Hiatus Over

I haven’t posted since before NaNoWriMo last November. I could make excuses, but really it just comes down to me being lazy and not making the time for this blog.

But time to change that. I have dreams. I have goals. And I can’t be lazy or unorganized. So to begin, let me go over, in no particular order, what I’ve been up to since I last posted.

  1. I won NaNoWriMo for the third year in a row. I got a slow start and spent an entire Saturday at Starbucks catching up, but it was worth it. I fell behind a second time, but made realistic writing goals each day and managed to catch up and pull out a win. I have a half book written that I haven’t touched since.
  2. I continued to attend the writing/critique group I’m a member of. I think the importance of having a critique group for any writers–aspiring or professional–is important enough to write a blog post on, so I’ll save most of what I have to say on that topic for when I get to that post. For now I’ll just say that I’m glad I have my writing friends to give me tips and revisions to make my writing better and keep me motivated.
  3. I attended a writing conference. I’ll do another blog post on just this as well. Probably the next one. But I will say that it was awesome, and I learned so much and I can’t wait to go again next year. Writing conferences are so rejuvenating! If I could afford it, and there were more closer to me, I’d go to even more throughout the year and not just do a once a year writing conference.
  4. I won a writing contest…sort of. The writing conference I attended held what is called a Beginning of Book (BOB) Contest, in which you enter the first 500 words of your novel. That’s all you get. 500 words. I polished (with the help of my critique group) the first 500 words of my NaNo novel and sent it in. Since I write YA Fantasy, I entered the speculative fiction category. I ended up tieing for third place with a lady from my own writing group. What an honor! That win ended up bringing more good news my way:
  5. One of the guest agents who was there as a faculty member asked if he could have the winning submissions sent to him. Who wouldn’t say yes to that? Of course, I’m not expecting anything, but what an opportunity! If nothing else, I feel like it’s experience that I can add to my writing career.

I think that covers everything. My next post will get back to the fundamentals of writing. Perhaps critique groups or the writing conference I attended. Or I still have that 6-traits of writing series to finish. Stay tuned!

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