Whew! One week into November... and so into NaNoWriMo. With my eye on that 50k goal, I'm now at a dismal 10,629 words. I'd planned to reach 16k, at minimum, by today. But the day is young, and I have catching up to do.I hadn't expected to be able to keep up, being knee-deep in first edits for Angels, Sinners and Madmen. But so far I'm juggling both. I hope to get the edits back soon to Freya's Bower.
I also wondered whether I had it in me. I just finished an 83k contemporary over the summer, and am still working on revising another historical novella. In fact, I have gone back to that a few times this week and it's been tough to get back to the new WIP. My 50k may stretch over three stories!
Here's something that caught my attention: Ravenous Romance, an epublisher, is encouraging writers to submit their NaNoWriMo novels to a special contest. That in itself is very cool, but what really surprised me was the prize: they'll select three novels for publication, and give a $200 ADVANCE. Wow. Has anyone ever heard of an epublisher giving advances? Maybe the tide is turning, finally. In any case, I was very encouraged.
Ravenous Romance, however, only publishes erotic romance, and mine won't qualify. But if you want to submit, here are their guidelines.
Apropos of NaNoWriMo, I came across a great quote from Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors: The secret to being a writer is that you have to write. It's not enough to think about writing or to study literature or plan a future life as an author. You really have to lock yourself away, alone, and get to work.
Pertinent advice, Augusten. I'm off to do just that.
