In August 2013, I signed up for Misha’s 5 year project / do you have goals. My goal was to finish writing a novel and to get it published. I have 8 months left….
Things I didn’t achieve in 2017Sometimes I feel the weeks just slip by, and I cruise through life, enjoying myself but achieving very little. It’s good, therefore, to look back on the year and take stock of any accomplishments. Continue reading “Failures and successes in 2017”
You would think writing 50,000 words would be easier than this…
Yes, I finished the NaNoWriMo month with 51,416 words in the bag.
So, yet again, I’m a NaNo winner! That’s quite an achievement because most people who start off writing in NaNoWriMo never make it to the 50K word mark,
And yet… and yet… it was hard for me this year.
Words that wouldn’t flow.51,416 words is a good total for one month, but last year I wrote 61,500 words for NaNo, and the year before I wrote 63,400. In those other years, the words just flew.
This year I stumbled and hesitated and edited and got frustrated with myself — and only just made it to the finish line because I was determined this would not be the first year I failed at NaNoWriMo.
I’ve been doing NaNo since 2010, with one year off due to onerous NHS commitments, and so this is my seventh year.
You might think it would get easier. Continue reading “NaNoWriMo – reflection on 2017”
What I’ve learnt from writing guest posts for other people.
This year I’ve written three guest blogs, and contributed a small section to a fourth one. I thought it would be useful to reflect on the process and consider what value, if any, came from writing these pieces. The posts were all based on my coastal walking adventures, but covered a number of different topics:
In August 2013, I signed up for Misha’s 5 year project. My goal was to finish writing a novel and to get it published.
I’ve actually finished TWO novels, but the sticking point is getting an agent interested in my work. Continue reading “Writing: update time”
“We found it very compelling and well-written” but…
In August 2013, I signed up for Misha’s 5 year project. My goal was to finish writing a novel and to get it published.
First, some positive news. I’ve been editing my second novel, a sci-fi adventure story for young adults, and enjoyed whipping the text into excellent shape. Only another 6,500 words to go… yippee.
More positive news: I’ve also been editing my short stories (a selection of the ones I wrote during my NaNoWriMo challenge #30days30shorts) and started submitting them to competitions. No news to report yet… fingers crossed. Continue reading “Writing Update: Feb 2017”
Ruth Livingstone 