#NaBloWriMo and my #NaNoWriMo History

So there's this thing I saw floating around Twitter last night called NaBloWriMo. Any guesses as to what it stands for? I was lacking creativity last night, so I just asked. Apparently it's National Blog Writing Month - which they're naming the month of October. The idea is to blog every day - AKA Write Every Day. If you want to get more involved, here's their website.

It's probably a good idea, to warm up for NaNoWriMo and all. Not sure I can commit to really, truly doing it every day, but I thought I'd at least start and keep my fingers busy. I'll try to blog a bit more about my process of getting prepared for NaNoWriMo as I do it, but I've been tying up a few other projects first.

At this point, I'm at the brainstorming stage, so not much to share yet. For today, I thought I'd give you a history of my NaNo experience, what has worked for me and what has not.

2007 - First draft of LOSING FAITH - started with a logline/query blurb. Not a very thorough outline.

2008 - First draft of BELLY UP - thorough outline and SOUNDS LIKE THUNDER - without an outline. The one without an outline was fun, and easy to work on during the days I wasn't feeling super-driven on the other one, but it kind of ended up as a plotless heap of *$#$%&*. I've since learned that I need some sort of an outline. The outlined book is still in revisions, and I hope to publish it one day.

2009 - First draft of PERFECT AIM. During this NaNo, I was also in the midst of heavy edits on LOSING FAITH. I had a 38k outline for this one, but to tell you the truth, I think it was over-outlined. I got lazy because of the outline and the writing became stilted. I still hope to go back to this one, but I know it will require a complete rewrite.

2010 - first draft of FINDING HOPE, a companion novel to LOSING FAITH. I'm still in revisions on that one, so I can't tell you for sure about the success of the outlining/preparation, but I did try to go back to a simpler outline for this one, and even though my revisions have been almost total rewrites, the first draft has helped me worked out a lot of issues.

Hope that has helped you some. It actually has helped me, so I'm glad I took the time to get it down.

See you tomorrow...Maybe.

Friday Four

1. Wow, I blogged FIVE times this week! I can't promise this will be a regular thing, but I do hope so, because it kind of gave me a bit of a feeling of "normal" back. Which I've been looking for for a long time.

2. I learned a few interesting things from yesterday's post  (thanks to all who weighed in!) about being a Sprint Writer or a Marathon Writer. First off, in a way, I have been a Sprint Writer for several years, really, because I participate in NaNo. I hadn't thought about that! Also, sprinting doesn't mean I have to take long periods of hiatus. That's the part of it that I've struggled with the most. During long breaks I really lose my mojo. Having ambitious goals really does work for me, though, so I think I'm re-categorizing myself as a marathoner who sprints from time to time.

3. I still can't show you my cover for NEVER ENOUGH (sad face) but I do have a copy of it, sans the tagline, and so I ordered some cool new swag this week. If you're into passing some goodies around for me to help get people excited for my next book, email me your mailing address and I'll pop some into the mail for you when they arrive. Also, with my cover reveal (which truly should be very, very soon!) I will have a special contest and some more deets about how you might get your hands on an early copy. It's coming...

4. Apparently my first pass pages for NEVER ENOUGH will be done by the end of the week (which is, like, today!) Didn't I JUST finish copyedits? This seems really soon, but I'm excited! First pass pages are the first time I get to see the interiors of the book the way they will look in their printed form. It was one of my most exciting times for LOSING FAITH, one of the parts that really made it feel real to me (and also, have you seen the cool little butterflies they added on the chapter heading pages??) This stage also comes with it's share of anxiety of course. This will possibly be the last time I see my book before it's, well, a book. Last chance for changes and all that. I'm not going to talk about it anymore for fear of heart palpitations!

5. I have one more thing to ask before I go (Friday Five again!) I'm thrilled to be part of The Contemps again this year. Our big objective is to spotlight up and coming contemporary YA. Last year, as part of The Tenners and Class of 2k10, I was really up on what would be coming out later in the year. This year I'm feeling out of the loop. So if you have suggestions for me...YA Contemporary that is releasing this fall or next year that you think sounds really awesome...I'd love to hear about it!

