NaNoWriMo

Categories: My Books, My writing, NaNoWriMo

Hi There!

Hi friends,

What is this? Another update post in the same year? That’s a miracle! hehe

Though, I’m still failing on social media. I confess I have no patience to scroll through Twitter anymore, and Facebook can irritate me in two seconds depending on the post I stumbled across. The only thing that is still tolerable is Instagram. And maybe Pinterest, but even this last one I haven’t visited as often as before.

I’m trying to be a little better at social media, because I know a writer should interact more with other writers and readers, etc … and I do miss that but it might take me a while to actually get back into it.

Anyway, what have I been up to? Too many things, actually.

Let’s see if I can list them:

I just revamped Playing Pretend. I added 13k words on it, reedited, got a new cover, and uploaded the new version everywhere. I have book review tour scheduled for January. If you’re a book blogger or an avid reader who likes to share your reviews on your blog and/or social media and/or vendors website, you can participate! Follow this link to sign-up!
I’m finishing touch-ups on a Christmas novella that I’ll release in December. Heads up: it’ll be free!
I’m writing a secret new book! I’ve started it back in July, put it aside to work on other things, but now I’m back at it and I’m using NaNoWriMo to finish it.
I’m also working on Breaking 4. It’s going slow as I’m working on plotting it right now, but it’s going. (Though I do have 20k words written on it already!)

nanowrimo_2016_webbadge_participant-200

And these are all the things happening now. I won’t list the things to come, because 1) there are too many and 2) I change my mind constantly and the list I show you today will probably be different from the one I come up with next week.

Now tell me what is up with you?

Cheers,

JuHLogo

Categories: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 2014

Hi friends,

This year, I’ll TRY to participate of NaNoWriMo. The past couple of years, it was difficult because I had to work on edits of other projects, which left me with little time to write, but this year I don’t think I have any edits to work on …

However, I don’t write on weekends, and then there’s Thanksgiving … We’ll see how far I can get with my novel ;)

Are you NaNoing? Add me as buddy!

Good luck to us!

Cheers,

Categories: NaNoWriMo, RTW

RTW: Are you NaNoWriMoing?

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic:

Are you doing NaNoWriMo, or have you ever? Does having a deadline inspire you?

I was going to write a post about NaNo but when I saw RTW was going to ask about it, I decided to do 2 in 1 and post them together ;)

I won NaNo last year with a story I like very much (called Gypsy Heart) but it still needs some (= a lot) revision and fixing ;)

I *think* I’ll participate of NaNoWriMo this year. It’ll depend on how my edits are going and if I want to stop the story I just started. OR I’ll be a rebel and finish the manuscript, writing the last 50k words during NaNo. I do like the energy that fills the air around NaNo and the buzz of everyone talking about it. And, this year I’m here in the US again, which means there’s a local group that meets for NaNo at least 4 times a week! Which is exciting! I’m gonna go on the kick-off party on Oct 27th and I hope to get along with the group to keep going on the meetings. Eeeep!

As for deadlines, I love them. I wish there was someone by my side with a whip all day long telling me that the damn book won’t write itself, and punishing me when the daily word count isn’t met. I’m serious. I always try to impose deadlines to myself. I have a white board beside my desk where I schedule when to start, when to finish, when to edit, when to plot, etc. But it’s not the same. I do wish for the whip and the big, nasty ogre telling me: BIC HOK!

Me in my NaNoWriMo 2012 t-shirt

Oh, my NaNoWriMo profile: Juliana_Haygert. Add me!

Are you doing NaNo this year? Do you like deadlines?

Also, leave your NaNo profile in the comments so we can chase each other down ;)

Cheers,

Categories: #ROW80, Blogging, My writing, NaNoWriMo

#ROW80 Checkin 11/27

Hello everyone!

Here we go for another check-in (already?).

Note: this post was written Friday night and scheduled to go live on Sunday morning (so no news from Sat and Sun).

Reminder of my goals:

Participate on NaNoWriMo
Revise my NaNo novel (G.H.)
Read 1 book per week
Blog at least once per week (besides the #ROW80 check-ins)
Comment on #ROW80 friends’ blogs

Blogging

All done.

Reading

Finished THE DUFF by Kody Keplinger.

Finished RULES OF ATTRACTION by Simone Elkeles.

Reading HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD NOVEL by James N. Frey. Hopefully, I’ll have finished it by Sunday.

Writing

Honestly, I lost count of how many words I wrote each day this week. However, I went from 39k words (last Friday) on my NaNo novel to 50k (on Thursday). And added about 3,400 words on Friday.

I just wrote the final battle. I tend to rush through it because I’m so caught up (battles are exhausting! lol). I have to learn to relax and think it through, think about all surrounding the battle, all emotions, etc.

Then, I just need to write the three final scenes to settle everything and I’ll be done with it. So it should be more 8k-12k words to finish this manuscript.

