Quick Update and All Things NaNo

I was going to check-in on Oct 29th - the 2 week deadline for my Fast Drafting class, but I took the rest of that day to relax away from the computer as a reward for writing 70,000 words.

That's All The Words, my friends, in 2 weeks. So many words. I can barely find any to use in regular conversation, now. Seriously, I've become somewhat of a home-body. Even at the part-time job, I'm super quiet, and thinking about story. Good thing I work in a book store, where I'm not expected to handle anyone's healthcare or finances in this writer-coma state!

Since Oct 29th, I've:

~Read through the entire 319 page crappy first draft. (and it was crappy, but only in the rushed way. It has all the bones and structure I need to make it special)


~Trick-or-treated with the kids.

~Begun Revision Hell class, which started as soon as I finished the Fast Draft portion, so after taking one day to read through the MS, I've been revising 20-30 pages a day.

~Started NaNo yesterday! So excited to participate this year. I'm working on something that is just a grain of a new idea right now. I usually have a pretty solid plot before I write, so we'll see how this experiment works out. I'm hopeful though, because completing a MS for the Fast Draft class in 2 weeks has given me the confidence to push forward and keep writing. I know I can finish a draft now, and sometimes that's all it takes.

Feel free to add me as a NaNo writing buddy: scriptedYA (the NaNo badge on the side of the blog is a link to the site).

Also, in NaNo News: if you like YA as much as I do, there are some lovely, kind, and amazingly talented authors participating in NaNo this year. I've already added some as writing buddies: Beth Revis, Susan Dennard, Sarah Mass, and Erin Bowman. I'll be adding more as I have time. It makes the whole process more thrilling.

They are not only sharing their usernames and inviting all of us to be their writing buddies, they're answering all of our questions too! How awesome is that?
Here's the link: Ask A Published YA Author.

If you're looking for a few tips on NaNo, here are some from one of the published YA authors mentioned above: Tips from a NaNoWriMo Old Timer.

Happy writing, y'all!