Happy weekend, everybody!

Sprint Writer vs. Marathon Writer

When it comes to physical training, I'm a big believer in the sprint over the marathon. Sprinting increases muscle mass and is not as hard on your joints. Besides, look at the body of a marathoner vs a sprinter!

But when it comes to writing, I've always been a marathoner. In it for the long haul, taking a little bit at a time, plodding along every day whether I've felt like it or not. I enjoyed the process, and even when I had a less than stellar writing day, I always figured my ideas were just brewing and my writing would be better the next day (which it usually was). I know many sprint writers--writers that take months off at a stretch and then come back with lots of time and energy and zeal for their projects, but that has never been me.

In this last season of life, though, I've transitioned into more of a sprint writer. I could say that I've "had to," but I believe we always have choices. To be honest, I don't like it. I don't like myself as a writer this way. I feel like the people who always make excuses of why they aren't getting to the gym. Always looking to "the next big break in their lives" when they'll have time for it. And besides that, my brain just works better as a marathoner. If I have my story in my head every day, even if I only get a few hundred words down on it, at least it's still brewing. At least my mind has opportunities to find solutions to literary problems. When I come back to another "sprint" of writing, I feel so much pressure to be writing while I have this time I've set aside that I don't feel like I have the space to sit back and ponder. I write through things because I have to, but to me they feel mediocre. And worse, I don't expect more from myself the next day.

Are you a marathon or a sprint writer? I'd be interested to hear if you're a sprint writer, why it works for you.

Why Writing History Is Cool - A Guest Post by @Elle_Strauss

As I mentioned on Monday, my good friend Elle Strauss is releasing her first novel this week. As part of her blog tour for CLOCKWISE, she has stopped by with a guest post on writing historical fiction. Don't forget to comment on this post to be entered to win one of her fab blog tour prizes!

I suppose it's fair to say that the older I got the more interested in history I became. It's the ultimate study in human nature, how man/womankind responds to stressful, unpleasant or unusual situations and circumstances. I think this is why there is such a huge fascination with WW2. How could human beings behave that way? Some to become monsters with the desire for ethnic cleansing, and others prompted to push science to its limits by splitting the atom.

Recent history and ancient history are both fascinating to me and as a writer, delving into historical aspects for research is more than just fact finding. It's about discovering the heart of our characters in the midst. Because as much as some things change over time, especially in the areas of information and technology, the basic wants and needs of people do not. No matter how far back you search, men and women have looked for meaning and purpose in life. They've struggled with greed and lust, anger, betrayal, the desire to succeed and to be loved.

Writing historical fiction has caused me to be a continuous student. I've studied in depth subjects like ancient Rome, World War 2 and Hitler Youth. Writing time travel allows me to mix contemporary characters with my love of history. For CLOCKWISE I studied up on the civil war and another era I can't say (spoiler alert). I'm working on a companion book that's taking me into the 1950's.

It's all very interesting and exciting stuff.

How about you? Do you enjoy reading historically based fiction?

Thanks for having me guest blog today, Denise!

Elle Strauss writes time travel and merfolk chic-lit, light SF and historical YA fiction. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, hanging out with friends and family, and sometimes traveling. She has one husband, four kids and two tabby cats. To ward off writer's butt she does a bit of hiking, biking and yoga.

Gearing up for #NaNo

It's September. Practically the end of September. For me, this is very late to start thinking about NaNoWriMo, but that's just the way things have gone this year.

I thought I'd share a bit of my process of preparation for those of you who may be thinking of getting involved with NaNoWriMo this year.

For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it's a time where hundreds of thousands of writers cheer each other on to write a novel in a month. My first attempt at this was in 2007, and you can now see that book on the bookstore shelves.

I wrote the first draft of Losing Faith in 21 days, but it took me almost another year to revise the book, find and agent, and then sell it to Simon & Schuster. And even that year doesn't fully cover the time I spent on it. I believe I started brainstorming that book during the summer prior to NaNo. By the time NaNo rolled around, I had a pretty good idea of what the book was going to be about.

