Nanowrimo -

17Nov 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

A Collection of Nanowrimo Pep Talks

Over the years I've done all kinds of Nanowrimo themed things here on the blog, including hosting fellow Nanowrimo veterans for pep talks. This year I'm more focused on other aspects of writing--I happen to be in the middle of edits and thinking a lot about different genres--but I thought I'd compile all the pep talks I've hosted here for those of you participating in the challenge. Ready to be inspired? Read away: Nanowrimo Veteran Pep Talk This pep talk might not have a particularly original name, but the article itself is chock full of inspiration. Tips From Nanowrimo Veteran CapnQuirk -- Several times Nanowrimo winner and now self published author CapnQuirk shares some tips for success. A RedParrot Offers Pep -- One of my all time favourite guest posts on this…

04Dec 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Lessons You Should Have Learned From Nanowrimo

Nanowrimo, Writing

For me, this year's first draft turned out to be easier to write than any Nanowrimo novel I've written before, and thanks to switching point of view characters and writing the first half twice, it's also the best written novel I've ever come out of November with. That said, it was absolutely exhausting. So you can expect some awesome, fresh content next week, but for now, I'd like to point you to something I wrote last year: 5 Things To Take Away From Your Nanowrimo Experience. Please do enjoy the post and feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions for what I should be writing next here on The Dabbler.

02Dec 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

10 Things To Do After Nanowrimo

Nanowrimo, Writing

For better worse, novel or no novel, Nanowrimo is now officially over and it's time to think about returning to your normal life. Or your not-so-normal life, whatever the case may be. If you're at a loss for what to do now that you've finished Nanowrimo, I've got some ideas to help you out: 1. Relax. You probably already spent yesterday doing this, but if you haven't stopped to relax and smell the roses yet, it's about time you did. You just spent a month frantically trying to write a novel. You deserve a reward. Plus, if you live in the northern hemisphere, it's definitely a good time of year to curl up with a big mug of hot chocolate and catch up on your favourite TV shows. 2. Get…

27Nov 2014 by Bethlyn Bechtel

Nanowrimo Veteran Pep Talk

Nanowrimo, Writing

Today I have a special treat for you as we close in on the end of the month, a pep talk sure to get you back on the writing treadmill from a Nanowrimo veteran who happens to be a good friend of mine. Please give Bethlyn Bechtel a warm welcome. Hi Nanoers!!!! Oh gosh. Nano is ALMOST over!! You're almost to the end of this INSANE war against words....and you see that you aren't done yet. You've had to deal with school or work or kids or wisdom teeth being yanked after a horrible toothache. Or some other such horrible distraction. AHHHH!!!!!!! That's me. I'm not done yet, either. If this was last year, I would have been done. I've done this! I can do it! BUT: no words want…

25Nov 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

5 Reasons Not to Give Up

Inspirational, Nanowrimo, Writing

The month is almost over and hopefully you're close to hitting your goals for the month, whether that means 50K, 100K or a finished novel. Of course, life has many different ways of preventing you from reaching your goals, so there's a pretty good chance that you're nowhere near your goals and wondering what made you think it was a good idea to pursue them in the first place. If you're far behind where you wanted to be at this time of the month, you're not alone. There are thousands of other Wrimos struggling through the same things right now, and you can find a great many of them on the forums. More importantly, having fallen behind doesn't mean you should give up. No matter what your word count is,…

20Nov 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Author Spotlight: Dylan Madeley

Author Interviews, Nanowrimo, Reading Related, Writing

Dylan Madeley is special for three reasons: he's won Nanowrimo multiple times, he's a rather good friend of mine, and he's on his way to self-publication after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Please give Dylan a warm welcome! 1. Can you tell us a bit about your book, The Gift-Knight's Quest? The Gift-Knight's Quest is the end result of the first novel ideas I ever had. Well, the first two of them, actually, put together because I couldn't get a full novel (or even close) out of either idea on its own. That's why it ended up with two protagonists. The backstory of Derek and of Chandra is somewhat like the novel they were going to star in all by themselves, and they kind of start out as each other's antagonist.…

18Nov 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Tuesday Tips & Tricks

Nanowrimo, Writing

Week three of Nanowrimo is already here and if you're anything like me, you're filled with a combination of excitement and fear. Can you actually reach the lofty goal you've set for yourself? Is your novel garbage? Will you ever actually want to look at it again? Are you going to cross the finish line? It's completely normal to doubt yourself at this point, and it's completely normal to think you'll have to throw away your novel. In fact, I'd go so far as to say throwing away your novel is fairly standard among Nanowrimo participants. I'm certainly not trying to salvage every single novel I've written during Nanowrimo. Whatever your feelings are about your novel, you can overcome them and you can write a novel in a month. All you need…

13Nov 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Author Spotlight: Devorah Fox

Nanowrimo, Writing

Today's author has written pretty much anything you can imagine writing and won Nanowrimo multiple times. She's also self published a textbook with her husband and multiple Nanowrimo novels, but you'll find out more about that in the interview. Please give author Devorah Fox a warm welcome. 1. Can you tell us a bit about your books? I have National Novel Writing Month to thank for launching my novelist career. The Lost King, Book One of The Bewildering Adventures of King Bewilliam high fantasy series was my NaNoWriMo 2010 project. The createspace coupon that I got for winning that challenge spurred me on to put the book between covers. The Lost King was received with enthusiasm and fans asked “when’s the next book coming out?” Gee, I hadn’t planned on…

11Nov 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Tuesday Tips & Tricks

Nanowrimo, Writing

Can you believe we're already in the second week of Nanowrimo? It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun--or when you're freaking out about an upcoming deadline... With any luck you haven't actually started freaking out yet and your word count is soaring well above where it's supposed to be at this point in the month. Either way, I've got a tip, a trick and a quote that should help see you through to the other side of this crazy novel writing adventure: A Tip If you keep stopping to edit, maybe it's time to turn your monitor off while you write--or at least tape a piece of paper over it so you can't see most of what you've written. This will help your words flow more freely and…

06Nov 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Author Spotlight: Dana Sachs

Author Interviews, Nanowrimo, Reading Related, Writing

Are you ready to meet yet another awesome Nanowrimo author? Well then, you're in luck. Please give Dana Sachs, author of The Secret of Nightingale Palace, a warm welcome. 1. Can you tell us a bit about your books? The first time I tried Nanowrimo was in the fall of 2007, when I used it to write the first draft of the novel that would eventually become The Secret of the Nightingale Palace. I had already published my first novel, If You Lived Here, and a memoir, The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam, and this idea of writing a first draft in a month was a new prospect for me. I found that Nanowrimo helped me quite a bit in just getting the basic form of…