Today is one day past the middle of Camp NaNoWriMo. This year, with a book draft coming due in December, I decided that I was going to embrace the spring NaNo the same way I'd embrace the real NaNoWriMo in November. And then life happened, hard. Michigan decided to tell Florida to "hold my beer" and everything quickly turned dumpster fire. Anyway, I don't want to talk about that, what I want to talk about is reevaluating goals.

Yeah, sure my Camp NaNo goal got blown to crap the first week, but I took at step back and said, hey this might not happen, but I can still make sure to get some words in every single day. Some days I reach the word count goal, others I only get a couple hundred, but even though 50,000 words by April 30th isn't going to happen, the point is I didn't give up. I made a new goal: words every day. A thirty day streak of writing is an achievement in itself...at least for me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sad and disappointed that I won't reach my goal. But I'd be a lot more sad and disappointed if I'd decided to scrap the whole thing. Whatever word count I get to by April 30th, I'll be proud of myself for writing when the world makes me want to curl up into a little ball and just go away for a while.

And hey, there's always the second Camp NaNoWriMo in July!

And don't forget to join me at virtual Penguicon 2021 April  22nd - April 25th.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

Yeah, yeah, it's been a while, so sue me. I've been bogged down in the edits of my longest novel to date, Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation. This was the third, possibly fourth, book I'd ever written and OMG is it so much better than the first!

Example:
MMO (First novel):"The scribe looked extremely relieved. He let out a long breath and gave her a small smile. Then he sat back down at the head of the table and pointed meaningfully at the computer."

MMI (Third Novel): "Nicolas peered out the window at the drab landscape of factories and billboards. It was his first trip to America, and so far, he was not impressed. The training facility he was being taken to was in Gary, Indiana. He understood that it was in an industrial center, so the factories were expected, but it was the cloying, banal ads on the billboards that made Nicolas grind his teeth."

How exactly does one look "extremely relieved?" Also, why don't table and computer get adjectives when everything else does? Yikes!

But I do particularly like "that made Nicolas grind his teeth." So much better than saying something like "really annoyed Nicolas." Showing his annoyance rather than telling the reader about it.

As opposed to in MMO when I literally tell the reader that "The scribe looked extremely relieved." A much better sentence would have been something like, "The scribe whistled out a long low breath as if deflating and his shoulders sagged with relief."

More books = better writing. Just saying.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

First, I want to announce that I've recently signed a contract to write 3 more books in my WHISPs series with Scarsdale Publishing. Hooray!...sort of. The fact is, it's a little easier for me to write one-off books than series for a number of reasons. First, I find it a bit hard to keep coming up with different adventures for the same characters. Second, since I'm a pantser (a writer who doesn't plan or outline before writing), I have a terrible time with continuity. Third, I think I just always want to come up with new characters and new worlds.

But, there are advantages to writing a series. The major advantage is that once you hook a reader and get them invested in a character or world, they will pretty much keep reading until the last book, and will be more keen to try another one of your series once they've finished the first. You also won't fall victim to someone really liking one of your single novels, but hating the next and then not picking up the one after that. Personally, I never thought I'd be writing book 6 in a series, but here we are, and I have to say, I think the pros outweigh the cons. But ask me again what I think at the end of this year which will be dedicated almost entirely to WHISPs!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

Blog posts only a week apart, what what? I know, but this news is too big and timely to wait.

First, Whispers of a Killer is on promo for $0.99 until the 15th of February! And now might be a good time to start the series because I just signed a contract with Scarsdale Publishing for another 3 WHISP books. Hooray!

Second big news is that Miles From Manistique is now available in audiobook on audible! I'm super excited about my first audiobook, read by the super talented Annalee Scott.

Third, my werewolf meets veterinarian trilogy, Moonlight Medicine, has been reprinted by Dragon's Roost Press and the first book, Moonlight Medicine: Onset, comes out on Valentines Day! *Make sure to buy the one with the snowy cover.*

That's all for now. Hopefully, more excitement soon!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

So, Capricon 41 has arrived and while I'm glad for this online convention installment in the age of COVID-19, I also have to remind myself to follow good convention protocols. The convention protocol I'd like to talk about today is reading your readings. If you are fortunate enough to be able to present snippets of your work at a convention, for the most part they should be done in a professional manner. This means having the materials prepared ahead of time and practicing reading them so you don't get tongue-tied and risk losing a reader's interest. Also, practicing ahead of time makes certain that you won't run too long or too short and will have some time for questions, but also make the time worthwhile for attendees.

