Tag Archives: fiction writing
Newbie, Apprentice, or Master Writer?
I’m not a newbie writer anymore. I don’t even cringe as I say the words that used to scare me: “I’m a writer.” Nope, that’s ME! But despite the people who tell me I’m a genius and are waiting breathlessly for my next book (yes, there are a few of them out there), I’m nowhere near a master. I’m solidly in my apprenticeship, working and learning along the way. Kristen Lamb blogged about this yesterday and gave permission to share. Here’s our Jedi Master on the three stages of a writing career: The mark of a pro is they make whatever we want to do look easy. From running a business to playing guitar to wicked cool Kung Fu moves, masters rarely seem to even break a sweat. Same with authors. With the pros? The story flows, pulls us in, and appears seamless and effortless. Many of us decided to … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo Ends
It’s official. The November craziness of National Novel Writing Month is over. My gray progress bar turned gradually to blue as I accumulated words, and 50,444 words later, it flashed green–I won! Then when the validation process opened up on Nov. 25th and I uploaded my words, it turned purple with a big “WINNER!” inside it. Hurray! It was an exhausting month. I set my goal at 3,000 words a day (about 12 double-spaced pages), which seemed a humongous amount to me. There were days where the writing flowed and I did it in two sessions, and days where I kept forcing myself back to the computer again and again, plodding away until I made it. I finished by the 22nd, as planned, but I had hoped to keep writing in snippets even while we had visitors. I was surprised at how quickly I dropped it all when I uploaded … Continue reading