If you’re wondering why there’s a sudden dearth of writers posting grammar and bacon memes on Facebook this week, you can probably blame NaNoWriMo. Now expanded world-wide and not just for November anymore, National Novel Writing Month was the brainchild of Chris Baty and a few of his friends. These San Francisco writers challenged each other to write a 50K novel (more accurately, a first draft) during one November and the idea stuck. Many writers already hit this quota on a regular basis; some write even more. But if you’ve wanted to attempt a longer story, or if you want to get back into a butt-to-chair routine, the NaNoWriMo challenge could be the perfect exercise for you. Continue reading “How to Sharpen Your Writing Process with NaNoWriMo”
Author: Laurie Boris
Laurie Boris is a freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and former graphic designer. She has been writing fiction for over twenty-five years and is the award-winning author of four novels. She lives in New York’s lovely Hudson Valley. Learn more about Laurie at her website and her Amazon author page.
The Best Bad Writing Advice I’ve Ever Been Given
About ten years ago, in the middle of writing my seventh as-yet unpublished novel, I picked up my hard drive the wrong way and changed my life. Several MRIs and a couple of bottles of ibuprofen later, I ended up on disability leave, in physical therapy, and, thanks to the straw that didn’t quite break my back but gave it something serious to think about, I had to be taught how to walk again. Continue reading “The Best Bad Writing Advice I’ve Ever Been Given”
How to Use Thunderclap and HeadTalker For Book Promotion
Unless you’ve been busier than Kanye West’s damage control team, you might have noticed indie authors using various crowdfunding ventures like Kickstarter to raise the scratch to produce their books. Ask people what they think about the practice and you’re bound to start an argument, usually about the money. But what if you could engineer a crowdfunding effort that uses a different sort of currency—the social media reach of those generous enough to lend their support to your book promotion? That’s what programs like Thunderclap and HeadTalker aim to do. Continue reading “How to Use Thunderclap and HeadTalker For Book Promotion”
Banned Books Week 2014: Graphic Novels
Captain Underpants wins again. In fact, what may seem like a fairly innocuous graphic novel series about a couple of fourth graders defying authority has been the most frequently banned/challenged book for the past two years. According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, here are the top ten most challenged books for 2013: Continue reading “Banned Books Week 2014: Graphic Novels”