Writing Wednesday Pre-Turkey Day...

 Hey all! Hope you are all having a good week so far and are ready for the Thanksgiving feasts to begin. It's near the end of NaNoWriMo and I'm sitting at 22K+ words. Not sure if I will make it to the goal, but I am still going to give it my best effort!

How about you? Did you win NaNo?

This year, much like the previous couple of years, our gathering is going to be small. Which... it's okay. Sort of. I miss the big family dinners and things of that nature. But we're keeping it small, mostly due to lack of funds for travel or anything of that nature.

That's okay, though, because we'll be gearing up for Christmas.

Typically, we draw names at Thanksgiving to see who we're going to buy a gift for, but this year's tradition was done on Halloween, so we could have that extra month to shop and if deliveries are running late, no one has to wait until February to get their gift. Plan ahead!

So tell me your traditions, tell me about NaNoWriMo and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Writing Wednesday...

 No short stories, this time around. Today's post is about writing, of course, and NaNoWriMo.

I'm a week in and by last Saturday, I had just over 12,000 words. You can see my little progress bar up here on the left.

That's with skipping a day due to feeling horrendously crappy. I've been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Ankylosing Spondylitis, what a word! Both of which cause over all body pain. But this last week I've had pain from head to toe, literally. The bottom of my feet hurt and my joints are so stiff and hurt when I stand or sit or move. Moving helps for a little while, then my muscles retaliate.

But I'm not here to complain, I'm here to state that all but one day in the first week of NaNo, I wrote.

It's a lesson for me, as well as anyone else out there struggling with their writing and feeling like they aren't pushing themselves enough. It didn't matter HOW MANY words I wrote. What mattered is that I WROTE.

For instance, on Saturday, I just wasn't feeling up to it, but I plugged out 944 words anyway. I used to be a pantser (still am) and now I'm becoming a plotter, but I think I like the term I found on Twitter of being a Plantser.

Suits me just fine. I know where I want my story to go, have a lot mapped out. Just have to fill in the void.

But every word I write makes that final total just a smidge larger, and over all, that is what I'm looking for. For the overall story to be written.

If you're doing NaNo, tell me how it goes! I'll cheer you on. If you're not doing NaNo, what are you currently working on?

Motivation Monday...

 Hopefully, today's post will motivate you.

Recently, I had a few things happen and it's helped me focus on things more and try to keep a positive spin on it all. It's so easy to drop into the negative state of things and wallow in self pity, but that isn't productive or healthy.

I have come a long way in my writing and in my marketing of it all, and yet I still have more to learn. We all do. We don't stop learning, we keep hewing away at the imperfections of our craft to make it smooth and perfect.

I'm not the most successful of authors. Would I like to be? Yes. However, I'm damn proud of what I have accomplished in my career. I'm moving forward, I'm branching out. I honestly do not spend all my time promoting others like I used to. And that's okay.

I found myself getting burned out promoting my work as well as others. I felt as if the reciprocation was non-existent. Who knows? I don't mind supporting my fellow authors.

These days, my approach to things is much different, possibly even selfish. I don't think I will do so much promoting of others work unless I know for sure they'll help me out as well. But I am just happy getting my stuff out there and even one or two sales will make me feel good. As far as being a success goes, I consider myself lucky if I've connected with just one reader.

Leave me a comment! Are you proud of what you've accomplished in the writing world?

Insecure Writers Support Group...

 Holy cow! Can you believe it is the first Wednesday of the month? Not only that, NaNoWriMo has kicked off!

You'll see to the left of this post, I have a counter to show my progress. Here's to hitting 50K words!

But on to IWSG. This month's question is:

What's harder to do, coming up with your book title or writing the blurb?

Man. I am torn on this one. To be honest, I had an easier time naming my children. Sometimes, the book title just presents itself before I even have a story idea. It'll pop into my head and I'll be like, "Okay. Nice, but what is this about?"

Sometimes the title comes to me after I begin writing the story. Sometimes, not at all and then I'm scrambling to ask friends for a book title.

But the BLURB! O..M...G... I absolutely DESPISE having to sum up my story in a few short paragraphs that will make it interesting enough for someone to pick up. Honestly. I'd rather go have my teeth pulled again.

I know people say to pretend you have 30 seconds or less to pitch your book, what would you say? Okay, first of all, I'm becoming more socially awkward in my old age, so I'd be all over the place. I'd be telling them about the book, but then go, "Oh! Wait, I forgot! Before that happens, THIS has to happen! Oh, but so and so does such and such to get there, and then ... wait, no. That came after. Sorry!"

To pare it down, I'd be a hot mess.

A blubbering mass of confusion.

Okay, so the blurb is harder. I had to work through that, I suppose.

All right, enough about me! Go on to read more from other IWSG bloggers! You can find the list here.

Have a great rest of your week!