Promo - Now until July 1st

Hi friends!

Anyone who has known me for about 5 minutes knows I'm a huge proponent of National Novel Writing Month. Well, they need a bit of help - their Young Writer's Program (YWP) website is getting a bit old and in need of some sprucing up. This is used by thousands of teachers and students each year to cultivate a love of the written word in the classroom while also fulfilling essential national learning standards throughout the US.

They are currently trying to raise $50,000 to overhaul the site. If you can make a direct donation, please go here and do so.

If you need just a little more convincing or want a little something more to sweeten the deal, I'm currently making a pledge: for every copy of my book, On Her Own Two Wheels, purchased between now and July 1st, I will donate the royalties directly to NaNoWriMo immediately upon receipt, including both Kindle and paperback versions.

If you know me in person and want a paperback copy, I'm also selling my limited number of promotional paperback copies for the discounted price of $5 each, of which the entire $5 will be donated to NaNoWriMo.

Support the stories of tomorrow and, however you do it, consider funding their wonderful programs so that teachers and students can continue to enjoy them in the classroom in the years to come!

Love,
Stacy

Writing Resources, Communities, and Stuff I Love

In order to motivate myself to get going again, I've decided to compile a list of writing resources I love. I hope you find it useful!

1) NaNoWriMo. Whenever someone asks me about writing, this is, without fail, the first thing I tell them about. NaNoWriMo runs every November. You write 50,000 words in one month in order to win bragging rights and the knowledge that You Can Do It. My first novel, On Her Own Two Wheels, came from my first ever NaNoWriMo. Now, this fabulous program also includes:

A) Camp NaNoWriMo. Every April and July, you can set a word goal of your choice and work on a project type of your choice (novel, script, epic poem, short story, nonfiction, WHATEVER) with you and your cabin mates cheering each other on.

B) No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days (Amazon Affiliate link). I have read this book several times over and find new tidbits to highlight every time. It is inspirational and awesome.

2) The International 3 Day Novel Contest. As if writing 50,000 words in 30 days wasn't challenging enough, this insane contest calls for you to crank out a rough draft over America's Labor Day Weekend. Recommended goal: 25,000 words of original fiction. There is an entry fee and prizes for winners.

3) 642 Things to Write Journal (Amazon Affiliate link). Whenever I get stuck, I use these writing prompts to get un-stuck, generate new ideas, and feel writerly again.

4) This article about Amanda Hocking. Because it makes me feel like dreams are real.

A) Speaking of which, Amanda Hocking's blog. Because, again, it makes me feel like dreams are real.

5) Scrivener [Download] (Amazon Affiliate link). Writing tools can make all the difference in putting you in a writerly mood. I love Scrivener, just opening it makes me feel more writerly.

6) This free class from OpenLearn. It's just the basics, but skimming it can make you feel more like writing again and can stir up some long-dormant creative juices.

7) This article about marketing and building a fan base. This isn't like the field of dreams: just because you built a book doesn't mean people are gonna read it. You need to get readers, and this talks about how and the real math behind it all.

What are some of your favorite resources for writing? Or, if you're a reader, what do you like to read?

Guest Post for NaNoWriMo!

Hi friends!

Well, I don't know about you, but I am busy gearing up for NaNoWriMo this year. As Chicago's only municipal liaison, I have my hands full! I did do a guest post for NaNoWriMo Prep, though, so hop on over and take a look!

Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? What will you be doing - pantsing or planning?

Love,
Stacy

A Pledge

I love writing.

I also love National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

Correspondingly, I love the non-profit that hosts NaNoWriMo, The Office of Letters and Light. Please read more about the fabulous programs they provide for young writers, teachers, and grown-up writers here, here, and here.

 As such, I'm making a pledge for the month of November:

1) All royalties from sales of my book, On Her Own Two Wheels, in the month of November, shall go to the programs hosted by The Office of Letters and Light. You can purchase my book either from CreateSpace at this link or from Amazon at this link.

 2) I have 25 promotional copies of my book that I special-ordered for NaNoWriMo. If you make a $10 donation, I will give/send you a copy of my book as a donor gift. I can collect the donation and send it for you, or you can show me your donor receipt via email if you donate directly at this link. First 25 donors only. U.S. shipping, 48 contiguous states only. You can send me your donor receipt via email at stacyxavier7 at gmail dot com.

