NaNoWriMo Insanity Part 3

Whew.

That was one beastly month; so much so that it's taken me until now to make my third post about it.  It's about time I wrapped this thing up, so I'm going to do that while I sit here and get fat on pumpkin bread.  Don't judge me.

I finished NaNoWriMo with over 52,000 words, and can consider myself a "winner." I won NaNo! :-)

I even ordered a tee shirt which should be getting here soon. I'm going to rock that shirt in all my nerdy, writery glory at the gym.

Woohoo! 

I think I got a lot more out of it than I thought I would (see my post NaNoWriMo Insanity Part 2), but I wouldn't necessarily do it again.  Because I was working on a re-write, I already had a lot of the word count done...it just needed some serious work.  If I did it with a completely new piece, I think my brain might explode.  But seriously, if I was working on something new, I would have to do a hard-core chapter-by-chapter outline for it so I would be able to complete my word count for the month.  And, quite honestly, I'm not interested in doing that.

Was it worth it?  For me, yes, absolutely.  It was something I wanted to do for me. I wanted to see if I could do it; something I wanted to prove to myself.  Was I capable of writing a good chunk of a novel in a month?  Yes.  And I'm happy I did it.  

Have I finished my re-write?  No.  But I'll get to it.  Right now I'm actually working on an erotic short story for a submissions call that intrigued me.  I also want to finish my short novel that I've been working on since the freaking beginning of time.  I have my edits back from Shelley and Traci (the lovely lady who was "location picking" for me...totally recommend that if you can), but I haven't polished my manuscript or done anything with it since I've gotten their feedback.  And if I ever want that thing to see the light of day, I'd better get on that.  

How'd NaNo go for you?  Did you win?  

xoxo Sarah

Exciting (tiny) format change!

Hey, everyone!

As I get farther into the writing process, the more I realize that so much of this business, and the success of someone participating in it, is based on pimpage.

In a nutshell, authors helping authors.

Therefore, I'm going to be doing occasional posts to help get the word out about my friends' books, particularly the lovely ladies from the Maryland Romance Writers and other RWA chapters I participate in as well as some amazing self-pubbed authors I know.

Why are you doing this, Sarah?  Won't your blog turn into a giant advertisement for other people's stuff?

Will your blog be the equivalent of ALL OF THESE rolled into one?

Well, because of the reason I mentioned above--authors helping authors.  One reason I've joined these groups is for the support of other authors just like me, and that's why they've joined, too.  So much of this wide world of publishing is based on give and take, and I've come to realize I can't--and shouldn't--expect other authors to want to host me and my (eventual) books on their blogs if there's not any reciprocation.  Word of mouth is a powerful thing, especially among others who respect your work as much as you respect theirs.

And why feature self-pubbed authors?  Or, conversely, why feature traditionally published authors?  Answer: Because I believe an author should be well-rounded in publishing nowadays.  You can't put all of your eggs in one basket...for myself, I plan on being both traditionally published and self-pubbed, especially since there are so many success stories.  Both are wonderfully viable options for authors.

You also might be wondering if I'm going to be constantly pushing books that I've edited.  The answer is no.  That might seem like a weird double-standard; after all, I stand to make money from them from sales (in some cases).  But this is my blog, and I stand by the fact that I can feature what I want on it.  When I have a contract of my own--as an author getting a book published, whether it's an e-publisher or one of the Big 6 or however many there are now--then I'll happily feature things from my new publisher on here.  I'm looking forward to that.

Please don't inundate me with emails or whatnot requesting reviews...this is NOT a review blog.  It may feature reviews in the future (I never like to say "never"), but for right now, my time is so limited that I barely have time to squeeze in a little pleasure reading before bed.

So look out for guest posts from other amazing authors in the near future.  But I promise I'll still be posting and being my usual weird, snarky self.  That won't go away.

xoxo Sarah