors are hyphenate multi-taskers by definition, after all.)
In lieu of enrolling in NaNoWriMo, I signed up at
onepageperday.com to receive "gentle reminders" of encouragment toward the simple goal of writing one page a day. I have yet to post a page. (DAYS OF OUR LIVES, alas, does not count.)
Meanwhile, my Gruve exercise monitor has been blinking at me, telling me I have failed to have a "green day" (adequate calories burned) all week.
I was exceedingly happy to crack open a book last night in bed, making the absolute most of my extra hour (until my five-year-old threw up in her bed, anyway).
Today I hope to spend a few minutes with my adult mystery novel (!). Small steps, baby!
Last weekend at church, my daughter almost poked out my son's eyes with a pencil in the middle of the Transubstantiation. This week, a kind stranger from across the sanctuary came up to me and said, "I know you don't know me, but would your kids like t
I'm hoping to make this post quick. You see, I'm working on my own novel writing challenge this month. As JoAnn and Mary Ann have mentioned, November is National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. Writers from all over the world attempt to complete a 50,000-word first draft during the month of November.
Back in 2008, I had an idea for an historical young adult novel that I wanted to write, but I kept getting bogged down by research. I decided it would make the perfect NaNoWriMo project. The daily word-count quota would force me to stick to the story instead of agonizing over what kind of glassware my character drank from. The only problem: November is a bad month for me, due to family commitments. So I brainstormed with members of my critique group and we decided the best month for a NaNoWriMo-type project was January. Here in the Midwest, January is a great month to hunker down indoors and write like crazy. And, since January is the season of resolutions, what better resolution than to write a new novel? Plus, January has one more day than November. When you're counting words, every day helps. :-)
So, in January, 2009, I banned together with a group of other SCBWI members to work on what we called our
New Year/New Novel project, or
NYNN (which rhymes with "win"). We called ourselves NYNNies, or writing "fools," and set up a Yahoo group to support each other in our endeavor. We shared tips from a variety of writing books, including
No Plot! No Problem, written by NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty. As facilitator, I also periodically sent links to the NaNoWriMo
pep talks from the previous November.
Thanks to the support of the NYNNies, I managed to write (a pretty horrible) first draft of my novel that January. I learned so much about my writing process and how to quiet the internal critic. But perhaps the most important thing I learned is that when I make writing a priority and keep "butt in chair," I can accomplish amazing things.
Unfortunately, when it came to revising the draft of my NYNN novel, I allowed myself to get bogged down in research all over again. I also struggled to find some sort of a plot in the mess that was my first draft. Yet I kept procrastinating. After months of work, I'd managed to eek out little over 30,000 words of a second draft. A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to end the procrastination. I came up with a plan for my own pseudo-NaNoWriMo project. I calculated that I need to add about 37,000 words to finish this draft, and I'd really like to finish it before Christmas. Looking at my calendar, I counted up 36 days (not counting holidays and weekends) that I could commit to working on the draft, beginning October 25. That comes out to about 1050 words/day to reach my target. Having lived through the mad crush of producing 1667 words per day for my original NYNN draft, I knew 1050 words/day was a feasible, though aggressive, goal.
It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.--E. L. Doctorow
Welcome to National Novel Writing Month. This is the month when I drag out my favorite Doctorow quote about novel writing, and sticky note it to my computer screen.
I hate driving at night. I have terrible night vision. I hate driving in Atlanta, where the street lighting is bad and a street can change names several times, for no good reason. I absolutely refuse to drive at night unless the route is so familiar, I can put my brain on autopilot.
A couple of weeks ago I drove my daughter to the Regional Skating Competition in Raleigh, North Carolina. I had driven this road exactly once before. In daylight. It's pretty much a straight shot from Atlanta to Raleigh, seven hours according to a certain Online Mapping Site. This time, however, we couldn't start until school was out. Trying to leave Atlanta any time after three can take up to two hours.
It took two hours. By the time we got to the Raleigh-Durham area it was well after eleven. And that's when we got into trouble. My Internet Directions were more than a little ambiguous. Forking left instead of right left me driving in an endless loop for three hours. Three hours of driving through what could have been the set for The Blair Witch Project. No towns, no signs, no lights, and only occasional traffic lines. Lots of deer and spooky looking trees.
The rest of the world has GPS in their car. I don't. Or at least a road atlas. I didn't. All I knew was that I started in Atlanta and needed to get to Raleigh. Finally I found that wrong fork-in-the-road and made the correct turn. But even the "right" road looked unfamiliar because my directions send me a different way from my previous trip. Go figure. At one thirty in the morning, after a lot of U-turns and squinting at at unlit street signs, we arrived, exhausted at our motel.
You can see why I like that Doctorow quote. Beginning a novel is easy; first chapters are a cinch. You know where you are; here are the main characters and setting. Here is the set up for the conflict.
Then you hit chapter two. Suddenly you find yourself driving in the dark, with unclear instructions, and only your literary headlights to guide you. For years, at this point, I would noodle around for a couple of more pages (usually, description....I love description), and then my headlights would go out. Or I would hit a dead end road, with nowhere to turn around. I have more Chapter Ones with no Chapter Twos in my files than I care to admit.
I can't/don't outline. The few times I've tried, the story sounded forced, my characters unhappily moving around at my direction. Unhappy characters are not interesting people to spend time with. Some people can write an outline and wham-bam-thank-you-Sam, they have the first draft of a novel. Lots of people use this method for NaNoWriMo.
I am not one of those people.
Some people have an internal GPS that just tells them where to turn and stop. I really don't like those people. The ideas just flow right along, beginning to end. They always pull into the Driveway of the Last Chapter before dark. Boo! Hiss! No fair.
Then there is me. The one thing I have learned about writing novels is that when you have to have some notion of where this story is going to end. Why start a journey if you don't have a destination? So after Chapter One, I make a lot of notes as to how I think the story will end.
So now I have a beginning, and a possible destination. I assemble as much information as I can as to how to get there. I ge
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What is the future of academic publishing? We’re celebrating University Press Week and Academic Book Week with a series of blog posts on scholarly publishing from staff and partner presses. Following on from our list of academic books that changed the world, we're looking to the future and how our current publishing could change lives and attitudes in years to come.
The post 5 academic books that will shape the future appeared first on OUPblog.
Although most historians of the French Revolution assign the French queen Marie-Antoinette a minor role in bringing about that great event, a good case can be made for her importance if we look more deeply into her politics than most scholars have.
The post Marie-Antoinette and the French Revolution appeared first on OUPblog.
In his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. expressed keen disappointment in white church leaders, whom he had hoped “would be among our strongest allies” and “would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure.”
The post “Did I do what I should have done?”: white clergy in 1960s Mississippi appeared first on OUPblog.
November 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. This theory is one of many pivotal scientific discoveries that would drastically influence our understanding of the world around us.
The post How and why are scientific theories accepted? appeared first on OUPblog.
The selection of emoji by Oxford Dictionaries as its Word of the Year recognises the huge increase in the use of these digital pictograms in electronic communication. While 2015 may have witnessed their proliferation, emoji are not new. They were originally developed in Japan in the 1990s for use by teenagers on their pagers; the word emoji derives from the Japanese e 'picture' + moji 'character, letter'.
The post Emojis and ambiguity in the digital medium appeared first on OUPblog.