NaNoWriMo, Writer Rants, and Some Updates....

Yay!!!! It's National Novel Writing Month!!!! *throws confetti*

 (Pictures from Pinterest)

NaNoWriMo

To make a blogfession, I didn't know about NaNo until this past year (*horrified scream in background*). Once I looked it up and found that writers to NaNo is like cats to catnip, I was hooked. Then I looked at all my WIPs and groaned. So many ideas. So many unplotted novels. And a self-made deadline of finishing Found by the end of November. 

I plan to watch all the craziness this year and join in next time. I probably wouldn't sleep if I tried to work on two novels at once or set aside the vicious plot bunnies of Found.

But, to all you braving the storm, I applaud your efforts. NaNo captures published authors and aspiring writers alike, and I think it's a wonderful event where we all come together to do what we love: tell stories.

Writer Rants

 

Writing a novel is hard. I don't pretend it isn't. A couple weeks ago, I came to a point in my book where I looked at it and said, "This is the worst piece of writing in the world." I locked myself away in my room and tried to re-plot and re-write with no success. Is this idea even worth it? I found myself asking. I've been with it for over two years and it's a flop. Maybe I should move on....

But I decided to try one more time. 

It's been about three weeks since I restarted the book from scratch. No copy-and-paste from previous drafts. Scratch. I'm at about 84,000 words right now and almost done. If I'd given up, I never would have created this wonderful new novel.

So for those times when you just want to stop and put your head in your hands and ask if this is even worth it, I have some encouragement: it happens to everyone. Keep going. It will get better.

It is my pleasure (and slight embarrassment) to share some comments I made on Found when trying to rework it.

Laugh. It's supposed to be funny, and I know some people will be able to relate. XD

 (Pictures from Pinterest)

Here are the comments I made:

"Brain-dead. Serious writer’s block. :P"

"And right around here is where the dialogue and editing completely fall apart."

"Cringe-worthy dialogue. Just. can’t. do. it."

"The people on Amazon would be ripping this to pieces right now."

"Cringe-worthy again. Can’t believe how bad it is here but how it seems to work in the next book. These character interactions are just horrible."

"Think I need more action like this like. everywhere."

"Here I go, doing what I do best: ramble on about peoples’ thoughts. I can’t even help myself. It comes too easy to me."

"Pretty sure this is in the cringe-worthy category. Beginning to think the entire book is."

BUT I DIDN'T QUIT!!!!!

I persevered. I went back to stage one, took a deep breath, and said, "Let's scrap all this and start over. It's okay. The only deadline I won't make is my own."

That's how you've got to do it. It's okay to get it wrong. It's okay to start over and mess up. It happens to everyone. But whatever you do

Don't quit.

Some Updates  

Alrighty, time for some  news:

First off, I'm going to start posting regularly on Saturdays. Seems like a prime time in the blog-sphere. I might do some short "surprise posts" during the week, but count on Saturdays. They'll be scheduled to appear around 5am so all you east-coast peeps don't have to wait until I crawl out of bed over on the west-coast and hit the "publish" button. ;)

Pressure is on, self.

So, you hear I'm going to do some independent publishing. You know what I'm most nervous about?

Cover design.

Yep. Maybe I'll say "formatting" later, but right now, before my book is even done, I'm thinking about cover design. I'm definitely not a graphic artist, or particularly artsy in stuff like this in general, so I've been doing A LOT of research. I'm thinking of using DogEared Design. Any of the covers look familiar? The Out of Time (by Nadine Brandes) covers are from here.

I'm going to be doing a lot of babysitting and saving and asking relatives for help.

XD

- Audrey Caylin


Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Have you ever almost quit your novel?