In my monthly newsletter, I usually update readers on the status of my work-in-progress, but I haven’t posted about it on this blog in several months. (So subscribe to my newsletter!) My story is progressing, albeit slowly. I drafted the whole story during NaNoWriMo last November, ending the month with […]
Continue readingTag Archives: writing
Goals for 2021, Weekly Posts, and Hoping for a Better Year Ahead
Despite the awfulness of 2020, I got a lot accomplished. I wrote most of a novel, edited it, published it, and drafted another novel during NaNoWriMo. As the year ends, I’m about a quarter of the way through my first edit of this new work-in-progress—which will be my seventh novel. […]
Continue reading
My 900th Post: What Should I Do Differently on This Blog?
WordPress tells me this is my 900th post on this blog. At an average of around 500 words/post, that’s 450,000 words, or about four novels. As I wrote in my last post, it takes me 16-20 hours a month to write two posts per week, and I could probably write […]
Continue reading
Will I Do NaNoWriMo Again?
Forgive me one more post on NaNoWriMo. Now that it’s over, I’ve been asking myself whether I should do it again some year. Although there are some NaNoWriMo groupies who do it every year, I don’t think I’m one of them. In fact, I’m not sure I will ever participate […]
Continue reading
NaNoWriMo 2020, Week 5 — FINAL TALLY (almost)
I finished the draft of this new novel on Thanksgiving Day. Since then, I’ve been filling in some gaps, trying to get to at least the NaNoWriMo pace each day. Through Sunday, November 29, I wrote 93,200 words. The NaNoWriMo pace for that period is 48,343 words, and my personal […]
Continue reading
NaNoWriMo 2020, Week 4, and the Home Stretch
Through Sunday, November 22, my total word count is 77,400 words. The NaNoWriMo pace for that period is 36,674 words, and the pace I set for myself of 2,000 words/day would have put me at 44,000. Although my pace is slowing from the blistering 4,000 words/day of the first week, […]
Continue reading
NaNoWriMo 2020: Well, I Did It. Now What?
From the start of the month through Sunday, November 15, I wrote over 57,000 words on my next novel. Whew! So, I satisfied the NaNoWriMo target of 50,000 words in a month. I actually hit 50,000 on Friday the 13th, so I guess it was a lucky day for me. […]
Continue reading
NaNoWriMo 2020, Week 2 Is Underway
On Sunday, November 8, I hit 30,000 words! The NaNoWriMo pace for that period is 13,336 words, and my personal pace of 2,000 words/day is 16,000. So I have blown past my goals. I have never written 30,000 words in a month, let alone in eight days. And I’ve been […]
Continue reading
Balancing Humility With Confidence
I saw a post recently titled “The Timeless Writing Struggle: Ego vs. Humility” by Karen Debonis on the Writers in the Storm website that struck home for me. Ms. Debonis had written a memoir, and she described how she went from believing that her early draft would be a “runaway […]
Continue reading
Hallmarket Is Virtual!
Since 2009, Hallmark Cards has held an annual art festival outside its headquarters facility in Kansas City. This festival, called Hallmarket, showcases the artistic creations of Hallmark employees and retirees apart from their work for Hallmark. And Hallmark employees have marvelous and varied talents. This year, because of the pandemic, […]
Continue reading