One Month Challenge

No, I’m not going to make you eat bran for a specified period of time. (Hey, did you know William Shatner is 80! Hard to believe. He’s so youthful. Come to think of it, maybe we should be eating bran…)

Ruth Cardello (Hi, Ruth!) is doing a little one month promotional challenge over on AgentQuery Connect this month. She’s the author of Maid for the Billionaire and For Love or Legacy which she self-published in ebook format. Her books are doing so well that when the publishers come calling, she ends up turning them away because they CAN’T DO BETTER THAN SHE IS when it comes to showing her the money. Wow, eh?

Anyway, Ruth is a hard-working gal who spends an hour a day doing some publicity work for her books. And because her success is no longer a huge secret, she has writers begging her to share her secrets. It’s no secret, she wrote a great book followed by another one and then has been working hard to her titles on everyone’s lips and into their ereaders. But because Ruth doesn’t have a ton of time, she is ‘hosting’ the challenge as a way for writers/authors to step up, be motivated, keep themselves accountable, and to collaborate.

And because I’ve been rejected once again by a publisher for my platform not being big enough, I am joining her in the challenge. That’s right. I’m going to make some lemonade with these lemons and I’m going to give it a shot of vodka while I’m at it.

Honestly, why have this lovely platform building plan in my marketing plan for a book that is never going to sell because I haven’t built a platform? Hello? This is Tokyo. Yes, Jean? You aren’t big here either.

So what do you say? Are you with me? (Us?) And if you have any great platform building, promotional tips shoot them at me! I’ve got my catcher’s mitt on.

NaNoWriMo Bad, Bad, Bad

Yes, that’s right. It is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) time again. That means lots of crazy writers–we’re talking thousands upon thousands–are all converging to try and write a novel of at least 50,000 words in one month. And that month would be November.

Have I done it? Yes.

Have I succeeded? Yes.

Have I failed? Yes.

Have I a pile of wonderful, exciting first drafts that are sitting around impatiently waiting for me to have the time to come back to them since creating them during NaNo? Yes. (This is the “bad, bad, bad” part of this post’s title.)

Will I be doing NaNo again this year? Sadly, no.

Will I write at all in November? Heck yeah. I just don’t have the time to commit myself to 50K on something new. And “commit myself” is the right phrase. We’re talking creating serious mental issues if I try to do it this year. Plus then I’ll have ANOTHER first draft of a lovely story picking at me to become a lovely, edited novel for someone else’s eyes.

This is so, so true!

What, you may ask, is the lure of NaNoWriMo? For many it’s watching that little word count thermometer rise and rise and rise until it hits the 50K mark. It’s addicting really. It releases a little something inside that kicks the internal editor right on its sorry little behind. The words come flying out. The story soars and floods the page. It is exhilarating. It’s a challenge too. And for some, there are the bragging rights as well. To say you wrote a novel in a month. Well now. That’s really something!

Wanna give it a go? NaNo has a lovely support group/writers group on its website. And lovely badges to post with pride. And many other gadgetry goodness that will for sure have your hot little hands rubbing themselves together.

Enjoy!

WEbook Challenge News

So, guess what?

My finely edited piece that I entered in the WEbook Page To Fame Challenge was ixnayed. However, my not-so edited piece (which does have a slightly flashier and more interesting first page) has been elevated to the next level. I’ve been asked to submit the next 5 pages for level 2 and two literary agents will be reviewing the first page. A critique partner of mine has already had her first page elevated on her submission as well as rated by literary agents. She says they just click the button–just like the average joe reviewers–and that you don’t get personal feedback. Nuts.

If this image is blurry, you need to drink less. I’m not judging, I’m just saying….

Still, cool beans! It’s been worth the $5 entry fee in entertainment value alone.

Writing a First Draft in Two Weeks: Part 3

How am I doing in my online class and its imposed challenge of writing a first draft in two weeks? (280 double-spaced pages.) Well, it’s going.

Sorta.

Speaking of Crazy Goals…

I’ve done an awful lot in the past two weeks, except make the 280 page mark. I am pleased to announce that I am over the 200 page threshold, but with the midnight Sunday deadline approaching faster than Easter, let’s just say, hitting 280 ain’t gonna happen. I mean, sure, I’m open to miracles. But the fact of the matter is, I’m not going to drop absolutely everything in order to accomplish this goal. In fact, writing 77 pages in the next 30.5 hours would pretty much ensure I would break a whole lot of other goals. Such as my goal of being a reasonable person, my goal of keeping my family happy and fed–heck, even hanging out with my family, my goal of getting through laundry before the work week commences once again, my goal of being a non-negligent mother, etc, etc. Plus, I’m pretty sure the cat I’m sitting would get a bit pissy if I just ran into the house, flung food at her, and hurried off again. (Same goes for my family, actually.)

There is something to be said for making unreasonable attempts, such as writing 280 pages in two weeks while trying to retain a semblance of real life (and not get fired or divorced or visited by family services). There is also something to be said for making goals and doing your best to get close to them. For example, if I hadn’t tried to reach this goal, I would still only have notes as to where I wanted to go with this story idea.

So what have I learned? I can squeeze in a little writing time every day if I make it a priority. And heck, it’s still a pile of fun! (Plus, if I write up to 9:13 in the morning, I can eek into work just in the nick of time. Whew!)

The next crazy goal? To revise this puppy in two weeks–that’s the second half of the class. I wonder if it matters that it is only 207 pages long and incomplete. Hmm…

Writing a First Draft in Two Weeks: Part #2

I’m cranking out the pages today, but had to stop to do a little research to help me push the story forward in the right direction. The problem is, my research has popped a question right up into the forefront of thee ol’ brain.

First, some backstory. The main character in my WIP believes she was conceived as a result of artificial insemination through a sperm donor clinic.

Doing my research on clinics, etc, I began to wonder… do I use a real clinic? What are the pluses, what are the drawbacks?

My story is set in a fictional small town in rural Alberta and there are three clinics in Alberta listed on the DonorSiblingRegistry.com website and so I was thinking, do I use a real clinic? Using a real clinic might add more details to the story that a fictional clinic may not. The problem is that if I use a real place, then I have to do even more research to ensure that I represent this place accurately as there is correspondence back and forth regarding policy, etc. And to do that, I may not be able to manipulate my character and storyline in the way I imagine. I suppose I could do the research and then figure out what works best for my story. The best of both worlds?

Here’s the other problem… when calling someone up out of the blue to ask questions, when I imagine the script, I always get stuck. For example, here’s my big ‘what if’ that leaves me stumped:

“Hi, my name is Jean Oram and I am writing a novel about a girl who is searching for her Bio-Dad who was a sperm donor in the 1980s. I’m hoping you can help me out by answering a few questions I have.”

“Cool! When will the book be published?”

“Uhhhh… well, see… here’s the thing–”

Have you delved deep into research where you interviewed people? What did you do? How did you handle the ‘when does the book come out’ topic?

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P.S. Here is my progress so far:

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 14

Wednesday: 13

Thursday: 20

Friday: 24 and still going

LATER NOTE: I wrote 44 pages today (double spaced, 6625 words). Whew!