New Frontiers in Fantasy
I’m fresh off a win from NaNoWriMo with 50,000 words towards a single novel and 30,000 other words written for a personal best of 80,000 words written in one month. Congrats to all those who finished NaNoWriMo!
Another great giveaway hop where you can win some great things just in time for the holidays. Enter below on the Rafflecopter widget, and then visit the many other blogs participating. Thanks, and happy holidays!
Congratulations to all those who completed National Novel Writing Month! I finished early this year and that felt pretty good. I’m now on to what I call “National Novel Revision Month”, in which I sand down the rough edges of my hastily-constructed novel. I’m sure many of you are doing the same. I’ve decided to call this sequel to the Last Archangel, “The Last Kingdom”, which has to do with the prophecy in Daniel 2 of the Old Testament. Go read it for a clue as to what I mean: http://lds.org/scriptures/ot/dan/2?lang=eng
As such, I want to announce the winners of my NaNoWriMo contest. Alas, no one who entered the contest beat me to the punch of winning NaNoWriMo, but I did select three lucky winners to receive first chapter evaluations of their NaNoWriMo manuscripts. They are:
Heather Justesen
Diana Ault
Megan Conway
Thanks for entering! I think I’ll make that an annual event, so start gearing up for next year.
Next of all, I’m very excited about how many people are preparing stories for my Christmas Carol anthology. I would still love to see more entries. If you are considering writing one, please let me know so that I can make sure we all write on different songs. I have included a list of those songs already taken in my “Current Projects” page above.
All proceeds of this project will go to the National Down Syndrome Society, which is a great cause, so I hope you’ll help me spread the word! If there is anyone who would like to volunteer their services in helping design a cover, edit/typeset, or anything else, please shoot me an email at thecanticlekingdom@gmail.com.
Finally, look for a new blog hop starting tomorrow, and to all of you, I wish a blessed and peaceful holiday season.
Day 17 and I’m done! I finished at about 1 a.m. this morning with word 50,000. Last year I did it in 26 days, so 17 is a new personal best, and that’s what really counts, right?
Please also consider entering my NaNoWriMo contest. Though no one has won before me, I will draw three people from those who finish before the end of the month for first chapter evaluations.
You can update your word count by either leaving a comment on one of my posts or by posting on my Facebook author page at http://www.facebook.com/authormichaelyoung. You can find the widget to offical enter the contest by clicking on any of my NaNoWriMo posts.
With NaNoWriMo finished, I’m going to go back to the Monday/Thursday schedule. Next Monday I’ll have a follow up post with things I learned from this year’s NaNoWriMo. I’ll also highlight any of your who post your word counts or who finishes. My faithful commenter Robin is up to 31229 words as of yesterday. I’m sure she’ll be done soon!
Word Count:
Writing Tip of the Day:
Once you have finished the first draft of your project, take a little time to celebrate. Pat yourself on the back and let a few others do so as well. Then, I usually find it is good to let the the piece have a brief cooling off period. Shelve it for a week and let it stew in your mind. Then, come back to it and launch into revisions. Your project is done–it has just moved on to the next phase in its life cycle.
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Day 15 of NaNoWriMo and only about 5,000 words from victory. I’ve got a busy day, but I’m going to try to spring to the end to be done in half the time of a usually NaNoWriMo run. Wish me luck!
Please also consider entering my NaNoWriMo contest. I could use some more people on my leaderboard. You can update your word count by either leaving a comment on one of my posts or by posting on my Facebook author page at http://www.facebook.com/authormichaelyoung. You can find the widget to offical enter the contest by clicking on any of my NaNoWriMo posts.
Leaderboard:
1. Writer Mike 47,368 (as of November 15th)
2. Robin: 25,022 (as of November 12th)
3. Misha: 3,398 (as of November 2nd)
Word Count:
Writing Tip of the Day:
Don’t procrastinate your writing projects you’ve always wanted to do. Life will not be less hectic later, and you certainly aren’t getting any more time. I find that one of the hardest parts about writing is just getting started. There is nothing more exciting and terrifying at the same time as a blank screen. Get something on that screen today, even if it is only the first sentence or paragraph, because even starting at square two is easier than starting at square one.
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Day 12 of NaNoWriMo and so long to the Blog Hop. I’m going to post the winner on Monday’s post. Please stop back on by on Monday to see if you have won.
Another good writing day with another 2,000 words down. I’ve doubled the length of The Last Archangel II in just 12 days. I’m well on my way to finishing up by the end of the month.
Please also consider entering my NaNoWriMo contest. I could use some more people on my leaderboard. You can update your word count by either leaving a comment on one of my posts or by posting on my Facebook author page at http://www.facebook.com/authormichaelyoung. You can find the widget to offical enter the contest by clicking on any of my NaNoWriMo posts.