If this isn't your first rodeo and you've become a bit bored with the usual shtick, you may want to try having the audience shout out (or chat out) a random page number and start reading from that point for a fixed amount of time. Pros of this method are it's something new and it gets your audience more involved. Cons are that it's hard to practice reading your whole book, and a lot might be lost on the readers thrown into the middle of the story with no context. Also, if your book has any mysteries involved, you may inadvertently give away spoilers.

Whichever method you choose, make sure you keep an eye on timing and remember to have fun! If you don't look like you're enjoying your own book, how can you expect others to want to read it?

Good Luck!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

Ready for your first science fiction convention of the year? So am I! May I suggest Capricon 41? This year the convention will be entirely online and the theme is Creating the Future We Want, so look forward to tons of panels and presentations on a brighter future. I will also be presenting a more series topic, Silent Spring Redux, a future without insects. Registration can be FREE! For more information, visit registration at capricon.org. Hope to "see" you there!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

Welcome 2021! Here's hoping we at least learned a thing or two from 2020. But just in case you need a little reminder or just want to read some really wonderful stories and give to a worthy charity of your choice, https://www.survivingtomorrowanthology.com/.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

NaNoWriMo2020 is almost over! For most, this means cheers of joy as they get down their last 57 words to hit that wily 50,000 mark. For others, comes the sorrow of realizing that they might not make it to the finish line this year. For those of us in the first group, I extend a hearty congratulations and woohoo! For those in the second group, I say this: make a new finish line. Whether you draw out the NaNo deadline another week to reach 50,000 words or switch the end goal to 30,000 words this year, make sure you reach a goal this year.

I think one of the biggest obstacles new NaNo's face is the fear of failure. What if I try this and I don't get to 50,000 words? I'll be a big failure and nothing good will have come from trying. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Do I think that you could've gotten to 50,000 words? Absolutely! Do I think that inside and outside forces conspire against you to make sure you don't get there? Absolutely! But NaNoWriMo should always be a positive experience. My first year, I finished on December 2nd. Did I feel bad about missing the deadline? Sure, but I felt awesome about reaching 50,000 words even if it was a few days late.

So what I'm trying to say is this. No matter what, find a way to make this year's NaNoWriMo a win. Even if you have to define that win differently than the win you had in mind at the beginning of the month. That way, when NaNo rolls around next year, you won't think, geez I totally blew it last year, do I even want to try this year? You'll say, hey I reached a goal last year, let's see if I can do even better this year. There are still 4 days left (counting today). Make the most of them!

Good luck!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

So, it's almost two weeks into NaNoWriMo2020 and I only have one word for you. Gravy. And no, it doesn't have anything to do with Thanksgiving, though now that I think about it, maybe it does. Anyway, if you were following my NaNo journey in past years, you will know that "gravy" is extra words above the mandatory daily word count. Now, I know, I know, most newbie NaNoWriMo's are just thrilled if they can get close to that 1667 at first, but I'm telling you, now is the time for gravy. Try as hard as you can to start off with a surplus of words because even if you're only doing socially distanced turkey, the later the month gets, the harder it will be to find the time to write. If you start with a healthy ladle of word gravy, then those later days when you just can't get in all the words will be much less stressful. I promise.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

FREE BOOK! Okay, now that I've got your attention...

Join Scarsdale Publishing for their next Share and Tell Sunday October 25 7-9 PM of Whispers of a Killer by Jen Haeger. Readers who would like to read this edge-of-the-seat technothriller, can then join the author in a Facebook party Sunday, October 25th to meet the author.

Email them at scarsdale@scarsdalepublishing.com. to receive a FREE copy of the book. First come, first serve. The first ten readers to email will receive a complimentary copy of Whispers of a Killer.

Hope to see you there!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.