My aim is always to start with a logline - or a one-line pitch for the book. For Losing Faith, the original logline was probably something like this: A rebellious teen girl finds out dark secrets about her older perfect religious sister after her death.

Not terribly eloquent, but I started talking to friends about it, and I got the ooh/aahhh response I was looking for. Even more so when I added the word "cult" to the logline.

From there, I worked at developing a fairly thorough outline of where I expected the book to start and where I expected it to go. You see, writing a book in a month is not the hard part. At least not for me. Coming up with the ideas AND writing the book in a month - now that would be hard!

My idea/advice is to not start November 1st with a blank page. At least come up with your idea. And then find out what kind of a reaction you get from it. You'll go into November with more confidence to boot.

Through the next month, I'll be blogging about my own process, plus offering a few tips and tricks to get you ready and excited for NaNo. Are you planning to NaNo this year? Have you done it before? How do YOU plan to prepare?

CLOCKWISE! And a #Contest including LOSING FAITH!

I'm so excited for my friend, Elle Strauss, whose debut novel is out this week!

“A teen time traveler accidentally takes her secret crush back in time. Awkward.”

CLOCKWISE is launching electronically this week and it’s only 2.99 on Amazon , £2.17 on Amazon.co.uk! To celebrate, Elle is giving away five debut books by authors that you can meet on her blog tour which is happening now.

LOSING FAITH by Denise Jaden

THE CLEARING by Anne Riley

THE SECRET OF SPRUCE KNOLL by Heather McCorkle

PERILOUS by Tamara Hart Heiner

THE HATING GAME by Talli Roland

How to win? Sign up for Elle’s newsletter to enter. For extra entries just comment on any blog in the tour. The more blogs you visit and comment on the more chances you have to win. 

Five books, five days, five winners!

And Elle will be back here this Wednesday as part of her blog tour, so make sure to stop back here for an extra entry! (And let me just say that $2.99 makes it pretty darn easy to support this debut author - click on the link above!)

Congratulations, Elle!

Friday Four

1. I forgot to mention it here, but I was blogging over at The Contemps this week. Our new plan for 2011-2012 is to spotlight new contemporary YA fiction. My spotlight post was for Ellen Hopkins's latest verse novel PERFECT. I also listed a few recommendations of verse novels, but if you have more, I'd love to hear them!

2. Besides out spotlight posts, we hope to be a resource for new releasing contemporary YA on the web. Lisa Schroeder has put a lot of effort into this calendar of upcoming releases. If you're looking for some new contemporary reads, this is the place to check.

3. I haven't been around the social media front for the past few weeks because I've been using every last ounce of my energy re-building our deck. It's been on it's last legs for a while, but we knew it wouldn't last the upcoming winter (or probably even the fall), so my whole extended family got involved and we got it re-built and recovered just in time for the rain!

4. And there's one more thing that's been keeping me busy. I finally bought an e-reader! I had a very hard time deciding, but since my birthday was in July and this was supposed to be my present, I thought I should really get on it. I spent many hours agonizing over the pros and cons of each unit, but finally settled on this one for now:

If you know anything about e-readers, you may be confused, so let me explain. I borrowed my brother's Kobo case while I'm waiting for my case that's on order. I also am using the sticky piece of plastic that came with it for a screen protector until the real one comes. But it is a Kindle - one of the ones that has ads (which aren't bothersome, btw) and only cost $114!

Besides the low price, I decided on this one for a few reasons: It's super-easy to email my own writing to my Kindle and make notes, or highlight as I'm reading. Also, it has the text-to-speech option, and since I'm on the road a lot, I'm sure I will use that a lot. Yes, it's a robotic voice, but especially for my own writing/outlines/etc. I'm okay with that. Hey, it's the closest thing I have to my own audiobook at the moment!

Also, as of yesterday, I can get library books on my Kindle. The only thing I'm missing is not being able to read some epub files, but for the price, this is a great starter e-reader for me.

Happy weekend, everyone!