 3) If you don't want my book, fine! I see how it is. :-) But you can still feel really good about yourself and do something nice for the holidays by either donating directly at the link above or through the secure StayClassy Page at this link.

 However you do it, please consider donating to this wonderful organization so they can continue offering their programming to thousands of children, and even a few of us adults, around the world.

Camp NaNoWriMo!

May and June snuck up on me. I am pretty sure they were in cahoots. Plotting all throughout April to ambush me and catch me unawares. Before I realized it, July was here. And boy, did July drag.

While May and June flew by with the speed of a thousand irate wasps, July has plodded along, kind of moping, really, like an uninvited guest that has overstayed its welcome, that cannot just take the hint and seriously you need to leave before I throw you out of MY HOUSE. Ahem.

August comes as a bit of a relief. August, I think, will be An Improvement.

One reason is the very title of this entry: Camp NaNoWriMo. The very title makes me want to parody the theme song from that old Nickelodeon show, Salute Your Shorts. (Y'know... "Camp Annawanna, we hold you in our hearts, and when we think about you...")

Camp NaNoWriMo is basically NaNoWriMo in the summer. Rather than having to wait all the way til November to recklessly go where few novelists have gone before, though, you can pick the summer month of your choice - June or August (or both) - and use your novel as an excuse for not having more of a tan and avoiding the life-threatening rays of the sun during these sweltering times.

I tried to do Camp NaNoWriMo last year but failed kind of miserably. I had a major surgery a couple days into it and never quite recovered the word count (though my health recovered quite nicely, it just took longer than expected). I've successfully defeated NaNoWriMo: The November Version on a few different occasions, including with the book that I'm currently editing to publish by the end of the summer, which I wrote during my first NaNoWriMo back in 2007. I'm hoping lightning will strike a second time as I plan to write the sequel over the next 31 days.

If you're interested in taking on the challenge yourself, hop on over to the Camp NaNoWriMo website to sign up. You'll get assigned a cabin, which will be your support group for the month, and the tools to track your noveling progress. The goal is the same as traditional NaNoWriMo: write a 50,000 word novel in the span of one month. In August, which is a 31-day month, that equals 1,613 words per day, which is roughly two and a half pages, depending on font/font size. This entry is currently about 400 words at this point. And now it's more. And more. And more. And more. And...

Anyways. 

Are you doing Camp NaNoWriMo this year?

Favorite Words

I've been receiving the Dictionary.com Word of the Day everyday since my freshman year of college (which was back in 2001... wow, now I feel old). One of my favorite challenges for NaNoWriMo is incorporating the Word of the Day into my writing for each day of November, no matter how odd the word. Now, I'm not saying I'm particularly great about reading the words each day - many times they end up getting glossed over and filed away in my NaNoWriMo mail folder (yes, I do save each one) but every so often I'll learn a delightful new word and stow it away in my brain's filing cabinet for an opportune moment to use it.

I've been a particular slacker lately, with everything going on with my work and my freelancing, and have not been giving my Word of the Day subscription quite the attention it deserves. I think it must have realized this, for today it gave me pause - the word of the day was my all-time favorite word, "persnickety."

When you learn the definition (which I'm not going to tell you - look it up!), you'll find it's not as if it is a particularly positive word. It does describe my personality in some respects - the way I was about my school work, for example, or grammar (learn the difference between your and you're, dammit). However, if you take a moment to say it out loud, you'll find it trips rather delightfully along the tongue, a perfect combination of simple phonetic sounds. I think the only thing more pleasant to read aloud is Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

In other news, I've made it past the scene that was giving me such pause in my novel. I've been moping along, word by word, not getting more than 50 words per day for the past few days, when finally I just decided what needed to happen: time to blow some crap up. It was just what I needed, and I managed to crank out a not-too-shabby 1000 words yesterday. Still less than I'd like, but this isn't NaNoWriMo - I need to focus just a little bit on quality over quantity, even if much of it will end up re-written during the editing process.

Well, time for that bane of my existence - the ever-present day job. Sally forth and whatnot.