Posts Tagged ‘nanowrimo’

Personal, Travel

Greetings from World Fantasy Con

I’m writing this from my hotel room at World Fantasy Con. Last night I did something crazy and walked back to my hotel at an insane hour- 10:30. Kids, a new sign of age is turning in early at a convention and being oh so happy for just flannel pajamas and tea. The Tor party was fun until it reached critical mass, and I was ready for some fresh air and some Netflix.

I’m seeing some awesome people, being surprised by others who I didn’t know would be here, and hope to get some recording done today. It’s a good con so far.

TONIGHT I have a 10pm panel. I have no idea how that happened since I avoid evening panels like the plague, but there it is.

NANO REPORT:
In the spirit of full disclosure, here are the ways to look at my writing in the past week:

  • I am behind pace on NaNo. Booooo. I should be at 10000 now (before today’s writing, even!) and I’m at 7200.
  • I’m ahead pace on NaNo. Yaaaaayyy! According to my plan with Susanna’s Pacemaker,  I should be at around 2200 now, and I’m WAY ahead at 7200.
  • Aside- insert quote about massaging statistics to suit your needs here.
  • I have hit a roadblock because I am writing a fantasy and only yesterday did I come across the problem of needing a map, and I don’t have a map. NaNo rules say plow on ahead, but I do admit it stymied me.

My daily NaNo show for Patreon supporters continues, making my hard work recording and editing on Monday all worth it, because right now all I have to do is post a link. (Apologies, yesterday’s link came late at night.) It’s not too late- if you join the Patreon supporters now, you will get links to all the back episodes of the daily show!

Yesterday I had lunch with Gail Carriger and Howard Tayler. They are amazing, creative people who gave me a lot of confidence in my upcoming creative decisions. Some of which you will see here. Stay tuned.

And that’s it for today. I need a shower and a coffee and a writing sprint. Who’s with me? (Um, for the writing. I’ll shower alone, thanks.)

Special Link: last year’s free daily podcast, Day 7. And get all of last year’s special NaNo shows under the NaNoWriMo tag!

Podcasts, Projects

NaNoWriMo Prep!

Participant-2014-Square-ButtonI’m doing a daily ISBW show focused on NaNoWriMo for Patreon supporters – for as little as a buck a month you can get a daily show while you do NaNoWriMo.

If you can’t, or don’t want to support via Patreon, then be sure to check out last year’s posts on the subject!

* I’m doing the “rising to the challenge” system. Day 1’s wordcount is only 108, but Day 30’s wordcount is a whopping 3210.

Good luck!

Books, Projects

Afterlife VI: STONES is done!

stones-cover-sm
Cover Prototype, by Pablo Defendini

In 2011 I did a Kickstarter campaign to support the ebook design of The Afterlife Series. Multiple agents had tried to sell it, and it never caught an editor’s eye, despite being the most popular thing I had written at the time (for my listeners, anyway.) I put a high stretch goal on there, promising if someone pledged $1k I would write another novella in the series. I didn’t think it would actually go.

It did.

Life got complicated after that. Never mind that I had no idea what I was going to write. No spoilers, but at the end of Book 5: War, the fate of the characters was pretty well sealed. Then I got a deal to write two books for Orbit, and I got into an MFA program. So I blinked and three years had passed. GAH.

Long story short (shorter, anyway) this year I finally got down to writing the novella, then sent it off to a classmate for editing, then sat on the edits for a while. I just recently got through them all, and sent the book off to my designer. It’s done!

I emailed a PDF of the book to the Kickstarter supporters, and people who had supported me via Patreon (hint, if you support now you can get the free PDF long before it goes to the ebook stores!) So the book is out there to a select group, and it will be available via B&N, Smashwords, and Amazon as soon as the design is done.

But for my part, except for the ebook uploading and all that, The Afterlife Series VI: Stones is done.  And the relief I feel is monumental.

Participant-2014-Web-Banner

I’ll be doing NaNoWriMo this year, again. I don’t have a good track record, but what the hell, it’s fun. I’m not sure what project I’m working on, but I have a couple of things going on right now so it won’t be hard to settle on one.

And again, if you are a Patreon supporter, you will get a daily NaNoWriMo audio file. NOTE: If you’re a supporter and don’t do NaNo and don’t want the files, you can temporarily change your support level to “no reward” and you won’t get the emails. You will still get your weekly mail from me, and you can change back in December. That said, if you are currently at No Reward and want the files, you need to change to at least the $1 reward.

Podcasts, Projects

ISBW #334 – NaNoWriMo Prep // Charlaine Harris Interview

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:29 — 28.1MB)

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midnightcrossroad-199x300I’m back from technical difficulties, ready to talk about NaNoWriMo! Also got the amazing Charlaine Harris as this week’s interview.

If you want the daily NaNo show, support via Patreon!

Reading Now: Dust, by Elizabeth Bear
Writing (editing) Now: Afterlife Series 6: Stones

Podcasts, Projects

ISBW NaNoWriMo Special Episode 25 – When in Doubt #5 – Consume media!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:01 — 5.5MB)

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Some people want to be “pure” when they write, consuming no media, and definitely not things associated with what they are writing. I say PISH TOSH.

Podcasts, Projects

ISBW NaNoWriMo Special Episode 24 – Should you take a day off?

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It’s the holidays, things are stressful, and you might be wanting to take some time off. Should you?

And sorry about the lack of prompts for the next few eps. I didn’t have the energy and then I didn’t have the time.

Writing prompt- Monsters! Monsters, aliens, vampires, zombies, etc, they all need things to survive. Even supernaturals, if they don’t eat, they either get very cranky or very slow/sick. So if your characters comes across a monster, consider its habitat. It didn’t come to be in that room/cave/what have you just waiting for the character. It had to be eating something this time. What – or who – was it?

Podcasts, Projects

ISBW NaNoWriMo Special Episode 23 – Thanksgiving preparation

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Sorry to international fans, we’re talking about how to get through Thanksgiving!

And sorry about the lack of prompts for the next few eps. I didn’t have the energy and then I didn’t have the time.

Writing prompt- What’s your character’s favorite holiday? And if they’re not of this earth, there should still be holidays, and which one do they prefer?

Podcasts, Projects

ISBW NaNoWriMo Special Episode 22 – Taking Care of Yourself

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:32 — 2.3MB)

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Through all this stress you need to remember to take care of yourself.

And sorry about the lack of prompts for the next few eps. I didn’t have the energy and then I didnt have the time.

Writing prompt- Think about what your character does to relax – they should have something. And then deny them that thing.

Podcasts, Projects

ISBW NaNoWriMo Special Episode 21 – Middles – little conflicts

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:23 — 4.9MB)

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Some people have trouble with middles. There are many little conflicts that are stepping stones.

No prompt in the audio, but here’s your prompt for the day: Think of five little conflicts that get in the way of your character as they work to fix the big conflict. Interpersonal clashes, a jerk on the highway, Internet going down, the priestess gets sick the night of the ritual, etc.

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