Writing Adventures » NaNoWriMo

The Year Turns

Hydy — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:01:14 +0000

I made 37 submissions in 2009. 29 of them in the final three months of the year, after returning, inspired and renewed from DragonCon in Atlanta. Of the 37 submission, 29 have been rejected. I wrote a lot of new flash fiction this past year, 7 of which were submitted, and most of the rest of which are being posted here, one each Friday. Only two new short stories entered the mix for me, though. This is something that will change in 2010.

I attempted NaNoWriMo, and came up with some good ideas and some interesting characters. I will be developing some of that in the coming year, as well as a handful of stories I started, but never finished. This includes some of the flash pieces, which are really just story ideas given a few moments on paper instead of worked into real stories.

Life is constantly changing and in my struggle to keep up, I have let slide some of the things that are important to me. New things have become important to me, yes, but some of the things I fill my time with are just pointless distractions. Yes, I’m looking at you, Facebook.

2009 was a good year. 2010 will be a fantastic year.

NaNoWriMo Fail

Hydy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:46:11 +0000

I got some interesting story bits and characters. Doa and Tio definitely beg to be written about independently. They will probably be an upcoming Friday Flash piece before they become a full fledged story. But I have failed at the writing of a novel this month. I have failed at making the necessary time to write.

I have succeeded in getting back to my journal writing. I have made some headway in blogging. I have found new markets and submitted stories and received rejections. I liked today’s rejection letter from Abyss & Apex. I nearly have a flash fiction submission ready for The Pedestal’s special issue. I will be sending that out on Tuesday.

Life is crazy, busy and hectic, but I am enjoying it very much. Thoughts once again creeping in about affiliating and book reviews…

Mid-NaNo Update

Hydy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:36:47 +0000

Since my last update. Crow Spirit was rejected by Strange Horizons and submitted to Chiaroscuro. May 9th, 1999 was submitted to Strange Horizons. The Demon Within was rejected by Black Gate and submitted to Intergalactic Medicine Show. Dancing with Death was rejected by The Pedestal and submitted to and rejected by Greatest Uncommon Denominator. Last but not least, The Albino was submitted to Greatest Uncommon Denominator.

On the lines of my OAC application, the committee meeting to discuss fiction submissions is on December 14th.

For NaNoWriMo, I’m at 9007 words and spent today writing other things. I like the fantasy story I’m working on, but it’s about to hit the major climax already. I really like two of the fairy characters I’ve created, but I don’t care all that much about the goblins. They are suffering from being the boring honorable heroes.

I’ve found a handful of new markets, contests and anthologies, so ideas are flowing. Right now I’m working on picking flash fiction pieces to submit to The Pedestal.

I was going to post excerpts of my novel weekly, but as it’s quickly turning into a short story and I’ve already missed two weeks… Might post a little taste on Monday.

Home Again

Hydy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:05:42 +0000

I spent the weekend in Chicago attending Unleashing the Power Within, a Tony Robbins seminar. It was an incredible weekend. In the aftermath, I have signed up for NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month, for those unfamiliar. What this means is I have committed to writing 50,000 words in 30 days. I haven’t decided anything about what I’m writing yet, but it should be fun.

I have also committed to making a living writing, instead of limiting myself by believing that it’s not possible. That’s not to say writing will or should be my only source of income, but that it will be a significant source. I’ve been told it would be good to put a deadline on that, to push myself to make it a reality. I’m not there yet, though, but I’m closer.

I added stats to my page the other day, it’s awesome to see people are actually visiting my site. Folks, don’t be afraid to sign up for email updates or feedreader updates or make comments on my posts. I’d love to hear from you.