Camp NaNoWriMo, Anyone?

If you're a writer (or maybe if you know someone who is a writer, you've probably heard about something called NaNoWriMo. For the uninitiated, that stands for National Novel Writing Month, aka November, during which thousands (millions?) of writers across the globe scramble to write 50K words in a month. It's exhilarating, it's exhausting, and it's triumphant when you actually cross that 50K finish line.

This year, the folks over at NaNoWriMo are trying something new, and it's called Camp NaNoWriMo - essentially the same thing, but in the months of July and August for those who can't do a novel in November, those who can't wait for November, and those who are just gluttons for punishment.

If you want to get involved and give it a try, it's not too late - it's only the 6th of August. (I'm participating, and I haven't written a damn word yet, and I'm procrastinating right now by writing this blog post.) So click the link above and sign up!

So You Want To Write a Novel

Thanks to David Kazzie for putting together this awesome video ... everybody thinks that it's so easy to be a successful writer! David posted his video as a guest blogger on Pimp My Novel yesterday, and I thought it was so fantastic that I had to share!

You can read David Kazzie's humor blog at http://wahoocorner.blogspot.com/.

And thanks to Eric at Pimp My Novel for allowing David to share!

Is it OK to look for an agent before you've even started writing your novel?

I've been busy over the summer, finishing my class. I'm not taking any classes this fall due to extensive travel for work, but I'm using this time to write and plan for the NaNoWriMo novel. If you've ever dreamed of writing a novel "someday", why don't you do NaNoWriMo with me this November?

Yesterday, I volunteered to help out at a small freelance conference that was being held on campus yesterday. I was the only fiction volunteer, which wasn't surprising - when one thinks freelance, one usually thinks non-fiction. I volunteered because the two afternoon panels looked like they might have something to offer to a fiction student, so I volunteered to oversee the registration/info table while the other volunteers sat in on the morning panels.

Boy, am I ever glad that I did! I think I just may have found myself an agent! One of the panelists is a arts, entertainment and intellectual property attorney - and he is also a literary agent. Because I was at the right place at the right time, I fell into a conversation with him, one of the other panelists and one of the organizers of the conference. He is specifically interested in acquiring a few more literary fiction clients - which is what he is really interested in - and I was really impressed with his biz acumen. He has a really good grasp on the current state of publishing - which most publishers seem oblivious to - and I think that he has a clear idea of what the future of publishing is going to be. He's also clearly aggressive and has gotten some pretty great deals for some of his clients so far.

And he asked me to e-mail him when I finish my novel! Obviously, I don't have him locked in as an agent, but I feel like this is a foot in the door! As long as he likes it when he reads it and thinks he can get me a deal, then I'm in.

As for the rest of the conference? It was almost entirely directed at non-fiction; what fiction-specific stuff was mentioned I already knew. Oh, well ... meeting the lawyer/agent was definitely worth volunteering my time and energy.

***

I know I haven't posted my Italy stuff yet - I will soon, I promise! (Maybe I shouldn't say that ... my husband says that whenever I say "I promise!" that pretty much a guarantee that whatever it is will never happen.) But I do want to get it up, so I do plan on getting that started before NaNoWriMo starts.

Apparently ...

I write like
Vladimir Nabokov

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Not too shabby, right?

Back Stateside: My Italian Adventure!

My most recent Tweet - 19 days ago - proclaimed, "I am on vacation!"  Being ever conscious of my safety and security, I did not publicize where I was going or when exactly I would be gone, but now that I am back I can write about it freely.

I spent fifteen days in Italy - my first international trip (apart from Canada, which - and I dearly love you, Canada - isn't truly international) - and it was fantastic!  I spent the majority of my trip in Florence, participating in the Hopkins Conference on Craft as part of my graduate program (although they do welcome non-degree participants).  I was also lucky enough to visit Venice, Pompeii and Rome during my travels.

During my trip, I took buckets of pictures and filled almost my entire travel journal.  Since I've been back, everyone has been asking about my trip and they want to see pictures, and this has inspired me.  I want to posting more regularly on my blog here, and I also want to share with everyone my pictures and trip experiences ... so I will be posting here, over the next few weeks, my journal entries and selected photos from My Italian Adventure.

So stay tuned for the first installment of the mini-series, My Italian Adventure!

For My Writer Friends ...

It has been a crazy, crazy spring!  I have been swamped with work, school and writing, which has left little (NO!) time to even think about my blog.  But I came across this today, and I absolutely had to share.  It's a Writers Flow Chart: http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/node/3595363.

Enjoy!

Book Review: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

Now a quarter of a centry old, Bright Lights, Big City does occasionally come across as a little dated in 2010, but this does nothing to diminish the humor and sharpness of the writing. If anything, the pure 80s atmosphere lends an unintended level of humor to the narrative.  However, some of the references may be lost on Gen Y readers; for example, The New Yorker is regarded differently now than it was when McInerney worked there and the openness of the New York drug culture of the 1980s may seem a little absurd to the post "Just Say No" generation.  The unusual use of the 2nd person voice lends a sense of immediacy and mild sense of discomfort to the reader, giving the reader a vicarious feeling of being out of control that is consistent with the main character's drug use and life in general. A good, quick read; McInerney's first book does not disappoint.  It is not surprising that Bright Lights, Big City is in its 45+ printing.