Greetings and Salutations -

I'm back home! Thank you to all the editors who participated both in real life and by Skyping in. We had a blast! The weather was perfect, the house was lovely, and we shared a wealth of information. I'll be sending out emails in the coming days with summaries of our talks, so we can all share in the knowledge exchange.


NaNoWriMo

I know many of us are interested in writing a book. National Novel Writing Month is only 8 days away! This is the perfect time to get the project underway. I’ve decided I’ll be doing it. Yes, a bit insane, with my current backlog, but somehow I’ll fit it in :)

Here’s the details of how NaNoWriMo works –

http://www.lisashea.com/lisabase/writing/gettingyourbookpublished/nanowrimo.html

You don’t do ANY writing until November 1st. Then, on November 1st, you plow into it with the goal of finishing by November 30th. It doesn’t have to be perfect. This is just your first draft. But you do want the whole thing from start to finish to be written out by the 30th.

I have a profile here –

http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/lisashea

I just set it up. It’s free and only takes 3 minutes from start to finish.

Go ahead and make a profile, and then send me a link so I can “buddy” you! We can then cheerlead each other and have some fun!

I highly recommend everyone create a thread in their forum for NaNoWriMo. It applies to every topic. For example, the birding site can field questions from people who need to know if they can have a robin in their story set in colonial American times. The quilting site could answer questions from people who want a character to be a quilter and need some technical terms. Definitely consider writing articles from this bent. "How to Create a Buddhist Character" could list some key traits that a person might have. "Setting a Scene in Medieval Germany" could talk about the types of houses and daily life that would have been appropriate.

Remember, this is hundreds of thousands of writers all focusing on writing for a single month. They will be scouring the web for help with their story. The more articles you have up to help them with their sticking point, the more they'll keep coming back to you for further details!

Good luck!

Lisa Shea, owner
BellaOnline.com

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