Published!

I'm published!

The issue of Phati'tude Literary Magazine is now out and available on Amazon. Two of my poems are on page 58.

This small step in my writing career reminds me that every day I'm becoming more and more a writer. I don't know exactly when I'll achieve the title of "writer", and perhaps I already have. But at least now I can say I've been published somewhere.

Yay!

Finished! (For now)

Hey everyone.

Sorry this post is later than usual but I held off hoping I would have this great news to deliver:

I finished writing my book!!!

For the first time in my life, I have actually finished a writing project. I'm very proud of myself.

I've started countless novels and never finished them. Some of them are little more than outlines, others are over two hundred pages long.

But now, I have a book I can call my very own. That is, I have something with a beginning, a middle and an end. An end! It has an end! :)

Even though it now officially has an end, there is no end to the writing process. Now it's on to edits!!! :D

Writer's Block?

In the last two weeks I have discovered something new in my writing experience: actual writer's block.

I had previously been of the opinion that writer's block doesn't exist. Now I think it does, but not in the way most people think it does.

What happened is this:

I got tired of my story and got sad about it because if I was bored, surely my readers would be bored.

But I remembered advice I heard on a podcast once from Neil Gaiman that said if you have writer's block, put that project on the shelf and start or work on something else. So I did. And you know what?

It freed me of a lot of nervous habits in my writing. I spawned a ton of new story ideas I'm super excited about, and I had a lot of fun. I started a writing project that was for my own eyes only so I wouldn't be worried about audience, and it helped.

Then this morning I got up thinking, "I wonder if my writer's block has disappeared." So I tried to go back to writing my story, and it had! The words just flowed.

I had a revelation. Instead of making my characters go through "boring scene", I could just skip boring scene. It was one of those "Why don't we just have Gandalf fly an Eagle over Mordor and drop the ring in?" kind of plot solving moments. I realized I didn't need the journey to be as big and epic as I had originally planned. Which is good because the book is already approaching 90,000 words.

If you have writer's block, and can afford to take two weeks off from what you're blocked on, I highly suggest taking a break. Don't take a break from writing though. Just write something else. Or start something new if you've lost that zeal that comes with a new story.

Now I'm off to write again. Today so far I've added 3,500 words to the last chapter. I'm hoping loosely that the entire book will be finished by the end of this week. (But I'm also trying to not get too excited.

Write on, friends!

(P.S. To clarify about writer's block, it should not be used as an excuse to not write. Just write something else. That was the point Neil Gaiman was getting at I think. Carpenters don't get carpenter's block, and dentists don't get dentist's block. Even if you generally love your job, whatever it may be, there will be times you don't want to show up at work. But you have to anyways, and you can do it. Keep writing. Show up at the keyboard. You can do it.)

NaNoWriMo - Who's with me?

I've decided that I'm going to do NaNoWriMo this year, but I don't want to do it alone.

If you are even remotely interested, click HERE to find out all about it.

National Novel Writing Month is in November, during which I shall endeavor to write an entire book. (A book being defined as at least 50,000 words.)

It sounds crazy. It sounds counterproductive. But I've done it before and not only is it fun, it's a great way to begin a new book. I was on the fence about doing NaNoWriMo this year because I'm *this close* to finishing a novel. I didn't want to start a new one. But for some reason, I'm a little stuck on that novel right now, and I think starting something fresh will give me enough of a break to get over myself and finish writing it.

I'd like to rally those around me who are participating. I've done this two years in a row now, and though it was fun, it was a lonely business. I'd like to organize my own NaNo group.

We'd encourage each other, talk about our stories, our word count goals and successes/failures, and hopefully have at least one write-in (where we get together at a coffee shop and write).

This will be fun. This will be amazing.

My NaNoWriMo name is Leolewis. If you want to connect during November about writing, post your NaNoWriMo name in the comments below.

And, if you are doing NaNoWriMo, how are you preparing for it? I've already started on my outline, and it's so exciting.

Happy Writer's Society

Natalie Whipple over at Between Fact and Fiction is starting a Happy Writer's Society and officially declaring war on writer's angst!

As part of the fun, I made this in photoshop: