Books by Michael D. Young

Zig Zigler once said “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

That has applications in many realms of life, but I think it applies especially to writing.  During this National Novel Writing Month, I’ve realized just how important setting goals is. All of the other 11 months of the year, I just try to write what I can when I can. During November, I have a fixed mark that I’m shooting at and the target is set high. By setting my sights high, I try harder, I find more time, I put more effort into writing and lo and behold, I usually hit and exceed the mark.

I’m happy to announce that the first draft of the second book in The Last Archangel series is finished. More on that next Monday.

The most important I have learned is that having a plan is like laying the track for a train. It takes a while to build, but once it is down, the vehicle can take a lot of cargo a long way quickly.

I’m serious about writing and so in making my writing plan for 2012, I’m going to be thinking of ways of incorporating setting the mark high for all 12 months of the year. I’ll be talking a lot more about planning in December, and I hope that you’ll chime in with your two cents. What did you learn from NaNoWriMo, and how has it affected your writing?

Day 16 of NaNoWriMo and I’m almost there! I literally had my body give out on me last night. I was sitting in my chair after a 10 hour workday and a 2.5 hour rehearsal, started to write and fell asleep in mid-sentence. The next thing I knew, it was 3:30 a.m. and I was still in my chair.  Oh, the joys. I’ll cross the finish line tomorrow, I’m sure of it!

 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.

Word Count:

48200 / 50000
(96.4%)

Writing Tip of the Day:
Be comfortable when you write, but not too comfortable! (see above)

Day 13 of NaNoWriMo and I’m just going to put up a quick post.  I’m going to try to finish NaNoWriMo this week, maybe even by the 15th, so I can say that I made it in only half the time.  I’m going to post the winner on Monday’s post. Please stop back on by on Monday to see if you have won.

Saturday brought 4,000 more words and things are coming to a head, nearing the climactic finale. There’s a lot of action and development in book two, so I hope it doesn’t suffer from the “sequel sag”.

 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 35,450 (as of November 13th)
2. Robin: 25,022 (as of November 12th)
3. Misha: 3,398 (as of November 2nd)

Word Count:

35450 / 50000
(70.9%)

Writing Tip of the Day:

Action in a story is good, but all action can make your book seem shallow. (Ever seen a movie like that? All explosions and no explanations.) After big action sequences, take the time to let your characters react to what has happen and show how they come to the decision of what to do next. Then, jump right back into the action.