How are you, my friends? How was everyone’s Thanksgiving?

To check other #row80 members’ progress, you can visit the blog and click on today’s check-in post. There you’ll find a linky list with all the participants.

Cheers,

Categories: My writing, NaNoWriMo

I kicked NaNoWriMo @$$

I’ve finished NaNoWriMo yesterday!

Yup, I did it!

My manuscript (I’m calling it G.H. for now) isn’t finished yet, but it’s near the end. About more 10k-15k should do it.

Oh, I would like to tell you two things:

I didn’t wrote on 11 of these 24 days. Oh, yeah. Sick kid, sick me, holidays and weekends. Busy month, I’ll say. So, doing the math, I got 50k words down in 13 days.
Well, 13 days if you count the novel I started writing but abandoned the second week of NaNo. That’s right. I changed manuscripts on the second week. The first ms had about 15k words on it when I switched to a new ms and went from 0 to 50k words ;)

Before you go “ohmigosh how can you write so much” just remember I don’t have a day job and my daughter goes to school at least for the afternoon, giving me lot of free time, of writing time.

Writing is my day job. If I don’t get a lot of words down on a regular writing day, it means I’m procrastinating and doing a really, really bad job. Which happens sometimes. I try to treat writing as my serious job, which means to write even when I’m not in the mood and through blocks and through colds. I just push it through. However, it does happen when I have a migraine (which is often) and when I procrastinate to start my writing section for the day … I end up going around the house, fixing things, cooking, etc … there is always something to do around the house … I’m getting better at this, though there are days when I slip a little.

Anyway, I’m happy I “won” NaNo!

And how are you guys? Done? Almost there?

Good luck!

Cheers,

Categories: #ROW80, Blogging, Me, My writing, NaNoWriMo

ROW80 Check-in Sun 11/06

My first check-in since NaNoWriMo started. (Note: I’m writing this check-in on Friday afternoon, scheduling it go live on Sunday morning).

The problem was I had a cold during the first part of the week. My head hurt so much, I couldn’t stare at the screen. So, no writing for me then.

Oh, and about my leg. After I write this (Friday afternoon), I’m going to the hospital for a MRI of my knee … so next Friday I’ll see the knee specialist. I’m taking some medicine to increase the electrical current on my nerves, so it doesn’t hurt that much anymore. And that’s it for now. I’ll keep you all updated.

On with the topic of this post:

My goals (I cut the part already accomplished):

Participate on NaNoWriMo
Revise my NaNo novel (Energy)
Read 1 book per week
Blog at least once per week (besides the #ROW80 check-ins)
Comment on #ROW80 friends’ blogs

Blogging

I’m good on that.

And commenting and tweeting too ;)

Reading

I’ve read The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong and Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Now, I’m reading Storm Born by Richelle Mead.

I try to read cross genre and even other genres. I think it enriches the writer in me ;)

Writing

At the beginning of the week, it was hard to get any word count done, since I was out with a cold.

But then I caught up.

Total first week of NaNo: a little over 16k words. Not bad, but not what I wanted …

And how is everyone?

Who is on NaNoWriMo and is not on my writing buddies list? You can find me here.

Have a good one, guys!

Cheers,

Categories: Me, My writing, NaNoWriMo

The fun (aka craziness) starts!

It’s November 1st.

The day National Novel Writing Month starts.

Are you ready?

I am.

This is my first year doing NaNo. Here is my profile, if you want to be my writing buddy or check out what I am writing.

Why I am doing NaNo, you may ask.

Well, like my friend Jani Grey posted on her blog, I work much better under pressure and knowing I have to finish the month with 50k words or I’ll be a loser is a challenge, especially with so many writers I know participating in it.

I’m very excited.

My writing buddies feature is filling up nicely and I joined a “local” group of Brazilian writers, so I feel good about this, about writing with my friends and having fun and supporting each other. I’m in love with the writing community.

I know many people, and famous authors and uber agents, look down upon NaNoWriMo. Some authors says every month should be treated as November is and some agents says their query inbox fills up with crap during December. And I believe them. There are a lot of people out there who has no sense or no notion about how to write and what to write … they think it’s only putting words on paper and it’s done. But not every writer is like that. They shouldn’t judge all based on a few. More important, they shouldn’t express this kind of opinion publicly.

However, I think NaNoWriMo is a nice way of rushing through your first draft. First draft needs to be rushed. It’s when all your ideas and inspiration are at. If you don’t rush through it, you’ll loose interest and objectivity.

What is better than knowing Anna and the French Kiss and Water for Elephants were first drafted during NaNo? It gives us hope.

I know my first drafts aren’t crap. They may need some revision, but they are never crap. Yes, of course, that’s because I have learned a lot about craft during the years. I bet that if I took NaNo when I first started writing, my novel then would be crap … but it isn’t now.

NaNoToons … more can be found here. Too funny!

More important, I’m doing it for fun.

So … let the fun begin!

Cheers,