Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog.
Time for the monthly meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group(IWSG) blog hop!
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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.
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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!  |
24 comments:
Blog is looking good. Enjoyed your story. I NaNo every year. Agreed if writing it is all good.
I had to laugh when I read your post, because when I first saw "NaNo" several years ago, I thought of Mork too! I've never participated in NaNo, because November is always a busy, busy month for me. It's nice to hear that your project turned into an actual book! Congrats!
Yes, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the revising. That's what I plan to do and it is also the very reason that I have stopped doing NaNo starting with this year. I want to revise my manuscripts and get them out of the stacks on my computer.
I love your quotes. They are a tremendous uplift for me.
Thanks.
All the best.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
I agree that the more prep work one does the better the outcome. I'm glad to read that someone got something published from a NaNo project. :-)
Anna from elements of emaginette
Hi JQ, your blog looks great! I've never done NaNoWriMo. I worry I'd spend a month writing "stuff" :) Perhaps the answer is to do as you suggest, and prepare well in advance. Looking forward to your re-release!
Thanks, Juneta. Wishing you success with Nano!!
Hi Fundy Blue, good to know there are other people out there thinking of Mork too.
Thank you, Pat. Happy to know the quotes are lifting you up. Revising a ms takes so much time. I think you're wise in spending it in your "stacks" rather than writing even more stuff that will need revising!!
Hi Anna, yep, I think prep is definitely a key to Nano success.
HI Helena, thank you. The other aspect of Nano is the socializing part commiserating with writers. You can spend a lot of time doing that instead of writing. Distracting.
I like your attitude. I consider any day when I get any writing done to be a winner. And congrats on the coming release.
I've never had the time to do NaNo. Probably never will. That's great another publisher picked up your book since Muse it Up is now defunct.
50,000 words in a month? That's what I yak...uh, mutter...er, broadcast in a day!
But if anyone can write that writ this Nose knows it's Ms. Rose. Heh heh.
Hi Rebecca, Yes, any writing is better than no writing. Thanks for co hosting this month.
Hi Diane, yes Nano is a time sucker. MIU is still in business. Perhaps Muse Publishing is out of business? I don't know.
Hey IB, and what would we do without those 50,000 words you mutter, er, broadcast every day? Hmmm...probably a lot!
That's cool it will be republished as a bigger story.
I've basically done it twice and won the first time and just missed the second. But both of those stories went on to be published books, so that matters more to me.
The quote from Anne Lamott is so good and so true. I've never done NaNo. (I know you read in my blog why.) I'm glad you were able to use a NaNo project. Good wishes on your project.
Having a story planned out before definitely speeds up the process. Have fun chasing that project!
Hi Alex, there are definitely more ways of winning Nano than just by reaching the 50000 word count! You proved it!
Hi Diane, I love Lamott's wisdom. So many great quotes from her about writing. I must admit I goofed when I put the quote in twice, did anybody notice? I tried to remove one of the images, but lovely blogger erased everything else in the post too! So I hit undo and left both in.
Thanks, T. Wishing you success in your writing too!
Hey, JQ. I've never done NaNo. The first time I heard the term, I, too, thought of Mork and Mindy. LOL One of my first critique partners had particiapted for years and had a slew of 50 K words that she never polished and finished. She gave our critique group credit for her getting a book finished, and the next one and the next one. In the end, she had several published books. Nice you do, too. :)
Marsha, YAY for crit partners. My Nano project would have never seen the light of day without my writers group.
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