Project Writeway.

If you're a fan of Project Runway, or contests in general, and you like to write, you might want to enter the contest over at Throwing Up Words. It's unlike any blog contest you've ever seen...and, my friends, the stakes are high.

I hope to see you all over there.

And as Tim Gunn would say: "Make it work, people!"

What I Learned At Big Sur.

I recently returned from a writing conference in Big Sur with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. It was an amazing experience and I could write about it for hours, but I really should be doing other things like writing a book and/or wrapping Christmas gifts for my children, getting Christmas gifts for my family and forcing myself off the laptop for a few days.

So, here’s the quick version:

· Living on the beautiful redwood coast for a few days.

· Meeting amazing writers and really nice people.

· Having five to one crit groups with Jennifer L and Eric Elfman. Both had great insights and were very professional and helpful.

· Listening to Ellen Hopkins and Jeff Stone speak about their publishing process.

· Being able to accost editors and agents at lunch and ask them questions about publishing, how to tweet, their pets or anything really. Guess what, they’re regular people. Just like us.

· Having no internet or phone service kept me writing and focused.

· Lots of tea and brownies.

· Good meals with writers where we’d talk about writing and practice our pitches.

· Winning the luck of the draw and getting to room with author Joy Preble. She’s written a paranormal trilogy, beginning with Dreaming Anastasia (which I'm reading and love) and she had a sit down with me and asked me some hard questions that led me to an “aha” moment. What I’ve been most impressed with, as I begin to follow more and more of the YA writing community, is how generous and giving all these authors and writers are. (Thanks Joy!)

· Leaving the conference with a handful of new friends and feeling encouraged about my writing journey.

So, now I’m off to work on being a mom and the Christmas chores this role involves, including wearing a sweatshirt my daughter made for me with her palm and footprints (strategically placed to look like a moose with antlers) and may or may not say the words “Merry Christ-moose!”

I hope you all take a little break from writing and enjoy some holiday time with your family. And then, as New Year approaches we’re going to talk about goals. Big writing goals. Are you with me?

P.S. How do you balance the crazies of the Holidays with writing?

Phew.

Go ahead, click on it.

Despite Thanksgiving, life, the flu (acting like the black plague), my kids, the interwebz
And with the help of my crit partners, NANOWRIMO pep talks, diet coke and chocolate
I won!
I did.
Really.

And I learned A LOT!
And I had fun.
And I know, now, I can do really hard things.
And I love my writing buddies. No, really love them.

I already miss getting daily word count messages from them.

And now I have to finish the novel that I began. So, if you'll excuse me....

What I've Learned From NaNo So Far.

Writing the beginning if fun. Writing the middle is hard.

I have amazing Crit partners who offer advice, listen to whining and send care packages.

Also, they write beautiful words like these.

Some days are easier than others.

Some days are impossible.

The people in the rest of my life have no concept of what I’m doing, nor do they want to hear about it (excepting, of course, my husband and kids).

I draft well with music. (I think it mostly drowns out the noise of the kids)

I wore a hole in the butt of my favorite jeans. Yep. And I’m not ashamed.

After this month is over I’m going to:

Buy new jeans. Go to dinner to celebrate. Go to a movie. Not write on the weekends. And try to keep the momentum going!

How are you doing? What have you learned?

Things I Have to Do Before I Can Start Writing.

Otherwise entitled: Procrastination.

Exercise. I know. I can’t help it. I get up really, really (I know, two adverbs) early (ok, three) in the morning to do this.

Make bed. I didn’t do this the first day and it didn’t get made for two days. I know, not necessary, but just a little something Martha Stewart taught me.

Clean up breakfast dishes. Something about the hum of the dishwasher creates a nice background noise for noveling.

Procure four-year-old playmate for Jane. The moms in the neighborhood are loving me because I’m begging them to bring their kids over. If they don’t, Jane ends up watching TV all day. Not good.

Stock desk with glass of ice water or, if I’m cold, hot herbal tea (I like the peach with sugar and milk).

Also, does anyone know how many calories the little bite-size Halloween candy bars are? Just wondering, cause I may have eaten twenty yesterday. I consider chocolate collateral damage during November.

So. What do you do to prepare for your writing day?

First Day Stats

First sentence: Apparently making a star isn’t that big of a deal.

Last Sentence: A bulldog sticker peeked from the corner of the scrambler’s back window.

Word Count: 2001

Emotional Stability? This took longer than I anticipated. I'm hoping it's because it was the first day and as we all know, the first page/chapter is the hardest. I had to keep reminding myself this is just a draft. I can fix it later. I WILL fix it later.

How did you do?

NaNoWriMo

So. Here’s the thing. When I was in college I had this boyfriend. He was a philosopher type and was a little obsessed with Nineteenth Century Transcendentalism. Of course Walden was his bible. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy being in a relationship with a philosopher, he was always pondering and then wanting me to ponder and be all brilliant with him and, well, I’m not. Brilliant I mean.

So one time he looked at me and told me he’d figured me out. Like I was this very deep and profound puzzle, which—as I’ve said before—I’m not. I’m shallow. Simple and shallow. Really. Anyway, when I asked him what he meant he said, “You’re chapter eight.” And then he stopped, like I was supposed to know what that meant. So I picked up Walden and read chapter eight, which is called “The Village.”

So here’s the deal. Thoreau went to the woods to ‘live deliberately,’ you know, suck out the marrow of life and live isolated and independent on his little plot with his little house and his paper weight (another chapter that would bore you) and his rows of green beans. Well the truth was, he didn’t. He went to the village, which was Concord, everyday. That’s right everyday!

So I guess old Thoreau was a social guy after all. And I suppose my boyfriend was right. I’m a village kind of girl. I like people. I like community. I thrive on conversation and support and friendship.

Which is why being a writer is hard sometimes. It’s a solitary life.

And that, my friends, is why I’m doing NaNo. I’m drawn to it by my sense of community. I know, for a month, I will be participating in an absurd undertaking. But at least I’m being absurd with thousands of other crazy villagers. Our writing village.

And everyday, as I finish my word count, I’ll step out of my little cottage on Walden pond, take a deep breath of woodsy air, suck out the marrow of life, snap a green bean into my mouth and saunter to Concord. My little writing village. And we’ll gossip about writer’s block and plot and characters and story arc and failure.

And then we’ll ‘sail from some bright village parlor’ and make for our ‘snug harbor in the woods’ ready for the next day with a ‘merry crew of thoughts.’

And when we’re done we’ll get t-shirts and book bags and a button for our blog. And we’ll say, ‘We did it. We survived.’ Because, you see, it’s better to survive or fail with each other than alone.

So. Are you doing NaNo?