Category: my novel’s progress
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Dogged Decision
I’ve decided to retire from dog sitting. It’s a side job I’ve been doing for years—decades, really. I still love dogs. I still love dog sitting. Something, however, has changed. Maybe I want to concentrate more on writing; I mean I can still do that when I am at someone else’s house taking care of…
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What Will You Be Reading This Year?
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft I’ve come across this tip for writers by Stephen King in many places, but I’ll never forget the first time I came across it in his…
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Shame. Shame.
Game of Throne fans will understand the title of this post. But even if you don’t know the reference, you may understand the feeling of “shame” when you don’t finish National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with fifty thousand words. And I say, “It’s okay. Forget about it.” Some years I “win” NaNoWriMo, some years I…
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Making a scene
Originally posted on Andrew M. Friday: One thing I find helpful for NaNoWriMo is making an informal list of scenes. The key is to not get married to this list; just use it as a jumping point. I usually end up moving the order of the scenes around. Here are some things to keep in…
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What is the most important aspect of revision?
Originally posted on Andrew M. Friday: NOTE: I dusted off some notes I took for a webinar, How to Revise Your NaNo Novel, from January 2016. Grant Faulkner hosted the segment on writing advice with guest speakers KM Weiland, James Scott Bell and Kami Garcia. The following was one of the questions asked. What is…
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Five Tips on Marketing
While at Imaginarium 2019, I ended up going to more workshops on marketing than I had planned. I realized creating awareness of a novel presents itself as a whole separate part of the publishing process than its creation. I managed to come away from the conference with several pages of notes. I want to share…
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Happy Halloween
I am not doing any writing today because I am prepping for NaNoWriMo . Tomorrow, however. . .
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The Non-Rules of NaNoWriMo
Originally posted on Andrew M. Friday: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) whips aspiring writers up to writing a 50,000 word draft of a novel in the month of November. I’ve been doing it off and on for ten years and I have about a fifty-percent success rate. By success, I mean I finish 50,000 words…
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Sorry, Not Sorry: Doing NaNoWriMo Again
In about a week and a half, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) begins. I’ve been participating in it since 2008, and I have no doubt it has helped me with my writing craft over the years. It has built my confidence in writing longer projects. Most of all, it’s just plain fun. Last NaNoWriMo, I…
Andrew M. Friday 