April Accomplishments

Goal setting
May is here and the A to Z challenge is over at last! April wasn't exactly the best month for me but I still did make significant progress on each of my goals: Submit Moonshadow's Guardian to publishers -- This goal is actually changing. As the second book is developing in bigger and bolder ways than I imagined when I set out to write it I've reached a point where I want full control over every aspect of this series. Which, by the way, has now become a trilogy. I've already gotten a quote from a professional editor and will be moving forward with this very soon. My plan is to pay for the developmental editing myself and do it over the next six months, then run a crowdfunding campaign next…
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Investing in your writing career: when, why and how much?

Learning the craft, Writing
Let's start with a fact we all know: building a writing career is hard work. It's hard to become a freelance writer and it's much, much harder to become a successful fiction writer. Even the best and brightest among us put years of hard work into their craft before they see any measurable success. The few who do manage to become popular with their first published novels often wrote several others first; those who get the first book they wrote published have often spent years writing short stories. Luckily we live in the internet age, which means there are thousands of resources to help you speed up your own career. You can learn about how to get excellent freelance jobs from Linda Formichelli of The Renegade Writer or Sophie Lizard of Be a Freelance…
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Writerly Goals 2016

Goal setting, Increasing productivity, Writing
Last week I shared my accomplishments of 2015 and--in the interest of both accountability and education--today I'm going to share my goals for the year of 2016. This year I've actually also divided the goals into quarters and even figured out how far to progress on each goal during the first four months of the year. Of course, this is always subject to change, but I'm pretty proud of the way I've broken things down: 1. Submit Good Bye to 30 publishers(or until I get a contract) -- Good Bye is actually a novella so this is a somewhat ambitious number, but it's totally doable. January: Finish editing Good Bye and edit the synopsis/query(queries will be customized but the blurb will be the same for each one) 3-5 times. Submit the initial batch…
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A Collection of Nanowrimo Pep Talks

Nanowrimo, Writing
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…
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Stories and lessons from the first Writer Igniter Conference

Writing
This past weekend I attended the first ever Writer Igniter Conference, an online writing conference run by Gabriela Pereira, Chief Instigator of DIY MFA and one of my favourite people in the blogosphere. The first day of the conference focused on craft and the second day's workshops focused on the business side of writing.   Feedback sessions There were four feedback sessions during the Writer Igniter conference including two first page critique sessions(one for YA/MG and one for adult genre fiction), a log line critique session and even a short website critique session at the end. A combination of editors and agents provided the feedback, and participants were invited to give each other feedback too. These feedback sessions came at the perfect time for me, as I've got a novel…
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Why I don’t always write ideas down right away

Writing
Most writers will tell you they write every idea the moment it comes to them, and many even go to great lengths to do this. They keep a notebook beside their bed and one in every bag, write on envelopes or napkins and sometimes hide out in the bathroom to get a particularly complex thought down. I, on the other hand, have recently made a point of not writing ideas down right away. There are some exceptions--names(I have a terrible time naming anything), little details in stories--but most ideas don't get written down right away. Here's the thing: not all ideas are worth pursuing. And in my early years of serious writing I devoted a lot of time to ideas that weren't worth pursuing. I would get halfway through an…
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Why I’m NOT nervous to submit my novel to publishers

Inspirational, Novels, Writing
This past weekend I finished my most recent edit of Moonshadow's Guardian, a YA fantasy originally written as a Nanowrimo novel. I've already edited this novel several times--it's faced the most drastic changes of anything I've ever edited--and am mostly finished my query letter and synopsis. As I told my best friend the other day, it's time to send this novel out to publishers. And then she asked me the question: "Are you nervous? I might have stared into the phone like it was an alien for a while, because here's the thing: I'm not nervous. I already know some of the publishers I send my novel to will reject it. In fact, I know most of them will reject it. That's part of the gig. They might all reject…
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Special Author Spotlight: Devorah Fox

Writing
An author I interviewed last November contacted me recently and let me know she's going to be in an awesome anthology--coming out in just a few days! I normally don't do two interviews with the same author in such a short period of time, but Devorah's excitement is contagious so I've decided to bring her back. Please give Devorah Fox a warm welcome. 1. We last spoke in November 2014. Can you talk a little bit about where you were in your writing career at the time? November 2014 I was deep into National Novel Writing Month, endeavoring to write 50,000 words in 30 days. This was my fourth NaNoWriMo marathon and I'm pleased to report that I was again successful. Those words are the start of "The Redoubt," Book…
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Stories of Scotland

Inspirational
[caption id="attachment_2141" align="alignleft" width="300"] One angle of the view from our bay window at the Bed and Breakfast in Wick[/caption] I talked last week about how this trip changed my life. Now it's time to go into a little more detail--and of course show off some of the 500 pictures I took while I was in the UK. I could turn this into a big series--you'd be amazed at how many things a person can fit into three weeks when they really try--but to be honest I'm already eager to start a completely different series of posts. So while you can be sure you'll hear about this trip again, it certainly won't be in the next couple of weeks. Anyway, let's get started! Travelling Alone No pictures at this point…
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The End of a Chapter

Inspirational
[caption id="attachment_2136" align="alignleft" width="625"] The Clan Gunn Heritage Museum, where we spread the ashes[/caption] If a person's life consists of chapters in the same way books do, a chapter of my life has certainly just ended, and I am beginning a new one even as I write this. Ten years ago when my dad was diagnosed with cancer my aunt raised the money to take him and I to Scotland, to what used to be Clan Gunn territory. On that trip my dad decided that he wanted his ashes to be scattered near the Clan Gunn museum, in the graveyard surrounding it, a graveyard full of Gunns. He died later that year. This year my aunt and I finally went back to spread his ashes in Clan Gunn country. My…
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