Leaderboard:
1. Writer Mike 31,387 (as of November 12th)
2. Robin: 25,022 (as of November 12th)
3. Misha: 3,398 (as of November 2nd)
Word Count:
Writing Tip of the Day:
Even when not doing NaNoWriMo, one of the best ways to motivate yourself is to keep track of your progress. For this reason, I always have a word count meter like the one you see above. Not only does it give you a visual representation of your progress towards the finish line, but it even tells you what percentage you have completed. There are many options out there, but here is the one that I use. http://svenja.atspace.com/wordmeter.html. Check it out. It’s very easy to use.
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Day 11 of NaNoWriMo and Day 4 of the Blog Hop. A special thanks to our veterans today, who defend our freedom of speech that allows us to pursue the crazy life of writing if we want to. My father, David Young, is a veteran of both gulf wars and served as an US Air Force officer for 25 years. To my father and all the millions of others who have served our country over the years, I salute you!
The November Giveaway Hop continues for one more day. Please use the widget below to enter to win a choice of a signed copy of either of my novels. Please also consider entering my NaNoWriMo contest. You can find the widget by clicking on any other of my NaNoWriMo posts.
At the bottom of the post is a list of the other bloggers who are also giving away things. Enjoy!
Leaderboard:
1. Writer Mike 29,359 (as of November 11th)
2. Robin: 22. 904 (as of November 11th)
3. Misha: 3,398 (as of November 2nd)
Word Count:
Writing Tip of the Day: Don’t let one bad writing day get you down. All writers have them. It is so easy to miss one day and feel discouraged, especially during NaNoWriMo where a missed days means a lot of catching up to do.
If you find yourself without a lot of time to write in a day, here are a few things you can do to keep up your spirits:
Click on the blog post name to see the link list and the entry form.
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Day 10 of NaNoWriMo and Day 3 of the Blog Hop. Thank you to all of you who have entered. I made slow and steady progress yesterday and finished with about 1,700 words. Some days are just busier than others.
The November Giveaway Hop continues. Please use the widget below to enter to win a choice of a signed copy of either of my novels. Please also consider entering my NaNoWriMo contest. You can find the widget by clicking on any other of my NaNoWriMo posts.
At the bottom of the post is a list of the other bloggers who are also giving away things. Enjoy!
Leaderboard:
1. Writer Mike 27,220 (as of November 10th)
2. Robin: 17. 133 (as of November 8th)
3. Misha: 3,398 (as of November 2nd)
Word Count:
Writing Tip of the Day: Make sure that when deciding where to end chapters that you give it some suspense. You hear about some books which are “page turners”, and much of that has to do with giving your readers a good reason to turn to the next page. If you end your chapter with your character’s going to sleep or with nothing that leaves the reader with a question of what is going to happen next, your readers may very well stop turning your pages. Here some good ways to end:
Click on the blog post name to see the link list and the entry form.
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We interrupt your usually scheduled NaNoWriMo programming to bring you a special Giveaway Hop. Please use the widget below to enter to win a choice of a signed copy of either of my novels. Please also consider entering my NaNoWriMo contest. You can find the widget by clicking on any other of my NaNoWriMo posts.
At the bottom of the post is a list of the other bloggers who are also giving away things. Enjoy!
Leaderboard:
1. Writer Mike 21,502 (as of November 8th)
2. Robin: 17. 133 (as of November 8th)
3. Misha: 3,398 (as of November 2nd)
Word Count:
Writing Tip of the Day: When writing quickly, you may want to think about going back through later and rearranging the order of scenes, especially if you have more than more plot line running through your story. One way I kept track of this is to highlight the chapter name according to the plotlines it follows. For example, chapters about plotline A are in blue, chapters about plotline B are in yellow and chapters containing both are green. That way you can go ahead and rearrange at a glance and save time.
Click on the blog post name to see the link list and the entry form.
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The first week is over and I’m feeling good about things. I have over 20,000 words in the first week, which is way ahead of schedule. My friend and fellow author finished NaNoWriMo in just 5 days! That’s 10,000 words per day! You can read how she did it here: http://heatherjustesen.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-i-won-nano-in-five-days.html
Leaderboard:
1. Writer Mike 16,925 (as of November 6th)
2. Robin: 12,987 (as of November 6th)
3. Misha: 3,389 (as for November 2nd)
Word Count:
Writing tip of the Day:
Copy and paste is your friend. If you are writing a long passage involving a repeated character name, it might be easier to copy the name once and then hit a quick ctrl + V whenever you want that name to appear. It is two keystrokes opposed to having to write out the whole name. This is especially useful if you have a character with an unusual name, such as the main character of the book I’m writing now: Xandir.
New Blog Hop Starting Tomorrow:
Get ready for the November Blog Hop. Stop by tomorrow for details.
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Books by Michael D. Young 