My Journey
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Chapter 29:- NaNoWriMo
First--thanks so much to any and all of you who went to Jeri Smith-Ready's blog and commented for a chance to win the ARC of 13 TO LIFE! You made a huge difference in the number of comments (and really made Jeri super happy--and we LIKE Jeri being super happy :-).
This year some of my Twitter followers (I'm now @Shannon_Delany at Twitter for those of you struggling to keep up with the pseudonym switches--and this one should stick since it was approved by both Marketing and the Publisher :-) suggested I try NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writing Month for those of you who are somehow unaware ;-). Essentially in November a bunch of folks all around the world focus their energies on writing 50,000 words and keeping careful track of their word counts for the full 30 days. The reward?Knowing you actually completed a rough draft of a (short) novel. Oh. And you can get a "badge" showing you won to put on your website or whatnot. The cool thing is the buddy system you make and use to help cheer you on.
When I did the fastdraft method (writing a rough draft of book 3 for 13 TO LIFE in only 2 weeks) I had an Accountability Partner (the awesome Ann Aguirre :-). With Ann on your side you really don't need anyone else, but with NaNoWriMo you can ask all sorts of anybodies to be your buddies. They are essentially your cheering squad (and you are theirs). I have 5 or 6 now myself (at NaNo I'm Shannon_Delany --go ahead, buddy me if you're participating!).
For NaNo I'm doing a brand new YA novel. Yes, it's paranormal (if you lived my life you might suspect "paranormal is the new normal" ;-). It's far enough from the 13 TO LIFE concept I shouldn't get pigeonholed as a writer of werewolves (and it's not as epic in research as the one I'd previously mentioned to my agent, so, faster to create). Whereas 13 TO LIFE was very much a pantster's story (writing by the seat of my pants--never knowing what was really happening next) this one is being outlined and messed around with first. And it's just crazy enough I might not only get a few books out of the series, I might also be able to do something that would allow it (heck, encourage it) to be used in classrooms. Bwa-ha-ha! Eh, we'll see.
But today I can't do much of it at all :(. I have other family and school-related obligations (Harvest luncheon at my son's school, family coming in tonight in advance of my birthday Sunday). Crazy stuff! And I need to finish another email interview, figure out what werewolf story I'll tell at The Green Toad Bookstore in town for their Halloween event, and-and-and... AND a very important reporter asked the folks at SMP to speak to me and didn't say exactly when he'd call to schedule (bets are during the Harvest Luncheon...). And I'm REALLY looking forward to speaking to him. REALLY!
So. I hope you all have a great and creative day--do something fun!
~Shannon
First--thanks so much to any and all of you who went to Jeri Smith-Ready's blog and commented for a chance to win the ARC of 13 TO LIFE! You made a huge difference in the number of comments (and really made Jeri super happy--and we LIKE Jeri being super happy :-).
This year some of my Twitter followers (I'm now @Shannon_Delany at Twitter for those of you struggling to keep up with the pseudonym switches--and this one should stick since it was approved by both Marketing and the Publisher :-) suggested I try NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writing Month for those of you who are somehow unaware ;-). Essentially in November a bunch of folks all around the world focus their energies on writing 50,000 words and keeping careful track of their word counts for the full 30 days. The reward?Knowing you actually completed a rough draft of a (short) novel. Oh. And you can get a "badge" showing you won to put on your website or whatnot. The cool thing is the buddy system you make and use to help cheer you on.
When I did the fastdraft method (writing a rough draft of book 3 for 13 TO LIFE in only 2 weeks) I had an Accountability Partner (the awesome Ann Aguirre :-). With Ann on your side you really don't need anyone else, but with NaNoWriMo you can ask all sorts of anybodies to be your buddies. They are essentially your cheering squad (and you are theirs). I have 5 or 6 now myself (at NaNo I'm Shannon_Delany --go ahead, buddy me if you're participating!).
For NaNo I'm doing a brand new YA novel. Yes, it's paranormal (if you lived my life you might suspect "paranormal is the new normal" ;-). It's far enough from the 13 TO LIFE concept I shouldn't get pigeonholed as a writer of werewolves (and it's not as epic in research as the one I'd previously mentioned to my agent, so, faster to create). Whereas 13 TO LIFE was very much a pantster's story (writing by the seat of my pants--never knowing what was really happening next) this one is being outlined and messed around with first. And it's just crazy enough I might not only get a few books out of the series, I might also be able to do something that would allow it (heck, encourage it) to be used in classrooms. Bwa-ha-ha! Eh, we'll see.
But today I can't do much of it at all :(. I have other family and school-related obligations (Harvest luncheon at my son's school, family coming in tonight in advance of my birthday Sunday). Crazy stuff! And I need to finish another email interview, figure out what werewolf story I'll tell at The Green Toad Bookstore in town for their Halloween event, and-and-and... AND a very important reporter asked the folks at SMP to speak to me and didn't say exactly when he'd call to schedule (bets are during the Harvest Luncheon...). And I'm REALLY looking forward to speaking to him. REALLY!
So. I hope you all have a great and creative day--do something fun!
~Shannon
