A big thanks to all those that have submitted in last week's post! From the look of things, you were all writing novels for Nanowrimo and were more or less on track, which is awesome! As is, a month seems to have already passed... somehow. It's already December. Meaning NaNoWriMo is over and we're faced with one question: What now? (Great question by the way). The first thing that comes to mind (mainly because it's literally tomorrow), is Pitmad. Now don't quote me on this, because I am not as well versed in Pitmad as I am in NaNoWriMo. I only participated once and didn't get very far, probably because I participated on a whim, in the moment, and hadn't planned it in advance. Not that I'm any more prepared this time lol, but whatever. For those that don't know, Pitmad, to my knowledge, is a manuscript showcase that happens on twitter. You basically pitch your novel(s) in a tiny paragraph (like, 280 words). You then add in the relevant hashtag (#pitmad) and the hashtags relevant to the genre of your novel (#YA for young adult, for example, or #SFF for sci-fi/fantasy). Agents will be on twitter, looking around and liking all those that are of interest to them. As such, a like is very much like an invitation to pitch that specific agent. That is also why the goal is for your tweet to be seen by as many people as possible. But how? Mainly by retweets. So you need to have followers, or friends, or reach out to others to swap retweets - an introvert's nightmare. That is why Pitmad, in my humble opinion, is stressful. Unlike Nanowrimo, Pitmad revolves around the fact that you're pitching your novel to the public. Everyone. And it's especially awkward when you're not on twitter any other time of the year. So in order to participate, not only does your novel need to be ready, but you've also got to be ready to share the pitch of your WIP for the world to see. Though it's not like many people will see it, if you've got as many followers as me, but still. It's out there. I'll let you know how it went in my next post, but you can also see it happen live on my twitter (@zoe7_justine) if you want to have a laugh. What about you all then?
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Hey all! So I'm back to talk about NaNoWriMo, an organization very dear to my heart because it's all about writing! The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 'a novel' in the span of one month (officially November, so we're in it right now!). That's probably why it's call National Novel Writing Month. Not sure about the 'national' part though, since people from all over the world participate. I started participating in 2016 with a goal to finish my now main WIP, DREAMING. Lol. And this is about how it went: Clearly, I wasn't able to maintain the about 1,600 words you need per day to arrive at a 'novel' length script at the end (50,000 words). Back then I was in my first year of Uni, and I didn't write as quickly as I do now (as I like to think). Funnily enough, during NaNoWriMo 2017, it went about exactly the same. I only made it half way. Finally, 2018 comes around. A weird year, to be sure. But yeah! I made it! For the first time, I started with a completely new project, having no idea where it would go. It was an experiment. And it worked! I think the thing to have in mind is that NaNo is there to write what you want to write about. Don't get stuck up on novel formalities - those can come later. Right now it's about enjoying the worlds you create. Easier said than done. Fast forward to 2019, and my abysmal 10,000 words total and half a month spent not writing. Then came Corona. Stuck inside all day. Hating my master's degree. Spewing out a will to escape on the page, unconsciously dreaming about returning to Scotland... and voilà. An alternate-history-victorian-revolution novel is born. And here we are, in 2021. The first year I really started exchanging with other writers online during the event. Unfortunately, my job at the moment is extremely demanding (no thanks to me needing to be a perfectionist), so I find little to no time to write during the week, and, as such, have to dump out all my words on the page during the weekend: And even though I hope to win Nano 2021, I've found that even without winning, it's always a win if you write any amount at all. One word added to the doc is more than none. Well, I guess I should probably get back to writing, seeing as I'd be below the goal line by tomorrow... My username on Nanowrimo.org is J.K.Dietz if you'd like to know more about what I write or if you'd like to buddy up! Stay tuned for the next post! Welcome to my rants when writing fiction gets too frustrating! Can't wait to exchange with other writers! I've been over-writing for over seven years now. Which led me to enroll in a Master of Arts in English literature. Best decision ever? Maybe? The courses taught me that writing is complicated, but it was the fellow students who taught me that writing and sharing writing is above all else fun (the reason for this blog haha). I had the privilege of meeting so many amazingly talented people from around the world during performance nights and creative writing evenings. And just writing about it is making me all excited about writing! It's always inspiring to be surrounded by an array of talented artists, which for me are now (thanks to covid) twitter friends and discord groups. And seeing all those other writers, I realize that I may be no closer to having a clue of how to write right. But hey, I still write. And if there's one thing I'm sure of, is that practice makes better (not necessarily perfect, there's no such thing). So yes, I'm not an expert, but I am a writer. All I can hope for is for you to learn from my mistakes! Oh joy! Let me know about all of you! How long have you all been working on your WIPs? And how has it been going? If you'd like to possibly have yourself or your manuscript mentioned in the next post, feel free to fill out the survey below! |