Stepping Up to NaNoWriMo

by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted

November is National Novel Writing Month. Authors and “would-be” authors accept NaNoWriMo’s challenge to pen a novel in thirty days. 50K words in a month, 1667 words in a day, 833 words in twelve hours, 2.5 words per minute. It’s a very feasible goal.

NaNoWriMo's mission is valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline. The concept is wonderful. With the right attitude, participants can pound out 50K words in a month. Just to meet the word count goal in 30 days is an accomplishment. Some writers take months, even years, to craft one novel—so committing to putting a full novel on paper speaks a lot for those who actually follow through.

I never attempted NaNoWriMo until this year and here’s why. The thoughts of writing a novel in 30 days is a huge undertaking. But just getting words on the page didn’t, to me, qualify the writing of a good novel.

The Basics of Commenting and Answering Comments on a Blog—Blogging Basics for Writers, Part 9

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Blogging is a great way to build an online community—when you take time to learn how to do it right. Part of the things you need to learn including how to write a focused post, how to keep to a schedule, how to facilitate conversation with open-ended questions and today’s topic, the etiquette of commenting.

It’s important to know the dos and don’ts of commenting because part of growing your blog means you’ll be leaving comments on other sites, as well as replying to comments on your on site.

The etiquette involved isn’t complicated. As a matter of fact, I think it’s fairly intuitive. Most of us do the right things most of the time. But there are some things we may over look. Today’s post is designed to help you learn the etiquette of commenting for the blogger and the reader.

A Sweet Aroma

by Sarah Van Diest

We sat around the long, wooden table talking about life. Breakfast for dinner is the best, everyone agreed. It’s like getting to have dessert as the meal. Eggs and sausage bring a bit of balance to the pancakes and pastries. It’s like cheating, but not… or maybe I just want to believe it’s not. Either way, we all agreed, breakfast for dinner is the best.

Each person at the table had stories to share. Each life had been impacted by events and circumstances, people and relationships, health and wealth, or the lack thereof. Telling our tales can be clumsy. We feel the pressure of time, not wanting to take too much of it; we feel the urge to hold back or put a happy face on while we speak; we feel the desire to be understood and even more strongly, not to be misunderstood. But each one has a story.

That Autumn Time of Year

What's your favorite part of this fall season?

Share your stories in the comment section below. 

I also invite you to use this image any way you like online. Post it to your blog, share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, anywhere you'd like. All I ask is that you keep it intact, with my website watermark visible.

Don't forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Lessons Writers Can Learn From Social Media

by Bruce Brady @BCBrady007

With the right focus, we can learn a lot from the comments our friends post on social media.

There was a time when reading about someone being stuck in traffic or the contents of their grocery cart annoyed me. My internal response would be, “Why do I care?” Then it hit me. Okay, God hit me with it. He showed me I was looking at these posts from the wrong point of view.

Strengthen Your Writing Muscles with NaNoWriMo

by Lynn Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn

I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year.

There are a million reasons not to, but I’m doing it anyway.

Are you familiar with NaNoWriMo? NaNo, as it’s often abbreviated, stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a new, 50,000 word novel in thirty days.

That’s 1,667 words every day for thirty days.

I’ve done it before. I’ve “won” NaNo twice. (I’ve written about it here and here).

But that was years ago. This year? Well, it’s not really a good year.

Author Marketing—Ways to Support Your Writing Friends WITHOUT Destroying Your Own Platform

By Edie Melson @EdieMelson

I think one of the most misunderstood aspects of being part of the community of writers is what our responsibilities are within that community. Our community could be an online group or a local group, large group or small one. Regardless, sooner or later, the invitation and/or expectation of cross marketing is going to come up.

We have to be careful though, a request to promote another writer’s book or blog could be a bad idea. Today I want to take it slow and give you some tools to make the best decision for your specific circumstance.